beautiful, we then drove past the Helenic Parliament building scene of so many news clips in the last year due to demonstrations against the European Union’s imposed austerity measures and finally Monastiriki Square, again beautiful.
Then it was back on board for the cruise to our next stop in Turkey at Antalya.
The stop over in Antalya was another four hour rush. I’d flown into Antalya one time with Stephen when we had a fortnight’s holiday in Side, the one where he had to disappear in a hurry for a job, and knew it was a tradionally Turkish town but with only a few hours off the ship we inevitably only saw the tourist area, Hadrian’s gate, the Hirdirlik Tower and The Fluted Minaret to name a few. Still a lovely thimble full of proper Turkish coffee with the necessary glass of cold water went down well along with a portion of ultra sticky baklava and then it was back on board for the trip south to Alexandria and the delights of Egypt.
Perhaps it was just as well that our lovers had departed so we could have a good night’s sleep. Beth and I needed to be up early when we arrived in Alexandria, we had signed up for an excursion to Giza to see the pyramids and the Sphinx and to experience a true Arabian Night. We just had time in Alexandria for breakfast at one of the portside cafes that we were led to by our tour guide. It was a pavement cafe, very busy and the eight others on the tour plus Beth and I were the only Westerners there, the rest were all Arabs. While we were sitting there enjoying the food and coffee a black Mercedes pulled up and out stepped a very distinguished guy in full Arab style clothing, he was obviously a toff of some sort because he had people fawning all over him. He was led straight to a table and the waiters were double quick to serve the guy. He sat there looking around watching the dhows as they spread their sails and headed off out to sea, then he scanned the customers in the cafe and his eyes settled on me, we made eye contact and he smiled, I smiled back and then he raised his coffee glass in a toast and went back to watching the harbour. A few moments later he waved a man over to him and said something, the man turned around looked at me and quickly turned away.
Aye aye I thought what’s going on here was I about to be asked to swap my life to be come a concubine for some Arab prince? Moments later the guy stood up went to his Mercedes and it zoomed off; so much for that little fantasy.
Ten minutes later a mini bus pulled up and we tourists were ushered into it for the two and a half hour drive to Giza and tourist heaven. Fortunately the air conditioning in the mini bus worked superbly and on good roads we were soon approaching the fourth largest city in Egypt. The urban sprawl was enormous, we seemed to be driving through suburbs of the town for ever and then in the distance we caught our first glimpse of the pyramids, all conversation stopped as we took in the magnificent sight.
The whole place was overwhelming, our tour guide explained and gave us the history of everything we could see, The Great Pyramid of Khufu, the smaller Pyramid of Khafre, the smaller still Pyramid of Menaure, the Tomb of Khentkaues 1 and of course not forgetting The Sphinx.
Towards dusk we were ushered back to the minibus and taken to our accommodation for the night, a bloody tent!
Chapter 4
The Bedouin tent inside was a revelation, it was without any doubt whatsoever the most luxurious tent I’d ever seen in my life. The floor was covered with thick rugs of the highest quality, drapes of the finest silk hid the tent’s walls. On the far side from the entrance were ten proper beds made up ready for us ten tourists to go to pilly cush later. Low tables were placed in the centre of the tent surrounded by dozens of cushions. I couldn’t find a grain of sand anywhere which was remarkable seeing as we were surrounded by the stuff. The staff here must have worked extremely hard to keep the place so clean. Outside western tables were placed under awnings with proper western chairs. I’ve never particularly liked the idea of camping ever since I got soaked and freezing going for a jolly with a boyfriend one Easter back in the U.K. All he wanted to do was get inside my knickers but I was so bloody cold I kept my clothes firmly on, needless to say we parted company on our return to civilisation. When this trip was advertised as a true Bedouin experience I thought we would be going to a hotel and have a bit of entertainment some Arab food and that would be it I never thought for a moment we’d be sleeping under canvas, but if you do have to then this was definitely the way to do it. Behind the main tent there was a second large tent which were the showers and western toilets, unbelievable, hot water was provided by solar panels, this company had thought of everything. To the side and downwind of the outside tables a huge barbecue pit had been set up and delightful aromas promised a lovely feast a little later.
We all put our bags by our beds and then assembled by the outside tables where cold drinks including beer and wines were available. Beth and I got tucked into a particularly flavoursome bottle of chilled sauvignon blanc and enjoyed the distant views of the pyramids. Our fellow explorers, okay I know that’s a bit over the top, were a chatty bunch and time quickly passed when Mohammed asked us to be seated for the feast. And what a feast platter after platter of the finest foods were laid on the table, we started with Molokheyyak a green soup followed by Kebdah a fried liver dish, lamb kebabs, Mahshi Haman, roasted pigeons stuffed with rice would you believe, Samak Makly a grilled fish followed by fresh fruit or ice cream for desert if you wanted it.
After the meal we all sat chatting under the stars until one by one they started to disappear off to bed.
Much later Beth and I were left alone until she declared, “That’s it I can’t keep my eyes open any longer I’m off to bed.”
“I’m just going to finish this off,” I said holding up my glass, “and I’ll join you.”
All alone I marvelled at the millions of stars up there in the black sky. Mohammed wandered over and started to collect the empty bottles and dirty glasses.
“You okay Mohammed?” I asked.
“Fine thank you,” he replied. “You are enjoying this experience?”
“Wonderful, I can’t believe there are so many stars up there.”
“There is light here madam. Come with me there is a wadi not far where there is total blackness; there you will see the sky truly as Allah meant it to be seen.”
“Really?”
“Yes, it is a wondrous sight.”
Just for a second it crossed my mind that it would be crazy for me to wander off into the desert with this Arab, but hey holidays are all about doing different things.
“Why not my man, lead on.”
“It is not far, perhaps three hundred metres.”
Mohammed switched on a torch to lead the way. At first the going was easy, the sand was hard packed but after a hundred yards the sand softened and turned to powder, my feet dug in with every step. Eventually we came to a kind of cliff with a gap in it we walked through and along the length of a small valley.
Mohammed shone the torch on a flat rock. “Sit madam.”
I sat down and he switched the torch off.
“Now you can see Allah’s sky.”
I looked up and here in the total blackness the sky was alive with a million, no a billion stars. It was a magnificent sight, one that I committed to memory and then a hand was clamped over my mouth, my arms were held to my side and tape wrapped around me. I struggled but three or four strong men held me fast. Tape was fastened over my mouth and a heavy cotton bag that stank of onions was put over my head. Finally my feet were taped together and then I was bodily carried off. I tried to wriggle free but it was to no avail, there was no escape. I was carried like this for perhaps half an hour and then unceremoniously dumped into the back of some sort of vehicle. It set off and all I could hear was the droning of the engine.
I hadn’t felt any fear up until this moment but suddenly got very scared, where was I being taken and why? If this was for a ransom of some sort they were out of luck, I was a working girl along with everybody else I knew, nobody was about to pay for my return. I was lost, why had I been so stupid to walk away from the campsite, nobody would miss me until the morning and by then I would be miles away.
The ride was very bumpy, my head banged against the metal floor of the vehicle every so often, I was finding it very difficult to breath inside the cotton laden air of the bag and on top of that I wanted to pee, desperately. Every bump of the vehicle increased the discomfort until in the end after a particularly harsh jolt my bladder let go,
