Egypt
Cairo, Luxor, Nile River, Edfu, Aswan
From April 8th to April 15th, 2023
Day 1
Flew in from Casablanca into Cairo.
Checked into the Four Seasons Hotel Cairo, about an hour and a half drive from the airport.
We settled in at the lobby, enjoyed small sushi bites at the lobby lounge, listened to live music, then headed up to dinner at the mediterranean restaurant at the hotel called Zitouni. The restaurant had a buffet of traditional mediterranean and Egyptian salads and dips (hummus). We loaded our plates with the cheese, dips, vegetables, rice, falafel, salads, beans, and pickled vegetables. Then the restaurant has a set up menu where they bring the chicken, beef, and liver meats, a special Egyptian bean dip, breads, and tasty deserts at the end. We had enough food for a table of 10.
Day 2
We started our morning tour in the city of Memphis at the Ramses Museum. Egyptians compare visiting Memphis like visiting Rome in Italy. Memphis was the capital of Egypt during the Old Kingdom, thus this is where our history tour began. We saw a fallen Colossus of Ramses II, of which a small museum was built around it to maintain its integrity. It was about 35 feet long, but had it been fully finished it would have been much taller, above 40 feet.
Drove to Saqqara Village and toured around the pyramid field before stopping at the ‘small’ pyramid of King Teti, went inside. It is, so far, the oldest known place to have religious text/heiroglyphics telling the story of creation.
We hopped back in our tour van to drive 5 mins across the pyramid field to visited the Pyramid of Djoser, the stepped pyramid that claimed to be the oldest well preserved pyramid in all of Egypt. At about 200 feet tall, we walked through temple to get in; camels, tourists, and donkeys all around. In 2020, it was just reopened after a 14 year restoration.
We then set off to tour the Great Pyramids of Giza. The ~450 feet high tombs built for three different pharaohs took 20 years to construct. Due to the even larger number of tourists, we opted not to go inside. The line was long, it was hot, and there wasn’t anything special that we needed to see inside.
After a quick 45 minute external tour of the pyramids, we drove further ‘into’ the park and went for lunch at the 9 Pyramids Lounge. We had to show proof of reservations to enter, and we are so glad that we did. This gave us an unobstructed view of the pyramids and let us comfortably enjoy the architecture of the pyramids while sitting for a bite to eat and a beer. If you’re doing the pyramids, going here is a must.
After lunch we circled back around to the smallest of the pyramids, to the ‘camel parking lot’ to hitch a ride on a camel and tour around the pyramids that way. The cost was about $15 per person for a 30 minute ride around. Our guide separated all of us asking for a tip, and asked us not to tell the others that we gave him money. It’s part of that culture.
Overheated by the sun, we hopped back into our air conditioned van and drove just down the road about 15 minutes to visit the Great Sphinx of Giza. At about 240 feet (73 metres) long and 66 feet (20 metres) high, the spine has facial features of a man but the body of a lion. We got here just before the attraction closed and it was swarming with people, vendors, street hustlers, camels, donkeys, busses, cars and more.
Later that night we enjoyed a meal at the hotel’s Italian restuarant, Riviera.
Day 3
We left early in the morning from Cairo and flew 1.5 hours to Luxor on Egyptian Air.
We were picked up in Luxor at the airport by our guide and began our tour starting at Karnak Temple. Already we could tell that Luxor was going to be much more relaxed and manageable than Cairo.
Next we visited the Luxor Temple
When our tours wrapped up, we made our way to the Nile River to start our Nile River Cruise on the Farah Riverboat. This night we relaxed in the air conditioned boat, ate lunch and dinner on the boat and played cards until bedtime.
Day 4
The day started with a tour at Dayr al-Bahri Temple, impressively built in the mountains for Queen Hatshepsut. It looked like it was a carved columned palace set into a large range of beautiful mountains.
Our tour took us next to the Valley of the Kings, where over 60 tombs of Egyptian royalty are/were buried. It was there that we saw King Tutankhamun’s tomb and mummy, which might be the biggest attraction out there to entry level Egyptian history tourists. We also saw the tombs of Ramses III and Ramses 9, but the tomb of Ramses II was closed for renovation. When his tomb reopens, it will cause a large attraction to visit Egypt as Ramses II is hailed as one of the more decorated of the Egyptian kings.
