Entries about train

After a busy day yesterday, today we continued with a trip to Ronda. We did at least get a small lie in before we headed towards the bus station on the other side of the city. It was just as quick to walk, so we made our way through the Old City, through Plaza Nueva before reaching the bus station.

It was a two hour trip to Ronda, through the flat plains of the Guadalquivir Valley, before reaching the winding roads climbing into the Baetic Mountains that divide northern and southern Andalucia.

Once we reached Ronda it was clear how much difference the mountain made, cooling the temperature by around 5˚C. In hindsight the shorts weren't the best idea...

We wandered into the town, just a short walk away, passing down the main shopping street, and Plaza del Socorro before reaching Puente Nuevo, the iconic bridge spanning the famous gorge.

The bridge sits 120m above the bottom of the gorge, and we spent some time wandering around different views of the bridge, before we took a walk through the old town, crossing the gorge and walking back up through the Jardines De Cuenca.

After enjoying the views of the bridge across the gorge, we made our way back up to Plaza España, before heading over to the bullring where we took a look around to understand more about this historic tradition.

This bullring has existed for almost 250 years. Whilst not on the same scale as some of the huge ones in the bigger cities, it was still in very much the same style. The Ronda School of Cavalry, the oldest in Spain, still has stables and a riding school next to the bullring which we could also view.

After some time taking in the culture, we went and grabbed an early dinner, with views over the area. Ronda sits atop a plateau, and before heading back to the bus station, we went for a walk around some of the footpaths on the cliff edge.

The coach station was pretty busy, with many of the day trippers on holiday excursions boarding their coaches back towards the coast. Unlike the one we arrived on, our coach made a few stops at some of the villages en route, which were actually quite pretty.

Once we arrived back in Seville, we then had a walk back through the city. We walked a different route than the one we made this morning, stopping at the Setas de Sevilla, a wooden structure somewhat resembling mushrooms.

In the basement of the structure are Roman and Moorish remains, which could be seen through the glass windows by the entrance. There is the ability to walk along the roof of the structure, but as it was a combined entry with an exhibition and entry to the ruins, we gave it a miss - it had been a busy enough day so far as it was.

We then made our way back to the hotel for our last night. Enjoying a bit more time up at the roof bar, before getting our stuff together before tomorrow's early start.

With a late afternoon flight, our trip over to Cordoba was both quick and early. We got up and went down for breakfast before checking out, dropping our bags in the luggage storage, and then made it to the station for the 8:43 high speed train.

I normally wouldn't pay extra for expensive high speed trains, but as we were pushed for time we went for it. In fact we got quite a posh journey in luxury seats for the 45 minute journey.

Cordoba normally has the highest average temperatures in both Spain and the whole of Europe. But today was a pretty cloudy day with constant threats of rainfall, reaching the dizzy heights of... 23˚C!

We left the station and then headed over to the icon of the city, the Cathedral. It was originally built as a mosque in 785AD, and was progressively expanded over time before being converted to a cathedral in 1236 after the Reconquista. It therefore is an excellent example of Moorish architecture embodied by the beautiful arches.

We pre-booked our tickets, which were for entry at opening time - 10am. A mass was just finishing as we were allowed in, so we got to witness that, as well as a relatively quiet and peaceful atmosphere.

After taking a look around, we left the complex and went for a walk around the riverside behind, and then along the beautiful Roman Bridge, looking back on views over the cathedral and cityscape.

We then made our way back towards the station, via the Jewish Quarter and leaving the old town through the Almodóvar Gate.

As we walked along the lush boulevard back to the station I received an email from Renfe, the Spanish Railways, to advise me of a delay to our train. We initially had 3 hours from our arrival back in Seville before our flight was due to leave. But as time went on, the train was progressively further delayed, before it eventually arrived in Cordoba almost an hour late.

By the time we got back to Seville, it meant we had to do a mad dash back to the hotel to collect our luggage, before returning and catching the airport bus. Thankfully our delay wasn't enough to cause any problems, and the worst thing about our arrival at the airport was the huge rainstorm that had just started. Having threatened all week, it finally rained. And it pretty much continued the whole time we were in the airport. Our flight was ultimately delayed because of the threat from lightning preventing take off.

For the first time ever, I boarded a Ryanair flight through a jet bridge! Together with the shelter at the airport bus stop, and having carried our raincoats with us everywhere, it meant we didn't actually end up getting wet.

As we flew back home, the whole of Spain was pretty grey, hidden behind the clouds, but not far beyond the French border the clouds cleared and there were beautiful blue skies for the whole of Northern Europe - bizarre!

