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Summer of 23
  • Matt Tabone
  • Katie Ashton
Jul – Okt 2023

Summer of 23

The long awaited honeymoon Baca lagi
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  • Summer of 23
    Paros from the sky

    Day 74 - Paros to Athens, Greece

    21 September 2023, Greece ⋅ 🌙 25 °C

    Today is the last full day on the island. We had breakfast then had a quick chat to Chris & Barbs and packed our stuff. Our little Hybrid Fiat Panda fits all our luggage with ease in the boot!

    We drove to Naousa and had another look around the village, we figured we’d seen majority the village had to offer and seeing it is much more lively at night we headed to find some lunch at another village.
    We ended back at Back to Back in Piso Livadi, a few boa buns & some onion rings, the Greeks know how to feed people very well!

    Next bay over is Paralia Logaras beach, we found a good parking spot, it had a shower to clean ourselves off from the salty water, so we ended up having a swim and relax on the beach.

    We went back through Aliki village to grab a little souvenir for our time in Paros. We filled up the car & returned it at Paros Airport, this airport is tiny compared to some of the airports we’ve been to so was fun working out how they do things here.

    We flew out to Athens, before flying I had messaged the Accomadation in Athens with our arrival time, she soon told me there is massive strikes in Athens and that the metro wasn’t running and the bus may not be running either. The buses were running until 9pm, we got on what I presume to be one of the last ones for the evening.
    Once close to CBD Athens, the roads were blocked by traffic and the bus driver announced the last stop was blocked off and it’s easier to walk. We started walking to the accommodation and along the walk found traffic jams everywhere that what was actually blocking the CBD.
    Three riot squad busses blocking the road with riot squad heading down a side street, another lot getting gas masks on. We hustled out of there pretty fast and worked out a way so we were going the opposite way from the protesters and the riot squad.

    We made it to the Accomadation and then headed to grab some dinner. We stumbled upon a small plate eatery, Granada, the server was very friendly to us! We were amazed at 10pm how busy it was!

    After dinner we had a quick walk and found out how good and lively the area is that we are staying in! They even have a resturant named Klook, that is a Halloween themed resturant all year round, it specialises in desserts so you can bet money this is on the itinerary now!    Baca lagi

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  • Summer of 23

    Day 75 - Athens, Greece

    22 September 2023, Greece ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    Seeing we couldn’t find a supermarket last night, we thought we’d treat ourselves to breakfast out.
    We went off to Picky Bunch & Speciality Coffee, I know it’s summer but I’m a sucker for Porridge, so had to try their porridge. It was good, still doesn’t beat Seven Penny on the West Coast, NZ

    Our plan for the day was to see some of the ancient sites of Athens. We went to the Ancient Agora of Athens to buy our passes to visit the main 5 sites. The lady attendant was informing people that Saturday & Sunday were free days due to heritage days, so all sites were free. So we changed our plan to go see the sites tomorrow. Majority of sites you can see from the outside as well & there’s not many information boards inside.

    So we went past a couple from the outside as they are dotted all along the main areas, then headed to the main shopping street. We wanted to get some clothes for Egypt as some of my clothes have seen better days, also we found 50euro tax free shipping in Greece.
    I also got a haircut and finally went for the shaved look… aerodynamic on top… shame about the rest!

    We got some lunch from Smak Ζυμερία, which is pizza with the Greek twist to it! It was amazing!

    We got back to the accommodation to cool down then headed over to the Acropolis Museum, as we had been told by other travellers this was a not to be missed museum.

    Before reaching the museum, we found a local shop with an amazing dress for Katie that would keep her cool for Egypt but modestly covered encase that is needed. The shop keeper was friendly and her Labrador wasn’t moving from the cold stone floor in a hurry while we were in the small shop!

    Once at the museum, we started the museum off by going under the museum, this is the ruins site of Roman & early Byzantine Athens. They built the museum to be raised and made sure smart placement of the concrete footings, to not damage the ruins that are there. This building is sitting on bedrock that can survive a 10.0 magnitude earthquake! The digging started in 1997 for the ruins, they had excavated the footprint of the museum and found all the ruins to be able to start the museum build, then they covered it in sand to protect the ruins while building the museum. The museum was opened in 2009, but the ruins were not open for the public to walk through until 2019.

    After the ruins site we went into the museum, all the artefacts they found on the acropolis hill is now stored here (except for some marble statues the Pom’s won’t give back, as they think they had permission to take them!)
    The statues in question are the Caryatids of Erechtheum, which are one of six female figures who supported the roof of the south porch of the Erechtheion (next to the Parthenon up top) the female figures on the Erechtheion there today, are replicas due to the originals weathering away.

    We found the museum to be well laid out, we are not ones to love museums but we both agreed it was great to see. I’m just amazed at how much stays in tact especially from 600 BC!

    After the museum we made our way through the heat back to our Accomadation, I got a beer to enjoy once back at the apartment. (Mamos beer for those wondering!) Katie had the enjoyment of watching some 90 day fiancé on the iPad!

    We had dinner at a local tavern I found and just happened to be right behind Little Klook!
    Krasopoulio tou Kokkora is a little tradition Greek tavern serving a great Mousaka made with beef mince! Katie had the local sausage, we also had the house wine! Biggest thing I’ll miss is the 4-9euro 0.5l house wine in Europe! Unfortunately we were too full to try Little Klook, but I did tell the waiter trying to lure me in to there, that I’d be back tomorrow night!

    To let my new hair do down, we went to The Party Bar to have a Spritz & a Gin & Tonic to finish our night.    Baca lagi

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  • Summer of 23
    11

    Day 76 - Athens, Greece

    23 September 2023, Greece ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    Today with free admission to the main ancient sites, we had the Acropolis Hill in our sites for the morning.

    On the way we grabbed breakfast at The Brunchers. We had some great pancakes but Katie’s ordered got mixed up through miss hearing her/language barrier, so Katie ended up having pancakes covered in chocolate and strawberries!

