The Egypt around Nile river (Cairo - Luxor - Aswan - Abu Simbel)

A fantastic journey and culturally intense, which led us to discover the wonders of CAIRO and nearby Giza and Saqqara Menphi. The tourist LUXOR, with the complex of KARNAK and LUXOR precisely, and the famous Valley of the Kings and the wonderful lush ASWAN, a center piece of africa in Egypt, according to many of the geographical part of Egypt where you can find the most beautiful landscapes all over the course of the Nile. Where you can discover different cultures such as Nubians, a friendly population that lives in a village in an island in the Nile.

 

Rome - Cairo

On 24 April begins the adventure in this moderate Muslim country, with a thousand facets, from the great mysteries and filled with unsurpassed beauty.
With a starting Alitalia flight from Rome Fiumicino and in 2 hours and 40 come into this world named Egypt, my traveling companion, the Director Dario M., I noted the presence of the pyramids the plane, but in view of my extreme fear of fly, I simply replied that I would have seen more willingly once landed.

Once touched ground, the first impression (for an Italian western like me) is to be immersed in a reality totally different from ours ... but still nice to get that ... just did not know ...

We know our guide, Mahmoud simpaticissimo, who will accompany us throughout the journey from north to south. Us with our confidence to the driver that you have booked, the beautiful Sheraton Heliopolis Hotel ***** in CAIRO, a mix of luxury and culinary apotheosis at all hours, discarding the bags and emerge to give a glance Megalopolis of the chaotic CAIRO.

The first impact is that of a busy city, a continuous sound of horns, old machines (seems to be in 70'80 ') with rhythm, fiat 126, and brand unknown to us. Smog is significant and the first few days you hear a lot, then you get used to, almost like it.
We do a tour of the center, also in the car and then come back a little tired and dazed at the hotel, ready to begin the real adventure .....

The pyramids and the sphinx

Finally, after lunch with the pharaohs, we start to begin filming and the visit of all the Pyramids of El Giza, namely the famous pyramids of Cheops, Khafre and Menkaure. Cross CAIRO, since El Giza is located just outside the city in early across the desert. From a distance you can see these huge 3 points and as you approach, the show is getting more incredible in a short time just below the pyramid of Cheops, an immense building that unless you see it you can not imagine all its majesty.

Carried out the paperwork for the shooting, in other words, once paid a sum of money ...., we begin to move between these beauties of the world. All around there are camels and boys selling miniature pyramids, but the desire to come to see the famous tunnel of the pyramids is a lot.
In that area are beginning to breathe clean 'the air of the desert, while the beginning and it was "caressed" by a typical wind, which for a lover of the perfect hair like me, is nothing short of "annoying" but I have had a reason and during the whole trip I surrendered to the winds of the desert and I was uncombed.

Once arrived in front of the pyramid of Khafre, the one that is in the middle, we are told that we could return within the tunnel and then we are inclined towards the opening. When they got back they were people, all sweaty, let's say pretty tired but I actually did not understand why, after I'd never been inside a pyramid. In short, the people who came out saying in English: "you can not breathe the air is stifling."
I told myself there for them, will be the usual saws, basically what you want it .... I am going to stick his head inside the tunnel, and the slope was truly remarkable, you could not see the bottom few meters later, actually, in addition to a sense of enclosure, he felt that the air became stifling, rarefied. The fact is that the sensation was felt at the beginning and the distance to get to the end was still great, but once inside they can not go back for so little. Continue to descend into a tunnel, perhaps a meter high, so you have to stay crouched under, you look back and see the sunlight far that shows you the way back, the air is really heavy and you hear only the sound of footsteps almost long metal railing that takes you underground. After 5 minutes of tunnel arrivals .... you find yourself in an enormous room in the center of the pyramid, you can not hear any noise, I think the feeling is like being in space, above the head one of the wonders of the world, you realize to be inside a tomb, all of this is a little impression, but the context is so suggestive that leaves you speechless, as well as without air .... in the true sense of the word.
Once breathed the air of the center of the pyramid of Khafre, it's back up along this tunnel, almost like a return to life, you see the light growing on you the air becomes ever more charged with oxygen and you find yourself in surface at 40 degrees that you seem to feel fine. And 'one of life's experiences into a pyramid .... and we are only on the first day, I told myself.

Finished the adventure take us to a restaurant overlooking the Pyramids, Christo, here begins our binge of food that will last 12 days. Among appetizers of fish, spices, dishes, was really from God.

To end the day we visited the most famous lion in Egypt, the Sphinx, which is located 200 meters from the Pyramids. Even the Sphinx is very suggestive and especially in contrast with the pyramids behind her.