It had been a very busy few days, and in hindsight probably a bit much. But it had been a lovely trip and interesting to see some of Spain's culture rather than just the beaches!

Just over half an hour after leaving Ghent, we arrived in Brussels. We checked into our hotel, chilled for a bit before heading out.

This afternoon we'd take a look around the very heart of Brussels before grabbing dinner and heading back - we still had almost all day tomorrow to look around the rest of the city too.

Brussels is surprisingly hilly, something no one seems to talk about. We made our way over to Mont des Artes, where there is a nice view over central Brussels, before heading downhill towards the first of many murals around the city.

After making our way around the corner to the Royal Gallery of Saint Hubert, a very pretty shopping gallery, we took a short walk to the heart of the city, the Grand Place - the main market square.

The final sight for today was the Manneken Pis - the famous weeing boy statue, which much like the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen, is pretty tiny, and difficult to actually see between all the tourists.

After grabbing dinner, we headed back to the hotel, and got caught in a rainstorm. To be fair though, given the weather forecast for this weekend we'd been pretty fortunate.

Settling in for the night we became aware of a pretty stupid flaw in the hotel. When we turned of the lights, the power in the room totally cut out - including the charging points. Great... my phone was almost dying and now I couldn't charge overnight ready for tomorrow's busy day.

The following morning, whilst charging our phones, we headed down for breakfast before checking out and leaving our bags at the hotel. Having seen the centre of the city yesterday, today's plan was to see the sights on the outskirts.

We headed out on the metro northwards to Heysel, and walked around the corner to Mini-Europe. This is a miniature park with monuments from all the EU member states.

It was a lot better than we expected, featuring a lot of locations we'd seen in real life. Interestingly, given the UK used to be a member, there is still a UK section, with new customs post and border control lines drawn in for realism.

We had a good wander around for a while, and at the end watched the European Space Agency launch a rocket from Cayenne.

We then headed around the corner and went inside the Atomium. Much like the Eiffel Tower, this icon of the city was built for the World's Fair, and has stayed well past it's original intention.

We headed inside, and darted between the spheres and escalators/staircases around the structure.

There wasn't a huge amount to see and do, as the spheres were relatively small. It felt very 1950s, with history of the Expo and some light shows.

There was an observation booth at the top, but as we were running short on time, and the queue was very very long we skipped it, and had to make do with the views we'd seen from the spheres from the middle of the structure.

After an interesting time, we then made our way right across the city towards the European Quarter. Sadly a lot of this area required pre-booking, and on Mondays not everything is open all day. Not knowing what time we would be around we had to skip the Parliamentarium museum, but we did get inside the Parliament itself - this was despite being told there was no spaces left, and then immediately booking a space online for the next tour...

I'd been here before, but Chris hadn't and so we took a brief look around at the hemicycle, before making our way across Leopold Park to the House of European History. It was interesting, with some information on the history of Europe, and fortunately all the EU sites were free to enter.

We then wandered past the European Council building and the EU Commission building, before grabbing some dinner.

Heading back to the hotel, we passed the Halle Gate, a very impressive mediaeval city gate along the line of the former city walls.

After grabbing our bags and having a quick sit down, we then made our final trip just around the corner to back to the train station and eventually through into the departure lounge for the Eurostar. Once again, with juxtaposed controls, meaning we'd entered the EU in London and exited in Brussels, despite the tunnel physically being in France.

Luckily it didn't take too long to get back to London. But having prebooked our trains back to Luton, we did have to stand around and wait in the cold St. Pancras station for the later train, watching the earlier train leave without us.

It had been a good and fun trip. Very busy, and weather not perfect but lots of interesting things to see and do!

After several months of being at home, it was finally time for the first trip away of 2023. We had wanted to use the Eurostar to visit Belgium last year, but unless you book a way in advance it isn't cheap. So in January we decided to book for April - weather would be iffy, and there was a chance of train strikes but hopefully we'd finally get to go!

As the date approached, we were good for the trains running, but the weather was not great - possibly raining the whole time. Oh well...

Rather than rushing around, we decided to give ourselves a bit more time by booking a two night trip. We would not have to get up too early, and had a train leaving London just after 1pm. I had also booked our train tickets in advance, so that we got a bargain.

