25.10.15 - El Sokhna | Hurgada

240 km in a straight line that had everything to be as unattractive as possible. Fortunately, it wasn`t.Leaving El Sokhna and for many kilometers, the Red Sea was our landscape. But the day was born cloudy and instead of clear blue, the sea was gray, reminding me our Ria de Aveiro in winter days. Bucolic. 
Then we started to get into a more mountainous and sandy area. Here, with the sea and land plataformes, there are huge refineries, oil wells, piplines, fans and everything imaginable in terms of energy. Huge electricity pylons and brownish pipes, tear the desert landscape with a post-modern look.Departure until first refill ran with Drew doing "my wing," and with the ease of the land, we aso many jokes and exchanges globally agreed gestures. It was so funny for us and for those who followed!After the first refueling had to stop and leave the group. When I resumed the march, I did 30 Km alone and could go all time on top. Thus, besides the extra fun, I was able to resume my position in the group a few kilometers before the second refueling stop and lunch.In the third and last part of the taken, I was on the tail, enjoying the thing.The worst was when, some 40 kilometers from the finish in Hurghada, begins to rain; and wasn`t a little rain. It was heavy rain, that it hurts in neck and echoes inside the helmet.Thunder, hail, and flooded: all armed confusion; and me on the tail. Never again, starting tomorrow, always in front!We are settled in Marriot Hurghada. It is full of Russians: employees and couples. She are gorgeous, about blondes or brunettes, slender and light eyes. The guys ... who cares ?!

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!

23.10.15 - Alexandria | Giza

Yesterday didn`t wrote, just put a photo on Facebook during the launching ceremony of the Cross Egypt Challenge.What a party, so much emotion, so many people, so many fans. Once again the Cross Egypt Challenge organization  made a fantastic job to present the bikers of the 5th edition. The venue and the presentation to the people of Alexandria worthy it: pyrotechnic shows, music, media and many thousands of people.Me and the Egyptian adventurer Omar Mansour, were called to the stage to talk about the second participation in the Cross Egypt Challenge. What could he say ?! I love being here, people are very nice and in return for their sympathy, I offered my Nau helmet to the rally-raid organization.The rest of the day, except for a heated discussion with the front desk of Hilton Hotel, was enough common ground between various meetings and administrative checks.Today was the first step, connecting Alexandria to Giza. The rally route has changed because the events of the last month and, therefore, the steps will end in different destinations from those initially planned.The stage was straight with good tread, the green delta of the Nile, and as a "company" we had the motorcycle and scooter clubs either Alexandria and Cairo over the 240 km to give us moral support. I felt good!The trickiest part was the arrival in Cairo, in the middle of a sandstorm. First the sky became overcast and "asking for thunderstorm," then came the wind; the birds couldn`t fly, there was sand, paper, plastic, everything imaginable in the air.It was with this weather that we arrived at the Hilton Pyramides, near the three great pyramids. Fortunately subsided and I gave a dip in the pool.We have sense, and today, on the road, intensified, missed the third Musketeer - Dave Marshall - and our Juliet Jazmin. You are always with me, Drew and Chell.Right now I'm in the hotel lobby, in the middle of a wedding. Will can go dancing with the bride?

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!

Rebelo Martins all over the world

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!

Rebelo Martins returns to Egypt

Joao Rebelo Martins, a multifaceted racing driver - winner in diverse forms - is an adventurer. In 2015, changed the tracks of the national speed for adventure travel all over the world, returning now to Egypt and Cross Egypt Challenge.Traveling with the colors of fluidotronica, Norfer, eni, Nau Helmets, Agência Paraíso, Arax Gazzo, Alpinestars, Hama Portugal, Oakley, Quinta do Estanho, Molfil, Rainha Muscle & Fitness, Konica Minolta, during 2015 has been to three continents and prepares to return to Africa.Repeating the African adventure, Rebelo Martins says that "Egypt and the Egyptians have marked me deeply last year. It was there that I became aware of the real taste for travel and that made me mount the Rebelo Martins Adventure project. After a year, to close this cycle, I will return. "The passion for travel, the challenge, the adventure: travel thousands of kilometers by car or bike, meet new people, new cultures, ways of being and be different.Of trips like to register moments: a landscape, a smell, a smile, feel the taste of a traditional dish made with what "the land gives" or playing a musical instrument with a unique sound.In October 2014, João Rebelo Martins started a new project of knowledge, travel, adventure.Bike, car, plane, boat or on foot, powered by a whopping engine or helped by a compressed air bottle when going to explore the depths of the sea, Rebelo Martins says learning more, contact more "alive the world in the first person, after which I was given to know the books and films of adventure, now I can be me to live them. "More important than learning it is "teaching is to transmit knowledge. At conferences I have given in secondary schools, love seeing the kids smile when I tell them my adventures, as I explain them that he had a dream and fought for it, worked for it. The dream is to travel "."No Longer Missing All" or "Rebelo Martins Adventure" are blogs run by João Rebelo Martins - with English and Portuguese version - where the driver and adventurer write the travel stories historie.On the 17th October, Rebelo Martins leaves for Egypt for an adventurous 15 days.The public presentation of the adventure will be in Multimoto - Rua Joaquim da Silva LandeauIndustrial area of ​​Oliveira de Azeméis, the 14th, at 17:45 and is already invited to attend.