Mark enjoying this great couch they had set up by the pool, a perfect setting for a good read

We spend lots of time in cities but every so often we like to get a bit off the grid. Al Tarfa definitely qualifies as “off the grid.” Almost precisely in the center of Egypt, well down into the Sahara Desert, Al Tarfa is a desert lodge whose closest town is El-Rashda. And no, no one else has ever heard of El-Rashda either.

To get down here takes a 90-minute flight from Cairo and then a two-and-a-half hour drive across the desert. And then, suddenly out in the middle of nowhere is this charming little lodge, a fabulous place to get away from everything.

Hard to believe you’re in the middle of the desert when it’s this beautiful

This is the sort of place where everyone staying arrives on the same day and leaves on the same day, so our time there – from the flight down on Petroleum Air Services to the drive out and then back up to Cairo three days later – was with four Egyptian women from Cairo who became great friends. Two of them, Iris & Dina, were Coptic (i.e., Christian) Egyptians, sisters about my age who had grown up in Cairo. They both became anesthesiologists and now live in Bethesda, MD; they come back a couple times a year to visit their apparently quite active 84-year-old mother. The other two women, Sally & Dareen, were 30-something friends living in Cairo but whose English – like the older women – was pretty much perfect.

The six of us hanging out in the mostly abandoned village of Al Qasr. To my left that’s Dina, Iris, Sally, Mark, & Dareen. Such fun getting to know them all.

Spending time with these four women was always interesting, often helpful as they translated and explained for us, and often insightful as we could understand contemporary Egypt better through their eyes. Iris & Dina, Christians quite apparently from a privileged family, and Sally & Dareen, secular Muslims with good educations, had different life experiences of course but still helped us understand modern Egypt.

And then there’s the whole ancient Egypt part, the stuff you come to see. Our first excursion was to Al Qasr, an Ottoman oasis town dating from the early 16th century. Now largely abandoned (though there is a nearby town of a few hundred people), the old town consists of a warren of narrow streets between buildings of mud brick that apparently do a remarkable job of keeping this (comparatively) cool in the summer heat. And just how hot does it get? I asked our guide and he said that in the summer it can get to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Yeah, the desert. Oh, and dry too – he said it last rained 12 years ago. Since then you might get a little spritz a couple times a year but the last real rain was 12 years ago.

The old mud brick buildings of Al Qasr

At any rate, the old village made for a lovely little excursion. But there was more, too, ancient Egyptian stuff, old Roman ruins that seem practically new in comparison, a necropolis. It’s a little hard to get your head around this notion of people living in this dry, hot, remote place, but they have for millenia and, because of the dry climate, the ruins are often in surprisingly good shape. And apparently whenever you’re in the desert they arrange for at least one sunset out on the dunes. This one didn’t include sparkling wine as others have, but it was still beautiful and just great fun to walk around in just a remote place with just nothing at all except the sand dunes, a surprising spring-fed pond, and four new friends. And then the excitement of getting stuck in the sand as the sun was setting, not at all sure if we would be able to get the vehicle out. (We did.)

Sunset across the desert

Through it all, the star of the show was Al Tarfa Lodge itself. When we weren’t out exploring ancient ruins you could just hang out in the glorious quiet and read and relax, maybe chat with your new friends. The food was great; we are addicted to this Egyptian dip of a relatively light feta cheese blended with olive oil and then mixed in with a bit of chopped tomato; it’s heavenly. All that just remarkably inexpensive, so all in all it can’t be beat. If you’re ever in Egypt do yourself a favor and head out there. It’s worth the several hours it takes to get there.

How remote is Al Tarfa? That’s the baggage claim area for the “airport” we flew into.

From there we flew back to Cairo before heading down to Upper Egypt (yes, Upper Egypt is south of Lower Egypt, as all that is relative to the Nile and the Upper Nile is in southern Egypt) for a week-long cruise.

Our home for three nights. The same mud brick construction they’ve used here for hundreds and hundreds of years but fortunately filled with modern amenities like running water and electricity.