The day cultural ends, and here we return to the Sheraton after a bath in my double room all to myself, from $ 275 per night (only sleep) strafoghiamo us in one of 4 excellent restaurants' s Hotel.

We opt for the Japanese restaurant, and here I discover the apotheosis of food, a mix of class preparation, strictly live and superfine quality. Since that time, the salmon before I really understood that I would return more fat, and everything was unforgettable .....

Gioser pyramid and the CAIRO bazar

This day of exploration takes us 30 km from CAIRO, along the roads to the south. After an hour and a half of chaotic CAIRO and once more to Egypt poor, we see all 'horizon a pyramid unusual. We're going to get to Saqqara, where it was built the famous stepped pyramid, the oldest pyramid of 'Egypt. Once in this site we see many tombs around the pyramid, but the eye falls on this building that is not as traditional but just stepped pyramids.

Overall Saqqara also visited the tomb of a veterinarian at the time, and inside were shown an immense amount of hieroglyphics depicting the work of the doctor of animals. All of this complex is the recently discovered fact, the pyramid was completely submerged by sand for many years.

We move from Saqqara, back to CAIRO, where we expect a milestone, namely the famous Bazar.

Once there we enter a whole new atmosphere, we immerse ourselves in a world of colors, spices and a multitude of people ready to offer a variety of products.
Bazaar in CAIRO is a market outside the lines, it is hardly comparable to a "normal" market, one thing that impressed me is to be immersed in that crowd of people notice the smell of spices and listening to the speakers Muslim prayers , which spread throughout the bazaar. You find your senses completely immersed in a surreal atmosphere, the sight of different colors of clothes hanging on the stalls, so different from us people who smoke a water pipe in the streets, smelling new smells to me like the various spices of shops inside, Hearing the shouting in Arabic and the recall of shopkeepers. Everything is really unimaginable unless you live in person.

Once the center of the bazaar, our guide Mahmoud takes us in yet ultra-luxury restaurant, which was one of the ways of the bazaar, and I must say that among all those we have spent this is the most typical.

The waiters were dressed in ethnic clothing and had the fez, the red hat with a black rope hanging, the room was gorgeous, the restaurant looked like a sultan with bows and colors characteristic.
In this restaurant we ate perhaps the best dishes Egyptians.
In addition to the ram, a typical Egyptian dish, they brought us a lot of spicy sauces and the thing that delighted me was definitely the dessert, a mix of ingredients, which certainly prevailed coconut milk and pine nuts. A real orgasm for the palate ....

At this point the work-vacation, I realized that the dualism between day crammed with culture and culinary and luxury hotels, were an extraordinary coupled by what I was experiencing.

After another short tour in the bazaar we returned to the car, and a bit tired we returned to the hotel, ending the evening at the casino.

The citadel e and the wonderful dusks on the desert behind the pyramids...

The day begins with the usual breakfast buffet at the Sheraton Heliopolis, CAIRO, and between a Danish and a Dolcetto Guava juice (juice of summer 2007), we prepare for the exciting day.

The program is the visit and the filming of the Citadel, the hub of the Moslem religion and probably the whole of CAIRO Egypt. We arrived after 30 minutes of traffic in the capital, in this sacred place, which at first glance looks like a real palace. Before us are a myriad of domes and minarets, the focus of Muslim culture compacted in a large area called the Citadel indeed.

We enter with our car in the area, and we are going to arrive on the terrace that lets us discover a beautiful panoramic view of CAIRO. Before us we have a great mosque, and as tradition would have to take off their shoes to enter. The building seems crowded with Muslim believers and our guide Mahmoud tells us that Friday is the day of prayer and then assenterà for an hour and a half he along with our driver to pray.

We expect the time for prayer, but we do not escape the intense moments that we see inside the mosque, the flow of people came, men, children, women with the veil that covered her hair and some who had only eyes discovered, took off his shoes and entered into this big room with a myriad rugs lying on the ground, protruding from the megaphone voices chanted Muslim prayers and people were all lined up on his knees to pray. At that moment there was a particular energy in the air, we were immersed in a religious reality so different from ours but so evocative.

After the hour of prayer, all Muslims were leaving the mosque and also Mahmud and our driver.

Hunger was felt and how we imagine expecting a great restaurant for our reception. In fact, we arrive at the rooftop restaurant just outside the citadel, the show was really indescribable, a green oasis on a hill in the gray and chaotic CAIRO. Before us minarets and mosques, and a lawn with palm trees and flowers that served as a side dish for this restaurant great class, especially from the point of view of the landscape, perhaps one of the most beautiful in the center of CAIRO.

