Family trip to Egypt!

After a few weeks of traveling around Tanzania, my family and Brandon and I went up to Egypt for a much different kind of African adventure. We spent most of our time around Cairo, which is a much bigger and more modern city than I thought! Eighteen million people live in Cairo, and the city is a unique blend of traditional (almost all women cover their hair, there are countless mosques and men have marks on their foreheads from praying so much, fewer people speak English than might be expected) and modern (sushi restaurants and night clubs, an efficient metro system, tall buildings and new construction everywhere). The ancient historical landmarks are mixed in amongst the apartment buildings and shops throughout the city:

Above, views from a minaret that we climbed.

Below, Mom and I visiting one of the famous mosques in town.

We spent some time in a huge marketplace called Khan al-Khalili, which was a colorful and crowded adventure of navigating narrow streets and haggling our hearts out:

We of course stopped to smoke some sheesha and drink some Turkish coffee:

Sheesha is ubiquitous in Cairo; for example, this dude below was just hanging out by his bread stand, smoking on the street:

Below, a view of the Nile in downtown Cairo.

After a few days in downtown Cairo, we crossed the Nile to the neighboring town of Giza, where the famous pyramids and sphinx are located.

The size of the pyramids is an optical illusion: from far away, the pyramids seem pretty close together, but once you stand at the base of one, you realize that even each individual stone is overwhelming in size and, I'm sure, weight:

The pyramids and sphinx are surprisingly close to downtown Cairo...it's like a little plot of desert preserved in the middle of the huge city! We took advantage of this fact, stopping for a bite to eat at the Pizza Hut across the street. Below, Mom and I on Pizza Hut's patio, which had such a good view it was just silly:

During one of our evenings in Cairo, we took a dinner cruise down the Nile, which was complete with a belly dancing show!

Kev and the belly dancer.

The crew at dinner:

After my brother and parents left for the US, Brandon and I made a quick trip up to Alexandria, the beautiful former capital of Egypt founded by Alexander the Great. Alexandria sits right on the Mediterranean Sea, and has a phenomenal sea front:

The Bibliotheca in Alexandria was one of the highlights of the whole trip:

It was built in the 1990s right on top of the site of the original library, which was constructed in the third century BC during the reign of Ptolemy. In its prime, the ancient library was famous for housing "all the world's knowledge" and, later, when Julius Caesar supposedly burned it down accidentally!

Above, modern residents of Alexandria (including women in burqas) enjoying their library.

The library also houses some cool art:

The entire modern city of Alexandria is built right on top of the ruins of the old city, which are still being excavated via underwater archaeologists just six meters under the water. They have found things like Cleopatra's Palace (sweet!) and other ancient buildings.

The city was more relaxed and artsy than Cairo, and we enjoyed it quite a bit. Also, since I call alcoholic drinks "drinkies," I was pretty happy when I saw this place:

Above, a parting shot of our last night in Egypt, spent at a beautiful open-air restaurant on the beachfront in Alexandria. Overall, a terrific trip!