Then around half an hour before needing to get up and go, I get an email. It's the hotel - stating that my payment has been rejected and unless we arrive before 6pm then our booking will be cancelled. We were likely to arrive about 6, but it could be later. Was this genuine or a scam? I decided to try and give them a call, but this was a disaster - going around in circles and getting cut off. By now I don't have time to make a call, we are on the move going in and out of signal range. Whilst at the train station we get confirmation, yes this email is genuine and my card does look to have been blocked by my bank on suspected fraud. Great - thanks for letting me know when I need it and don't have time now to sort it out.

Eventually after arriving at St. Pancras and waiting to board the train I have time to make a call to my bank. Waiting for 10 minutes I get though to someone who confirms that yes, my card as blocked yesterday, and that they'll put me through to the right place. Another 25 minutes later, and with boarding now at any moment I finally get through to someone. I again have to go through multiple levels of security, despite still being on the same phone call. They go through a list of payments I've made which are all legit. But the guy is so slow. I can barely hear with the signal being weak and tonnes of background noise, but when I attempt to speed him up he gets arsey and then forces me to go through it all over again... for God's sake. Eventually after confirming that everything is in order they release the card. I ask why they've blocked the card and then not made any effort to phone, email or text me... "we vary methods, and this one was notified by post"... wow, is this 1995? After a very stressful 4 hours I'm now finally free to start enjoying the trip.

After many years of application, I recently received my Irish passport giving me back my EU citizenship. But as the Eurostar has juxtaposed border controls, I decided to still travel on my British passport as it would mean the novelty of getting a stamp entering France, with the crossing named as London!

Boarding time approached, and we headed up to the platform. We found our seats and waited to continue. Not too long later the train headed off. Around half an hour into the journey we were already reaching the tunnel. Another 45 minutes or so and we were whizzing through France. Being from an island it was a weird feeling. I'm used to needing to fly to get abroad, or occasionally on a boat. But a train! Were we really abroad. Well around an hour or so later we definitely were.

We had arrived in Brussels, capital of Belgium. We weren't staying too long - we'd be back here tomorrow to explore properly, but for now we were passing through, buying onward tickets, grabbing some snacks for the weekend and heading towards Bruges.

Bruges is the main reason for the trip. It looked beautiful but I hadn't visited before. It was only an hour on the train from Brussels, and our hotel was just a short walk around the corner. We had already confirmed with the hotel we were definitely coming, and in the end turned up shortly before 6.

We still needed to grab dinner in town, and as the weather forecast was much better for this evening than tomorrow we decided to also take a bit of a look around too whilst it was dry.

After grabbing the tastiest McDonalds burger in a long time (the Royal Crispy Bacon in case you're wondering!) in a beautiful old building, we headed for a short walk to the beautiful Central Square, with it's imposing belfry.

We then headed back to the hotel via the canal - crossing the Boniface Bridge and stopping for photos.

Our final stop tonight was through the Begijnhof (mediaeval homes for religious women), before the short walk back to the hotel, where we rested after what was quite a long day.

The following morning we kept an eye on the weather. There was a window of an hour or so before the rain was due to start, so we made a decision to get going earlier and try to dodge the showers.

We headed off into the city again, walking through the parks that run along the outer canal, before heading into the city centre and taking a look at the sights, starting with the beautiful canal.

We then made our way towards the City Hall, taking a look inside the neighbouring Basilica of the Holy Blood.

After making our way back to the Central Square, we took a walk around the northern side of the city, still managing to dodge the now imminent rainfall. We then headed back to the hotel, passing back over a now very busy Boniface Bridge.

We grabbed our bags and then made our way round the corner to the station. It was only half an hour down the track to Ghent, where after arriving, we swapped to a tram to take us into the heart of the city.

It was only a passing visit, as we had our bags with us too. Plus it had just started to rain, so we weren't in the mood for hanging around. We stopped outside the beautiful Gravensteen Castle, which uses the river to form a moat on it's western side.

It was then only a short walk around the corner to the quays on the river bank.

But once again, due to to the rain, we only made a fleeting visit before jumping back on the next tram to the station, and making our way back to Brussels for the rest of our trip.

We started by taking a visit to Philae, a temple dedicated to Isis (the goddess, not the group...). The temple sits on the island of Agilkia, in the Aswan Reservoir - the area between the Low and High Dams.

Until the construction of the dams, it sat on the island of Philae (hence the name) which was then submerged and required it's relocation to the neighbouring island. However it is near enough the same as it was - same position, almost the same orientation, and still requiring a boat to get to it.

We arrived at the marina, which as surrounded by locals selling tat, as well as millions of flies. Trying to avoid both, we eventually made it onto a boat, where we were joined by some local salesmen before we finally reached the island.

