Egypt Trip - Introduction

We decided a few months ago that we really have to go to Egypt during this Sabbatical in Tel-Aviv. We were hoping to find an arrangement similar to those we had in India and China - hook up with a local company and hire a car, driver and guide. We asked around and found no good recommendations, but our friend Rami recommended Ayala Tours. In particular he thought that the tour guided by Dan Bahat (Jan.26 to Feb.2, 2011) is sure to be excellent, and we (Avi, Edna, Einat & Yuval) signed up. Rami surprised us a few days later by announcing he also signed up as an assistant guide.

A few words about Dan: he was the former City Archaeologist of Jerusalem and currently teaches in Toronto. He is extremely knowledgeable, reads hieroglyphics as if they were his mother's tongue and is fluent in Arabic. His huge repertoire of (dirty) jokes in Arabic is a sure way of diffusing any unpleasant situation. And his mustache is unforgettable! See it at http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%93%D7%9F_%D7%91%D7%94%D7%98

And then the demonstrations started in Tunisia... and spread quickly to other Middle-Eastern countries and in particular to Egypt. Tuesday, Jan.25 was the Day of Wrath in Cairo with huge, mostly peaceful demonstrations, and we started wondering...

On the 26th we were notified by Ayala Tours that despite the riots in Cairo we are proceeding according to plan ("things are expected to calm down"). So we took a cab to the airport, met the group, flew to Cairo, were picked up at the airport and transferred to the hotel.

We (obviously) have many many more photos of the trip. They are all on Picasa