Cairo Sunset

If you are driving in Cairo in the mid afternoon, the odds are good that you will see one of these, the fiery yellow ball settling into the west over miles and miles of cars crawling in second gear down the road. Of course it helps to be crossing one of Cairo's bridges across the Nile to the Giza side.  We all hate Cairo traffic!

Summer Evening

Egypt is hot but the temperatures drop quickly when the sun sets, and even more quickly if you are lucky enough to be on a felucca, one of the old wooden sailing boats, on the Nile.

Cairo Sunset

And it includes, as most of us see them, endless rows of cars on the road ahead of us.

Winter Feluccas

Although it's mid to late November, it's still warm enough to enjoy sunset on the Nile. So people rent these wooden sailing boats for an hour or two.

Wow!

An almost bare poinciana tree against a winter sunset is enough to take your breath away!

On The Way Home

Yesterday was a bit of a mad rush finishing things with a friend who has been staying here for a month. We hoped to be home early but the sun was setting as we crossed the Nile to Giza. The north wind had blown all the pollution away and the clouds glowed crisply in the sky outlined in silver, pink and gold. On an evening such as this it's hard to imagine that all this beauty is just there to enjoy.

Another Brilliant Sunset

The one good payoff from pollution.....

The Greatest Pyramid

This isn't the pyramid that everyone takes pictures of, not one of the "three" that most of the world associates with Giza. The Great Pyramid at Giza is a wonderful sight, but for my money the Red Pyramid at Dahshur is the best. This was taken from the desert at sunset, something that is basically impossible to do if you are on a tour. The buses stay on the asphalt roads and they leave long before sunset. A local like myself with a jeep knows the odd ways in to be able to take this shot.

The pyramid itself was built by Sneferu after a couple of false starts with the pyramid at Meidum about 60 km south and the Bent Pyramid which is only about 300 metres south. It is made of red Aswan granite and somehow sits in the desert with much more comfort and authority than the Great Pyramid at Giza. Maybe it's the lack of all those horrible little men selling bad t-shirts and camel rides....

Lit Up

I was out riding in the desert with some friends one rainy afternoon and on the way home we noticed that the setting sun was coming in under the clouds illuminating the pyramids at the edge of the valley, while behind the pyramids the rainclouds were a deep navy blue/black. Great contrast.

The Silver Lining

A day of dust was followed by a night of rain, complete with thunder and lightening, which the horses found exciting and the dogs found frightening. Who knows what goes on in the animal brains? The result for humans was that anywhere we hadn't cleared the dust, we now had clay. Brilliant. But it was back to our usual wonderful sunsets like this one behind the Bent Pyramid at Dahshur.

An Advantage to Polllution

So the trick is that when your computer is bad, you shut it down and give it some time out, I guess. I shut my laptop to check the serial number of the battery (it's one that Apple is supposed to replace before it explodes) and when I turned it back on I can upload photos again. I give up.

Cairo is one of the world's most polluted cities and just last year I read that we'd edged out Mexico City for the top spot. Happily living at the southwestern edge of the city, I get the wind that blows from the northwest bringing clean air from the Mediterranean to the Nile Valley. We escape the worst of the pollution most days, but in the evening we get to enjoy the one advantage. The dust particles hanging in the air do give some spectacular sunsets. I have a brick/concrete mounting block of about 5 stairs that we built for our less athletic riders, but it's secret function is to provide a sitting place for a person and a number of dogs in the evening to watch the sun disappear.