Our last dinner together was a beautiful candle-light affair. Sally in particular wanted to be in bed by 8:00 PM but she stayed up for this barbecue.

Mark wasn’t the only one who enjoyed the couch at Al Tarfa

Mark & I in front of an unexpected little lake on our sunset excursion

That’s a lot of nothing out in the desert

That little dot is me out there, just taking a walk. I wasn’t really that far away and was careful to keep our friends and the jeep in sight.

Mark with Dina & Iris

Here I am hanging out with Dareen & Sally

Iris at sunset

And with the sun setting we suddenly found ourselves stuck in the sand. It took a lot of digging and pushing and sweeping and pushing to get us out and for a while Mark & I were distinctly skeptical of our chances but apparently the guides knew what they were doing and we managed to escape.

Meanwhile, back at Al Qasr our guide had a little sidekick, Yusuf, who was just the cutest little kid. Never said a word as far as I remember, but always there to do whatever little odd job the guide needed.

One of the little figurines for sale, an old muezzin calling a prayer from the Koran

And here we have an imam pulling a little boy’s ear for not studying the Koran properly while his little friend looks on in fear

On our way out of Al Qasr we came on this guy making serrated knives. Basically he took knives and one-by-one filed individual teeth into them. That’s a pretty laborious way to do the job.

A view from outside the old town of Al Qasr

Here we are outside an ancient Egyptian temple. At the time I’m sure we were told what it was, when it was built, and who it honored but … for now let’s just say it’s an old Egyptian temple.

Sisters Iris & Dina. While they’re both anesthesiologists living in Bethesda, their little sister is completely different. She’s an anesthesiologist living in Pittsburgh. Completely different.

One of the things that just astounded us in seeing these old Egyptian ruins is that here we are, thousands of years later, and the colors still show up

See what I mean by color?

Mark and Sally outside one of our last stops

Me & Dareen waiting to board our flight back to Cairo

Here we are on the tarmac, bidding adieu

Here we are outside the Great Pyramid

We made two quick stops in Cairo, a two-day/three-night stop and then a one-day/two night stop, sandwiched around a trip into the Egyptian desert. While I was excited about going to Alexandria but ended up being disappointed, I wasn’t so eager about spending time in Cairo and ended up genuinely disappointed we didn’t have more time. I guess you can just never tell.

The capital of Egypt, this city of nine million people along the Nile River is the largest in the Arab world. Egyptian friends we made while out in the desert described it as Egypt’s New York City, with all the buzz and excitement and pollution and problems to go with it. There is a lot going on and a lot to see, more than you can do in the three days we had.

Looking out over a smoggy city from our hotel room

The first thing to see, and it is totally a must-see, is the Egyptian Museum of Cairo. With over 136,000 items on display it is by far the largest collection of Egyptian antiquities in the world. And as a bonus it is laid out pretty well, meaning that while yes, your eyes glaze over at some point and you are just kind of going through the motions, you actually learn something about ancient Egypt. Part of what you learn, of course, is just how old it is. I like to remind people that we are closer to the time of Cleopatra (about 2,000 years) than she was to the builders of the Great Pyramids (about 2,500 years). That’s ancient.

What’s so special about a couple of geese? These geese from the Egyptian Museum are some 4,600 years old, from the tomb of a brother of one of the great pharaohs. What fascinated me was the color; you just don’t often see colors that last that long.

There was a LOT of stuff from the tomb of King Tut in the Egyptian Museum, including little statues of animals with their tongues sticking out. How cute is that?

And then of course you have to go see the pyramids out in Giza, a 30-minute cab ride out from downtown. The biggest of them, the Great Pyramid, dates from about 2750 BC and can make a lot of claims: one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, it was by far the oldest; it is the only of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing; and it was the tallest building in the world for 3,800 years. That last one just boggles my mind.

