While Egypt was all about motion and tours, Madrid was the laid back portion of our vacation. And it was magnificent. First off, we had perfect weather – sunny and high 70s during the day. Second, it’s just a beautiful, clean, orderly European city. It felt very familiar to us. And third, it offered our favorite of all European pastimes – sitting at a cafe, drinking wine, and people watching.

From the hop on, hop off bus, to the Prado art museum, to the e-bike tour, to our “self-guided wine tour” and loooooooong hike to the zoo, to our walk through Retiro Park, and to the never ending supply of wine, gelato and churros … we had a blast.

One thing deserves a longer mention. Some may not like this, but we attended a bullfight in the most famous bullring in the world – Las Ventas. I wasn’t sure what to expect or how I would feel about it. We know it wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea. Setting aside the sensitivities some may have about this, the cultural aspects are really fascinating. The training, the bravery, the customs, and the pageantry – it was all very interesting and educational. We happened to see a young matador get gored twice, which was really shocking. News reports suggest that he will recover with no lasting issues.

The other item that deserves special mention is churros – specifically, churros with hot dipping chocolate. OMG, why have I never had this before? We discovered this culinary masterpiece on day 1 at breakfast and proceeded to have it every single morning after that. 😉

We kicked off our fall odyssey by touching down in Cairo for 5 days. This has been a bucket list item for us for about 25 years, so very excited to be here.

Our hotel was situated right on The Nile River, and the rooftop restaurant had an amazing view of the rivers and lights.

First stop had to be the pyramids! They’re big, they’re old, they’re in the desert. It was hot. Like really hot. We learned that the Great Pyramid (the one behind us in the first pic below), which was built roughly in 2650 BC, was for King Kufou (sometimes referred to in English as Keops), who was the father, and there are two slightly smaller pyramids next to it that are his son and grandson – who were Pharaohs after him. Next to each large pyramid are much smaller pyramids that are the tombs of each of their wives and other children. A total of nine tombs in all – they can all be seen in the pic with us on the camels. Our gentle camels – Mickey and Alibaba – carried us across the desert to the Sphinx. We learned that the monument was made using the leftover rock from the quarry, after the pyramids, and it kind of seems like an afterthought. It’s majestic, but a bit worn down. Next we traveled to Sakkara – home of the very first pyramid built, roughly 3,000 BC. It’s a rudimentary thing, called The Steppes. Big takeaway from this site was the large open area next to the pyramid that was used for games, kind of like the Olympics. There, the Pharaoh at the time would fight a bull every few years and cut off its tail to prove his worth and power to the people. I’m writing this in Madrid (more on that in the next blog post), and after seeing a real bullfight, this act was really brave! This is also the day we bought my Kartoush – which has my name in hieroglyphics on one side and a series of ‘blessings’ for love, devotion, patience, and strength on the other side. We had dinner at a nice Italian restaurant and signed our name on the wall at the owner’s request.

Day two took us to the Egyptian museum, where all of the artifacts from the pyramid tombs and other ruins are housed (the pyramids are empty). Overall, there are some really cool things in here. But overcrowded and no AC, so kind of an uncomfortable experience. Cool things – Andy found out that he resembles Ramses II, The Great, and even shares his birthday. Also, we saw the King Tut golden mask (pic below shows golden masks of Tut’s grandparents). No pics allowed in the King Tut part of the museum, but sadly everywhere else you were allowed to touch, sit on, whatever, the antiquities. We were shocked and saddened that these precious treasures are not better protected. Our guide, Mahmoud, was a delight. That night, we took a dinner cruise on The Nile, which included a traditional belly dancing show. Rode home in a horse and carriage.

The following day we had a wonderful tour of the older part of Cairo – the Islamic quarter. The Cairo of today is a mix of mostly Muslim, but also Jewish and Christian, living, they say, harmoniously side by side. But it’s history is largely Muslim so there are dozens of mosques, with beautiful onion tops and towering minarets dotting the city’s skyline. Our guide took us to three mosques – one that is part of an old fort and is beautifully restored as mostly a tourist location, and a second and third that are still very much used by locals as prayer places. In fact, we happened to be there during the noon prayer and observed locals praying. One interesting thing about Cairo is that they play the prayers over loudspeakers all over town five times a day, as a call to pray. Our guide finished off our tour by taking us to the oldest market in Egypt and one of the oldest in Africa – Khalil el Khan. We wandered through a bit but weren’t interested in shopping, but we did have coffee at the oldest coffee shop in Egypt, which was really cool; pic below. That night, we took a ride on a felucca – the original wooden sailboats that were used to travel The Nile.

Last day was mostly about sleeping in, eating, and packing.

Overall, our impression of Egypt is that we are so glad we experienced this culture. The good – the Egyptian people are warm, friendly, and proud. They bend over backward to help you and they speak English really well. The food was great and easy to find something yummy. The bad – the city is very dirty and ill-kept, there’s trash everywhere, and the traffic is horrendous. Horns honking constantly. I think it’s the biggest city we’ve ever visited – 23 million – and is largely very poor. It’s a shame the amazing antiquities are not cared for in a way that promotes conserving them for many generations to enjoy. In the end, however, we had a great time and would recommend Cairo to anyone who wants to see and experience this amazing culture.

OK, so we skipped writing about the two-week back-to-back cruise that was part of our nomadic 2 months after moving out of the Dallas townhouse. It was a cruise – well, two actually – followed by a week in Dallas, a month in Hot Springs, and a month in a Dallas apartment. Then we moved into our new house. Not a vacation, actually, but sort of.

Cruise – two back to back week-long cruises. Typical – had fun, saw the shows, gambled, people watched, and generally just had a lot of laughs. Can’t recall anything that really sticks out.

Hot Springs – we did a lot of fun things during our time in Hot Springs. First, the house was really cool – large home with wraparound porch set on 5 acres with a pond and a little woodsy area. Andy had fun walking the perimeter most days, doing a bit of fishing and shooting squirrels and rabbits. In his element!! We took a few motorcycle day trips, Dave came to visit, and we did some of the local touristy stuff like a boat ride on the lake and a visit to the local hot springs. All in all, a reminder of why we love Arkansas!

Dallas apartment – a good reminder of how blessed we are. The apartment grounds and exterior were super sketchy – while Andy was gone, I did not stray out after dark. But once you got inside the rental apartment itself, it was fine. I was not sad to leave.

Enough about that “vacation” time. We were excited to move into our new house!