Introduction → Leg 1 → Leg 2 → Leg 3 → Leg 4 → Leg 5 → Leg 6 → Leg 7 → Leg 8 → Leg 9 → Leg 10A → Leg 10B → Leg 11 → Leg 12
Leg 18.07 – “I know you’re excited, but please close your mouth.”
The remaining teams have crossed the halfway point of the Race. And for this 7th Leg, teams will be flying to Cairo, Egypt!
Teams will first take a train back to Paris, France where they must secure tickets for Cairo. Teams will end up on one of two flights: EgyptAir arriving at 8:25pm or Air France arriving at 8:35pm.
Once in Cairo, teams must make their way to Marriott Mena House. Here, teams must sign-up for departure times tomorrow morning. Two teams will depart every 10 minutes starting at 6am. After signing up, teams will enjoy a relaxing few hours at this luxury hotel as a reward for reaching this halfway point.
In the morning, teams will open the next clue which directs them to search near the iconic Sphinx for the next clue.
That clue tells teams to take a bus to the historic city of Alexandria!
Once in Alexandria, teams must make their way to the Anfushi Fish Market where they will find a Double Road Block! Unload or Unclutter.
The team member who will Unload must unload freshly caught fish from a cart using wooden trays. Once they have unloaded enough fish for the vendors inside the market, they must check in at…
The Double Yield board!
After checking in, the team member who will Unclutter must collect a tray of fresh shrimp and organize them for today’s sale according to a provided example.
This is also the Trigger Point for this Leg of the Race. If at least two teams choose the red colored trays of fish and/or shrimp, the U-Turn or Yield will be activated.
Teams can now make their way to Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
The Great Library of Alexandria was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world. Having been lost in antiquity, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina is a commemoration of that center of study. For this task, teams must print out a specific book using the modern Espresso Book Machine then search the library for an existing physical copy which will contain their next clue.
Teams must now take their printed book to Nabi Daniel Street and search the many booksellers along the street for an Arabic copy. They will exchange their newly printed book for their next clue.
Teams must now search along the Corniche for their next clue. And that clue reveals the Detour: It’s Beautiful or It’s Delicious.
In It’s Beautiful, teams must help care for one of the horses that transport passengers by pulling a carriage along the corniche. Once they pamper and feed the horse, teams will help give it a short break by taking its place. Both team members must convince a local to take a short ride on the carriage as they themselves pull it for a specific distance.
In It’s Delicious, teams must help a local vendor. They will choose one of the food carts, each selling different types of food, and push the cart to a specific location nearby where they must prepare the foodstuffs and then sell enough to locals to receive the next clue.
Teams must now make their way on foot down the Corniche and find these marked boats.
Teams must row the boats across to the Citadel of Qaitbay.
They will search the citadel for their next clue.
And that clue tells teams to make their way to the Pit Stop: The Roman Amphitheater.
The first team to check in here will win P200,000 courtesy of Shell V-Power Nitro+.
The last team to check in here WILL be eliminated.
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“Director’s” Commentary
I think this is a very nice Leg in Alexandria! This Leg was actually planned for an earlier Race, but there was a last minute change. Hehe. But it fit perfectly on this Route. And of course it’s a great contrast to the snow of the last Leg.
First, it’s a bit of logisitcal acrobatics having to get teams on a train back to Paris just so they can fly to Cairo. Since we’re in Egypt anyway, why not visit Giza. It’s a wonderful experience of course. But we’re having teams arrive at night so they can get to Alexandria in the morning. Not sure if teams can spend the night by the pyramids. That would be amazing, wouldn’t it?
But if not, we can just get Marriott to sponsor us. =D
Anyway, the bulk of the Leg of course takes place in Alexandria. I think we can have much better and more culturally-relevant tasks here. But like I always say, I’m not scouting these locations in person, am I? lol
The Anfushi Fish Market Double Road Block is a very typical task. Both halves. But the main point of interest is the Yield. It’s been a while since putting the Yield in the middle of a task, so this is a perfect spot for it.
For the whole book series of tasks, I think we can do something better here and more historically-relevant as well. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is a must-visit location for the Race. And walking along Nabi Daniel Street gets teams out and about.
Even more so with the Detour along the Corniche. Yes, I know we just had a horse task two Legs ago. But the bigger challenge here is teams becoming the horse. That should be difficult. And fun to watch! The food cart side of the Detour is fast becoming a TARPHDME staple task lol Like I’ve mentioned the many other times, I think what keeps this task interesting is which foodstuffs will sell faster than others. So seeing the teams make the right or wrong decision can bring on the drama.
Next, we throw in teams rowing to the citadel. It’s a nice extra task to exhaust teams even more from what will be a grueling Leg.
Overall, a full and pretty nice Leg in Alexandria that can only get better on a real, actual Race, I think.