31.10.15 - El Gouna | Cairo

The last stage of Cross Egypt Challenge is usually the real adventure. This year could be different: there were almost 600 km of rolling step in the opposite direction to the second stage, with a climactic entry into the traffic chaos of Cairo, forcing the closure of the ring that connects the various parts of the city; 16:30 we were in Cairo, after more than 10 hours on the scooter.
But before getting there, I had the difficult task of bringing the scooter with "Harley sound" to Cairo.
Not noticed the leak and the small scooter made a deafening noise. A riot of Taiwanese - poor things, a scooter cannot make noise! - Led the organization sent me rolling alone among the latest scooters and trucks.
One error led me to make the worst stage in two-year rally.
Finally!
As if that were not enough, I still had an Egyptian girl who never sat the tail on a motorcycle or scooter to call my attention because my driving was dangerous: he walked very quickly and jumped in speed bumps.
Finally!
What counts are the friends and Drew left his group to come roll with me.
The arrival was chaos but we could take the pictures in the pyramids.
The arrival was chaos but we live the typical camaraderie in these times, with many kisses, hugs, photos, flags of the various countries to fly in the wind, a lot of beer and meeting promises.

24.10.15 - Giza | El Sokhna

Yesterday didn`t dance with the bride; nor seen her. There was no internet able to support so many users and so, instead of working, i finnish the evening night with Chel and Drew in the garden in front of their room, endding the stock of cognac I had brought from Barcelona airport.
This morning we left Giza towards El Sokhna on the Red Sea.
The morning was unusual adventure of crossing the city of Cairo and the famous Ring. Despite being Saturday (equivalent to Sunday for the Arabs), the traffic is a rush in this 22 million people metropolis.
In the Ring and its almost 30 km long, we'll come across huge billboards, advertising for several brands and products. Report for such a large universe like Cairo requires a major effort on the part of brands to capture a second fraction the drivers and families. Isn´t like communicate to a niche, it is to communicate to millions undifferentiated. Amid all the publicity possible and imaginary, it was with pleasure that I saw the billboards of lubricants brand which sponsors the BMW - isn`t  eni - use DTM with its colors as an image on billboards. The same applies to the brand that sponsors the Citroën C-Elyse in the WTCC. Proof that motorsport is an excellent communication channel brands. Yes, there were also with other sports but in less quantity: once saw the face of Roger Federer and one occasion the Barcelona players; Atletico de Madrid have billboards of his Foundation and football school in Cairo.
Returning to the road, after Cairo, went towards the Sinai, the Suez, to then go down to El Sokhna. Between traffic madness of Cairo and the Egyptian Riviéra, we had long straights crossing the northern eastern desert. A desert with yellow earth and stone, contrary to what usually one imagines an African desert.
At lunch, in the most southern part of the Suez Canal, beyond normal Catering Cross Egypt Challenge, we tasted "egypcian urban" food here site motor home, away from all standard of safety and hygiene. But it had the look and the thing was ... picturesque!
Then, with new energies, entered in the turns of Riviéra. How good is this road, between the sea and the mountains, a stunning beauty.
My new white, black and red Alpinestars gloves, at the second day, started to be brown and black!

21.10.15 - Cairo | Alexandria

At this moment I`m at the Hilton Alexandria, fighting with the internet to speak with you.
This morning I left Cairo and, after several hours, with a compact and steady traffic, it reached the city that contained the lighthouse and the portico, which still inhabits the mind of a lot of people, including mine, as one of the wonders of the classic world.
Unfortunately the reality of today isn`t the former but the grandeur of Alexandria will return, as well as from all over Egypt.
Anyone who knows me knows that I love cats. Are independent, devious, shiny eyes like flashlights trying to dazzle us and at the same time, they are spins, play and do unimaginable things.
I read the Asterix books that Egypt was the land of cats and therefore shouldn`t bring Obelix Dogmatix when they came to aid  Cleopatra.
This is really the cat´s land!
There are at the dozens, small, slender, feinting everything and everyone like Eusebius. So cute!

