Morocco, Greece, Egypt, Jerusalem & More: June 2018

Egypt tips:

Can negotiate taxi from airport. 45 mins - $25 American dollars

Kuai-is = cool

Thank you - still same shackaran

Any Pocket knives are illegal - Prison time

Many observe ramadan and are Muslim, thus speaking Arabic.

For the third post in the 77-Day trip journal, I thought it would be nice to explain the reason for the blog! Just as we did for our Europe trip in 2012, it became more than just a journal that is a great way to catalog a trip for future viewings; but also this blog is a way to organize photos, bring back the trip to life in a way that a written journal never could, and it's an easy way to share the experience with family / friends that are interested. That being said, Casablanca, Morocco, was a nice change of pace from the other Moroccan cities! Entering into a resort-type feel for a couple of days where we were able to just relax and hang out at the beach and resort. I went into the Atlantic, which I had never been into on this side of the world, and body surfed some waves out further than anyone else was going. Being rather cautious, since the Ocean has given me some crazy experiences, I was feeling quite in control when some locals started coming out, trying to speak to me. I didn’t memorize enough Arabic yet to understand what they were saying but they were making odd hand gestures and waving towards the beach so I figured it likely best to heed their advice. Apparently there is some sort of hole that is a whirlpool type phenomenon that sucks people down out in the water. Currents that go down, eventually have to come back up, but I wasn’t in the mood, or physical condition currently to explore that type of thing, so I headed back to find Nova mounted on a horses saddle and riding down the beach! She had a huge smile on her face and was having an absolute blast as her Moroccan guide touted her around. We got some great photos and then turned our attention to all of the beach-soccer games going on, of which there was at least a dozen. Later, Nova had fun splashing in the resort pool, and Candace and I watched some of the show Vikings, a show we have been watching during the trip here and there.

The train ride to Casablanca was a great way to see the beautiful countryside again.

People are always taking pictures of themselves with Nova

Our one “exit” from the resort was to the post office to ship some things back. It was interesting when the gentleman at the FedEx store showed me on a chart on the wall, based on weight and “zone”, USA being zone 5, that rated our package to cost around $800. He also mentioned that to ship two postcards (yes just small stock pieces of paper, standard postcards) it would cost $160 - hahaha. Based on our research, we knew shipping in Morocco was outlandish. Although still ridiculous, we ended up paying about $140 for our package shipment and skipped the postcard idea. We then went to the Casablanca Mosque; the largest in the whole country, top 5 biggest in the world, and one of the main things to see in Casablanca. It was quite spectacular to lay eyes on, with the ceiling height being about 150 feet high, the length of the main room 300 feet, and the width about 200 feet wide. How they built it; with titanium doors to prevent rust from the ocean, multiple levels and unique materials, cool designs and being architecturally a behemoth, it was quite impressive.

Boarding, Egypt Air, another airline we had never been on, we made our way over to Cairo, Egypt. Once we checked into the Steigenberger Hotel, we ordered room service, which was amazing, and called it a night, ready for our tour all over Cairo, Giza, etc the next day. It began with a straight shot to the pyramids, built at Giza, the biggest and baddest of them all. We were impressed with the size of the pyramids, and stood in awe, imagining what it would have been like if it was 4,500 years ago and they were glistening new with the granite all polished and beautiful (one of the pyramids was finished with rose granite). It was interesting to learn about the pyramids - like the fact that they were not places anyone lived in. Not a place of storage. Not really useful for any task for this life. A tomb. That is it. A place to lay the dead. A place closer to the blue sky, which can be ascended to and to connect with Ra and the gods. They even had a massive boat, larger than the boat Christoper Columbus sailed across the Atlantic in, that was discovered in the pyramids. It was completely disassembled, however, such as to avoid A. Thieves stealing and B. People who like to destroy things, which over the centuries there have been plenty. The boat was, apparently, able to be constructed upon the Pharaoh’s death, utilizing his newfound powers, and then used to “sail” into the sky. You see, the Egyptians believed that because the sky was blue, like water, that it could be sailed into upon death, and that the Pharaoh would have the power to easily assemble the boat and then ascend. 🚣‍♂️ The boat that we saw in the museum next to the pyramids was the true boat, 4500 years old, made from cedar that the ancient Egyptians had imported from Lebanons. It was, of course, assembled in modern times and became quite the challenge for present-day Egyptians to create due to the fact that none of the countless wood pieces were labeled in any way. It took them over 10 years to assemble it…