    We lined up to get our tickets to the Acropolis, not realising they are timed even on free days, we got the 12pm slot. There were many tour guides with free tickets selling an hour guided tour for earlier time slots, but I had Rick Steves Podcast tour waiting for us!

    While we killed the time we went over to see the Panathenaic Stadium which is the site of the first modern olympics in 1896.
    Along the way back we stopped in at the Temple of Olympian Zeus, which is a former colossal temple that is built on the site of a former ancient outdoor sanctuary dedicated to Zeus. Today only 15 columns stand (hard to actually count with all the scaffolding up) with an open air museum, there is also ruins to a local bath house on the site.

    We went back to the Acropolis Hill for 12pm, it was hot to say the least! We turned on the podcast and got to see a view of the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, which is now returned to its former glory with out a roof, an open air theatre. We walked up through the impressive entrance gate, the Propylaea. Learnt more about the Parthenon and how Greece is trying to rebuild the Parthenon with existing pieces but also using new marble in places that there are missing pieces. The Marble comes in blocks from the same quarry that the Parthenon Marble was made from. We also got to see the replicas of the Caryatids on the Erechtheion.

    After visiting the Hill and looking around at the other ruins, we walked back to town to grab an easy lunch from Smak then onto the Accomadation to relax out of the heat.

    Before dinner we grabbed a spritz and wine from a bar in town to celebrate Europe trip coming to an end as we move to the Middle East tomorrow.
    For dinner we went to another local tavern that is a wee bit more touristy than we usually go.

    We ended the night at Little Kook for some ice cream and a milkshake… the ice cream was good, we put the milk shake tasting a little different to their milk.    Baca lagi

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  • Summer of 23
    1

    Day 77 - Cario, Egypt

    24 September 2023, Mesir ⋅ 🌙 32 °C

    Today we leave Athens to make our way to Egypt. We left the Accomadation once we were all packed after doing some major washing!

    We went for an easy breakfast at Picky Brunch & Specialty Coffee, some much needed eggs and avo was on the cards!

    We got the train out to the airport, got checked in & got our tax refund back from some very ‘lovely’ ladies, they definitely had to get some customer service skills.

    We arrived in Egypt and got to fly over Cairo! We were amazed at the site of Cairo and it’s vastness.
    Clearing immigration was a breeze, as long as you have your 25USD each and a guide from Intrepid no one batters an eye lid.

    We met another couple that are doing the Egypt part of the Intrepid tour and they came in the same car with us to the hotel.

    Cairo is a very interesting place, you can’t really find the right words for it! The noises from all the cars tooting at each other, the driving is insane there is no lines just horns, to cross the road you walk with dominance and hope you don’t get run over.
    Then the buildings, everything has some desert dust on it and it goes from luxury resorts, to normal buildings, to buildings you think may be getting torn down but people are living in!

    Once at the hotel we checked in and had a chat to the hotel staff. They told us the area is safe but don’t trust anyone that talks to us trying to show us something or help us in any way. So we walked to McDonalds which was an interesting 15 minute walk! We had to cross two major streets - tuck behind a local and hope they want to survive today - Katie got a wink from a guy in a car but he still didn’t let her cross in-front of his car. We also had a little girl try and get our attention but she worked out it wasn’t going to work eventually.

    We made it to McDonalds to get Katie her western fix.

    The walk back was somewhat similar with a whistle at Katie and the usual beggars around. We grabbed some water from local mini market and headed back to the hotel.

    We decided to keep it low key and just have a night in and get used to Egypt.    Baca lagi

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  • Summer of 23
    1Meat for the Shawarma

    Day 78 - Cairo, Egypt

    25 September 2023, Mesir ⋅ ☀️ 36 °C

    Today our tour starts at 4pm with a tour meeting, so we had the day to have a look around Cairo.

    We had breakfast at the hotel which was interesting… I’m still not convinced a chicken laid the egg for my omelette, Katie went with a stale roll!

    So we ventured out into Cairo and walked across the bridge to Zamalek area, which is an island on the Nile River. We walked to Holm Cafe which I had read served nice flat whites.
    It was a nice flat white, just more priced as a westerners haven than Egyptian locals but it was a lovely cafe.

    We walked into Downtown Cairo, well I took us a bit to far North but a nice sun bathed walk along the waterfront of the Nile got us into Downtown Cairo.

    We had to cross a major intersection which is a mission in itself, we walked past the Egyptian Museum and had to cross yet another major intersection so we could find some lunch. The expectation is that pedestrians will cross the street because they have too, and cars will stop for them because they have too… we just wait for a gap!

    We had lunch at Oldish Cafe serving non tradition & traditional food. I had an amazing Watermelon juice with the traditional Hawawshi, which is a pita stuffed with minced meat and spiced with onions, pepper, parsley & chilies. Katie had a pizza - Margarita for those so curious about it.

    We walked back to the hotel to freshen up before our tour meeting.
    At 4pm we met our guide who said the meeting will be after our visit too Khan al-Khalili bazaar. Our guide Mohamed gave us an option to see some of the very first buildings in Cairo ever built while still being able to wonder the bazaar later.
    We arrived at Bab al-Futuh which is the cities main medieval gate built in 1087. The moat that surrounded the walls wasn’t filled with water, rather flammable liquid so they can burn their enemies when defending the city.

    We saw the Al-Hakim Mosque which is from the 10th century and worked our way down Al Moez Ldin Allah Al Fatmi street marvelling at the mosques and buildings built out of Alabaster Marble and how they have been carved.
    Once we reached the end of the street we went to the Bazaar to see the cheap stuff as Mohamed put it. It was fun walking around, vendors trying to grab your attention, one asking if we wanted to spend all our money at his store, another remembering Katie as we did a loop around some of the main parts.
    It is crazy the smells from different scents of foods and the noise of the Bazaar. Mohamed made sure we stayed close as e said the Bazaar was made on purpose to be a maze so there is no doubt in his mind we’d get lost!

