Blogs from Egypt, Africa - page 3

I have been dreaming of this visit since I was 10. As many Europeans I grew up studying Ancient Egypt at my history class and I became interested in Egyptian mythology. As it was my first trip to Egypt I contacted a travel agency although now that I have been there I would not recommend it. The first day we stayed in Cairo but we did not visit anything since the next day we had to fly to Aswan. There, we stayed on a cruise with which we would later go to Luxor. On our cruise we met very nice Spaniards with whom we shared the entire tour. In Aswan we spent a day and a half in which we visited the Philae temple and went to Abu Simbel on a roundtrip. The Philae temple was ... read more

Despite my hectic workload, I kept my weekend trip to Cairo with my usual Trekkup group, partially swayed by that it seemed we had a free afternoon on Sunday at a nice hotel. Yeah, no. This did not happen. This was by far the most busy, packed weekend I think I have ever had. It was great, don't get me wrong, but my god (or as our guide Amina would say, "For God's sake"), I am still exhausted! We met up at the Sharjah airport, which I have not flown from since before Covid. Aside from the heavy traffic from Dubai, it is a cute building and pretty efficient. We took Air Arabia to Cairo and despite, leaving on time, we somehow landed 40 minutes late - I have no idea why. So, we landed at ... read more

Sarfaga is a small port on the Red Sea. It is developing as a tourist / health resort as people enjoy the mineral rich waters and the assorted water sports that are starting to become available. But together with approximately 1,100 other passengers we are booked on the Valley of the Kings, Luxor and Karnak trip. We need to depart by 07:00am so it is a very early start with the restaurants opening at 05:00. We finally get to the Valley of the Kings and it is barely controlled chaos. They limit visitors to three tombs which they rotate so individual tombs don’t get too damaged. If you want to visit Tutankhamen’s tomb that is extra but we have been repeatedly told it is empty and not worth seeing. So we see those of Rameses III, ... read more

Cacophony in Cairo - Piprey on wheels Egypt is a dream destination since time immemorial. In ancient time, Socrates, the Greek philosopher travelled to Egypt to visit the pyramids. I was most excited and planned a 2 week dream itinerary. I am writing a travel series to focus on these fascinating Egypt cities. Cairo was my entry and exit point to Egypt. British Airways flight from London to Cairo was delayed by 1.50 mins because supposedly a crew member had called in sick at the last minute ( and so that they do not have to offer refreshment vouchers applicable for delay above 2 hours). I had a satchet of masala tea and a paper cup. Shopped around for hot water and sipped a masala tea with homemade cheese toastie in a quiet corner at the ... read more

As a former longtime resident (and now a somewhat infrequent visitor) of this incredible country, I’m often asked about planning “bucket list” trips to Egypt: what are the do’s and don’ts? Is it safe? And so on……given my extensive experience, it’s time to write a Primer Guide and make a valiant attempt to address the myriad of questions I frequently receive - so here goes…… A dream trip like this isn’t easy to plan but it can be done – just be prepared to do extensive online research, talk to people such as myself who know the country well, and read everything you can about Egypt. With that data in hand, yes you can pull off a once-in-a-lifetime vacation. For most tourists visiting the Great Pyramids of Giza; the tombs in the Valley of the Kings; ... read more