Day 72. Cairo, Egypt 🇪🇬 30.4.24

The morning could have gone better, with less problems. We had a transfer booked for 9.35am and the driver turned up at 7am. We were obviously not ready. Threw clothes on shoved things in bags to find he left with out us🤦‍♀️

Double checked our pick up on line. Still says 9.35. I tried, hotel staff tried, I tried and the hotel staff tried again but we could not make contact with the company 🤷‍♀️

I left numerous messages on their whatsapp. The hotel & our travel agent suggested we wait until 9.35 and if no driver shows we get a taxi. At 9.31 they finally responded and apologised for 'some mix up '. A driver arrived at 10am.

Finally on our way to the airport. 

We have a 2 hr stopover in Amman, Jordan.

Very foggy leaving Istanbul. 

Coming in to Amman. 

Amman airport. 

Our plane to Cairo. 

Coming in to Cairo airport we could see pyramids and tombs.

Sunset as we arrived in Cairo.

We were met by a greeter at the baggage carousel. He led us through all the necessary steps to get to our car and to the hotel.

We felt uncomfortable as they whisked our luggage away and took our passports to check us in. We were given someone to look after us, Bolla, but all he wanted to do was sell us local day tours.

Eventually we got to our room and fell in to bed.

Marks cough has got worse and mine came back again this afternoon. We have a few days before our pyramid tour starts so we plan to rest.

There is no time difference so we are still 7 hrs behind. 

Day 71. Istanbul. 29.4.24

We've had another fabulous day exploring. 

A cruise ship arrived sometime during the night. We were picked up at 7.30am to start our journey inland. The rural scenery was lovely but the roads were not. 

We thought we were stopping to see some stone carving. 3 mins of talking which we didn't understand all of it. Turkish people speak very fast. It was more of a tourist stop to spend $$.

Onyx 

Lunch with a view. 

Calcium carbonate rocks.

We visited the ruins of the Ancient City of Hierapolis.

Theatre.

The trevatines. The reason we came on this 2 day sojourn. 

We took it in turns as we didn't want to risk leaving our belongings, including passport, sitting in the open. Enjoyed a freshly squeezed before my eyes orange juice. 

Next stop was to visit the museum on the way out.

Denizli airport.

Arrived late back in to Istanbul so no blogging today.

Tomorrow we head to Egypt 🇪🇬