    We got back on the mini bus to our Accomadation, traffic had picked up so took us some time to get back to the hotel. Mohamed did the tour meeting making sure we were well informed about Egypt and the tour we are about to embark on.

    Once the meeting was over, Mohamed led us to grab some food quick and easy around the corner from the hotel. Last night I had seen this resturant and wanted to come back to try a Shawarma, (souvlaki but their style!) it was delicious and so cheap compared to home!

    We finished the night after this as we have a busy day tomorrow!    Baca lagi

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  • Summer of 23
    1Buildings on the Bypass

    Day 79 - Giza, Egypt

    26 September 2023, Mesir ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Today we woke up at 5:30am to get ready for the day, breakfast was at 6am and we had to be on the mini bus to head to Giza by 6:30am.

    Mohamed gave us some facts along the way to Giza about how they think they made the Pyramids and how they picked the sites for the Pyramids. We arrived at the Pyramid complex at 7:10am and had to wait for the guards to let us in even though they open at 7am. Once in, Mohamed purchased our tickets, who wanted too could purchase a ticket into the Great Pyramid to see the Kings Tomb as well here.

    We were the first tour group to reach the Great Pyramid so Mohamed gave us an hour to explore the Pyramid and told who had brought tickets to go in the pyramid, to go now before other groups came.
    Katie stayed out but I went in with others. Apart from our group there were 4 people going up and a couple coming down. It was a tight climb yet amazing to see in person, it was also very hot & humid in the pyramid! Number One wonder of the world ticked off!

    Once out Katie and I walked around the Great Pyramid to look how huge it actually is and take some photos.

    Our second stop in the complex was the panoramic viewing area of the pyramids. Seeing the haze was thick we could only make out the outline of the Great Pyramid but could see Pyramid of Khafre, Pyramid of Menkaure & the satellite Pyramids.
    This is where we meet the camels to have a 15 minute ride on one each! It’s interesting riding a camel as you only have this little point to hold onto and the camel has a bit of a mind of its own! Great experience, even happier to be back on the sand!

    The third stop in the complex was the Sphinx, the biggest sphinx in Egypt, the haze had lifted so we had a good view of the Great Pyramid & Pyramid of Khafre. We walked through the Valley Temple of Khafre to get to the Sphinx, the temple is made out of Alabaster Marble for the floor, Granite blocks for the walls and now has no roof. The Alabaster floor was chosen so when the candles are lit, the floor reflects the light and is said to be an amazing site to see with candles all over the floor.
    Our guide Mohamed had organised this perfectly for our visit to the Pyramids, every time we were done somewhere, 3 bus loads would be turning up! He just wished he could of fixed the Haze for us but we were all appreciative that we got the Pyramids to ourselves for a bit!

    We left the Pyramid complex and started to head back into Cairo, Mohamed gave us an option to visit a Papyrus shop that makes the Ancient Paper Papyrus, that is made from the pith of the Papyrus Plant. We got a demonstration on how it is exactly made & how durable it is.
    This was a wee bit of a touristy shop that once the demonstration was done you could buy something, so being the tourists we are, we really liked one that had the Egyptian family tree on it so figured it would be a good memento for home.

    After the lunch stop we jumped on a bypass motorway and saw buildings with multiple coloured walls and what used to be a building. Mohamed explained that the government when building this bypass, pulled down what was needed and left what wasn’t need to be pulled down!
    Mohamed made lunch simple, two options, mix grill or an Egyptian national dish called Koshary which is mixing pasta, Egyptian fried rice, vermicelli, brown lentils, and topped with a zesty tomato sauce, garlic vinegar and garnished with chickpeas and crispy fried onions. Garlic juice is an option on the side as well.
    The whole group wanted to do the Koshary dish, lunch for Katie and I with two cokes cost $4.25NZD and it was a great dish! Katie couldn’t finish all of hers so had to help out!

    After lunch we went to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Mohamed got us in and took us through the exhibits and explained in great detail about some of the artefacts. He took us through to what he thought were the better pieces, as there is so much to see, we definitely couldn’t see it all. We got to see the Tutankhamun collection which I have always wanted to see, this will be moved to the new Museum near the Pyramid’s once it finally opens officially.

    We went back to the hotel and between the group we had 3 rooms for people to have a shower and clean up ready to jump on the night train to Aswan.
    Before pick up time of 6:30pm to head for the train, we went to the 10th floor to have a beer with some of the group.

    We arrived at the train station in Giza early, as traffic can be 15minutes to an hour from the hotel. The train was scheduled for 7:45pm… it arrived at 8:45pm or so, Egypt time!

    We got on the train and they served us dinner, once dinner was done they converted the bottom seats into a bed. Katie took the top bunk and I the bottom.    Baca lagi

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  • Summer of 23
    1

    Day 80 - Aswan, Egypt

    27 September 2023, Mesir ⋅ ☀️ 40 °C

    This morning we woke up from a restless nights sleep on the sleeper train. The train was a lot noisier and the driver seemed to slow down and speed up sporadically through the night.

    We had breakfast on the train and we were warned it was bread, jam, bread, another couple of spreads and bread. The croissant & roll were good with a bit of jam.

    We got into Aswan later than expected, around 11am we disembarked to train and got on a bus to head off to the Philae Temple.

    You have to get a boat across to the temple as it is located on an Island. The Temple has been moved from its original spot that was 200m away from this island due to the Great Dam being built and was submerging it under water.
    The Philae Temple was built by the last dynasty of ancient Egypt, the Ptolemaic. It is dedicated to Isis, the goddess of healing, birth, and magic, her husband Osiris, and their son Horus. The temple is one of the last places where ancient Egyptian religion survived after Christianity swept the shores in 550AD. The Temple has served many religions over the years, you can see a basilica inspired altar & crosses throughout the temple.
    It was quite hot on the island so we cooled down with a can of coke & an ice cream that worked out to be very expensive compared to in the towns.

