Egypt
Egypt facts & history
in brief
Egypt is surrounded by the Mediterranean
and Red Sea, Israel, Sudan and Libya.
Mainly hot and arid, year/s can pass without rain.
Most of the population of nearly 60 million,
live in or around Cairo or the fertile Nile valley.
Egypt's history goes back five thousand years or so
and being one of the first civilisations on earth.
Some of the interesting things are the history,
Pyramids, Sphynx, other ruins, Suez Canal, Aswan High Dam,
the River Nile and the great Qattara Depression.
We entered the Sinai from Eilat in Israel.
After a lot of hassle at the Egyptian Border Post,
we had to return to Eilat, get another Visa and have
another try the next day.
After some more hassles with the
transport operators and a delay of 5-6 hours,
we were on our way in a rickety
old taxi to the St Catherine's
Monastery in the desert,
at the foot of Mt. Sinai.
Christians, Muslims and Jews around
here all believe in buckshi (Bribe or tip).
By a van, that rushed just before
a scheduled bus to 'pinch' his customers,
(We only found out as we progressed),
we crossed the other half of the Sinai to Suez.
After exploring Suez and the
surrounds, we bussed to Alexandria.
From Alexandria we trained to Cairo
and after a few days on to Aswan.
In Aswan we took time out to fly to Abu Simbel.
Finishing with Aswan we were driven
by a van to Luxor, visiting all the
attractions in between, like Kom Omo
Temple and many others.
Luxor of course another thing altogether.
It is chock-a-block with attractions.
Karnak and Luxor Temples, Hatshepsut
and the Valleys of the Kings and
Queens just to mention a few.
Than we returned to Cairo to for a
final look and farewell Egypt and
an unforgettable experience.
Suez Canal
is an artificial waterway running
between Port Said on the Mediterranean
Sea with the Gulf of Suez part of the Red Sea.
The canal is a shortcut for ships
operating between European or American ports
and Asia, eastern Africa, and Oceania,
avoiding the need to sail around Africa.
It is about 163 km long.
A railway runs along the western bank for
the whole length.
The canal existed since ancient times.
Ramses II excavated it about in the
13th century B.C.
It fell into disrepair from time to time
and got reexcavated a number of times too.
In the 19th century a French engineer,
with Egypt's agreement formed a
company and reexcavated the Canal and opened
it up for business.
In the last 50-60 years it had a
chequered history and some major
conflicts were fought over it.
You can click on these photos for an enlargement.
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Suez Canal 1. |
Suez Canal 2. |
Suez Canal 3. |
Suez Canal 4. |
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