This port is considered the "gateway" from the Red Sea for ships with tourists going to Luxor, The Valley of the kings and Karnak all on or very near the Nile. The drive is three and half hours each way. The city itself is not a tourist destination.
There was no shuttle into the town of Safaga and we were warned that the taxis were a negotiating process. We heard so many interesting stories about the ride to town. Our Australian friends had the best experience, they walked to the port gate, got a taxi for $5 per person. He took them to a shopping area and then to the Holiday Inn for lunch. He picked them back up at the hotel and took them back to the port gate. They still had not given him any money! When he dropped them at the gate he only asked for his original fee, but our friend gave him $50 for the day.
We spent the day by the pool and played bridge with Don and Myrna. Let's not forget lunch.
After dinner we watched the local Folkloric show which was very good. We saw a whirling dervish, who whirled for at least 20 minutes without stopping. It was an unbelievable performance. The belly dancers were not bad also. For those of you who have no idea of what a "whirling Dervish" is, it is a dancer that spins with layers of circular skirts that spin like disks at the waist of the dancer. They can spin continuously and raise a layer above their heads and other variations. AMAZING...
Later we played trivia and our team came in second.
The next 6 days are at sea, so I will be combining some of the days.
Oct 25 - at sea
Evelyn and I walked for excise this morning and then had a light breakfast. All of us are starting to watch what we eat. I truly believe the salt air and or the ships laundry shrinks my clothes.
There was a qualifying trivia game this morning to selected two men and two women to play in a game to find the smartest trivia player. We did not place high enough, thou Evelyn did very well.
After lunch we played duplicate bridge and Evelyn and I came in tied for first place. This is a step up from are usual low placement.
Tonight is a formal night and our whole table is meeting for cocktails and we (H/E and D/M) are providing the appetizers - they just keep coming every night.
This afternoon the weather turned a little overcast, but it is still warm and muggy, the seas are calm.
We had a great time at the Casino bar before dinner. We are very lucky that we have such interesting and nice table mates, that doesn't happen very often.
The best entree tonight was lobster, it must have been because it was formal night. After dinner the show was a movie song review with the ship's dancers and singers. It must have been good, because I only nodded off a couple of times.
Oct 26 - at sea in the Red Sea
We both slept in till 8am this morning and it felt good. After breakfast I listened to the Port Lecturer talk about Dubai. Evelyn went to the bridge lesson. We are now waiting for trivia to start. Our team consists our all bridge players which means we will come in last. We finished in the middle of the pack.
We are now having a discussion on whether to take a ship tour or use the hop-on hop-off bus in Dubai. It now seems that we will take a ships tour. We want to go to the top of the tallest building and if we take the ship's tour we won't have to wait in line. The ship' s tour is more cost and time effective. A friend of mine (Evelyn's) lives in Abu Dabi and sent a detailed list of what to see and where to go. fYI Abu Dabi is the Capitol city of the UAE and is about 2 house by car from Dubai. I'm disappointed that I will be unable to see her. She is pregnant and her doctor has restricted her travel.
I complained to Princess about the Petra tour and yesterday I received a letter of apology and a 30% discount on the price of the tour.
Seeing that we did so well yesterday I have agreed to play bridge this afternoon.
This evening Evelyn and I will be doing the Chef's Table.
Sent from my iPad
Hal
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