    We travelled back by boat to the mainland. Mohamed called the Accomadation and the rooms weren’t ready so he took us to Philae Essence Palace that cold squeezes flowers to make oils & fragrances. We got a demonstration of the glass blowing of the decorative small vases & a demonstration of the fragrances on offer. Mohamed had ordered us Falafel to the Essence store to have lunch there.

    We finally got to the hotel and it’s biggest attraction is the pool seeing it is so hot!

    Tonight’s dinner is organised by Intrepid at the Nubian Village across on the West Bank across from Aswan on Elephantine Island. We had to take a small boat across, we ended up having to tow a Felucca to a docking point due to the loss of wind. We visited and walked through the village and had dinner at a family’s home. We had a lovely cooked meal and the male host gave us the history of Nubian and how they only have a verbal language not a written language.

    After dinner we went back to the Accomadation by the boat.    Baca lagi

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  • Summer of 23
    11

    Day 81 - Abu Simbel Temple, Egypt

    28 September 2023, Mesir ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    Today we woke up at 3:50am, we were taking a bus at 4:15am to get to Abu Simbel Temple, close to the Sudan border.

    The drive takes 3-4 hours to get there roughly (remember to adjust for Egyptian time). The Accomadation had sorted breakfast packs for us to take that were a very interesting mix of foods that should of been chilled, but weren’t. We stuck to eating the bread and didn’t touch the cheeses, yogurt or the selection of meats no one recognised.

    We arrived in-front of Abu Simbel Temple at 9:15am, Mohamed explained that during the reign of Egyptian King Ramses II, he built the Temple at Abu Simbel to intimidate his enemies and seat himself amongst the gods.
    He also had a second temple constructed for his favourite wife, Queen Nefertari. It took 20 years to carve these temples into the mountain.

    Prior to 1964 these temples used to be 60metres lower than its current position. Thanks to the Great Dam project the temples were going to be submerged in water and lost. Egypt asked UNESCO for help and 50 countries came to the aid of Egypt and financed the moving of the temples. The structures were cut into logistical pieces of up to 20tonne blocks, transported and stored. They made sure they took the front of the whole mountain and had to recreate this on the new site.
    They reposition the temples exactly directing the same way and put the jigsaw that was back together. They then made a concrete dome behind & over the temples, and covered it with sand and rocks to replicate the hill it was carved into previously.

    The only down side to these temples was the amount of tourists here, it had no order and the tombs were very hot and not enjoyable with the amount of people there. Coming out of the tombs the 40 degrees outside felt cold!

    After an hour and a half of checking the temples we headed back to the bus, unlike a gift shop you need to exit through a market. This is where Katie got called a yellow haired girl and then I got asked how many camels would I sell her for! I asked Mohamed and a camel goes for 1500USD so would need a lot to recoup the trip so far!

    We drove back to Aswan which turned into a near 5 hour drive. Once back at the hotel we went to find some food, google maps sent Katie, our new NZ friends Kelsey and Pip and I to a falafel place that didn’t exist where it said. Later that night we found it further up the road but we figured ordering would of been interesting! We ended up getting McDonalds as it was too hot and none of us knew Arabic to try anywhere else!
    This McDonald’s was a treat though as there was no screens to order from, no McCafe and the McFlurrys used the old school McFlurry mixer!! Also if you order a McFlurry, they serve it to you after your meal!

    We went back to the Accomadation and had a swim in the pool with a beer, in the hot weather it was bliss!

    For dinner Mohamed took us to a local eatery which we had to walk through the local Bazaar to get too.
    Again at dinner Katie got asked her name by the waiter and he asked no one else’s… it’s the blond hair!
    Dinner was a a Kofte Kebab, I tried to order the stuffed Pigeon but they had none unfortunately.    Baca lagi

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  • Summer of 23
    1

    Day 82 - Felucca on the Nile, Egypt

    29 September 2023, Mesir ⋅ ☀️ 44 °C

    This morning we woke up and had breakfast at the hotel, there was a huge variety at this morning for breakfast! Coffee was good too!

    We had until 11am to be ready to board the Felucca so we went and grabbed some snacks and water for the next day or so. Egypt has their weekends on Friday & Saturday, and Friday is their holy day to pray so not a lot was open in the morning.

    We boarded the Felucca at 11am and set sail heading North towards Luxor. No end destination specifically as we just try and get as far North before sunset.

    Our guide Mohamed and the Felucca driver had to stop to pray and this is where they served lunch to us. Falafel was on the menu with rice, veggies and some spicy beans which will make a shared toilet an interesting.

    We sailed on further north, going below the New Aswan City Bridge, they had to lower the sail to get under this bridge which the crew made look easy. We watched another Felucca in-front have a lot of trouble with this. Just north of the bridge we stopped and who wanted a swim could. Katie and I didn’t but we got to watch some sheep and goats get herded along the river edge.

    We sailed until sunset where we ended up docking with other Feluccas.
    Dinner was served here of grilled chicken, rice and some vegetables.

    The low of the evening was meant to drop to only 28degrees at 6am. They brought us out blankets that we really didn’t need as we sleep on the Felucca with no sides so we relied on the breeze to pick up to keep us cool.    Baca lagi

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  • Summer of 23

    Day 83 - Luxor, Egypt

    30 September 2023, Mesir ⋅ ☀️ 44 °C

    This morning we woke up from a bit of a restless night of sleep, from the heat over night. We believe it dropped to a balmy 26degrees and just started to heat up from there from 6am!

    Breakfast consisted of omelet’s, pancakes & fruit on the Felucca, whilst we ate breakfast the crew rowed the boat over to the East side bank, where we would be picked up by a bus to be taken to Luxor.

