Richard J. Hilton

Blog Archive: December 2010

Cairo Diary: St Antony and the Grumpy Monk

Friday 31st December 2010

Having arrived home at 2.30am, a rude awakening awaited at 7am. Today would be a pilgrimage to the Monastery of St Antony, the father of asceticism. The long drive of more than two hundred miles took us along the Red Sea coastline. The rugged nothingness of the stony desert to one side and a deep …

Cairo Diary: Coptic Cairo

Thursday 30th December 2010

The back streets of Coptic Cairo Inside a church in Coptic Cairo Rubbish piling up at the back of a church in Coptic Cairo Mauseleums in Co…

Cairo Diary: Pyramids

Wednesday 29th December 2010

Though I knew they would be a disappointment, I was none-the-less excited at the prospect of seeing the pyramids at Giza – something that is o…

Cairo Diary: Citadel

Tuesday 28th December 2010

Today was another busy day which left me glad for my bed. It started with a taxi ride from Zamalek (where I’m staying with Seif and his mother…

Cairo Diary: A Late Lunch

Monday 27th December 2010

After a lazy morning (with falafel for breakfast), Ahmad picked us up and we travelled to three mosques close to the citadel. The first was the Mosq…

Cairo Diary: First Impressions and New Friends

Sunday 26th December 2010

Needless to say, I rather overslept on Boxing Day, awaking at 10.30am to the noise of traffic and the beautiful sunlight catching the trees outside.…

Cairo Diary: Flight to Egypt

Saturday 25th December 2010

I departed Morpeth feeling confident of a timely arrival in Egypt, despite the thick snow and freezing temperatures across most of Europe and the UK…