10 Days in Egypt: Days 1-5

Day 1 
My friend, Dorothy, and I arrived in Cairo at 7:45am and made our way to the hotel.  We booked a budget tour, because we didn’t want to wander around and deal with public transport (or any protests either).  It was also really nice to have a guide with us to explain the history of the temples and meanings of the hieroglyphic symbols.  Being that it was a budget tour, we were expecting very basic accommodations.  To our surprise, we were booked at a very nice hotel with a gorgeous room and a large swimming pool.  It was a HUGE step up from our usual hostels in Uganda.  While the hotel was lovely, there was no place to walk around outside the hotel gates (all restaurants and stores were several miles away).  So we lounged around the pool and ordered a nice dinner at the hotel restaurant.

         

Day 2 

This was the day when the rest of the tour group started to arrive.  But since Dorothy and I came a day early, we decided to go for a day trip to Dashure and Memphis.  There we saw our first pyramid (and went down inside of it!).  Unfortunately, the tomb had already been robbed, so it was just a bunch of empty rooms.  But still, I was inside of a pyramid!

 

 

We also saw the Bent Pyramid and the Mit Raina Museum in Memphis.  The museum was slightly awkward – it felt like they collected statues and artifacts from the area and stuck them all in someone’s front yard (the museum was right off the main road in the city, so it didn’t have the ‘ancient’ feel to it).  But the statues were impressive, nonetheless.

       

In the evening, we met the rest of our tour group.  There were 18 of us total (from all around the world – US, Australia, Colombia, Ireland, Scotland, Iran, Vietnam, etc.), but we had slightly different itineraries.  Some people were staying for 15 days and going on a Nile cruise, with others were staying for 9 or 10 days and going a on a felucca.  Some were doing a day trip to Hurghada, while others were staying an extra night in Luxor.  In the end, our guide offered us several optional upgrades, and Dorothy and I modified our trip to include more activities.

Day 3 
We got an early start and went to Sakkara to see the Step Pyramid, which was the very first pyramid built.

Then we headed to Giza for the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx.  I was in awe as I stood in front of them – it was incredible to see such ancient history still standing.  Of course, Dorothy and I opted for the camel ride.  :)  This was one of those “Oh my God” moments – riding a camel across the desert in front of the pyramids.  I can’t believe I got the chance to do this.  AMAZING!

 

In the afternoon, we visited a local perfume shop.  There are a few big businesses in Cairo: carpet making, perfumes, and papyrus shops.  (Dorothy and I saw the carpet making on Day 2.)

After that, we had to go get our bags from the hotel (and take a quick shower) and catch the overnight train to Aswan.  It was my first time riding in a sleeper car on train.  Quite the experience!  I didn’t get much sleep and the food was awful, but the ride was beautiful.

Day 4 
We arrived in Aswan around 9:00am and dropped our things off at the next hotel.  Another gorgeous location right on the Nile River.

Our tour was quick this day, so that we could have time to rest in the afternoon.  We saw the High Dam of Aswan, what prevents the Nile from flooding Egypt, thus creating Lake Nasser.  We also visited the Philae Temple, which is on an island on the Nile.

 

In the evening, Dorothy and I went for a walk in the Aswan market, and I bought a couple of Egyptian scarves. :)

Day 5 
There was an optional tour to go to the Abu Simbel Temple (which is supposed to be incredible), but Dorothy and I decided to skip it.  The trip required a 3-hour drive south (which departed at 3:15am), then only 1 hour at the temple, and another 3-hour drive back to Aswan.  Instead, we slept in, had a lovely breakfast on the bank of the Nile, used the hotel’s free wi-fi, and laid out by the pool.  The Abu Simbel tour group returned around one o’clock, and then the tour group split up: one group went on a cruise, the other went on a felucca (sailboat) on the Nile.  Dorothy and I were on the felucca.

We were so excited to go sailing . . . that is until our guide told us that we wouldn’t really be sailing.  ‘We’re just going to float down about a mile, then tie the boat up on the side and have dinner.’  It was a total letdown.  When I booked the tour online, it sounded like we would be sailing for 2 days down the Nile, and then go to Luxor.  But our guide said we just hang out/sleep on the boat and drive to Luxor.  :(  Thankfully, Dorothy and I had already upgraded our itinerary and cut out one day on the felucca.  We wanted to do a trip to Hurghada instead, so ended up only sleeping one night on the felucca.  It was a good thing too – we got eaten up by mosquitoes during the night (*there’s no malaria in Egypt, so they don’t use mosquito nets), the food was basic (bread, jam, and a banana for breakfast), and we had to pee in the bushes.  It was the ‘Peace Corps’ part of the experience.  Ha ha.  I was starting to get spoiled with all these air-conditioned hotel rooms and big breakfast buffets!