Wine Tasting in Alexandria

Egypt is probably one of the last places you would expect to find a winery but nestled behind steel gate doors is a very respectable vineyard and bottling facility.

The whole way up to Alexandria, we asked ourselves, "What's the catch?" A free catered bus ride to Alex, an amazing buffet lunch, tour and tasting for free. There has to be some stipulation. But there was none. Sure, it would be nice if you picked up a few bottles of wine on the way out but there was no heavy soliciting.

The grounds were beautiful and the weather perfect. The vines were still barren but you can see all the work that goes into making wine- something you seldom think about when you grab the 3.99 bottles of wine of the shelves at Trader Joe's.

Pictures to come!

Black and White Dessert

One of the perks of living abroad is the push to turn a regular weekend into a travel adventure. We were off on Friday morning into the barren dessert for a two day/one night camping and sightseeing excursion.

The road was paved most of the way and the ride was quite comfortable though there wasn't much to see driving out there. Just a lot of desert, and more desert. The landscape did change frequently though, maybe every ten minutes- from rocky, pebbly desert to whitish sandy desert to black rock covered desert and so forth.

When we got there, there wasn't much to do but walk around in the desert. Just like any camping adventure, you have to entertain yourself and, hopefully, have good company around to help with that. We listened to music around the campfire and were treated to delicious food.

Even though it was a short getaway, any escape from Cairo is refreshing and helps you push through another workweek. It was back to the grime, smog, and commotion Saturday night. Everything I owned was covered in sand but there's nothing like still finding sand in your bag two weeks later and realizing it's time to get out of the bubble again.