Week 16 1/2 Suez Canal, Port Said, and the Pyramids (Cairo, Egypt)

 I know I just posted for the past week and it has only been 2 days but we decided to post these pictures and information separately. April 11-13 we are in Israel with 3 long excursions into the Holy Lands. 

When we first transversed the Suez Canal we only saw the lower portion due to the fact we entered it around midnight and we were sleeping and it was dark. I know, NO EXCUSES

As with the lower portion of the Canal, the sites vary by the minute. You see more cities in the lower section but so much construction in the upper section. One major project is the construction of a railroad swing bridge. This will allow for goods to go across the Canal to supply Eastern Egypt with goods. Still there are mosques all along the Canal on both sides along with numerous military instillations. Often times there are monuments remembering conflicts that have taken place in this region. The Peace Bridge connects the Sinai Peninsula (Gaza Strip area) to the East and Egypt to the West.

                                                            Mosque in the desert

                                                                Canal Construction

                                                        Canal railroad swing bridge

                                                Peace bridge over Suez Canal near Port Said

Port Said is a large Egyptian city at the northern end of the Suez Canal. The city is quite busy with ships everywhere in the harbor. Even military vessels such as we saw spewing smoke. Turns out it was an old Russian vessel purchased by Egypt from the 1970s and it uses diesal fuel which emits smoke. We then docked at the city harbor. The statue that is there has significance to the United States. The Statue of Liberty was first designed to be placed at the entrance to the Suez Canal. While it was being constructed, the Egyptian government decided they did not want the statue even though the base for it had already been built. The artist, FredericBartholdi, redesigned it for the United States. 

This mosque was on the eastern side of the harbor but we could see it from our cabin. At night it had beautiful strings of lights celebrating Ramadan. 

As we were coming into the dock we all saw this smoking vessel moving out to sea. We thought it was on fire and were concerned it would explode. NOPE, only during diesel fuel.

                        Base originally constructed for what is now the Statue of Liberty
 
Cairo, Egypt and the Pyramids was our destination the next day. We took a 13+ hour trip to see the only remaining 7 Wonders of the World. By Egyptian law, we had to travel in caravan formation with police escort front and rear of the bus caravan. Did get us through both cities faster but still a strange feeling traveling this way. Even our guide felt that the government really should cut back on this requirement as there have been no issues in over 5 years. We had a terrific guide!! She answered all our questions, provided excellent information about the pyramids, and spoke excellent English. I knew the pyramids were just to the south of Cairo but did not know how much the city has grown as its now abutting the site. In just a couple of weeks a new protocol will be instituted. They have constructed new roads, buildings, and a museum restricting buses and cars from parking so close to the site. All movement of people will be by electric buses reducing the pollution that is impacting the pyramids. Also, they are working on building houses for people living in that area to move into so that space will again be around the site.

                                                   Cairo with Pyramids in the background

                    Largest of the Pyramids- hundreds of visitors and just as many trinket hawkers.

                    The smallest of the pyramids with the remains of his Egyptian queen's tomb.

        Another view of two of the three as it is difficult to get all three in one closeup photograph

            This will give you a perspective of the size of each level of stones in the construction

                                                Bedouin caravan coming in from the desert.
                                               Bedouin cart and camel carrying tourists to site.

                                                                    Nobleman's tomb

                                            Here we are confirming we did visit the Pyramids


                                                                Side view of Sphinx

                                                   Loved this view of the Sphinx and Pyramid
 
Head of the Pharaoh on the Sphinx

Another view of this huge monument cut out of one solid piece of stone that they believe was left after carving the stone needed for the pyramids.

We hope everyone has a Blessed and Happy Easter!  It will be inspirational to spend Holy Week in the Holy Lands as we visit Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Caesarea, Tel-Aviv, and Jaffa.

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