20.10.15 - Cairo

Cairo is still hot, until the Egyptians complain about the weather because at this time of year, should be fresher.So it was with effort that I wore a pair of jeans to go to the center of Cairo. Because? Halfway through the route outlined was a mosque and couldn`t enter in shorts.Thus, the mid-morning I and Drew went to the Grand Bazaar - Khan el-Khalili. It was all a fun: we seemed two women to litter the stores and didn`t buy anything, haggling prices with the vehemence of a dispute between Arabs and Jews, to have fun with what we said, speaking Arabic with the merchants; an entire party!From scarves to perfumes, through spices and pieces of copper, we experience a little of everything. The bazaars, in these parts, have the mystique of the fairs of our towns, mixed with bright and smely products, that are exotic to Westerners. The color of the goods and the music of the words, it is a joy.In Khan el-Khalili entered a mosque and outside, made a public collection to help the conservation of the same. I didn´t give money because I had spent it all in the few purchases that I did; Drew contributed. Then the olitical joke of the day show it self: that was they said to Bush father, it was just to the mosque.We had lunch there, in an koshari and kebab restaurant. We eat kebab along with other Egyptian working class; spicy as he was, knew well a beer ... but there is here also; feather!For dessert, a long walk from the Islamic part of the city to the citadel.The citadel is up there, serving the great walls to protect a beautiful Turkish Mosque, alabaster, sent to the king Mohammad Ali and completed by his grandson Farouk, the last king of Egypt before the 1952 revolution.At the citadel we see the whole city, the whole mess is a vibrant city with 22 million people. WOW!

19.10.15 - Cairo | Sakara | Memphis | Cairo

Cairo woke up with the sun hidden but, even so, the heat vanished. 
But better than the hot weather is the warmth: last night, at the Lawson`s, around a roast chicken with cooked vegetables and homemade bread, various faiths, backgrounds and nationalities joined together. A Portuguese, an Englishman and four Americans from different places. 
After giving Thanks a very animated discussion ensued because everyone wants to know more and more; from books to wars, through food, politics and the amazing Monty Python.With such a fun dinner, necessarily, the day began later!
Thus, in a brand new van with a carrot at the wheel, that within the city, no more than third gear, and, beyond, it was slower than my mother, we head south, following the Nile to Sakara.Sakara is where is the Djoser pyramid, the oldest of Egypt, a necropolis of Memphis designed by Imhotep. 
Drew and Chel had already been there, and one of the leading archaeologists responsible for the discovery of the tombs of Sakara is their friend, who worked there for 20 years. Saying that, I had the privilege of knowing where was the tomb of the royal butcher. For example!
In the desert, burning sun and low humidity, coupled with drought and the typical dark yellow sand, didn`t allow us to even sweat; so any shade under a rock or Sakara museum entrance might serve to refresh ourselves; or at least give the impression of relief without actually coming to fruition.
Inside the museum, stone carved in the shape of snakes, the hieroglyphics with the offerings of the population to the king, a mummy and Imhotep.
Sakara was the necropolis, the city Memphis. Trough life, we left the desert towards a palm trees sea  and the Nile, going to meet one of the oldest cities in the world.
 There noticed the carved stone Ramses II statue, huge, lying in order to be better viewed. I saw the Memphis Sphinx and ... dozens of tapestries schools.
 I felt like a real Indiana Jones. The only difference is that I walked in shorts and didn`t bring the whip!
From Memphis we return quietly to Cairo for delighting with koshari in Tahrir Square.

