Driving Through Egypt

EGYPT THE FIRST TIME The Adriatica di Navigazione ferry lets us obtain the carnet de passage, so I can drive my Italian-registered car into Egypt. As soon as we disembark at Alexandria, they fit an Egyptian number plate front and rear, written in Arabic, and from here our adventure begins. It's me, Stefania, Nadia and Sabrina. We set off for El Alamein, west of Alexandria, to visit the memorial to the Italian fallen, since the parade ground of the Pisa parachute barracks bears the same name and for a good 2 months every morning I used to read that name; now at last I'm here in person. We then head for Giza to admire the pyramids. Here I discover that driving in Cairo without denting the car is a near-impossible feat: traffic and chaos reign supreme, everyone honks for no reason and nobody respects the rules; I reckon they're all ulcer-ridden here.

The next morning, near the airport, leaving the hotel, we discover the Escort's hubcaps have vanished. We go south and reach Aswan and Luxor, a visit to the Valley of the Kings and Queens, a boat trip on a felucca on the Nile, and on to Abu Simbel. Here in Egypt the tip is higher than the cost of a tank of petrol, even though the octane of the regular fuel is so low that the engine knocks. We get a flat tyre, and the man who repairs it does it practically by hand and prefers to be paid with a new car bulb rather than with Egyptian pounds. A cow walks out of the main door of a house by the roadside; we nearly run it over. Another odd sight: some dogs feed on the remains of a dead cow. We also see horrifying scenes of child slavery - children carrying baskets full of earth from one point to another, and a guard with a whip in his hand. We're forced to buy bottled water or face the runs.

We head for the Red Sea, with diving and bathing galore; we also do a day trip by boat to the coral reef at Hurghada. The last stop, after passing through Suez, is Sharm el-Sheikh, with a visit to St Catherine's Monastery; here we inflate my dinghy and row in the little bays of the Red Sea. At the end of this long holiday we head back toward Cairo and Alexandria to re-embark for Athens.