Of course, everyone has seen pictures of the pyramids so I was not expecting to be that impressed. But I was. They’re just really big and really, really old. With a special ticket you can even go in the Great Pyramid and climb up a bunch of steps. Not recommended, though; it’s steep, you have to bend at the waist to climb up a good chunk of it, it get’s crazy hot as you near the top, and, to top it off, there’s nothing to do or see in there. Really kind of a bust. From the outside, though, the pyramids are worth the trip.

And just outside the pyramids, of course, is the Sphinx, proud here to be posing with me

But that’s not all. We also went for a great walk through part of the old city with great winding roads and all the street life you might hope for in an old Middle Eastern city. Definitely not a lot of tourists there but just loaded with atmosphere and really friendly locals.

Mark in the old city

And still there was more. On our last day we walked down into the Coptic section of Cairo. The Copts are a sect of Orthodox Catholics indigenous to northeastern Africa; not just a different religion, they maintain a separate ethnic identity from Muslim Egyptians and generally reject an Arab identity. The part of the city that is historically associated with Copts has the oldest church, the oldest synagogue, and the oldest mosque in Cairo. One of the of the main tourist draws is a church built around a cave said to have housed the Holy Family when they fled to Egypt to escape Herod’s persecution. I’m not entirely sure how they know that (maybe the Baby Jesus carved his initials into the wall?) but it makes for a good story. The other big deal there is the Shrine of St. George, a big hit for us.

Inside the Shrine of St. George is the very chain – the very chain! – that was used to hold George before he was martyred. And yes, they allow you to put it around your neck so some of the magic can wear off.

Ultimately it felt as though we almost rushed through Cairo. We had a couple of really good Indian dinners at a restaurant in the Sofitel and a couple good lunches at a classic old restaurant. Oh, and one of the worst meals in a long time at an Italian restaurant in the Ritz-Carlton. I mean, we figured, “How bad can an Italian restaurant in the Ritz be?” Really bad, we discovered.

Would I come back to Cairo? I just might. The weather is gorgeous this time of year and while the traffic and the noise and pollution and all can be overwhelming you just have the sense that there is a lot to discover here. So maybe some day.

Did I say that the locals on the streets of Cairo were friendly?

And how’s that for a street scene? The dog, the old car, the chicken … and we’re in one of the biggest cities in all of Africa.

Street market

More produce

Statue of King Chefron, builder of the second biggest pyramid. Some consider this the finest of all ancient Egyptian statues.

Another room, another statue

These guys were cool. While Egyptian statuary is typically pretty static – just the same structure and pose over and over and over, century after century – this really stood out.

The crowning of Ramses III

One last picture from the Egyptian Museum. The central figure here is Nefertiti, wife of Akhenaten and one of the most beautiful women of all the ancient world. Akhenaten died around 1335 BC, but before then he was a big modernizer. He abandoned Egypt’s long-held polytheism and introduced worship of Aten the Sun God. And on top of that he encouraged exploration of artistic expression, making this art utterly different from what came before and after.

After Alexander the Great conquered Egypt and the Greeks moved in there was a slight change in their art. Notice how while this guy has the classic Egyptian pose he has the face of a Greek!

Another of those statues from the tomb of King Tut

Lunch in a classic old Egyptian restaurant

And dinner outdoors along the Nile

The kind of meal you dream about – great grilled veggies, great baba ganoush, and a spicy cheese dip we have all over Egypt that we LOVE.

Mark on our way to the Egyptian Museum in whatever fog/smog/haze was hanging over the city that morning

And Mark on a long climb up the Great Pyramid. He still looked happy because we hadn’t gotten to the hottest part or discovered that there was nothing there.

A cool street view

We were walking past an old mosque and a guy asked if we wanted to go in. Sure, why not, knowing that of course he would expect a little tip for the tour. There was nothing that interesting about it, but there were a lot of birds in one open-air section.

We weren’t the only ones happy with Cairo. Boston Bear got a little special treatment at the hotel, too.