Here we have discovered new tastes, in fact we are discovering that a door is a must for the Egyptians Salad, which is the starter, with cucumber, sheep's cheese and sauces, but worthy of note is definitely a cake that has the name of Goulash ( not to be confused with the meat), which is shaped like papyrus and has a distinctive caramel frosting.

After yet another blowout waiting for us one of the most exciting of the trip, in fact the afternoon we were to return the pyramids of Giza at sunset.

This was not feasible because the site closed, but our guide Mahmoud, with the help of 1,000 Egyptian pounds, made a phone call and took us from the suburbs, "a friend" ...

We brought 3 horses, faster than the camels, and we started with Dario el 'Bedouin friend, who knew nothing at all, to the pyramids, through the desert dunes. None of this was legal, he told us while we rode in that it is as if you went into a military area, you can not after a certain time.
The ride lasted 30 minutes and a quiet desert scratched only by the noise from hooves on the sand, we arrived on a dune that leaves us a view of the pyramids from a fantastic location. Had to just wait for the sunset, but the fun was yet to happen ...
A few minutes later we see two camels arrive, are 2 policemen who are getting close. The Bedouin is separated from us and goes to them, pulls from his pocket a handful of notes, I'll stretch, and returns to us.

From that moment we realized that in Egypt you must take so much money on tips, best cut low, and continuing the journey we have increasingly found.

The sight of the pyramids on a dune in the desert was worth the ride "illegal" was worth the overrunning and the arrival of the police, really worth all this because I felt the wind in your hair, listen to nothing interrupted only by the neighing of the horse and see the spectacle of Pyramids at sunset is worth all the money in the world.

With this show in the eyes, and in almost complete darkness we are preparing to return, and rode another half hour in the desert toward the city.

This day I will remember for a long time, see a landscape so beautiful, live it, standing on a dune in the desert come with a horse is not something to everyone and for this I am very happy to have lived.
We are now on the road the hotel, there remains only the last night here at the Sheraton CAIRO (for now, because we will return the last two days) in the double room (to be shared with anyone) in the modest hotel from $ 275 per night . But I'm sure that even the city of LUXOR will give us great satisfaction ....

To conclude the evening and I return to the casino director Dario tasting mango and guava juice ....

Darshur pyramid and flight to Luxor

Today I wake up and I know it will be a day of reading voltages. Not because we have to go through tunnels under the pyramids, even the desert dunes on horseback, but we fly to LUXOR, our second goal. And the flight is my weak point ... I admit it. at least for now ....

Before leaving CAIRO, we expect a quick visit to Memphi first Egyptian capital of CAIRO and before that at Alexandria. A Memphi there is a huge statue called the Colossus of Memphi precisely, and in fact in an hour of travel we come and visit this sculpture.
The morning, however, we reserve another important step, because we turn away another twenty minutes from the former capital of Egypt and we are heading Darshur, where is the enigmatic Bent Pyramid.

The Bent Pyramid gets its name because originally the proportions were to be larger, but work in progress, it was discovered that if he continued with those measures, the pyramid would be unstable with the risk of collapse, then they have a pyramid built on a pyramid, that is how the diamond pyramid of Darshur.

Once there we understand that the area is not the most tourist, through a poor village in the area, and as we find ourselves in Giza at the edge of the desert, where lies precisely this pyramid.
Here I can say I tried the experience of being in a desert alone ... in fact the director had left Dario disappearing behind the pyramid of support while our cars were away.

Then you find yourself, with your camera, the sun and the desert wind that blows against you, is a strong wind and you have to almost fight to walk, plus the heat and sand which raises the wind, certainly not facilitate walking, and the only sound you hear is just the air that blows against your body.
Once you have done the rounds of the pyramid in solitary, and fought against the hot wind of the desert, back towards the camera and we are preparing to return to CAIRO, having also tasted the thrill of a journey into the wilderness by the situation will not favorable.

Since I have been in Egypt do not even know what day it is, there are many things we're doing. We bring to the airport, and only 2 hours late to LUXOR we board accompanied by a troupe of British journalists, I feel drunk, after considering the laughs in the lobby of the airport.

After 45 minutes we LUXOR and bring us to another hotel of your dreams, the Jolie Ville Movenpick LUXOR Resort, more precisely on Crocodile Island, an island on the Nile which is hosting this 5 star very impressive, given that he was in the midst of crocodiles Nile.

