Ancona, Italy

Our latest trip took us to a place we have been several times over the past year, but I have never posted about. Ancona is a beautiful old port city in northeast Italy, on the Adriatic Sea (opposite side of the country from Pisa). It is a very industrialized city & we continue to find it challenging to find English speak folk in this part of the country :)

After climbing the steep hill behind our hotel, I stumbled upon the Parco della Cittadella. It is a beautiful/peaceful place that overlooks the city & sea below.

Entering the old fortress through this long corridor, I found what appeared to be a slow restoration process of repairing the original structure.

From high atop one of the walls of the fortress, you can see the old lighthouses on the hill across town.

While walking on the many paths within the park, I passed by this neat old building. Unfortunately, I was unable to gain entry :( Walking around behind the building, I found that it is almost entirely covered in foliage.

Along the south side of this building there was a low wall that was also covered in foliage.

Drat! The back door was locked too.
The north side of the building.

Some kind of a Medieval playing field???

Catching Up

A bird's eye view of the Mohammed Ali Mosque, as seen on the approach to runway 05 center at Cairo Int'l Airport.

Here's what half a herd of camels looks like on the highway :)

Hiking up to St. George Chapel in Athens, Greece. This is the highest point within the city of Athens. Early in the morning, I found it a very peaceful place to pray, as well as offering a great panoramic view of the city below.

St. George Chapel.

The view of Athens, from St. George Chapel.

The Parthenon, atop the Acropolis.

Looking to the west (toward the sea), from St. George Chapel.

Back to Cairo (or close anyway). Hiking & seeking quiet time with the Lord at Wadi Degla (Degla Valley).

Our family SUV that got me there.

This has got to be one of the worst "Ramp Queens" I've ever had to park next to! :) On closer inspection, I found that the framing around the windows is so corroded that you can pick the metal away with your finger (not that I did that :) & the attachment points for the main gear are starting to push through the top of the wings. This thing is literally becoming part of the desert, right there on the ramp!!

These are quite incredible times in the land of Egypt! We departed on a trip to Sharm el Sheikh on Jan 26th, the day after the protect began. On the night when things became violent (Jan 28th) all internet, texting & email was shut down. The next morning we returned to Cairo, after the boss & I came up with enough Euros in pocket change to buy enough Jet A (fuel) to make the 1 hr flight. Credit was not working in Egypt since all internet data service was down & they wouldn't take Egyptian pounds as payment.

After returning to Cairo, we had our driver take the long way home, through downtown Cairo via the highway, across 6 October Bridge. The aftermath from 4 days of rioting was astounding. As we drove past the National Democratic Party (NDP) Headquarters Building (pictured below), we could see that it was still ablaze. The army was just beginning to roll onto the streets with tanks & soldiers. After the violent battle with police, the people were glad to see the army, as they saw a protective force in them. However, things continued to get worse in the days to come, as the army remained neutral while opposing protestors began to fight violently among themselves in Tahrir Square (as seen on the int'l news).

These next 2 pics are the view of downtown Cairo, out my cockpit window as seen on the approach to runway 05 right at Cairo Int'l Airport

Ah, there goes Mohammed Ali Mosque again, as we head in on the approach from the southwest.

And, City Stars Mall (housed within the pyramid & surrounding buildings).

Here are some of the many armored personnel carriers that are stationed around the area, with troops, partially blocking the roads. They seem to be more about announcing their presence that establishing check points, as they don't bother to stop or interfere with traffic. I'm sure they would be all over anyone who looked suspicious!

Although we heard plenty of machine gun fire at night over the past couple weeks (that has come to an end in the past several days), we do not feel threatened living in Maadi (about 30 min drive south of Tahrir Sq. The gun fire the first few nights of the uprising was actually battles between escaped prisoners & the army we are told. And, the prisoners were rather quickly rounded up over a few days once the army arrived on the scene. Additionally, it has often been quite clear that the soldiers will often fire sever bursts or gun fire into the air as they pass through neighborhoods on their tanks, to let everyone know who is in charge of the streets now :) With the absence of the police force (until just a couple days ago), the locals formed bands of vigilantes to protect the neighborhoods from looters & prisoners & these groups welcomed the support of the army.

As we are still under nightly curfews (8pm-6am), the vigilante groups continue to watch over the neighborhoods & maintain many road blocks that they setup on their own each night, along the side streets. Things are slowly returning to normal around our small part of town & we wait in prayer to see what will come of all this unrest for Egypt, the gov't & the people.

There are many that are suffering the unintended consequences of this turmoil & our church (Maadi Community Church) is holding daily prayer meeting at noon for the country & people of Egypt. My wife has been instrumental in organizing food drives for the locals who have lost much income due to the departure of so many foreigners.

