Trip Overview

3 continents, 31 countries (counting Vatican City & Monaco), 131 days

I took 7,500 pictures. The highlights are posted here. This page contains the reduced pictures, so that wide screen monitors can see the entire picture, so they are all 554 x 416 or 416 x 554. The larger pictures can be found at http://hawketravelpics.blogspot.com

Send feedback, questions, or requests for more pictures of something specific to ShaneRobertHawke@gmail.com

My only two souvenirs from the trip - Papyrus painting from Egypt and a stein from Oktoberfest.



My route:



I started out by flying into Cairo (A). Spent two weeks in Egypt, then flew into Frankfurt (B) and followed that route into Turkey. From Istanbul (C) I flew to Athens (D), spent a week and a half doing Athens and the Cyclades Islands, then flew from Athens to Dubrovnik, Croatia (E). Followed that route (flying from Croatia to Italy instead of taking a ferry) until I got to Dublin (F). I ended the trip by flying into Munich (G) for five days of Oktoberfest.

New York (Layover)

I had a 12 hour layover at JFK Airport on the way to Cairo. Instead of hanging around the airport all day, I decided to take the subway to lower Manhattan.


Statue of Liberty


Ellis Island


The waterfront park


Ground Zero


NYSE on Wall Street

Egypt, Part 1

ALEXANDRIA


Pompey's Pillar. The only standing Roman ruin in Alexandria.


Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Built on the site of the ancient Library of Alexandria.


The library's planetarium. Looks like the Death Star.


Roman amphitheater ruins


Mosque by the boardwalk

CAIRO, ROUND 1


Typical Egyptian policeman


Mosque in the middle of downtown Cairo


Al-Azhar Mosque


A real Egyptian street market for locals. Won't find any souvenirs here.


Mosque of Sayyida Zeinab


Random mosque


Pyramid of Khufu (aka The Great Pyramid of Giza)


Entrance to the tomb. The walk to get to the tomb is more interesting than the tomb itself.


Pyramid of Khafre


All three pyramids. The pyramid on the far right is the Pyramid of Menkaure.


The standard "Look at me standing in front of something famous" picture


Camel ride around the back of the pyramids to the Sphinx


He looks like he's having a great time


Contiki caravan


The whole Giza Necropolis


The Great Sphinx


This is what everyone thinks of when they think of Egypt


Shot from the freeway headed to downtown Cairo


Another shot from the middle of Cairo

SOUTHERN EGYPT


Driving across the Aswan Dam


The unfinished obelisk at the stone quarry in Aswan. The obelisk cracked as they were carving it, so they just left it there.


That's the actual Sahara Desert


The Nile


The only crocodile we saw the whole trip


View from the top of a sand dune


Me & Mason


Really shouldn't have walked up in bare feet. Turns out Saharan sand is hot.


Random ancient ruin on the Nile


The Great Temple at Abu Simbel (Ramesses the Great)


Close-up with people for scale


No pictures allowed inside. This is as good as it gets.


The Small Temple at Abu Simbel (Nefertari)


The temple was in danger of being flooded when the Aswan Dam was built. So in the 1960s, the entire temple was carved up into blocks and relocated. This is a close-up of how it was carved up.


Shot of the whole temple. Abu Simbel was the most impressive thing I saw during the entire trip.


Room on the Nile cruise boat.


Pool deck. Spent every night up here drinking Stella and Saqqara.


Temple of Kom Ombo


The two gods that Kom Ombo is dedicated to. Horus (falcon) and Sobek (crocodile).


Some well preserved carvings


Pretty cool columns


Kom Ombo side view


Temple of Horus, in Edfu


This is what happens when you build a temple, die, and your successor hates you


Interior of the Temple of Horus


The outer walls