This accommodation is like Wahikiki in Hawaii that is so little house in a plan, arranged in a circular manner, obviously a little house was all my own bed room and $ 230 per night, slightly less than the Sheraton but a truly amazing landscape wildlife.

Luxor and Karnak complexes

This Sunday morning I feel very touristy, as perhaps the city of LUXOR, I wake up and come to the buffet, where we expect yet another incredible breakfast, and given the busy day, waiting for me I decide to drown in European specialties like French toast, and pancakes Belgian, besides the Guava juice.

The morning is devoted to complexes of LUXOR and KARNAK, a few minutes away. This large building that includes columns, hieroglyphics, mastodons statues, rooms, stairs, is located in the center of the city. This day we visited and filmed the heart of the major findings of this area of Egypt, situated in the middle of the Egyptian territory and the course of the Nile. The day was characterized by a warm not insignificant, given that we are moving further south and we are as the crow flies, half of Saudi Arabia.

Certainly suggestive sunsets here, too, that portraits with background of palms and sphinxes (there are about forty in all aligned LUXOR) form the backdrop to a city far less chaotic and more tourist in CAIRO, as well as more livable, ideal for a holiday culture and relaxation.

Back at the hotel and the sunset from here is truly amazing, being on an island can enjoy a multitude of birds ever seen, plus they tell us that this area is ideal for bird watching, the art of bird watching ....

Spend the evening in our palace sipping tropical juices Crocodile Hotel Pub, a tribute to Crocodile Dundee, this time many adventurers who delighted the guests with live music and a stuffed crocodile here and there.

The next day would be the most intense day of travel, from physical point of view, and one of the most intense in terms of emotions, but of course, the least I could not imagine what would have happened ....

The baloon flight, the King's valley and the flight to Aswan; Part 1

The alarm clock this morning Egyptian sounds very early, the 5 am when the phone rings in the room .... We expected a sailed from the hotel to the mainland, a short drive to the other side of the Nile, and again another short voyage. This time, cheered by a lunch on the boat in the pre "flight" ....

In fact the trip between the river and river-land-land there was yet another factor leading to the air ... ....
In a few minutes I felt the breeze that first trip in a balloon, huge balloon filled with gas that fueled the fire that takes you up into the sky, and you baby in a basket, one meter by one, that if you take a step towards any of the four cardinal points you find yourself making a flight of hundreds of meters. ...
Certainly, for someone who loves flying is really the best, he came to our means of transport and we dive directly over the wheel. The Commander explains a few things essential for the flight, and in the blink of an eye, the other between a flare, we find ourselves suspended from the ground upward spiraling upward.
Believe me, the experience leaves you truly breathless, it is not like flying on an airplane, you're suspended in the sky, looking down and see the world very small, looking down toward your feet and see that world through the cracks of that basket of wood that holds thy hand, and for the first 10 minutes you do the below, or at least I had that feeling.

Shortly after you get used like all things, and you begin to enjoy the scenery from a visual and a whole new subject, see the valley of offenders, the queens, temple of Hatshepsut, the peasants working the fields, everything that happening on the ground, but from a balloon in flight.
We fly over the area and leads us to the desert, but before you get fly over the fields and the farmers there were screaming a few sentences Egyptian holding a scythe, what is fundamental, especially for our safety was non-landed near them, I told myself .

We fly over a village, there are those who greets us there watching us, we begin to lose altitude but I think deliberately, then I see that we get closer and closer to a palm tree, and a move from Top Gun that shoots near the tower checking the flow, we end this palm in the trash and after a few "thank you" to the pilot for the collision with the trunk, we are going to land in the desert.
You think it is a walk to land with a balloon, but it is then too, it must lie down with his back facing the direction of travel and waiting for ground cling and pull down the ball.
After an hour journey we landed, and finally touch the ground, bringing home a video of a collision with a palm tree and a very strong emotion, which is to fly a balloon ....

The adrenaline is still disposed of, but the program continues to the day because we are only halfway, and after a nice lunch of those 5-star back on the machine this time leads us to a favorite destination for visitors to LUXOR Valley of the Kings
Who has not heard of Tutankhamen, Ramses I, Ramses II, and many pharaohs who ruled Egypt, millions of years ago.

We are to visit the graves of these men of the past, and tell you more, because our aim is to capture images, we paid a lot of money to be able to resume the beauty of one of the graves, because we will stay in for a lot '.
Even being in a tomb for an hour is not something from everyone, I can say that I have lived an hour of my life living in a tomb of a pharaoh and more specifically that of Rameses I, the first of the dynasty. But let's go with order.