We had hired a personal guide, with a driver as well, for the day to take us around the area. When we arrived at the Pyramids there was a conversation about entering into the Pyramid itself. There was a challenge involved with taking Nova into them that we overcame, to the surprise of our guide, and we were soon hiking into the darkness. After crouching low around winding passageways, we took a ladder up and then hiked through a long and steadily inclined shaft where, at the end, we finally entered into a tomb room. It was cool to see the ventilation shafts the Egyptians put into the pyramids, and the huge granite stones that encase everything and create the support for the giant “building”. Egyptians were the first humans to figure out how to build with stone blocks. Imhotep, an Egyptian chancellor and advisor to pharaoh Djoser, was renowned as a poet, engineer, astronomer, scribe and physician. According to the Egyptians, it was him that first spearheaded the construction of the smaller tombs and then the first Pyramid itself. The Pyramid that we were inside was created based on combining 6 buildings into one, each on top of the other.

Nova driving already

We hopped around to the massive Great Sphinx of Giza, which is the largest single-piece statue in the world. The Egyptians didn’t know how to create and attach pieces of stone together when making statues, so they just carved away a mountain of limestone around the Sphinx, revealing their vision inside. It measures 240ft long from paw to back, and 66 ft high at the top of the head. After snagging a few photos, we hopped into the car and drove over to a special lunch spot where our guide introduced us to some great local Egyptian food, which was very different from what we expected, and at the same time, very good. We even had fresh Mango juice, with chunks of mango still in the drink.

Finishing the tour at the Papyrus Artisan store/museum, we learned how Egyptians created paper out of the Papyrus plant. This super-durable paper, first used over 4,500 years ago, was the first paper in history. It was actually used by the Egyptians to describe the completion of the first pyramids and other historical documentations. The predominant use of the paper now in modern-times, that was also a part of its use in ancient times, is for artwork. We actually looked long and hard at a scene depicting a King and Queen; their gods and happiness, beautifully displayed over the river Nile with Egyptian symbolism. We also found a picture of a colorful Camel which we showed to Nova and she approved of with a big smile and laugh. Negotiating to 40-some% of their starting price, we ended up closing out the store, chatting it up with the owners for a bit before we finished our Epic day and headed back at the hotel for a World Cup Soccer match pool-side.

Sphinx giving blessing to new little baby Jeffrey

"Egyptian Snack" lol, Twinkies. The other thing was pretty good - like a fig newton but better

Where the new King would sit, North and South Egypt thrones

Famous King

Egyptian food!!

In the Papyrus Store!

Nova loves her Camels!! We got this one for her :)

Note baby Nova and her babysitter, pushing the chair around the store - haha

The next day we checked out the massive Egyptian Museum with its Pharaohs; huge golden headpieces, sphinxes, legitimate Mummies where the bones and skulls are visible, and many examples of ancient statues and pottery were exemplified.

Besides that, the rest of our time in Egypt was spent walking around downtown, being laughed at by the local teenagers (never figured this one out), enjoying the end of Ramadan and its celebration, watching World Cup games on Boats in the Nile River, or simply lounging around our hotel & pool or the Ritz Carlton, with it’s awesome buffet.

Next up: Greece! We will have a car to utilize and explore the country! Starting with Athens as our 1st stop, the Greek mythology and history is calling!! Cheers,
Jason and Candace