Monday – February 18, 2019 Alexandria, Egypt
There was another spectacular sunrise over the Mediterranean Sea this morning. I hurried out to the balcony of the hotel to take pictures and watched as a glorious full rainbow appeared out of the mist. Unfortunately, neither of my cameras could capture the entire arc.
Our adventurous group had explored most of Alexandria’s tourist sites during the last two days. The schedule for the day was to drive back to Cairo and spend our last night in the capital city before our departures home tomorrow.
On the way, we stopped at St. Macarius Coptic Monastery located just off the highway about 60 miles north of Cairo. One of the gracious monks gave us an interesting tour and explained the history of the monastery and the Coptic faith.
The church of the Forty Nine Martyrs honors the monks who were massacred at the monastery in 444AD:
The monastery was founded about 360AD by Saint Macarius the Great of Egypt and has been continuously inhabited by monks since the 4th century up to the present day.
Our group picture:
We drove past another monastery along the highway:
We passed miles of farmland along the road between Alexandria and Cairo in the Nile River Valley:
Near Giza, we stopped for a delicious lunch at an attractive restaurant.
Several smiling women baked Egyptian pita bread outdoors:
Two young bus-boys greeted us:
Lovely floral interior of the restaurant:
Then we drove through heavy “rush hour” traffic on the street around the Pyramids of Giza. The city of Cairo has grown right up to the pyramids. The photo below shows buildings across the street from the ancient site:
Maged, our guide, had said it rains only eight days a year in Egypt! So when we first arrived in Cairo two weeks ago and it rained during our visit to the famous Pyramids, we were very disappointed. Today was a bright sunny day so we asked Maged to stop at the Pyramids before reaching the hotel.
Here are a few photos of the famous Pyramids of Giza in the sunshine. The late afternoon sun was warm and bright. 
The Sphinx sits nearby like a cat stretched out in the warm sand.
We had a wonderful time in Egypt! We visited ancient sites and experienced the modern culture of a dynamic country. One more place off my “bucket list….”