Egypt: the Pyramids just as we imagined them as kids and the desert that makes you heart cry with happiness

Cairo: situated on the banks of River Nile and the largest city in Africa, I must admit the city did not impress me. To be fair, I'm not a fan of big cities anyway, let alone African big cities (which from my experience are particularly uninspiring and sometimes plain offputting with the exception of my beloved Cape Town) but Cairo did not strike me at all as a place I'd want to live in. I spent a week here and it was more than enough. Sure, there are several attractions here you would not want to miss, like the Pyramids and the Sphinx at Giza, the Egyptian Museum, the Citadel, the Khan-el-Khalili bazaar. They were all pretty amazing and absolutely worth visiting. The Pyramids are as breathtaking as we have all imagined them to be since we were little kids learning all about the fascinating culture of Ancient Egypt in school. But the place, which took my breath away most and made a lasting impression on me is definitely the Egyptian Museum (which I had the pleasure of living only about 3 min walk from). It's the biggest sinlge attraction within the city center. The sprawling sandstone building on Tahrir Square (which - strangely - during the day is peach coloured and in the evening orange coloured!) is packed with antiquities: mummies including the pharaohs Ramses II and III and Seti I, the contents of the tomb of Tutankhamen’s (King Tut) and many many other highlights from the oldest of civilizations. And don’t overlook the excellent collection of Greek and Roman artifacts either! And even the hordes and hordes of tourist, which I would normally consider an utter nightmare and run away from screaming, did not put me off from spending a day wandering around the museum with my mouth wide open in awe and wonder. Just imagine how fascinating it much have been for Carter and his archeology team when they discovered the Tutankhamen's tomb and all the priceless treasures inside it!!! As an archeologist you spend years in school and laboratories and digging in dirt, often without ever finding anything of value. For years everyone around you tells you that you're a silly impractical dreamer for believing in fairytales about the hidden treasures of ancient kings. And then imagine how Carter must have felt when he discovered what he discovered in Egypt and became world famous overnight!!! This is the prize for relentlesly following one's dreams despite doubt and challenge from everyone around...
White and Black Desert: travelling through the desert is uniquely romantic. No matter what desert in the world you're crossing, being in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by solutide and wilderness, emersed in complete silence and camping overnight under the sky lit up by millions of stars - if all this doesn't bring tears of awe and gratitude in one's eyes, I don't know what will. But the Egyptian Western Desert is unique. The Black Desert is a region of volcano-shaped mountains with large quantities of small black stones. The stones lie out across the orange-brown ground, so that it is not quite as black as many people may hope for. In the White Desert the rock formation are really white, which creates an especially dramatic landscape of mushroom-shaped white rocks ranging in heigh from less than a meter to several meters and spread out in the yellow desert sand as far into the horizon as you can see. At sunset climb the nearest hill (or the truck roof!) and admire the beauty of the world we live in... Don't forget the camera! For added adventure, the Egyptian Western Desert has 5 thriving oasis with their Pharaonic, Coptic and Roman history, dunes, hot springs and palm groves to explore. Even an overnight safari on camels can be arranged if you heart so desires!

Luxor: Luxor has been the ancient capital of Egypt for 500 years. It has often been called the worlds greatest open air museum, as indeed it is and much more. The number and preservation of the monuments in the Luxor area are unparalleled anywhere else in the world. What most people think of as Luxor is actually three different areas, consisting of the City of Luxor on the East side of the Nile, the town of Karnak just north of Luxor and Thebes, which the ancient Egyptians called Waset, which is on the west side of the Nile across from Luxor. Today the city of Luxor has some 150,000 people and is governed by special statues that allow it more autonomy then other political areas of Egypt. One thing you might notice is that various government and other buildings confirm to an 'ancient' building code. Particularly, the National bank of Egypt (located near the winter palace), the spa south of the police station, and the railway station are all designed to appear as pharaonic constructs. All of this occurred after the Egyptianization of the modern town resulting mostly from the mania that resulted from Howard Carter's discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun (who ironically  was a short-lived and not very important "boy king" and his tomb is tiny in comparison to those of Seti I and others).

Another visa drama: as some of you may have already heard, I bumped into yet another visa drama (which I - in the spirit of staying positive and attracting the good energies from the universe - prefer to think of as an adventure). Last time - as you may remember from my Istanbul blog chapter - it was Ethiopia. This time it is Sudan. It turns out that the Sudanese embassy asks that each visa appliation is accompanied by a letter of authorization from the applicant's national embassy confirming that the person is who their passport says they are (I know, silly!). Well, the Polish embassy in Cairo, which I paid a visit to, absolutely refused to issue such a letter for me. I met the consul, had a nice chat but failed to convince him. Evidently the Polish government considers Sudan too dangerous of a place to visit and doesn't want any of its citizens there. All Polish embassies around the world stopped issuing these letters for Sudan about months ago and my personal charms did not change the consul's mind. Oh well... At least I tried... I went to the Sudanese embassy in Aswan, Egypt (near the border ferry crossing to Sudan) and filed my visa application anyway without the letter. They did ask about it, I politely explained why I didn't have it and... miracle about 1.5 hours later I got my Sudanese visa!!! So Sudan, the country too dangerous for the Polish goverment to send its citizens into - HERE I COME!!!! Christmas in Sudan and New Year's Eve in Ethiopia. How cool is that?