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You can lose everything, but nobody will take away what you saw and what you experienced...
............ 
Dec 17, 2020 10:00 PM Last day in the sunny paradise
Sorry, tomorrow I will be flying back to Warsaw... So today is my last day in Marsa Alam, to be precise - 40 kms north of Marsa, in the middle of nowhere, where on the coast of the Red Sea they built my hotel....
The sea is rough today because the strong wind. I tried to swim anyway, but it was not the same pleasure... Water was warm as always, but there was a strong current pushing me to the north and the waves were covering me from time to time.
In the afternoon I started to pack my backpack again. No need to use an alarm clock. The first calling from the nearby mosque will wake me up at 5 am! :)
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Dec 16, 2020 10:00 PM Shisha for 2 euro or 2 dollars
On the beach which belongs to our hotel they established something like a club, where the tourist are going at the sunset time to try some snacks and to try coffee prepared on taditional way. First they bake the coffee beans on the coal. Then they beat the baked coffee in the mortar addin some ginger. Finally the product goes to jabana - special dish with round bottom (I brought such a ceramic jabana from Eritrea) adding sufficient amount of water and boil it on the coal. The coffee prepared on this way is thick and almost black. It is recommended to add some water. Take care - it is very strong and will not sleep after big dose!
Coffee is free for the guests but if you want to smoke shisha (the water pipe) it will cost you 2 euro or 2 dollars. Sorry - this service is temporarily unavailable due to pandemic :)
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Dec 15, 2020 10:00 PM Coastal walk to the south
Tourist industry in Egypt suffers from pandemic. In the Marsa Alam area only 8 hotels are open and the have very few guests, so they must reduce expenses. Friendly cook in my hotel keeps portioned butter underground for the special guests. I am lucky to be one of them since I know few words in Arabic, they know that I visited all Arab countries and I am ready to socialize with them...
OK. Today I decided to take the coastal walk south from the place I stay. Just at the beginning I passed the poor post of Egyptian coast guard (eh, Egyptian army... soldier in charge wear the uniform only when he saw me at the fence :)
Then there was little, idyllic and completely empty bay... Further south I too a photo of two local fishermen using the net - I am not sure if this is legal in the Red Sea full of color fish...
Later I passed the ruined Cindarella Hotel -it seems that nobody cares about cleaning this part of the coast.
Finally I reached huge Acacia Hotel. It is closed now. The guards did not allowe me to continue my walk along the beach. That's life... I still gain some new experience!
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Dec 14, 2020 10:00 PM Along the coast
Sea is a bit rough, but the sun is shining... The adwantage of Marsa Alam's hotels are that the distance from hotel A to hotel B is minimum few kilometres. Today I enjoyed the walk to the next resort heading to the north. It was nice walk and I found "Novotel" nicer then the hotel I stay... Beach (partly rocky) was completely empty...
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Dec 13, 2020 10:00 PM All inclusive under the palms...
It is the first case in the long history of my travelling that I stay in the hotel where the drinks are included in the room rate. But I must add here a comment: Egypt is Muslim country where alcohol is officially forbidden. No bottle shops even in big cities, if your are a beer lover it will be very difficult to find the bottle... Except, if you are in the good hotel or resort where they want more and more foreign tourists.
To save the money they do not offer imported, well-known brands, but Egyptian products only. So you will be surprised that there is Egyptian whisky, Egyptian vodka and brandy and Egyptian white rum (recommend!). They have also Egyptian beer and wine but for some strange reason ithe wine is served only durind the lunch and dinner time. Barmen do not drink, so the choice of wine is like the lottery: there is only one white and one red. You order dry but you never know if you will get dry or sweet....
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Dec 12, 2020 10:00 PM Back to the Red Sea
We are coming back to the coast. It is about 5 hours drive from Luxor to Marsa Alam. Every tourist bus in Egypt is escorted by the armed policeman. And there are many control points on the route... You are always stop at they are checking documents of the car, destination and the number of the people inside...
First part of today's driving to Qena was very interesting - through the window of the bus I saw the life - people working, donkey carts and lush nature with many bougainvillea flowers jn blossom... Then we turned east and started to cross rather monotonous Eastern Desert. We reached our hotel in the darkness.
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Dec 11, 2020 10:00 PM West Bank of the Nile
Opposite the Luxor, on the west bank of the Nile there are many monuments from the time of the pharaohs. Probably the best known is the Valley of the Kings with 62 tombs of the rulers. The entry costs 240 egyptian pounds and gives you the right to visit 3 tombs of your choice. The Tutenhamon tomb is excluded and worth extra 300 pounds if you can see it. It is interesting place to see with fantastic decoration on the walls, but for me much picturesque is located nearby the Temple of Queen Hachhepsout - the only woman who ruled in Egypt. The temple is located at the bottom of the high cliff. Polish Archeo Mission was working hete long time to reconstruct the temple and the result is excellen - just see the picture!
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Dec 10, 2020 10:00 PM Enormous columns of Karnak
They say that this is the biggest temple in the world... Today I visited the temple of Amon Re in Karnak - on the outskirts of Luksor. This was my third time in Karnak, but I was impressed once again. Maybe because the temple was almost empty due to pandemic? The columns in hypostyle hall are imposing - How they constructed such a building thousands years ago? Armed police is present in every monument to guarantee the security. They are very friendly, but it is forbidden to photograph them...
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Dec 09, 2020 10:00 PM Temple of Horus in Edfu
Early wake up. At the sunrise time the horse cart was waiting on the river bank. I boarded the cart with my friend David and after some 15 minutes we reached the gate of the temple. It is big, but hardly visible from the distance because it was built below the present level of the ground. It was my first visit here and I must say I was impressed. I liked especially the nice reliefs on the walls of the temple...
In the afternoon wa will ba sailing down to Luxor....
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Dec 08, 2020 10:00 PM High dam and Philae Temple
Sun is very strong is Aswan. I must wear a hat to protect the skin on my head. :) In the morning we were driving to the High Dam. Russians built it working from 1961 to 1971. Egypt paid them sending to Soviet Union tons of cotton. Now the power plant installed here is the main source of energy for the whole country. The difference of water level is more than 100 m. The place is well guarded by army and the police and you can take the pictures only from the special parking and only by phone. No cameras or video... Entry costs 100 pounds... Impressive... I had a chance to see the place where I landed coming by junk boat from Sudan in 1976...
Later they took us down to the boat operating on the little lake between High Dam and Little Dam built by British closer to Aswan. The boat took us to the famous Philae Temple located on the island. Temple of Isis is on the UNESCO World Heritage list and is really beautiful.
In the afternoon I was sailing again down the Nile to Edfu.
What a day!
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