Yooohooo, finally at the pyramids!!

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Dreams come true.

Now a dream really comes true. I always wanted to visit Egypt and see the pyramids with my own eyes. From Madrid in Spain I flew to Cairo. After arriving late in the evening at the airport and negotiating about the price for a taxi I dived into the traffic of busy Cairo. The traffic is crazy. They manage to create five rows of cars next to eachother in a three lane road and there seems to be no rules. I noticed a lot of woman having the same driving style as the men. The cabdriver shouted at them to move away. Or maybe that woman shouldn’t drive, I don’t know exactly. In the back of the cab I almost choked because of the smell of petrol and burned oil. But finally I arrived safely at my hostel.

Yeah, yeah job done, we cleaned the fire extinguisher

After having a good sleep I went the next day to the Egyptian museum. I was amazed by all the statues of the Pharaohs and the many inscriptions. The golden head cover of Tutanchamon was really beautiful to see. I think I was for more than three hours inside of the museum just walking around and looking at the pieces of the exhibition and also the people. Groups of Chinese, Polish, French, and from almost every country of the world were toured around inside the museum. I felt lucky to be walking alone and just observe everything. The museum itself was quite dusty and old. The cleaners took more care about cleaning the fire extinguishers than the actual pieces of the exhibition. After visiting the museum I took a walk around the city and watched at the Egyptian people. They are really friendly and have a good sense of humour and now I was able to compare them with Moroccan people. I noticed a lot of girls use whitener on their face. In our western society we want to have a darker tint, but here girls want to be more white. It did look a bit strange, especially when they walk besides their boyfriend or husband who still has his own natural skincolor shown.

Catching a local bus in Cairo…

The second day I went to see the pyramids. I decided to make an adventure of it and tried to get a local bus to get there. So I wrote down the Arabic signs that make up the number of the bus and went to an big intersection where almost five roads crossed eachother. With my piece of paper I walked and asked a man where I should stand to catch the bus because there are no official busstops. He showed me that I had to stand somewhere under a bridge and there I asked someone else. He stopped a bus for me in the middle of this busy traffic. I saw that the signs on the bus didn’t match the signs on my piece of paper. To the busdriver I asked: Giza Pyramids…Giza Pyramids??? He nodded something and I didn’t know if it meant yes or no. So I just sat in the bus and hoped to reach the right destination. And otherwise I could always take a taxi back. But eventually he dropped me near the pyramids. From there I had to walk towards the ticket office and ignore people offering a camel or horseride, saying the ticket office was somewhere else, or whatever trick they tried to let me pay for something.

After buying my ticket I felt it was a special moment to see the pyramids. First I saw the large pyramid of Cheops. It shone bright and colourful in the full sunshine. I was able to go inside. And after a long steep walk inside I entered a big chamber where the mummy must have been lying before. It was just an empty room now, not so much special. But it was nice to have been inside that pyramid. Later on I walked around more in between the pyramids and this desert where they are situated. At last I went to see the Sphinx and sat there for a while just looking at this structure and thinking about the Pharaohs and their amazing achievements. After having something to eat I went back to the main road to catch a bus back. Again I asked a local person and he stopped a small minibus that was going back to the city center. In that minibus, cramped within five other Egyptians I thought about this experience of seeing the pyramids as something never to forget.

The next day I started to discover the Islamic area in Cairo. There were very narrow streets and many mosques. I went inside a couple of them to see how they are from the inside. If you walk around in this area with it’s many people and shops it is hard to get peace. So afterwards I was glad to be back again at the oasis of peace in my hostel. I think I spend almost a complete day walking around. There is so much to see in this city.

The city of Alexander the Great

The last evening in Cairo I met a guy from India and we decided to go the next day to Alexandria. It took around two and a half hour by train to get to Alexandria in the north of Egypt. After finding a hotel we went for a walk around this historical city founded by Alexander the Great and the home town of the last Pharaoh Cleopatra. We saw the remains of an old Roman Amphitheater and a big pillar, called the pillar of Pompeij. Alexandria had many influences and it is beautiful to walk around the city. There is a tram system with carriages still being used, although it must be more than fifty years old. The buildings have French and English influences and the wear and tear of time shows. Balconies are falling apart, colors faded and you think they are about to collapse. But these old men are still standing and showing with pride the faded grandeur of the time they were young.

The room in the hotel where I stayed had a big view over the sea. It was a bit cloudy but a view like this is always great, no matter the weather conditions. The people in Alexandria are very friendly and the food at the local restaurants cheap and delicious. On the second day we went to the National Museum. It was a good museum with information about the history of the Pharoic era and later the Roman era. Better organised then the Egyptian museum in Cairo. Again we had a good lunch afterwards. In the evening I went for a walk along the coast. And suddenly all cars began honking their horns and people running around with Egypt flags were everywhere. Yes, I know….sometimes my appearance does something to people....hehe 😱 But what actually happened was that Egypt just won an important football match in the African Cup. Nice to see the people cheering and full of joy. When I returned back to the hotel I realised I could stay for weeks in this place. Everytime I discover new interesting buildings and the atmosphere of this city is just great. Hopefully I will return to this place one day.

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Photos

The pyramids at Giza
On the left the Sphinx, on the right the big pyramid of Cheops (a.k.a. pyramid of Khufu)..

Alexandria
See the tram in the middle. So ancient, I hope they will remain in this city forever.