This morning we said good bye to the white desert and headed back towards the road and once more headed towards the Black Desert.  On the way we stopped at the so called Crystal Mountain.

Crystal Mountain

Ok I’ll just say it.  Its a rock.  It may be made of quartz and have a hole through it but its still just a rock.  Maybe I was just a little over it.  Or maybe I just needed coffee.  Still that’s my excuse I wonder what everyone else’s is.

Black Desert

We headed off down the road again this time with a small stop at the Black Desert.  We got out of the car dutifully, took a few snaps then piled back in the car to keep going.  It is a stark contrast from the White Desert there’s not a lot to do there.  Still like the White Desert its good to see if you’re in the area.

We made it to a little cafe and stopped for a coffee.  We were there for a while.  The family who runs it made us a cake and then gave us tea as well to drink with it.  There small little son started playing the drum.  He was surprisingly good.  So was the cake.  The first fresh cooked cake we’d had in ages (there’s usually some included on the breakfast table but its always stale) was lovely.  We tried to pay them for it but the family would only accept money for the coffee that we’d originally ordered.

In a way that strange little stop with that family made that trip.  It certainly ranks as one of the highlights and was a nice way to end our Desert Safari.

We piled into the car and not long after ended up in Bahariya Oasis.  The end of our Safari we said good bye to our guide and changed cars this time to take us to Giza.

Giza and the End (of sorts)

So we arrived at the Le Meridian Pyramids view hotel in Giza where Katty and Lou are staying for the last few nights.  We all went in and had a farewell drink together before Mum, Dad and I went back out the the car and headed into Central Cairo.

We booked our tickets to take us to Nuweiba the next day before crashing at our hotel, somewhat down the scale in comparison but it is a good budget hotel unlike the one in Siwa!

If your heading to Cairo and need a good budget hotel give the Hotel Select a go.  Good value, comfortable beds and pillows, hot water, friendly helpful staff and they do not try to rip you off.

That night we spent a few hours in a coffee shop, ate a little before heading back to our hotel and bed.