The temple was a standard Egyptian complex, with colonnades leading to a gateway portal and inner sanctuaries. Was it the best temple in Egypt? No. But it's setting on an island did make it very interesting, plus it had some pretty cats to look at...

We headed back into Aswan, arriving at the hotel - the same one I had originally booked to stay in in March 2020. We checked into the room and had a few hours to ourselves. Some of the group decided to take a walk around the area, grab some food and visit the souq. I had Pringles and decided to have a rest instead. I've overdone it on previous trips and having had a rubbish breakfast... (If I never see stale bread again, it'll be too soon)... I was best off resting.

It was also the first time since the brief few minutes in Cairo that I'd had chance to connect to the WiFi and the outside world - so the time went by pretty quickly. Before I knew it, it was time to regroup, and after meeting in the lobby, we headed across the road to board a small boat.

At this point of the river there are many islands. The largest of which, Elephantine, contains luxury hotels to the north and a Nubian village to the south. The Nubians were the original inhabitants of this part of Egypt, and are of more African complexion as opposed to the majority of the Arab Egyptians from the north. For the first time it felt like we were actually in Africa. Northern and cosmopolitan Egypt is very much part of the Middle East.

We circled the island, including views of the Old Cataract Hotel (where Agatha Christie wrote Death on the Nile), before taking a walk around the village.

After the tour we then visited a local family's home for dinner. Once again it was local food - grilled chicken, rice, tagine, stale bread. Fine, but nothing special. Thankfully it was still relatively early, as the next day we had a very early start.

At 3:45am the alarm went off... I took my travel pillow and blanket with me and prepared to board the coach that would take us south to Abu Simbel. I was ready to knock any grannies over if necessary in order to claim that back row all to myself. But thankfully I boarded first so didn't need to... I settled in to grab a few more hours sleep, as it was a four hour drive to Abu Simbel. To ensure our safety, this was via a police escort which had enforced this disgustingly early start.

After a few hours of sleep I awoke to find sunrise as we drove the last hour or so through the Sahara Desert.

Abu Simbel, like the temple at Philae was moved due to the construction of the dams at Aswan. Previously located within the cliffs on the banks of the Nile, it has now been moved to relatively flat land above Lake Nasser (the lake that was formed by the Aswan High Dam). Consequently artificial domes have been created to house the relocated Temples, which look ridiculous and so out of place!

But the temples themselves are very impressive. As we had a fast driver, we were one of the first groups down to the Temples.

This allowed our group to take what was essentially a photoshoot outside. Just half an hour later and the place was completely crowded!

There are two temples. One for Ramses II, and one for his wife Nefertari (not to be confused with Nefertiti).

We looked around the temples, impressive, with lots of side rooms, but quite small, considering the scale at their entrances

After spending several hours here we then headed back through the desert towards Aswan. We were so far south that we were on the other side of the Tropic of Cancer, where even before midday, it was hot enough to form a mirage. An incredible sight.

After having had some lunch out of a snack box, we arrived back in Aswan. We crossed the Low Dam, just managing to get some sights of the High Dam, before we stopped at an Essences store.

The store showed us examples of natural oils that can be used as an alternative to medicines. I didn't buy anything but came out smelling lovely... That evening we went for dinner at a restaurant beside the Nile, before taking a night time walk through the souq.

The next morning, thankfully later than yesterday, we had breakfast at the hotel before heading back down to the river. We were now leaving Aswan, but slowly... We would sail down the Nile on traditional Feluccas - wind powered boats.

The boats had mattresses upon which we would sit. And with our luggage aboard, we sailed off. The group had been split into two, which allowed us views of the other boat at close proximity. We didn't travel very fast, as the wind was not overly strong, and was coming from the north! Therefore we spent much of the time travelling across the river from side to side.

As the boat had no toilets or other facilities, we would make regular stops with the support boat in tow. Having sailed for a few hours already, we stopped along the western bank of the river just outside the city for lunch before restarting our journey north.

Getting to know our travelling companions, the sunshine and views meant despite being stuck on a boat all day, time went by quickly. It was also a well needed opportunity to have some relaxing on what was so far a very busy trip.

After a few hours we stopped again. And this is where the first disaster took place. The support boat pulled up beside us and everything was roped together. Then we were able to get off and have a walk around or use the facilities. One of the older ladies from Canada popped to the toilet, then when she came back attempted to walk on the boards heading to the river bank. As she did this the boat moved slightly, she grabbed the pole holding the boat in place, which dislodged and then she fell into the river. Queue panic with all the staff...