To reach the Valley of the Kings past the Colossi of Memnon, and shortly after arriving at a place, almost hellish at first sight, in fact we walk with a kind of Egyptian train a large canyon, which leads us in a valley between mountains, logically stony, since we are firmly of the 43 degrees in this area. The heat is really hell, you almost can not see the road because the light color of the sun beating on the white ground will blind the eyes and stuns you.
With extreme fatigue (remembering that we got up at 5 plus and we flew in a balloon above all that) we are going to visit all the tombs of pharaohs 8 to decide which to do the shooting. I assure you that the 43 degrees on Monday, the sun beating on his head, climbs and descents in the graves, located in these places under the earth for more than 20 meters, with the air that you lack, cause hallucinations incredible to Fantozzi, in the match against married bachelors.

We choose the grave and we went in the true sense of the word, that of Ramses I. With the body and mind felt we arrive at this place of extreme peace, there was a dead silence .... Around us hieroglyphs were perfectly intact and colorful backdrop to the tomb of the pharaoh and the feeling of being in a place like this is really exciting and indescribable.

We're in there for a good hour, I and Dario are with millennia of history etched into the room below ground and the center is the tomb of Ramses I. I would stay there for more hours, only after 64 minutes I was in dire need of air, and it will seem absurd, but just come, the 43 degrees in the valley of the kings, they seemed fresh air of the Dolomites in comparison.

The baloon flight, the King's valley and the flight to Aswan; Part 2

We settle on the train that takes us back to the car and I was already enjoying the return to the hotel, the relaxing bath I would have done and all that our luxury hotel could give us the crocodile, when I receive the news most unexpected and disarming after having experienced all those emotions in flight, having sweated 6 liters of water in the valley of kings, having shared the grave for more than one hour at 20 feet below ground, I heard from our friend mahmoud that the flight to ASWAN Our third stop was today and not tomorrow as I thought I ....
Well, you know what it means to fall from the clouds, see, I fell from the balloon after a day ... so intense I was expecting another flight with Egypt Air Lines (very best of our least).
Maybe this time my fear of the plane fell, because being totally exhausted, physically and mentally I had the strength to be afraid.

And so here we are at the airport of LUXOR, ASWAN at a time to fly with THE NILE (the name of the Airbus 321). I want before I leave tell a situation that happened in this trip.

We are at the airport, from LUXOR to ASWAN is only 160 km, are with Dario, our guide Mahmoud and 2 Japanese. I'm a nice and say: We have a private flight, "they laugh.
The typical bus carrying passengers from the gate the plane was carrying us are traveling to reach 50-60 per hour when it sees another similar method on the piste, that's on that occasion after braking crash test flight of 2 meters for the entire bus, empty ... .. and a pig .... I lost my glasses and everything has increased the adrenaline of the day plus pre-flight to another 40 million.

That's after this incident off and 30 minutes and here we are at ASWAN ricominicia another adventure ... ..

Once arrived, escorted us in the true sense of the word, from the Hotel. This time we ISIS ISLAND Pyramis, a fantastic Resort (5 star hotel that I tell you to do) also plunged into the Nile, in fact, take a boat to reach it, we come, we eat, and sank into a heavy sleep waiting for tomorrow, and imagining that the adventure in store new and indelible emotions.

The Nubian village, the old cataract e and the Aswan landscape

The reawakening of this early May was very pleasant, in fact, before exploring the city, ASWAN, which lies on Lake Nasser, the world's largest artificial lake, which I learned from electricity throughout Egypt, in addition to huge dam, I give myself a look around and find that the Hotel is truly a fabulous location. We are immersed in the Nile and we are on an island that has the size to contain only the ISIS ISLAND HOTEL. I looked out the window and discovers he has a private terrace as long as a hole mini golf plus paved with green material and comfortable. The breakfast buffet is full of sweet and unfortunately my perfect line he is feeling, but then how can you give up this life and these sweets ....

It starts to work, and this day holds for us great new emotions, especially from the human point of view. In fact, after having experienced the thrill of cruising the Nile with a whisper quiet felucca, the traditional Egyptian sail boat, we are going to moor the boat to the island Elephantine, so named because of the similarity with animals.

