Return to Egypt, 2025

For our annual winter stay in Egypt this year, we had a new travel option.  Lufthansa has begun operating flights from Minneapolis via Frankfurt, Germany, in partnership with United Airlines.  This offered us a shorter overall trip with non-stop service to Frankfurt. We had a seven hour layover in Frankfurt versus the agonizing ten hour layover in Paris when making the trip on Delta and their partners.

We checked in at MSP at the newly constructed Lufthansa counters at the North end of the terminal.

 

Lufthansa operates Boeing 787-9 wide-body "Dreamliners" on this route.  Lufthansa/Boeing may have set a new record for minimum space allocated to each passenger.  Fortunately, our seat-mate in the three tiny chairs in row 21 was a quite small Egyptian man, Sham the Buckboard Chef (and Lakeville, MN, politician.) 

The Dreamliner had a good flight information system with detailed maps and it only took about fifteen minutes to get the thing working.  We took a very northerly route out of town, flying almost directly above I-35 to begin.  Total distance to Frankfurt is 4400 miles and about 8 1/4 hours flying time.

 

A few hours later, with only 900 miles to go, we were approaching Ireland.

Although we had to haul our carry-on bags up and down a couple of stairways, we did not have to go through security a second time - another advantage over the Delta Airlines/Paris route.  During our layover in Frankfurt, I cruised through the Relay shop in the airport (there are over 1100 of these in airports and train stations) and was surprised to see a large display of Jack Link's Jerky offered at special prices.

Our connecting flight to Cairo was about five hours in duration aboard a single-aisle Airbus 321 with a bit more seat space than the previous plane but no flight-information/movie screen at all.  Without a map, I was lost as Linda, with a window seat, observed the Alps through an occasional hole in the clouds, noted the lovely sunset and an attractive city that might have been in either Italy or Croatia as we approached the Mediterranean. We tried asking the flight attendant where we were but she could only speculate that we might be over Italy.

 

 

We had a tasty evening meal along the way although just what it consisted of is a bit of a mystery.

As usual, we didn't obtain our Egyptian visas in advance, since they can be purchased at a bank counter in the arrival hall at the Cairo airport.  This gave us a bit of a problem at the start of the trip in Minneapolis since Lufthansa ticket agents had a difficult time overriding their computer system which insisted on passengers having a visa before departure.  Passing through customs was an easy process and soon we were preparing to exit the terminal near the beautifully decorated Christmas tree in the lobby.

 

We were met at the airport by our ever-reliable friend, Roshdy, who had arranged for a car and driver to take us across town to our apartment.

Door to door, our total travel time was just about twenty-four hours.

It took another day before our building's cat, Kitty-Kat, found us and asked for food. Once her stomach was satisfied she made her way to her favorite chair.  We understand that she had been checking the door for our return in recent months.

 

Winter in Egypt, 2024 - A Visit to Minya, Part 7 - Return to Cairo

After another restful night at the Holy Family Hotel near Minya, we embarked on the three-hour return trip to Cairo.  This time, we took the modern highway that follows the west bank of the Nile (dark blue line.)

 

Once again, this is a modern freeway with three lanes in each direction and two more for truck traffic running parallel to it.

 

As we left the hotel turning northward, we passed by the large quarry area that produces the brilliant white limestone blocks that are seen in many rural area homes.  These are the modern versions of the talatat blocks that were quarried three thousand years ago from the same area to build Akhenaten's new capital city of Amarna.

 

  

 

Larger limestone blocks are finding their way to the "New Administrative Capital" under construction, thirty miles east of Cairo.

 

After crossing the Nile to the west side, we passed large stretches of agricultural land, including a nice looking vineyard.

  

 

 

Tomatoes were being shipped in trucks both large and small.

  

 

Garlic is usually only found moving by small truck. (Almost every Egyptian dinner meal includes a sauce with garlic and tomatoes)

 

And people also move by truck.

 

There are numerous houses of worship along the route, both churches and mosques.

 

 

 

For drivers on the road at prayer time, even small rest stops such as this one usually have a small mosque or a prayer area such as the one just to the left of the WC.

  

 

We soon passed the picturesque pyramid at Maidum which we had visited on a previous trip.

 

Reaching the Cairo administrative area, we paid another toll to finance the road construction.

 

The city continues to build apartments for its growing population and each year the building stretches further out.  Seeing the first glimpse of the pyramids on the Giza Plateau is always a welcome reminder that we are almost home.

  

 

Back at the apartment we were greeted by our building's cats who certainly missed us during the previous few days.  After quickly eating dinner, they joined me by the computer as I began loading the 1500 or so pictures from the trip.

    

Winter in Egypt, 2024 - A Visit to Minya, Part 6 - The Monkeys of Ashmunin and Hermopolis Magna

Following our visit to the Boundary Stela "A", we headed a few miles Northeast to the town of Ashmunin (also appearing as Ashmoun or Ashmunein). 

We passed through some interesting rural areas, then the town of Ashmunin.   It took about a half hour to cover the six or seven miles of bumpy road, maneuvering around donkey carts and sheep.

 

  

This road apparently does not get a lot of tourist traffic, so we seemed to attract a lot of attention, especially from the children.

Just beyond Ashmunin, we reached an open-air museum which houses the two large baboon statues (reconstructed in part) that represent the ancient Egyptian god, Thoth. 

 

  

 

 

The statues appear to hold some original hieroglyphic carvings.

 

Notice the two oval cartouches which appear to have been altered to eliminate a previous royal name.

After taking a few pictures with the baboons, we turned around and noticed the ruins of the ancient city of Hermopolis Magna behind us. There was only a half hour left before sunset so we didn't have time left in the day to visit the site, still the subject of continuing architectural digs. It is probably just as well since we later learned it is home to numerous snakes and scorpions.

 

As the sun set, we returned north toward Minya where we stopped for a delicious dessert at a "Pick & Go" in this modern town.

 

  

    

 

After that, we returned to the Holy Family Hotel via the west bank highway utilizing the ferry which we had observed at breakfast, to cross the river.