She was fine, but shaken up, as she had been fully submerged into the river. She stayed behind with her sister and our tour leader on the support boat to clean herself up, get changed and recover from the experience. A little later, the support boat caught up with us, and the three of them re-joined us.

It wasn't much later before sunset. And as the boats did not have lights we needed to stop sailing for the evening. We pulled up at another riverbank on the western bank, and began to get sorted for the evening. We re-joined our other travel companions and chatted over dinner.

Many hours of great conversation went by, discussing our experiences and before we knew it, it was already pretty late, with a busy day tomorrow.

The boats had a blanket wrapped around them to give us some privacy, but it made it pretty difficult to find our way around! I managed to grab my bits, sort out the blankets and settle in for the night. It was a bit cold, but pretty peaceful, and I got a better night's sleep than I expected.

We awoke to a pretty chilly morning, and this is when the second disaster on the Nile occurred. One of the younger Canadians had been sorting through her stuff ready for the day when she suddenly heard a plop... she looked over and realised that her bum bag containing her passport, money and phone had dropped over the edge of the boat and into the river, sailing submerged under the water downstream.

Cue panic, for the second time in 15 hours... The felucca began untying itself to sail down the river and see if it could locate the bag, before the support boat joined. But sadly, to no avail. The bag and it's contents were lost forever...

After returning to the one remaining static boat, everyone moved their belongings onto the support boat where we enjoyed breakfast. The sun was starting to rise and I was finally feeling some warmth for the first time in hours!

We then made our way across the river where we were picked up by a coach and began heading north to Kom Ombo, where there is a double temple - dedicated to two Gods, Sobek and Haroeris. The former of which being the Crocodile God.

We took a look around the temple in the morning sun, before heading next door to the museum full of mummified Crocodiles, in Sobek's honour.

After a short time at this odd museum, we made our way back past the tat sellers and onto the coach, to continue to the final major stop on this Egyptian Adventure - Luxor!

For a long time I had wanted to visit Egypt. A land full of ancient wonders. However this part of the world has been through a lot since the Arab Spring, and it took until 2019 before I finally felt it was stable enough for a trip.

We would visit Cairo, Luxor and Aswan for a week in mid-March of 2020 - just in time to enjoy some summer sunshine before the summer would arrive at home. We had everything booked, and our suitcases packed.

But as the global pandemic was coming ever closer, lockdowns inevitable, and the thought of being stuck in Egypt unappealing, two days before our flights we cancelled. In hindsight it was right - what would have been 5 days into our week long trip, Egypt itself went into a partial lockdown, closing all the airports. And just two days after we intended to fly back home, the UK went into a full lockdown itself. We had managed to reopen our flight tickets, which could be used later in the year. No problems - we'll just postpone it all until October.

Two long years passed and in 2022, with the pandemic finally easing, maybe Egypt was back on the cards?
However I was now going to be going alone. And after three years of non-exotic travel, I decided to join a tour instead of attempting a visit alone. G Adventures (who I'd gone to Antarctica with a few years back) had a tour that covered near enough everything I'd wanted to do anyway, and so I booked one of the last slots on the tour running during the week I'd already booked off.

A few weeks later (and coincidently the 100th anniversary since Tutankhamun's tomb was opened, beginning the modern age of Egyptology), I was at Heathrow. There were flights with both British Airways and Egyptair available. Both similarly priced, but as BA classed the 5 hour flight to Cairo as short haul - hence no entertainment or food, I went with Egyptair.

Annoyingly, the flight was delayed by over an hour, so it meant getting to Cairo super late. The plane was pretty old and grim, meals were average and the entertainment was poor. There was also three separate sets of turbulence en route - one of the worst flights I'd ever had!

Eventually I arrived in Cairo, and after getting off the plane I walked towards immigration, where I was met by a representative from G Adventures, who was picking me up and taking me to the hotel. "Your flight was so late" she says - as if I didn't know. She was now behind as had another pickup, and so whizzed me through the airport. Immigration was instead done in a side room that I didn't even enter. Not that the jumping the queue made much difference - I now needed to collect my baggage, and this took ages. However she was so paranoid about the time that I didn't get chance to get to the cash point, instead watching the luggage belt like a hawk.

Whilst waiting, she had a call from the group leader, Saad. As I had missed the welcome meeting, he was updating me with the essentials. I'd be sharing with Erik, breakfast was at 6:30 tomorrow morning, and we would leave at 7:30.