Here another step of mornings to remember this trip. We are in the Nubian village, this population living in the center of this island. The sensation is to be part of a piece of real Africa, the part of the world's poor, just westernized or not at all, rooted to their traditions and seen from outside, you get the feeling of being on another planet.
You find yourself surrounded by people looking at you as if you were another species, and you basically do the same, some will smile, older people are hiding, especially in front of the cameras, children swarm around you, in turn the flies buzzing around them and this is the classic image I had of African country, the classical vision that you have people so far away from you as a way of life, as ways of being and at that moment finds them there in front of you .
I take a stroll through the streets of this village, we see that we pass by sheep, chickens, animals of all kinds, and especially the thing that leaves you open-mouthed is the vision of this community of people who are so different in style from your normal and everything opens new horizons of mind.

And we got a nice thing that happened to me in this village, I was sitting on a ladder when a gentleman called me near him and he shows me pictures of a wedding recently, a couple of the village. After a while 'I wonder which of the girls I liked, and I must tell you the truth, all of the mussels were apoplectic. But since they are refined and the class is part of me, I feigned interest and I have marked with a finger.
A few minutes later guess who came with the man? The girl who had indicated with his finger, and asked me if I wanted to marry. Of course in those cases, you should be able to pull off a nice phrase to say that the deal was not very useful, as I was concerned at least. Because it was a toilet is not that I had brought Paris Hilton, and then say, okay is the daughter of the owner of the Hilton Hotel and asked me to marry her, plus she is pretty, I won the superenalotto.
Reluctantly I refused, and with the excuse of the classical drink, I disappeared, thanking the bid.

After this marriage survived, we went to drink what 'thing, always in the Nubian village in a house, which had as a table stuffed crocodile. To conclude the experience in this land of people so funny and so incredibly far away from everything that is normal for us, I decided to buy a typical thing of the place, which is a crocodile's tooth, and though it is not a purchase animals I could not take it, and then I brought away with me.

The afternoon was waiting for us to visit the Old Cataract, a Hotel in ASWAN famous for not only had the Presidential Suite of the Egyptian President Mubarack, which we have had the honor of visiting, offers one of the most beautiful views of the Nile. In this hotel have gone Gondoleezza Rice, Agatha Christie and the major political figures.
The luxuriance of the flora, the beauty of contrast palms, green, Nile and the desert will leave you speechless.
The landscape is surrounded by the silent passage of the felucca on the river, and when approaching the hour of sunset from this area of the world you can enjoy the breathtaking landscapes that are unimaginable to those who do not live in person.

We conclude the day with a ride in the souk, or bazaar of ASWAN, where you can find all kinds of spices, where people walk when you asked your nationality, where they invite you into their shops to sell their goods here breathe fresh air and a pleasant walk, taking advantage of not more torrid heat of the day, since after all, not far from the state of Sudan.

Once back at the Hotel we expect a great dinner and then to bed early, as tomorrow at 3 o'clock in the morning we were awake for the last effort, the 580 km of desert in jeeps and back, passing through the tropics cancer, direction ABU SIMBEL.

580 Ks through the lybian desert and the sunset on the Nile

The day starts very early when the sky is still dark Egyptian, are the 3 in the morning and get ready for a day that will be very long. We are about to cross the Libyan desert in the Jeep and we drive 290 km to go, and as many to return, as a destination ABU SIMBEL. In this small town is the great and the small temple dedicated to Ramses II and Nefertari.
I'll tell you, you know Big Ben, more precisely the attraction of Egypt, called the Valley of the Kings (wrong name because the Valley of the Kings is something else), here's what we're going to see it today, but not at Gardaland, live .

The journey is one big adventure, in fact we have 4 to the appointment with the convoy, escorted by military means, which will take us into the desert.
Once started, unfortunately for the story you are asleep, given the time, but the whole thing takes about 6.30 when I wake up with eye falling and lying on the second row of seats of our half I see a lunar landscape. I get up at all and I see around me the desert is completely different from the others, this was precisely the image of desert that we all have in mind, an expanse of nothing that is broken only by the road we are traveling. It was like being in a dream and do not rule it out, as were the 6 and 30, but with the passage of time and the sunrise I saw that it was all real.
We could see the sunrise in the desert and I must say that this was really impressive.

Given the almost mild temperatures, I realized that we had just passed the Tropic of Cancer, after all it was 8 am and the temperature was still low compared to what awaited us in the afternoon.

After 290 km we reach ABU SIMBEL, and we can actually see these two temples which are considered by many the most magnificent of the world. Besides these two buildings have a special, in fact the man they had dismantled and reassembled at a height greater as the artificial lake Nasser would have plunged, and given the beauty have rightly seen fit to their protection and they have moved so an area not at risk.
Seen from the outside are really beautiful, these great temples carved into the mountain are a truly exceptional picture, other than Big Ben.