    We said goodbye to the Felucca crew and got into the bus, this drive will be a 4 to 5hour drive to Luxor.

    After about 5 hours we made it to Luxor, Mohamed had organised us lunch to be picked up which was Falafel for some or Chicken wraps for others.
    We then went to see ACE - Animal Care in Egypt, an animal hospital that is apart of Intrepid’s Foundation to give back to local communities. We got a tour of the cattery, kennels, horse/donkey stables & got to meet the resident Tortoise. They house about 30 or so cats at once and try to neuter them to keep numbers down, for dogs they try not too, because it will be harder to interact with other dogs or get targeted by stray dogs. They are seeing more Husky dogs come to Egypt unfortunately.

    We left ACE and headed for Karnak Temple in Luxor. The Temple of Karnak was believed to be the spot where creation began. They also believed it was a point of interaction between the god Amun-Ra and Egyptians. It is important to Egypt's cultural history because it was a place of worship and provides clues about the ancient Egyptian religion. Each Pharaoh or King added to the temple as they believed if they did this they would please the gods. We spent a couple of hours here, I could of stayed the whole day but at 44 degrees in full sun, could unfortunately only last a couple of hours.

    Mohamed took us to a local eatery for dinner close to the hotel, this was just off the side of the bazaar markets. I had the local dish of Stuffed Pigeon & shared it with another guy in the trip so I could have some of his Camel Burger. There is too much admin required for Pigeon for not a lot of meat and Camel wasn’t a heap different from mince burger… we think they saw us coming personally. We tried to get an early night ready for the next day at The Valley of Kings.    Baca lagi

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  • Summer of 23

    Day 84 - Luxor, Egypt

    1 Oktober 2023, Mesir ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    We woke up at 4:30am this morning ready to be picked up by a bus at 5:15am as we are going on a Hot Air Ballon ride over the Valley of Kings, Valley of Queens & Valley of the Nobles.

    We got taken to the bank of the Nile where we boarded a small boat to go to the West side of the Nile. Once on the West side we got transported by bus to the clearing, where many Hot Air Balloons were getting ready to take off or already taking off!

    We lifted off and to Katie’s delight she found the ride to be a lot smoother than what she thought it would be! We went directly over the Valley of Kings then turning to go over the Valley of Nobles, then got a great view of the Valley of the Queens. Our pilot gave running commentary of what we were seeing while he was navigating the Balloon.

    We went in for landing and were not coming in correctly so they threw a rope out to drag us to the correct area. This was a very comical thing watching 6 guys get yelled at by the pilot to pull us to the right direction in the farmers paddock.

    We offloaded eventually & after giving a ‘voluntary’ tip for the ground crew… which was a box getting shaken in front of you until you pay to be let out! Mohamed had a bus awaiting us to take us to see the Valley of the Kings, as part of our tour we got an entrance ticket to see three tombs. Majority of us paid for extra tickets to see Rameses 5&6 tomb & Tutankhamen Tomb.
    Once through the entry gate, we got a golf cart up to the tombs, Mohamed showed us the three best tombs to enter that we could see included in our entry ticket.

    Katie and I started in RameseV & VI tomb which is one of the most intact tombs. Seeing it was an extra ticket it’s was quiet & colder than the other tombs.
    The second tomb we chose was Tutankhamen’s tomb which again was an extra ticket purchase. His Mummy is still in the tomb but all his collection is in the Egypt museum in Cairo. It’s amazing to see all the Jewels they fitted into these tombs as it is one of the smallest tombs in Valley of the Kings. Tutankhamen’s tomb took longer to find as they found Rameses V & VI tomb and didn’t know that Tutankhamen’s tomb was directly underneath the entrance way to Rameses V & VI Tomb.
    Our third tomb and the first included in our ticket was the tomb of Ramese I, this was a hastily burial tomb and only had painted walls not scripture walls. The walls are preserved magnificently, but seeing it is a deep tomb, and with the amount of people there, it was very hot and humid.
    Our fourth tomb we visited was Ramese IX, this amazing carvings with bright paint on the walls and you head down to where they found the mummy coffin. It was humid & people were trying to cut the line leading down to the bottom, which was fun to watch the reactions of some!
    Last tomb we visited was Ramese IV which consisted of a corridor down to the mummy coffin with painted & scriptures walls.

    We left the Valley of the Kings to head to an Alabaster factory, this where we got a demonstration how they make vases and souvenirs out of Alabaster stone.

    After the Alabaster factory we had lunch organised in a locals house. It was a delicious meal with chicken, moussaka, potatoes and local breads.

    We had the afternoon free to freshen up for the overnight sleeper train. We ended up at the pool with others from the trip having a few beers and cocktails. We freshened up and repacked ready for the train afterwards
    and having one more beer and cocktail on the roof before our departure.

    At the train station, we had ordered from Mohamed a dinner encase the train was late. Amazingly the train was right on time so we got on, settled in & got the train dinner that we shared one just picking at bits of it.

    This train seemed older than the last and everything rattled so we knew we’d be in for an interesting sleep.    Baca lagi

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  • Summer of 23

    Day 85 - Amman, Jordan

    2 Oktober 2023, Jordan ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    We woke up from our bumpy, rocky and lots of vibrating noises sleep we had on the sleeper train. Breakfast was served with a tea, I was more concerned about the tea flying at me due to the sudden random breaking of the train, than trying to eat. We ended up only eating the croissant and have a small packet of chips we had brought onto the train.

    Once at Giza station we took the bus to Pharohs Hotel in Cairo, this is where we will be picked up at 10am to go to the airport for our plane to Jordan.

    We got freshened up at the hotel, I ran out to get us some coffees, for take away coffees they wrap the cups up in plastic and hand it to you in a plastic bag… environmentalists eat your heart out!

