The art at Saqqara is both beautiful and beautifully preserved. Here’s a painting of granite for the tombs being transported by a sail barge:

Fantastically detailed depiction of a fisherman using a net, and a variety of different fish species.

Detail view of a hippo giving birth, with the baby about to be eaten by a crocodile. It’s supposed to be a metaphor for the cycle of birth and death, but I can’t help thinking the crocodile must be suicidal; mama hippos are not to be messed with.

The tomb of Mehu, at the Saqqara complex. If interested, here’s a video by an Egyptologist that breaks down what it says: youtu.be/Fx3B3Jp7G…

Quad-biking near the pyramids

My steed

Early morning camel ride

The view from our (cheap!) hotel in Giza.

Goodbye, Europe!

This fried Feta with sesame & honey is one of the best things I’ve eaten on this trip. Sooooo good.

What kind of physics expression is this even supposed to be? Confusing country.

CNC (we figure) marble-cutting saw on site for restoration work at the Acropolis.

At the Acropolis. It was insanely crowded.

At the Acropolis Museum. Wade: “Ho boy, we’re back in ancient terracotta hell!”

Insalata Parma. (I was informed food photos are mandatory when travel blogging from Italy.)

Via Appia Antica - the road that stretched all the way from Rome to Brindisi, in the days of the Republic & then Empire

Aqueducts! And silly hats!

Circus Maximus!

At Rome’s one-and-only combined feral-cat sanctuary and site of the assassination of Julius Caesar! (Curia di Pompeo)

In the underground part of the Colosseum

Upper colosseum selfie

We went to Vatican City, did the museum, and saw the Sistine Chapel. You aren’t allowed to take photos in there, though. So instead, here’s a cat. From one of the tapestries.

And a … whatever this is, from one of the maps.