The bottom line regarding our safety here in Maadi is that we see that this is an issue between the Egyptian people & their gov't...it has nothing to do with foreigners. We have felt the Lord's protection from looters, through the determination of the vigilante groups & the army.

Luxor, Egypt

On Monday we did a long day trip down to Luxor. Although it was a long duty day for us with a hotel rest, it wasn't nearly long enough to really see Luxor, but since our hotel was downtown near the Ancient Luxor Temple I was able to get a few pics for everyone to see. Next year the family & I plan to take a proper trip to Luxor so I'm sure Wendy will have a huge blog post on the experience then :) Sounds like there is WAY more to see in & around Luxor that what I offer here!

Looking west across the Nile toward the Valley of the Kings. When we departed in the dark, much of there hills were lit up with spot lights to accent them in the dark...sorry, no time for poping photos on departure & not enough light for that :(

Ruins of the Luxor Temple as we walked around the outside.

Bumped into my good buddy Ronald again...haden't seen him since Beirut a few months ago!

This is the remains of an ancient road that went from the Luxor Temple to the Karnak Temple. I was told that this road had long since been buried & many building, houses, churches & mosques were built on top of it. It actually looks to be about 3-4 feet below the modern ground level. Anyway, the government has reclaimed the land & is unearthing & repairing the ancient road, including the sphinx statues along the side.

Thanksgiving in Athens, Greece

I've already posted on Athens before, but since it is our most frequently visited location & because I got a few nes pics, thought I post about it again. We have now spent more than 15 nights in Athens this year & still have much to see in the future.

I figured he had long sense rusted out, but not true...we found Herbie The Love Bug hidden on an obscure side street while walking up to the Acropolis.

Overlooking South Athens from our trek up the Hill of the Muses (West of the Acropolis).

Once we reached the top of the Hill of the Muses (where the monument of Philopappos is located), the view of the Acropolis with the Pantheon atop, was awesome to the east behind me.

View from the Hill of the Muses, looking southwest to the Aegean Sea.

Closer view of the Acropolis & the Pantheon!
The Acropolis at night.

Can you believe all these pics were taken with my iPhone?...forgot the camera in the hotel room.

Crossing the Arabian Peninsula - Abu Dhabi & Doha

After over 3 weeks on the ground in Cairo (10 days of which were spent visiting with my Dad…see Wendy’s blog) we are finally back in the air & on to a couple new destinations. We left Cairo on the afternoon of Nov 1 & headed south to make a left turn over Hurghada, Egypt, where we would first cross the Red Sea & then the Arabian Peninsula as the sun set behind us. We are enroute to Abu Dhabi, UAE for a couple nights & then on to Doha, Qatar for one night.

You pilot types will appreciate this explanation regarding the vastness of the “Sand Box” across the Arabian Peninsula. As we crossed the Red Sea we were handed off by Cairo Control to Jeddah Control. When we checked on with Jeddah, they gave us our next frequency to call Riyadh Control over ALNAT intersection. Although we could hear Jeddah for much of the trek across the desert, we never talked to them again. Near the end of our 300nm run with Jeddah we began to lose them on the radio…ah, now the reason for obtaining the next frequency at check-on is apparent! As instructed nearly 40 minute earlier, we switched over to Riyadh Control for the next 286nm (again, the same system of hand-off to the next controller), before finally reaching the Arabian Gulf & talking to Bahrain as we passed north of Qatar. By now it is full darkness outside, with only cities & the flames of refineries visible. The controllers in Bahrain & Emirates sounded British & were much like controllers in the US…nothing like the often chaos of Cairo Control :) All told, the flight from Cairo to Abu Dhabi was 4 hours long.

Northern end of the Red Sea. The Gulf of Suez in the foreground. Sina Peninsula from the left & The Gulf of Aqaba to the left in the background.

Along the water front in Abu Dhabi.
There was much new construction (mostly in the form of high-rise buildings) in Abu Dhabi. The Both the heat & vastness of this city remind me of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

In the background to my left, you can see the Palace Hotel...quite a grand looking place!

Our refuge from the heat (around 100 degrees here on Nov 2) was this HUGE/modern mall!

Abu Dhabi along the water front as the sun was setting.

View from the resturant atop our hotel.

We approached Doha, Qatar from the northeast in the thick haze, just before the sun set on Nov 3rd.

Caught this pic as we taxied to the gate (And I do mean GATE as in airline. Many airports in these parts treat us as they would the airlines, minus the jet bridge :)

Although it is nothing like the US or UAE, one could say that Doha is quite clean, modern & organized, after living in Cairo for the past 10 months.

Along the water front in Doha.

Here, you can see a very modern mosque behind & to my left.

Another different looking (from what we see in Cairo) mosque in downtown Doha.

View of Doha fron the pool on top of our hotel (The Best Western Seef Hotel).