18.10.15 - Cairo

Yesterday I returned to Cairo. Almost after a year from the end of the Cross Egypt Challenge adventure, I decided to come back here to close this first year of adventure travel."Alexandria Cairo: a year of adventures."Could be the title of a book about everything that happened over 12 months. So I came back.The trip, provided by Agência Paraíso, had Barcelona on the route, following then to the Egyptian capital.As it was a dwelling on the past, yesterday, waiting for me at the airport, were Drew and Michele. Kisses, hugs, tell the news and a bit of Portuguese history, the way to Lori and Joe home to stay in the coming days.This morning I woke up in hot and noisy Cairo; so much that looked like it had started a revolution at my bedroom window; only then I realized it was a high school and kids were playing.First day, first destination: downtown.Metro, for one Egyptian pound, quickly come to Coptic Cairo to see something wonderful: the same place, separated by a few meters, an Orthodox church in honor of St. George, a synagogue, a Catholic cemetery and the Arabs around, between the Babylon Fortress.The ecumenical dialogue understanding of centuries, present there in front of me, the sight of whom want to see.The church of St. George dates back to the X century and are no buildings upon buildings, showing various features, since Roman times the Masonic rites, telling the help of the Greek Patriarchate to maintain its beauty.At the cemetery, as in our gardens, malls or cinemas, many dating couples. One way to hide the love, the passion, less complacent looks.Underneath all this, the bazaar of Cairo, with all kinds of imaginable antiques, from camel bone pieces in silver, through artifacts in wood and old photos.Across the street, normal in these parts: people selling and buying everything from chickens to vegetables, going through clothes, utensils, DVDs. Strange faces, smiling faces, distrustful guys; what they would do three Westerners there?!Under a scorching heat, we walked until beeing invited to enter an antique by the sympathetic George. George speaks 12 languages, he inherited his father's business and was happy for the birth of his daughter. So we drink tea with him and could buy without his profit (given the joy of the birth!), a cross on pearl. 
After a long conversation with the new father, we take the Metro and go down to Tahrir Square.There, the ruins of the Sheraton among towering Hilton, Ritz and Intercontinental are the only marks 2011.Speaking about Ritz, with the heat and fatigue to tighten, nothing like a beer and a Angus hamburger in the hotel bar. 42 euros!Left Ritz when the sun was going, like a Working Class Hero, poorer than we had arrived, caught the crowded Metro to home.Sometimes it doesn`t seem, but this is Africa and I love it!

João Rebelo Martins and Cross Egypt Challenge at Moto Jornal from 18.3.15

João Rebelo Martins focus on two wheels

Took place on 5th March, in Lisbon, at the home of the Hon. Ambassador of Egypt in Portugal, a reception for many guests, where the racing driver João Rebelo Martins had the opportunity to tell all the experiences of the Cross Egypt Challenge.
Before a hundred people - many ambassadors, deputies, the President of the Portuguese Motorcycling Federation, Manuel Marinheiro, the President of the General Assembly of the Portuguese Motorcycle Federation, Jorge Viegas, the Vice President of the Portuguese Federation of Automobile and Karting, Paulo Campos, businessmen and media - João Rebelo Martins spoke about the trip he made last November, for nine days, covering 3,000 km throughout Egypt.
From Alexandria to Cairo, passing through Marsa Alan, Aswan, Abu Simbel and Luxor - to name just a few cities - the rider saw beautiful landscapes, visited monuments which are the heritage of humanity, contacted local people, taste Egyptian delicacies and dive in the Red Sea. The rider concluded his speech with a call to all present to visit Egypt because "in addition to all the monuments and the beauty of the desert, Egypt is a safe country with friendly and hospitable people."
At the reception organized by the Hon. Ambassador of Egypt in Portugal, João Rebelo Martins also had the opportunity to exhibit pictures of all the places he visited.
Hon. Ambassador of Egypt in Portugal, in the presence of INAC, announced the direct air line from Lisbon to Cairo.
Being John Rebelo Martins racing driver, the moment was tapped to be unveiled the sports program for 2015. So in addition to adventure trips being planned for Europe, America and Africa, the racing driver will perform the National Classic Championship with a Yamaha RD 350 Classic Racin



g Team.