Medieval Cairo was one of the cities of “The Thousand and One Nights” and unlike Baghdad and Damascus many of its buildings from those times are still there, mostly hidden among the narrow streets and alleys of the old town. I spent many weekends searching them out to find some of them in terrible disrepair and others in remarkably good condition and still being used today. On this page I have included photos of just a few either because they…
Here is a collection of snapshots of Cairo (and a couple of Port Said) – streetlife, vistas of the Nile and some of the more modern architecture that reflect what an amazing city this is – and one of my all time favourite places. Click on the thumbnails to view full image.
Below are some photos of a few of the more important pyramids that lie not too far from Cairo along with a few exhibits from the Egyptian Museum. I took loads of photos of many other ancient Egyptian temples which can be seen on either side of the Nile all the way up to the Sudanese border almost a thousand kilometres away, but unfortunately most of these have been lost. Zoser’s step pyramid at Saqqara when constructed in 27th Century…
All the photos on this page feature Siwa Oasis – one of the most picturesque and idyllic places in Egypt. Lying in the middle of the Western Desert, it appears pretty much like the proverbial mirage. Of course being in Egypt it is famous throughout history, not least because Alexander the Great took some time out from conquering to visit the famed oracle at the temple of Amum. Also Cleopatra bathed here in a pool named after her. It is…
Wed 20th December 2000. This time it was the fairly short trip to Asmara. In fact, when I arrived I noticed a bus to Massawa was about to leave so I hopped on that one and was soon heading off the plateau and down 2500m to the shores of the Red Sea. They say this road goes through three seasons in two hours. I can believe it because the blue sky was blotted out as we descended through clouds and…
The following day was another early start, this time due west to Tesserai which sits on the border with Sudan. I’m not sure why I went. Why not perhaps. the Eritrean plateau is dry and dusty but as you might expect nearing the Sudanese border takes it to another level. Also never mind Eritrea had recently had a war of independence the road was lined with refugee camps filled with Sudanese. There were also loads of checkpoints. Mainly composed of…
Mon 11th. Time for some bus travel – to the second city of Keren. At the bus station it was a bit of a scrap to get on but as an honoured foreigner I was shown to a seat. In Keren I checked in at the Sicilian Hotel, a pleasant hotel with an attractive courtyard bedecked in bouganvillea, in fact I had noticed a lot of this growing in Asmara as well – it brought some colour to an otherwise…
Those unfamiliar with Cairo will not realise that it is pretty cold in winter. The builders of my apartment block obviously didn’t realise it either as there was no heating and the wind was whistling through my (closed) windows. It was coming up to the Christmas break and I was wondering where I could go on holiday that would be warm but not too far away. I presumed seeking warmth meant going south so perusing a map, I quickly ignored…
I’ve covered most of the trips I made around Sri Lanka on other pages so this is a bit of a mish mash of other short trips and photos of Colombo and the two places I lived in my time there. I think central Colombo was not the most attractive of cities but it’s a shame I didn’t take more photos. Mainly to keep fit and to socialize I played for the Puffins Rugby team. We mainly just played touch…
The run up to Christmas 1999 wasn’t the best. I had got knocked off my bike, fortunately not sustaining any major injuries but there were also a series of suicide bombings in the city. In one, 38 were killed and the President lost an eye. In the aftermath there was a curfew but surprisingly life pretty much returned to normal. It was a war zone after all. I had some friends over and on Christmas Day we had a fantastic…