The heat begins to be felt, but seems less terrible than it really is, because we are close to the lake. Are the 11 and back to ASWAN, we climb on our vehicle and the convoy again swallowed by the desert different from what we crossed leg. We gather in a place that leaves no escape routes, are in the midst of a vast expanse of sand, outside is 50 degrees and seems to die, hellishly hot, the body seems unable to withstand those temperatures, it seems to melt a moment.
I have a picture at the top of that return, that is look out the window of our Mercedes (fortunately a reliable brand, do not wish anyone to remain stranded in that place) that landscape so terribly empty but so fascinating that it will seem absurd, but look nothing is more charming to look at a city on the move. Our "lunch" we ate in the car today, and the hotel has prepared a box with sandwiches. The brilliant idea was to make sandwiches with the butter sauce from the Danish, do not tell me that when I decided to roll with the butter with 50 degrees outside, I opened the box and the butter was a real piss-yellow, not the I'm doing great as an image. But apart from that as I watched the desert that flowed below me, there was an Arabic music in the background, almost a wail, like a prayer set to music, which served as a perfect side dish to a situation unbelievable and unforgettable. The desert is really a part of the planet that you can not understand if you do not breathe, I do not feel and do not see it in person, was too memorable.

After 580 km and a trip into the fire, we are back in this green city of ASWAN and after a deserved rest in the evening we have a beautiful sunset aboard a felucca, to resume the beauty of the sun dying behind the dunes.

Are precisely the 19 - 20 and we're on board the felucca, which takes us to a deserted stretch on the banks of the Nile. We reach a high point of ASWAN and immortalized them a sunset postcard image of the sun that turns off the light behind the dunes spreading fire red is just the right image to end a day dedicated to the desert and the beauty of ABU SIMBEL, this town just 30 km from the border with Sudan.

The day was very long and very intense, we expected a quiet evening and dedicated to good food and billiards, as well as the brackets with the Egypt Air Hostess Yari only knows, but that's another story.

The obelisk in Aswan - back to Cairo and sunset

Here we are at the last day in ASWAN, a little sorry to leave this city, so beautiful, so colorful, with a thousand landscapes. Maybe I understand that we are coming to the end of the adventure because in a few hours we will return to the north and then back to CAIRO.

Before returning have time to visit in the morning 's only unfinished obelisk in the world, which also is the largest ever built, in fact far less than 41 meters. After the usual sailed to leave the hotel and get to the bank of the Nile, we find ourselves in front of the largest stock, put at our disposal throughout the trip.
We looked forward to a truck with soldiers and 2 inside the compartment behind 3 other tanks, we have covered in this site. Objectively, it was the most useless of Commons but not the trip we disdained.
Arrived at the site of the obelisk, we do a scramble a couple of minutes in a sort of mine under a sun hot enough, and we arrive in front of the obelisk.

A huge figure lying inside the rock, the thing that leaps to the eye is definitely working and we wonder how millions of years ago could not have had the means so precise sculpting the rock into us so meticulous.

Shortly after returning to the hotel to pack, eat, and we are going to arrive at the small airport of ASWAN, with the classic cold pre-flight.
This flight was the most "fun" from the viewpoint of the reader, not from me, all 5 flights, in fact, first of all once been on "The Mediterranean", I discover that the girl glances, known in ' hotel was a hostess of Egypt Air, and tell you most was the hostess of the flight of 14:00 ASWAN CAIRO than our people.
Apart from this, I must tell you the image of this flight. I find myself sitting in the middle, with the right guidance Mahmud (completely paralyzed each flight) and left a perfect Egyptian large tonnage unknown to me. Darius, the director had a place just behind and then I had no moral support.

The flight begins in a special atmosphere, the plane's engines start to make the rolling, on my right Mahmud cites verses from the Koran in a low voice, but absolutely understandable to increase my adrenaline, my left impassive face of a typical Egyptian face, and above me like magic that leaves you open your video slide pictures of mosques with background of Arabic texts and therefore incomprehensible, but I assure you of great emotional impact, given the situation.

If it had been September 12, 2001, I would have died there, just for the occasion and the images that surrounded me.
The trip has gone well, so we end up at CAIRO where our driver meet again in the capital, which brings us back to the Sheraton Heliopolis Hotel.

The mission of the afternoon was to capture the sunset of megacities CAIRO, so our mahmoud brings us to a place high above the city, and tells us that this is not a place for girls as well, in fact, he says, some are even on here ... kiss ....
From this sentence I understand that the Muslim culture is just different from ours and if he saw an Italian television program, remember that Italy is the mother of moral impurity. Perhaps it would have a point ...
However immortality, from this place "desecrated" the sunset over CAIRO, through a haze particular, gives us a very impressive sight.