    At 10am we said goodbye to the people that were not coming to the Jordan part of the tour & headed for the airport.
    I have never been through so much security at an airport like Cairo airport! Every bag gets checked multiple times and every one gets pat downs multiple times.
    We grabbed some McDonalds with the group and headed to the gate.

    The flight was bumpy but only one hour and twenty five minutes. We got informed it was a snack with a light refreshment, we got a meal but because of the turbulence it was a very rushed ordeal!

    We arrived in Amman and got escorted through border control and customs to the vehicle waiting to take us to the hotel.
    Once in the van, the driver asked which hotel we are staying at and none of us knew which hotel, and we all thought he was joking. That was until he started ringing Intrepid to find which hotel we were going too. It was lightly raining on our journey into Amman, Jordan only averages 120mm of rain a year, so this was a rare sight! That being said, no one knows how to drive with wet, greasy roads and we ended up sideways around one corner. I was always skeptic all of his braking movements as well (should of been called sliding more so).

    We got to the hotel and found out we had a tour meeting with our new guide, Omar, at 6pm.
    We ventured to a resturant suggested by him called Hashem Resturant. We ended up getting a mix of foods to share, a lot of different hummus, falafel & stuffed falafel. It was very traditional sort of resturant that was a very good meal.

    After dinner, I wanted to see Rainbow Street, others wanted to have a look too so we climbed the numerous stairs up towards Rainbow Street.
    Rainbow Street was a bit of an over hype, but was still good to see Amman at night and the relaxed feeling.

    Katie and I grabbed some supplies from the supermarket, had a bit more of a walk through downtown and then heading back to the hotel for the evening.    Baca lagi

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  • Summer of 23

    Day 86 - Aqaba - Wadi Rum, Jordan

    3 Oktober 2023, Jordan ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Today we left Amman with a 5 hour drive ahead of us to the town of Aqaba.
    The town of Aqaba is on the Red Sea and has the border of Israel to the West of the town.

    We got two stops along the way to stretch our legs and go to the toilet.

    Once we reached Aqaba, our tour lead, Omar, pointed out where we could grab lunch, some supplies for our trip to our desert camp & some much needed cheap alcohol.

    Once back on the bus we headed for South Beach where we can have a swim in the Red Sea.
    The area of South Beach offers a good view of Egypt & Israel that shares its borders to the Red Sea. We were very close, 10minutes to the Saudi Arabia border as well!
    Katie laid on the beach while I went for a snorkel with majority of the group.

    We loaded back in the bus and headed for Wadi Rum where we will stay in the desert for the next two nights. We arrived at the visitors centre where Omar paid for our entry. We were greeted shortly by the local bedouins who would drive us to their camp in their ‘Jeeps’… A V8 Land Cruiser, an old triton & an old 80series cruiser… so many Jeeps!
    We arrived at the camp after a 20 minute drive through the sand desert with amazing sandstone & Granite mountains picking from the sand all around us! We later found out each of these have a name from the local Bedouin tribe.

    We got settled into out cabins and had some local tea while we waited for dinner. Dinner tonight was chicken and vegetables cooked in an earthen oven by the locals accompanied by rice and pita bread. We had the son of the Sheik of the local tribe come and talk to us about their way of life and stars they use to find their way. He then proceeded to pull out an app on his phone for the stars, so I feel like he’s pulling our leg on this start telling!

    We stayed out talking to everyone and then went back to our cabin that is made out of a camel hair fabric with a metal frame for the night, to get some sleep ready for the day in the desert tomorrow.    Baca lagi

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  • Summer of 23

    Day 87 - Wadi Rum, Jordan

    4 Oktober 2023, Jordan ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    We woke up in our cabins to a very quiet desert! Breakfast was pita bread with an arrange of hummus, beans & some boiled eggs.

    After breakfast, the three ‘Jeeps’ turned up to take us on a 3-4 hour jeep safari around the Wadi Rum desert! We got into Sammy’s V8 Land Cruiser for the trip seeing he likes to have a bit more fun in the sand than the other drivers!
    Through the trip they took us to 2 rock look outs where we either, climbed up the side via a sand dune or climbing the rock itself. At both stops for the look outs, we had local tea and I brought a Jordanian Keffiyeh head scarce at the first stop.
    The second stop was to a canyon between two rocks, this is the start to the river for when it does rain and gets up to 3m high. When it does rain here it is heavy for a couple of hours and the water lasts in the river for about 5 days after the rain. We saw some old carvings from the Bedouin locals in the rocks here as well.
    The last stop of the Jeep Safari was a look out point near the camp. This is where the son of the Sheikh taught us how to make hand soap from a local plant found here.

    After the Jeep Safari we had lunch back at camp and siesta ready for a hike through the desert at 3pm.

    We started the hike and did a loop of around 10km. We saw three camels and got very close to them, we fed two of them biscuits and got photos with them. At the half way point, Sammy had a small fire going with their local tea ready for us & some sweets he brought by car to us.
    We ended the walk with a view of the sunset close back to camp.

    We had a shower to wash off all the dust from the sand we had gathered on us and then had dinner.
    There was a small fire started and we sat out chatting looking up at the stars before bed.    Baca lagi

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  • Summer of 23
    Ready for Petra

    Day 88 - Petra, Jordan

    5 Oktober 2023, Jordan ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    Today we had breakfast at the camp and had to be ready to be taken back to the local town by 7:30am.

    We took the twenty minute drive to the local town and our bus was awaiting us to take us towards Petra today. We said goodbye to the Bedouins that had hosted us for the last two nights and set off on the two and a half hour journey to Petra.

    We arrived just outside of Petra & stopped to see Moses’ Spring. Moses' Spring is one of two possible locations in Jordan for the site where Moses supposedly struck the rock with his staff and water gushed forth to the thirsty Israelites. We got told we could fill our bottles here but the water wasn’t flowing to much so we opted to play the safe card. The locals of Petra made an 18km sealed water system to bring this water to Petra.