Eventually my bag arrived. We then whizzed again through the airport. She chatted to the staff and I bypassed all the security checks. We then eventually headed out of the airport and into a taxi to head to the hotel. "Pharaohs [Hotel]?" she asked - I dunno, you tell me...?

I was then driven through the streets of Cairo. It wasn't quite India, but the lane markings were clearly guidance only. After an hour of chaotic road travel, I finally arrived at the hotel. Jumping out of the minibus, I whacked my knee on the door, making it super achy - but I didn't have time to worry about it. Reception gave me an overview of the basics - basically everything Saad had already told me, plus the WiFi codes. The porter then took my suitcase to the room, knocked on the door and then showed me in - despite Erik now being half asleep - bit awks...

After finally getting the porter to leave, I introduced myself to Erik, and we got to know each other a bit whilst I quickly tried to sort myself out ready for tomorrow's early start. It was now almost midnight and there was very little sleep achieved. The pillow was incredibly firm, and then the dawn prayer woke us up at 4:45.

Managing a few hours of sleep scattered through the night, as dawn broke I realised we had a balcony overlooking the Nile - not that we got to use it. I gathered my bits ready for the first day in the city, before we headed up to breakfast. I started to meet my travel companions - a lot of Canadians, a few Brits, and a scattering of others (Irish, Spanish and Swedish).

Breakfast was bland - lots of bread, an omelette, boiled eggs, (frozen) butter and some juice. I had a bit and then headed down to reception to meet Saad properly. The Irish lady, Claire, was also down there as she had arrived on the slightly later BA flight last night (which had also been delayed).

It was now time to leave and start exploring the city. We began by heading to the iconic symbol of Egypt - the Pyramids. It was still early, but even now it was still warm enough for shorts! A welcome treat.

The complex was already very busy even early in the day. For anyone who isn't aware - the Pyramids are on the very edge of the city, and surrounded on all sides by developments or roads - but thankfully enough distance not to be fully consumed by it.

After some security checks, we entered the complex right outside the largest one - the Pyramid of Khofu. After a brief overview from Saad, we were then free to wander around and explore. I decided against heading inside the Pyramid, as I didn't want to overdo it too quickly, and knowing it would be a long sweaty experience. I did nevertheless walk on the Pyramid, which is made of huge limestone blocks piled to 140m tall.

I then went for a wander right around - there is an entire complex including mini pyramids for the Queens, tombs and buried artifacts.

We then headed back to our coach, to drive over the the other side of the complex for views over the area. From here there were beautiful views of the scale of the Pyramids, and somewhat benefitting from the haze over the city obscuring it from view.

The second (middle) pyramid appears bigger, but only because it is built on a mound slightly above the others. It does however still have a cap of the original casing stones.

After a while around here, and getting to know some of the travel companions a bit better, we headed over to the other side of the complex to visit the Sphinx.

The Sphinx sits as a guard to the complex from the city side entrance, and was unsurprisingly surrounded by tourists trying to grab a view. We walked through the Temple, seeing how huge the slabs used in the construction were, before getting close to the statue itself.

After eating some local food at a restaurant opposite the entrance, I finally managed to get some money out of the adjacent cashpoint. We then headed back into the centre of the city, to the Egyptian Museum in Tahir Square.

Thankfully, despite being "99% ready" since the Spring, the new Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza has not yet opened, and thus many of the famous artifacts have not yet been moved out of the Egyptian Museum - including the mask of Tutankhamun, allowing us to view them.

We were guided around the museum viewing many of the different sights, before being left to wander around ourselves. I took a look at the collection of Tutankhamun's treasures (the only thing left in his tomb in Luxor is his body and coffin), as well as the various statues and mummified pets.

After a good look around, I headed out to the gift shop at the exit, bought a souvenir, and then met the rest of the group in the café outside. It was then time to head back to our hotel to collect our baggage, before finally making it to a supermarket.

Hurray! finally I could stop rationing the water I had brought with me from London... It also gave me an opportunity to buy some snacks in case the next breakfasts were also bad. Along with some drinks, it equated to just £104EGP, (around £3.50) and helped break down my large notes. We then headed to the station. It was still a few hours before our train so we all sat at a café and got to know each other.

Eventually the train arrived and we boarded our cabins. The train was the best Egypt has - it wasn't too bad, but far from high quality. Erik and I were given dinner and then went for a bit of wander.

We joined our companions in the bar carriage before heading back and trying to get some sleep before we would arrive in Aswan the following morning.