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Published: October 19th 2022
Cairo-nothing more needs to be added, one of those places in this world that conjures up visions of ancient civilizations and cultures...the magical home of Pharaohs, Pyramids, Temples, Tombs, and the Nile, could not wait to get exploring...
Funny, Egypt was never really on our radar for some reason, it had come up in conversations over the years but never really stuck strangely enough...with international travel opening up we started chatting about where we should/could go, and unexpectedly we stumbled across an Intrepid tour that seemed to check all our boxes: majority of the major sites covered, small group, all sorts of modes of transportation (Planes, Trains and Automobiles! And buses, feluccas, Ubers, boats...lol...) and about twelve days which is a decent length. Tacking on some beach time on the Sinai Peninsula after the tour seemed to make this the ideal choice...and it was!
Red-eye to Cairo, we gambled and lost by checking one bag, which of course didn't make it...not the best start but fortunately we had divided up our stuff so we both had enough clothes for a few days...our contact at the airport guided us through the claim process and we were on our way to
the hotel, with promises of a pool to offset the jet lag and inauspicious start to Egypt...
Traffic: holy moly, we have been in some big, busy cities in our meanderings but Cairo in my opinion is the craziest I have seen...sheer volume coupled with what seemed to be no regard for any lanes/speeds/rules of the road made for an interesting transfer to the hotel, and then add to the fact that our driver could not figure out how to get there due to construction made for a long ride...Finally made it after many wrong turns, heated phone calls, and plenty of stops for directions, promptly dumped our bags in our room and headed straight to the pool...met up with the guide and rest of the gang that evening for introductions and information; turns out it would be seven of us in total which is a very civilized number, and as it would turn out a great bunch of folks...
The next morning we were off, first stop the Giza Pyramids, talk about hitting the ground running! Arrived bright and early, and seemed to beat the big bus tours which accomplished two things: less people and avoiding the
peak heat of the day (the heat will be a central theme to these blogs, while we do get 30 C degrees here in Canada in the Summer the heat here just seemed more piercing, like "I-can-hear-my-skin-sizzling" kinda stuff...lol...).
Beautiful, what a place to start our Egyptian adventure...the pyramids are as iconic as they come, and seeing them in person was amazing...pictures just don't do them justice, the scale and context on the landscape was breathtaking. Our guide Ahmed provided us with some history of the site before turning us loose to explore on our own, starting with a quick climb to the entrance of the Great Pyramid to have a peek inside (you can pay to go in but we were told there was nothing really to see, and a bit claustrophobic so we skipped it). Built in the early 26th century BCE this is considered the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and easily the oldest structure I have seen on this planet, incredible...
Wandered around soaking in the sights from a couple of different places/perspectives before making our way down to the other iconic site at Giza: the Sphinx...arguably the most famous
carving in the world with its head of a human and body of a lion, and protector of the pyramids at Giza. Again the scale was impressive, and as our guide explained it is actually hidden when standing at the pyramids themselves, a theme of "hidden protector" we would come across several more times in various temples over the following days...
After lunch and our first taste of Koshari (national dish of Egypt-and yummy!) we made our way to the Egyptian Museum, home to some 120,000 artifacts...the oldest archaeological museum in the Middle East, and the largest collection of Pharaonic antiquities in the world, it was pretty crazy seeing the quantity and age of the pieces in this collection. Our guide Ahmed led us through various rooms in the museum, providing history and insight into a variety of periods and eras of Egyptian history, supported by the many statues, carvings, jewellery, furniture and even mummies we were to come across (which also included mummified animals of all shapes and sizes, a little creepy but cool nonetheless)...the highlight for me however was certainly the King Tutankhamun room (no pics allowed unfortunately), which contained many artifacts found during the discovery of
The gang at Giza
All great folks...his tomb, including two gold sarcophagi he was buried in and of course the world famous mask...stunning would be an understatement, standing face to "face" with the mask was magical, and during our free time I would later return to just stand and stare into the eyes, fantastic...
Great first day and introduction to Egypt and its culture, whetted the appetite nicely and couldn't wait to explore and learn more...
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Dancing Dave
David Hooper
CAIRO
What an amazing pic! Certainly entices the senses. I have often considered Egypt but it seems to have escaped the radar in the event it was a hassle rather than a joy. Only 7 in your group but losing your luggage. Did you ever receive it? Gotta say the antiquities on offer do entice.