    We dropped the bags off to the hotel and walked down to the entrance of the Petra site with Omar. Omar gave us a tour of the site and took us on a 4km walk into the site. He ended the tour all the way down to the basin & he let us make our own way back at our leisure. We were very hot and didn’t have the most amazing sleep so we decided to slowly walk back to the treasury and then towards the exit.

    We got freshened up and just chilled out in the room for a bit. We then headed to the Cave Bar for a drink, this isn’t a touristy bar that was dug out to look like a cave, this was one of the actual caves used by the locals once upon a time.
    After a drink, Omar wanted to see the group at 6:30pm for a meeting for the next day. We have a free day tomorrow to explore Petra so he gave us recommendations on how to see the Monastery & other locations throughout the site.

    We had dinner at the hotel which was a buffet meal.    Baca lagi

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  • Summer of 23

    Day 89 - Petra, Jordan

    6 Oktober 2023, Jordan

    Today we had a free day to ourselves to roam around Petra and see the sites. Omar gave us an option to see Little Petra by taking a free shuttle bus, then another bus towards the Monastery, with a bit of a walk to it. Easier and more picturesque than climbing the normal stairs.

    So we had breakfast at 6:30am and made our way to the visitors centre to take the shuttle bus to Little Petra (Triclinium).
    We arrived at Little Petra and walked through the valley admiring the many cats & kittens around the area. Little Petra is a smaller version of Petra with one carved tomb called Siq Al-Barid, there is also a cave with the remains of a fresco painted by the Nabataeans that represented grape vines, which confirmed the view that Beida was the area of wine production. We made our way to the top of the lookout point and then came back down to take the next bus to the start of the back trail to the Monastery.

    We climbed the 1750 steps along the trail and got some amazing views of the surrounding valley and landscape. Upon walking up towards the monastery from the back trail, you get first glimpse 5 minutes away and then you get to see it come into view for a couple 100 meters.
    We climbed up to a lookout point to admire the Monastery, I found this more amazing than the treasury, as everyone was spaced out and there wasn’t merchants everywhere trying to sell you something. The Monastery is one of the largest monuments in Petra, measuring 47m wide by 48m high.

    We started the downhill steps towards the basin, while we were had to dodge donkey & mulls either going up or down.
    We walked up to the Royal Tombs which were two different families with two different facades.

    It was a very hot day and not a lot of shade cover from the sun. We walked back to the Treasury and found it was a lot more quiet than when we were here yesterday. We admired it for a bit longer before turning and to start the walk out of the Petra site.

    We planned to go to the museum that is included in the ticket, though on the walk back we were felling hot & tired & opted to grab some food from the supermarket before going back to the hotel.
    We had a quiet afternoon at the hotel before 5pm, we had booked a Turkish Massage. The Turkish massage consists of a 15minutes spa bath, meant to be 15minutes in the sauna, (I stayed the longest awaiting to be called out) a scrub down and a massage. At the end they put you back into the spa bath for a while. It was good, we both thought the massage would be longer but good to get it after all the walking we’ve been doing.

    Tonight we had dinner with the group down locally from the hotel, then we turned in as we have an early start tomorrow.    Baca lagi

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  • Summer of 23

    Day 90 - Dead Sea, Jordan

    7 Oktober 2023, Jordan ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    Today we woke up and had to have our bags and had breakfast by 7.20am to get on the road towards the Dead Sea area.

    Our first stop along the way to the Dead Sea was to Karak Castle. Omar took us on the tour of the castle that was never taken by force and only surrendered by the Crusaders after being surrounded for two years with no one in or out. The Crusaders built this castle in the 12th Century.

    We had an hour and a half hour drive to the Dead Sea area from Karak Castle, which we had a booking at the Medical Centre, a four star hotel resort that features pools, a water slide and access to the Dead Sea with the mud.

    Once we arrived, we had lunch at the resort which consisted of a buffet meal. After lunch we got changed and headed straight down to the Dead Sea.
    Floating in the water was a very weird sensation! When you tried to stand you would just bob in the water and not go down unless you pushed against the water. We also tried the mud that is meant to do wonders for your skin, Katie tried a small amount, of course I went all in!
    After the Dead Sea we moved up to the resorts pool that had a water slide. We spent time with some of the group seeing who could go down the slide the fastest.

    We went back to the bus ready to start making our way to our next hotel in Madaba. On the way we stopped at Mt. Nebo, Mount Nebo is mentioned in the Bible as the place where Moses was granted a view of the Promised Land before his death. The landscape is home to stunning surroundings and one can look out at the Dead Sea, Bethlehem, and on a clear day, even Jerusalem (we could kind of make the outline of some buildings). The Memorial Church of Moses also rests at the summit that has intact mosaics from the original church on the floor and walls.

    We ventured onto the hotel in Madaba, we checked in and headed out for some dinner locally. We had a walk through the Main Street and main shopping mall (McDonalds was the most interesting thing there!)
    At 9pm I had booked a hair cut from a barber directly across the hotel for 3JED! This was going smooth until we talked about Turkey and how he off handily mentioned he had lived in Istanbul but in Jail… still working out if that was miss communicated english or serious!    Baca lagi

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  • Summer of 23

    Day 91 - Jerash, Jordan

    8 Oktober 2023, Jordan ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Today we had breakfast at the hotel and had to be on the bus by 8am to head to the other side of Amman to the city of Jerash. This drive across Amman should take one & a half hours of traffic is in favour to us.

    Jerash is a sprawling complex of collonaded streets, monumental arches, plazas, baths and theatres. One of the best preserved Roman sites in the world outside of Italy. It was during its heyday that its most impressive monuments were built, namely the temple of Artemis, who was the Greek goddess of hunting and the city’s patron goddess, and the temple of Zeus, which stood diametrically opposite, also upon a hill. The street of columns, in the exuberant Corinthian style, ran from North to South, connecting with streets that passed through East to West, all linked in at the South Tetrapylon, an ornamental construction at their junction through which trade flowed from the Orient to the cities of the Mediterranean and beyond. We had about three hours here and Omar guided us throw the area.