Mark at White & Blue, a wonderful Greek restaurant in Alexandria

Mark was in Alexandria 34 years ago so he was an old hat at knowing what to expect here. This was all new to me, though, so here’s what I knew about Alexandria before we arrived. Founded by Alexander the Great when he conquered Egypt in the late fourth century BC, it became the capital of Egypt under the Ptolemaic dynasties that ended with Cleopatra. It was here that Julius Caesar came for what was to have been the final battle with his erstwhile ally and fellow triumvir (and even his one-time son-in-law) Pompey the Great, though the locals had killed Pompey before Caesar arrived; he is said to have wept at the news. He got over his grief though with what was apparently a lovely little fling with the Egyptian queen Cleopatra, as she soon thereafter gave birth to twins.

After Caesar’s untimely demise back in the Roman Forum Cleopatra – always in search of a strong man to help her defend her claim to the throne – partnered off with Mark Anthony who was Caesar’s closest ally and most likely successor. Alas, that didn’t work out either as a certain Octavian – Caesar’s wimpy great-nephew, known to history as Augustus – claimed the heritage and ultimately defeated Anthony and Cleopatra in a great sea battle. The two lovers retreated to Alexandria where she clasped an asp to her breast and died a glorious death. After that Alexandria continued to be the capital of Egypt for another 600-plus years, though now under Roman control.

The colorful harbor of Alexandria

Through it all, though, Alexandria remained the largely Greek city that had grown under the Ptolemies. It was one of the great cities of the ancient world, home of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World – the Pharos Lighthouse – and the Alexandria Library, perhaps the greatest center of learning in the ancient world.

That’s what I knew in advance so I was sort of, without really thinking about it, anticipating something of the Greek Mediterranean here. What did I find? To my surprise (though of course I shouldn’t have been surprised) we found a lot more Africa and a lot less Greece. Certainly fascinating in its own way, just not quite what I’d dreamt of.

Walking along Alexandria’s Corniche – the roadway along the coast – we found mile after mile of these fading grand old buildings. Beautiful but certainly sad as well.

Today Alexandria is a massive, crowded, decaying city with some of the worst traffic – perhaps the absolute worst – we’ve ever seen anywhere in the world. We stayed at a hotel right on the coast so we had nice views and in fact a private beach to enjoy the otherwise somewhat limited Mediterranean experience. On our first full day in Alexandria we read about a Greek restaurant that was supposed to be good and it certainly was. The patio was up on the third floor of the city’s Greek center and had a great view of the harbor. Interestingly, it was right next to an old fort that was itself built on the site of the ancient Pharos Lighthouse. And then after lunch we walked the full six-plus miles along the Corniche back to our hotel, past the site of the ancient library, taking in the sights and smells and sounds of today’s Alexandria. The one big drawback to all that was that we needed to cross the street to get to our hotel, something that is little more than courting catastrophe. Seeing the locals do it, though, we saw how they just weaved in and out of traffic and eventually we made it too.

And that was about it for our three-night stop. Some beach time, some good Greek and later Egyptian food, some attractive old buildings but not really a lot for tourists. From here it’s down to Cairo as we burrow our way deeper into Egypt.

The beach was beautiful and largely abandoned by early November. Good Minnesotan that I am though, I thought the water was just fine. And yes, that’s me out there.

One of many beautiful mosques in Alexandria. There is something about those spires that just, well, inspires me.

It wasn’t just the buildings and the sea that made Alexandria beautiful

The view from White & Blue. Not a bad place for lunch, eh?

One day lunch was at a local Egyptian place. We were surprised that there were none of the various dips and salads that we’ve come to expect in Middle Eastern restaurants, but we coped and just ordered a bunch of other stuff. What we learned is that all those dips and salads weren’t on the menu because they bring them all free at the start of your meal. Yes, everything on the table here was free. We ended up with way too much food so if we ever come back we’ll just order one small dish and fill up on the free stuff!

And finally, here I am eagerly anticipating our Greek lunch