This cruise has been an incredible journey i will write more about that later, unless I don’t. But I want to capture my trip through Egypt to the Pyramids and the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM). So I have prepared 3 comprehensive shared photo albums for your enjoyment.
The story begins on the morning of our arrival in Alexandria on Wednesday, 27 August 2025.
We arrived for a early start around 8 am. But we were prohibited from docking at Alexandria. This was a LGBTQ cruise (89% male) and people had decorated their balcony windows. The Egyptian Port authority would not permit us to dock until all such paraphernalia was removed, including LGBTQ flags and other things they did not consider decorous. This homophobic start delayed our trip and forded a shortened version of our trip.
When we finally disembarked to our buses, we drove through Alexandria on our way to the first stop the Pyramids.
As our drive took us through Alexandria and parts of Cairo it was clear we were dealing with a country living under extreme poverty, with little sign of any architectural acumen except the need to put roofs over 7 million head in as cheap and utilitarian places as possible. It was not until we arrived near the pyramids that a more creative and cultural architecture began to appear. But these places were rich summer homes, spas, villas and expensive hotels.
One very fascinating aspect of our voyage was through an area of reclaimed land used for agricultural crops. The land was not irrgated but rather tapped water deep into the ground, it was fascinating to see the green fields among the otherwise baren land.
Nevertheless, after a three hour trek through Egypt we arrived at our destination: the pyramids.
https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B2P59UlCq7DoSg
The Pyramids were impossible to overhype they were one of the most awesome experiences of my life. The Egyptian government left little expense (and police force a mixture of “Tourist Police”, and machine gun bearing police or military) to assure the visitor had a good experience. The police were few but very strategic. The many touts and sellers were aggressive at first but if you showed little interest they backed down immediately allowing the visitor to attend the pyramids in relative peace.
https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B2PGI9HKKGFZYci
After the overwhelming Pyramid experience, one was scarcely in state withstand the comprehensive and amazing GEM (Grand Egyptian Museum). This museum, which would easily fit with the Louvre in architectural stature as well as an amazing museum showing the full breadth of Egyptian history from the earliest Pharaohs to the Ptolemaic period with is greco-roman influences.
https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B2P5yeZFhY1aAC