    After seeing Jerash we headed back to Madaba city to see the St George's Greek Orthodox Church. The church was only built at the end of the 19th century, but during construction workers uncovered one of the most important surviving artistic relics of the Byzantine era – the Madaba Mosaic Map. Laid out by artisans in the 6th century, it was once an intricate map of holy land sites covering modern-day Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian Territories, plus Egypt’s Sinai. Today only a quarter survives on the floor of the church, but even this fragment shows astounding detail, covering Jerusalem, the Dead Sea area, and a small portion of the Sinai.

    After the visit to the church we said goodbye to our bus driver and Omar as this is where the Intrepid tour ends.
    We grabbed some lunch with the group at the local mall, I tried some Turkish coffee that I’m happy I didn’t spend a fortune on!

    The afternoon we relaxed at the hotel and organised to meet the group at 6:30pm for one last dinner together.
    We went too a local resturant suggested by Omar that was near the church we visited earlier in the day. It was a good meal & a good way to end the tour.    Baca lagi

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  • Summer of 23

    Day 92 - Transit to Dubai

    9 Oktober 2023, Jordan ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    Today we had a much needed sleep in and just a really easy going morning.
    We had breakfast at the hotel and I had teed up a late check out of 1pm as our transfer to the airport is for 2pm.

    We got transferred to the airport, we got told Jordan airport security was a lot more relaxed than Egypt… it only has two security check points compared to Egypts three, but my checked luggage got stopped at the first security check, they went through it searching for a certain item but they wouldn’t tell us what they were looking for.
    Then they were curious about my GoPro and going through my backpack at the second security check.

    We had some McDonalds at the airport and the airport is very nice, the roof is meant to look like the local Boudin tent roofs.

    We flew into Dubai at 10pm, caught the metro to Dubai Central and walked to the hotel. The walk was only 15minutes but it’s very hot and humid still at 11:30pm!    Baca lagi

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  • Summer of 23

    Day 93 - Dubai Mall, Dubai

    10 Oktober 2023, Emiriah Arab Bersatu ⋅ ☀️ 38 °C

    Today was an even more much needed sleep in, in an amazing king size bed with a room that has blackout curtains. Our room faced the 14 lane highway with the views towards Downtown Dubai buildings but there was minimal noise considering the 14 lane highway!

    We walked over to the Dubai Mall, which features over 1,200 retail stores, two major department stores and hundreds of food and beverage outlets, Dubai Mall covers more than 1 million sqm – an area equivalent to 200 football pitches.

    We stopped of first at the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo, we saw all the fish, sharks, otters, penguins and Turtles they had. We had an experience of seeing three otters and patting their hands when they pushed them through little holes for us. We also go to feed the otters!
    We continues on afterwards to see behind the scenes of the penguins and see the crocodiles. We ventured down stairs to the Worlds largest suspended tank in the mall. This is where we could walk through a glass tunnel admiring 33,000 different aquatic animals in the 10 million litre tank.

    We grabbed some lunch at one of the many food courts and looked around at the many shops.
    At 6:30pm we headed out side to see the Dubai Fountain show that goes off every half n hour from 6pm.

    We are at Jamie Oliver’s resturant at the mall, we had a garlic bread loaf and a pizza.
    We slowly made our way back to the Accomadation after watch the Dubai fountain show again after dinner.    Baca lagi

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  • Summer of 23

    Day 94 - Dubai Souks, Dubai

    11 Oktober 2023, Emiriah Arab Bersatu ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

    Today we woke up and had breakfast at the buffet at the hotel, wheat pancakes was amazing!

    We took the metro after breakfast to Old Dubai and the Souk on the southern side of the creek, Bur Dubai Souk Market. We had a walk through the Souk then headed to the creek front to take a traditional ferry boat called an Alba across tho the northern side of Dubai Creek to get to the Spice & Gold Souk.

    We walked around the Spice souk making our way to the Gold Souk market which are next too each other. It was very hot and we caught the metro back to a mall near a station to grab some lunch.

    After lunch we went back to the hotel and spent the afternoon at the hotel pool.

    In the evening we took the Metro down to Dubai Marina and we walked along the marina and found a Poke Bowl resturant for dinner. We walked back down to Dubai Marina Mall to take the tram back to the Metro station and then the Metro back to the Accomadation.    Baca lagi

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  • Summer of 23

    Day 95 - Atlantis Aquaventure, Dubai

    12 Oktober 2023, Emiriah Arab Bersatu ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

    Today we woke up early and grabbed some breakfast at the hotel.

    We grabbed a taxi and headed out to the man made, Palm Jumeirah, and made our way to the Atlantis Resort.

    We brought our tickets for the day to Atlantis Aquaventure park, the largest waterpark in the world, it's packed with 105 different slides and rides, including some of the highest and fastest in the world.

    The waterpark's legendary rides include Medusa's Lair, Shockwave and the River Rapids – its attractions are spread across three towers, and the park also features marine and watersports experiences, animal encounters, private beaches and children's play areas for all ages.

    We spent the whole day here, as we had the fast pass tickets, we had to deal with hardly any queues, longest queue being 20minutes. We went on every main slide for Adults across all three towers and wen down multiple times on our favourites.

    We took the Palm Monorail back to the start of Palm Jumeriah, then the tram to the metro station to take it back to the Accomadation. Unfortunately it was around 6:30pm and peak time for workers going home. We were squished very tightly into the metro train!

    We had dinner at the hotel seeing we had such a big day and had to pack for our flight home the next day.    Baca lagi

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    Tamat perjalanan
    14 Oktober 2023
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