We are now reaching the end of the day and once back, after eating in the hotel restaurant, we brought the last chance, the casino in CAIRO.

Copt zone; mini-cruise along Nile

We are now in the pipeline, programs of the day becomes lighter and physical fatigue starts to get a little 'feel.
In the morning, we decide to shell out the last packet of bills, for the filming of the Coptic area of CAIRO. That is, a Christian neighborhood in the intellectual capital of the Muslim world.
The area is protettissima fact must pass to enter more than one checkpoint. Once inside seems to be in another Egypt. In fact you do not see more veils typical Egyptian clothes, but the atmosphere is more Western. The women accompanying children to church as in a classic scenario of the country after the war believer. There's a joyous air between the inhabitants of the area, which filled us with smiles and greetings. You notice a sea of crosses in every corner of the neighborhood, and once inside, he asked those present in the 8 known as the habits and ways of praying seems to be a European city. The thing that makes it very stranoe fascinating at the same time, is that basically you are in Egypt, but what you see does not match what you've experienced and discovered during the previous days, both in terms of the customs that the modes of being and living.

One interesting thing is that churches do not see the classic wooden cross, but there are some white sheets shown above with Christ, and everything is "embellished" by a series of tacky Christmas lights that surround the figure. Another unusual thing is that they decided to create the papyri (commercial), usually depicting deities and hieroglyphs, but that re-image of Christ. Ie a mix of images and symbols decidedly off-topic again and gaudy.

But apart from these little things, we just visited the area is very beautiful and interesting and certainly a milestone for those who spend some days in CAIRO.

The afternoon is free and how we spend between postcards, souvenirs, pictures and downloads of preparations, in view of both the departure and the Mini Cruise on the Nile that was waiting for us in the evening.

Mahmoud is presented in a suit and tie, and leads us on the M / S Scarabeo, a boat sailing on the Nile serving a huge dinner buffet and delighting people with traditional dances and music.
Before you start dinner, we spent some 'time on the deck of Scrabble and admired as well as having possibly one of the most colorful sunsets of the trip, and enjoyed the now inevitable Mango or Guava juice, we made an interview I conducted , driving Mahmoud throughout his work. We talked about future projects, new routes, and a bit 'of melancholy began to be felt. But the hour of dinner had arrived, and unfortunately for us the typical amount of food ingested and goodness in those days was really great, so we were fairly light.

While sailing on the Nile, have begun their traditional dances and at one point appeared in the belly dancer, the first ballet I was pardoned, but the second has involved me in the midst of all logically, in a sensual dance and aphrodisiac (All this is filmed, and will be sold at a high price). The evening continued with dancing and traditional songs and it was a very pleasant evening, an unforgettable conclusion.
The ship docks after two hours of travel, the driver takes us back to the Hotel, and with eyes full of that sunset so red, red dress like that of the belly dancer swaying ... .. (but that's another story) .... We were preparing for another night at the Sheraton, the last, because tomorrow we return to Rome.

The Cairo museum - Back to Rome

And here we finally have the last hours in Egypt, for now, and emotions we've experienced all too many on this trip. If not browse through my calendar to remind me to forget it Surely someone, not because it unattractive, but why were so many and so close that it is almost impossible to remember them all.

Before flying to the other empire, namely the Roman and leave behind the Egyptian, it must be a step in the CAIRO Museum, where it is kept the famous mask of the pharaoh Tutankamoun. The visit is fast, almost in passing, because we focus on more important things to the museum, as indeed this mask, with 11 pounds of solid gold, which was used to cover the head of Pharaoh Tutankamoun. We saw embalmed mummies of men, animals, jewelry, jewelers who do not envy the present, given the accuracy and thoroughness of the workforce. We have touched on sarcophagi, statues seen, in short, everything that was inside the tombs and pyramids that we visited during the voyage, was transported to the CAIRO Museum, which according to experts, contains materials for a value invaluable.

Well, after the visit, the road we travel is that which brings us to the airport and with eyes full of pictures and landscapes, with a heart full of emotions, and have the desire to return to those places so distant from us and every imaginary, we board the Alitalia flight to Rome Fiumicino.

I was hoping to close his eyes and, as I know, all over Greece to relive the images of the trip, but the pilot sborrone Romagna has given us a landing in the Top Gun, with breathtaking turns at 50 meters above the ground, which I have c ... under ... done ... and I was put off the idea of reliving my dreams really happened at night, lying on the bed of the Roman house.