Bev Cockle, Travel Time Manager for our Whitecourt office spent time in Greece and Egypt during the 2008 summer.  Read more about her adventures ...

We spent two weeks out of the country dividing it up with one week in Greece and one week in Egypt.  For the Greek part of the trip we flew into Athens and left on a 4 day classical tour with Amphitrion Tours the next day.   We actually lucked out because the other 8 people scheduled for the tour cancelled last minute and we ended up getting a private tour.  The first day we drove to Olympia, stopping at many sights along the way including the Corinth Canal, the Tomb of Agamemnon, and the Epidaurus theatre which was designed in the 4th century BC and has incredible acoustics, actors standing on the stage can be heard in the last row of the theatre with no assistance of any kind. 

The second day we spent in Olympia visiting the archaeological sights from the ancient Olympic games.  Our guide provided us with information about the Olympic games and their history.  However, Olympia was home for a lot more sights than we had expected.  The Temples of Zeus and Hera were among these.  All we could do was marvel at the size, detail and age of these monuments.  In the afternoon we proceeded to drive to Delphi, my personal favourite stop in Greece.  The tour was planned out nicely giving us a chance to see all the sights in the morning while the temperature remained decent.  For the most part we were driving during the hottest part of the day, which is usually 40 degrees C, which is too hot for any Canadian to walk around in.

On the final day of the classical tour we visited Meteora.  This town is famous for its monasteries built on the top of mountains around 11 century AD in an attempt by the monks and nuns to escape persecution from the occupying Turkish forces.  They are truly impressive feats of construction, consuming the entire top of the mountains.  In the monasteries women can’t show their knees or shoulders.  The monasteries provide skirts for the women to wear as long as they are returned.  They are tacky and smell funny but are free and are required for admission.  There are absolutely no exceptions to this rule.

Upon the conclusion of the classical tour we returned to Athens, the next day we took a ½ day tour of Athens.  This tour was different than the previous with almost 50 people.  Most of the sights were just drive bys, but the Parliament buildings, academy and national library really only require a drive by.  Our two main stops were the Temple of Zeus and a trip up the acropolis. Like many of the other ancient sites the Parthenon was being redone to help protect it from damages caused by time and pollution.  However, the scaffolding did not take away any of the magnificence of this structure.

In the afternoon we took a short 3 hour flight to Cairo.  Due to an unfortunate mix up we almost missed our plane.   The lesson learnt from that debacle is ... if you don’t know; ask someone who does. It's the job of the people involved with your tour to provide you with necessary information and answer any of your questions. 

When we arrived in Cairo we had a van pick us up, which turned out to be a good thing because I definitely wouldn’t recommend anyone driving in Cairo.  There are few traffic lights and the ones that are there are generally ignored.  It is bumper to bumper traffic all hours of the day.  Cairo is definitely a city that never sleeps.  Our hotel was in Giza which is on the other side of the Nile from Cairo.  It is by far the poorer of the two places but home of the famous pyramids so worth a trip over there. 

The next morning we flew to Luxor to start our Nile cruise.  Since we were travelling in the summer it is the low season for tourism in Egypt.  There were only 6 people aboard our cruise ship including the 4 from my party.  Apparently during the winter the ship takes 120 people down the Nile.  We pretty much had free reign of the boat.  In Luxor we saw the Karnak temple as well as the Luxor temple.  Both on the east bank of the Nile.  In ancient times these two temples were connected by a road lined with statues of sphinx.  This road has recently been uncovered and they are excavating and planning on making that area an open air museum. 

The next day we toured the West Bank of Luxor which is where the Valley of the Kings is situated.  This is the area where all the tombs were built for the kings.  The day after a king gained power workers started building a tomb and did not stop until the king died and he was buried in that tomb.  Although all the treasures have been moved to museums now the walls are still decorated with hyrogliphics and other paintings, many of which still contain colour.  The tomb of King Tut is located here, it is the most famous because it was found most recently, but it actually is one of the smallest tombs because he was in power for a short period of time.  If you only have time to enter one of the tombs I recommend Ramese II because he was in power for almost 60 years and has a very extravagant tomb.  Inside the tombs get very hot and humid.  Tour guides and picture taking are not allowed inside the tomb.  Our guide told us what we were going to see and showed us post cards of it so we would know what to look for while we were still outside.  There are also local people that wait of the entrance of the tomb who will offer to show you around, but remember like everybody they want money in exchange for their services. 

For the next few days on the cruise we visited the cities Edfu and Aswan.  Both places were home to several temples, each just as amazing as the next.  The temple of Philae was my personal favourite.  It was located in the flood region of the Nile River, a dam was built in the 1900’s to control the flooding but the temple still spent the winter months underwater.  UNESCO decided to move the temple to ensure its preservation.  They dismantled it and moved it piece by piece to another island on higher ground.  It is impossible to tell it has been rebuilt but you can still see the watermarks from its days underwater. 

Our final two days were spent sightseeing in Cairo.  Naturally, the highlight of the tour was the great pyramids of Giza.  We went inside the second pyramid which required a separate ticket but was definitely worth it.  The tunnel into the pyramid was a little more than a metre high; even I had to crouch over.  It was extremely hot and humid in there and smelled of millions of tourists’ sweat.  But the experience of physically being inside the structure was amazing.  The other stops on the tour included the sphinx and the museum in Cairo where we saw many artefacts recovered from the tombs including King Tut’s mask. 

Overall it was a good trip. The weather was hot but we were expecting that.  I would recommend visiting Greece and Egypt to anybody.  Just be prepared to walk alot.