Southern Egypt by www.born2travel.it

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17. 12. 2005 Marsa Alam (EGYPT) Where have we ended up? There's really nothing here except the classic five-star, very beautiful, all-inclusive resort... The usual first-day pessimism! 18. 12. 2005 Marsa Alam (EGYPT) This morning we had a lot of fun. We got up very late and went straight to plunge into the sea, which is 10 metres from our room! The bay consists of a 50 cm layer of coral reef extending for about 150 metres, after which there's the drop-off, you take a step forward and fall in... as happened to me! 19. 12. 2005 Marsa Alam (EGYPT) Worth noting that at the entrance to the lobby of our resort there's an armed guard instead of a porter, complete with metal detector! There are no taxis and to have a look round the little town of Marsa Alam we had to book a taxi a day in advance from who knows where.

This morning we went snorkelling! What a thrill! The coral reef is stunning! There were huge, multicoloured fish that even let us touch them, not to mention the underwater flora! My first impression was of astonishment; I thought there really is a parallel world, the underwater one! "Under the sea! Under the sea!" someone was singing! It's so true! The Disney cartoons like "The Little Mermaid" or "Finding Nemo" are right when they show another world! That of the fish. There were tunnels, big canyons and we, immersed in the water, looked like so many Jacques Costeaus searching for who knows what... 20. 12. 2005 Marsa Alam (EGYPT) Finally this afternoon we managed to rent a taxi! Naturally after many checks and searches of the driver and the car! Will it be safe to go out alone? But our driver, Saab, very quiet, seems to be a calm person! First stop: Marsa Alam City.

A tiny village, dirty, desolate, smelly, where sheep and goats rule! Very interesting, though, to see how and where Egyptians really live; where they study, the kids coming out of school and the girls in veils... As in any self-respecting Arab place, here too women count for nothing and so our driver and our guide, Assan, for everything related to us men! Assan even told me that until recently it was said that a woman left the house only three times in her whole life: when she was born, when she went to her husband's house and when she died. Then he added that even for him all that was a bit excessive, maybe six or seven times you can let her out... the sad thing is that his wasn't a joke! Being so "primitive" in their relationship with women, consequently virginity too is a matter of capital importance for them.

They even display it outside the door of the house after the wedding night: the blood-stained sheets, witnesses to the woman's virginity! After the "visit" to Marsa Alam we try to sort out another matter: exchanging money! In Egypt even a simple thing becomes a state affair! The only exchange bureau in southern Egypt is at the airport! And how do we get in since it's a military airport? So begins the saga of the various permits, document checks, various passages under the ever-present metal detectors... but in the end we manage it! 20. 12. 2005 Luxor (EGYPT) Wake-up at 3.15... off to Luxor! After a few hours of travel we stop at Safaga, which is the meeting point for the tourist coaches from Marsa Alam and Hurghada to Luxor. There were about 60 buses escorted by police. Well, to tell the truth they were real soldiers, fully armed.

Tourism accounts for 40% of national revenue and Egyptians care a lot about the protection and safety of their visitors. The procession sets off, sorry, the caravan. A long and boring journey; every now and then we passed through some desolate little village, with the classic Egyptian sitting by the roadside undisturbed enjoying his narghile. Otherwise only and always desert. How sad! We visit the Temple of Karnak, very evocative, and after lunch at a luxurious five-star hotel (Le Meridien) overlooking the Nile we take the chance to look round this building: beautiful decorations, careful details, paintings and luxury, so much so that it felt like being not in Egypt but in the United Arab Emirates! On a little boat we cross part of the Nile to the jetty leading to the "Valley of the Kings". Here many tombs of the Egyptian pharaohs have been found...

The most characteristic thing by far was the night visit to the Luxor temple; those lights, those shadows, all those majestic statues and above all the mournful prayers coming from the minarets made it all the more unforgettable. One thing that truly enchanted me was the thought that those hieroglyphs, which I was observing so attentively, were 3500 years old... 3500 years! Can you imagine?

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