We stopped at a stone shop for option to purchase alabaster crafts on our way back to the Nile River. We set sail for Edfu, along with almost 100 other riverboats and it was incredible to see all the riverboats ‘sailing’ down the nile at the same time. We even had visitors from men on boats who were showcasing their goods and asking us to purchase from our moving vessel. They would hitch their boats to ours, then put their goods in a bag, throw it on the rooftop of our boat, then ask that we throw back currency in the bag. It was entertaining to watch and we started to call them ‘pirates’ although we’re sure they don’t consider themselves to be.
Day 5
All the riverboats were docked parallel in Edfu, so in order to get off our riverboat, we would have to walk through the lobby of 2-3 other boats in order to get onto land. We hopped on a horse and carriage and galloped about 15 minutes to Edfu Temple. The horse rides were amazing and new to us both. It was interesting to see their means of transportation around town and how the horse and buggy concept is just as common if not more common than a taxi buggy. We toured the temple and then took a horse and carriage ride back to the boat.
Around midday we went to an Egyptian cooking class on the boat while sailing to Komombo. We got the recipe for chicken shawarma, cooked it as a group, and enjoyed a taste at the end.
This perhaps was the most scenic day traveling on the nile as we toured from Edfu to Kokombo. The ride was so peaceful, the landscape was lush and green, the water was calm, young people were swimming in the water, and we hung out on the roofdeck taking in the sun and enjoying the moment. It was the first time we felt like we saw see Egyptians enjoying life and not hustling for cash.
When we got to Komombo Temple we were greeted by young kids selling their merchandise in the streets. It was hard to say no, or rather, ignore them by not buying anything.
Just a few minute walk next to the temple is a crocodile museum where we got to see at least 60 crocodiles that were mummified like Egyptians were.
We hopped back on the boat after passing the groups of children, yet again, selling pencils. We made it on the boat and prepared for the sail to Aswan.
Day 6
After disembarking in Aswan, we took about an hour car ride to visit the ‘little dam’ and the ‘big dam’. The Little Dam was just a “trial run” to see what issues may come about before building The Big Dam. The Big Dam stops the Nasser Lake from flooding the Nile, and was a project that the Russians helped the Egyptians built years ago, and also created the largest lake on earth; the Nasser Lake.
After passing the dam, we took boats out on the lake to a temple in Aswan named Philae Temple. The boats we took were authentically beat up and gave off a real Egyptian experience. It was so picturesque to see all the tourists getting on and off the older boats that have taken years of beatings, but still are floating. The temple is incredible because it backs right up to the water, which is why we had to take a boat to get there and back.
On the way back to the boat we stopped off at a perfume & glass shop to watch how they hand blow glass and learn a little about oils and their meaning. We purchased Frankincense, Mhyr, and Cleopatra’s lotion at Philae Essences Palace.
The last stop of the day did not disappoint. You’d think after spending 5 full days exploring ruins in Egypt that it may get redundant at some point, but the Unfinished Obelisk was really incredible to see. It would have been the largest obelisk known, had it made it out of the ground. But, story has it that while they were carving it out of the stone, it cracked in the middle and therefore could not be used for any royal palaces or temples.
Day 7
The next morning we flew from Aswan to Cairo. After landing we grabbed a quick lunch at La Poire right across the street from the museum we were visiting next.
We went to the Egyptian Museum and were amazed at the collection of artifacts that were on display. You could spend countless hours in here and still not scratch the surface. The larger draw to this museum showcases Tutankhamun’s two outer coffins (both gold plated) as well as his golden ‘helmet’. Photos were not allowed inside, people tried, and the guards were quick to bark at them. The golden artifacts from 4000+ years ago were in incredible shape and absolutely worth seeing/visiting. Just as exciting was the exhibit of the “silver king” - which has almost more impressive collections.
We made it back to the hotel, and had dinner at Italian the restaurant again called Riviera
Day 8
Flew out from Cairo to Amann Jordan.
Next time we visit, we plan to check out:
Alexandria
Hurghada, where people like to enjoy the “French Riviera” of Egypt
See the new Grand Egyptian Museum opening at the end of 2023
Watch:
The Prince of Egypt
Lawrence of Arabia
Indiana Jones