Tuesday 12/4/2007- Friday 12/7/2007:
We arrived at Cairo International around 1 a.m. In the arrivals lounge, we were surprised to find a man holding a sign that said “Katie Barnett – Le Meridien Pyramids.” We didn’t set up a car service, but someone was waiting for us. He guided us through passport control. We bought our Egyptian Visas, picked up our bags and then walked with our guide out to the parking lot. There another man greeted us, set us up with a taxi and then we were off. We soon realized that Egyptians try to get as many people involved in plans as possible and they all expect a tip. . . . if you are not careful, it gets expensive quickly. This part of Egyptian culture is referred to as the “art of the baksheesh”. Egyptian wages are not adequate, so nearly every profession relies on tips. The cab ride to the hotel was interesting as Egyptian traffic makes insanely crazy Istanbul look organized. We stopped at one point so the driver could put air in the tire. After about 40 minutes, Katie and Dermot wondered if they were even going to the hotel anymore. Our worries were put to rest, once we arrived at the hotel safe and sound. The driver was disappointed with our 10% tip, but Dermot told him that was all he was getting.
We were happy to have read in advance what to expect, as the bomb sniffing dog when we entered and security metal detector could scare people. After a quick tour of the hotel, we went to our upgraded pyramid view room and went straight to bed at around 2:30 a.m.
At around 11 a.m. we got out of bed and admired our beautiful view of the pyramids before showering and getting ready for the day. We checked out the pool, tennis courts and fitness center (a place we should definitely visit….) and then talked to our concierge about places to tour. After learning that the Dahshur Pyramids were closed, we settled on Memphis and Sakkara.
Our driver Ahmed first took us to Memphis, while on the way we saw a car accident….right before our eyes. Ahmed told us, don’t worry, we’ll see lots of ‘silly driving,’ we’ll just need to close our eyes. We forgot to mention that Ahmet looked exactly like James Gandolphi from Sopranos, and we later found out that he’s also packing heat. This isn’t unusual in Egypt to carry a concealed weapon, so we decided to keep Ahmet on our good side.
Back to the story, we drove off, after missing being in the car accident by seconds, to Memphis, the first capital of united Egypt established in 3100 B.C. Somehow we think it was a bit more interesting back then…. We saw some statues of Ramses II and the entire tour of Memphis only took about 15 minutes, but costs us entrance fee and ‘tips’ for the guards showing us…pretty much nothing, but expected tips. But the guard did salute us when we said we were from the US, and he complimented Dermot on his facial hair, so they were worth the tip ;) Make sure to check out the entertaining photo of them too…. Next we headed to much more interesting Sakkara which was only about 15 minutes away. After a brief movie about the area, we toured the museum showing the treasures, sarcophaguses and design of the tombs. Afterwards, we got to see the Step Pyramid up close and personal. For being the first pyramid ever built over 4655 years ago, it was still in relatively good condition. We walked around the area and saw all sorts of tombs and ruins, along with enjoying the views of the various pyramids off in the distance in the desert. We learned that there are over 99 pyramids built in this area.
Back in the car, we drove about 1000 meters to the next site: Pyramid of Teti. Here a guide led us down to the bottom of the Pyramid where we saw Teti’s sarcophagus, the hieroglyphics all over the tomb as well as the ceiling being lined with stars for the buried king. After our touring, Ahmed took us to one of his favorite local restaurants, and even called ahead so our food was ready for us. The food was very similar to the Turkish food, and we were honored to be Ahmed’s guest in a restaurant full of non-tourists. After dinner we accepted Ahmed’s invitation to join him at a sheesha café…..where Katie was the only female for miles. We crossed the street (an adventure in itself) and he treated us to an apple flavored sheesha pipe and mint tea. Ahmed convinced us to tour with him again tomorrow to see the Giza pyramids and go for a sunset camel ride afterwards. Back at the hotel we relaxed and looked forward to our adventures the next day.
After having a nice snooze, we grabbed breakfast and hit the swimming pool. We sat in the sun and swam until it was time to meet Ahmet and explore the Giza pyramids. Ahmed met us in the lobby just after 2:30 and we headed off to a camel stable to talk about prices for a potential sunset camel ride. After a negotiating session, we ended up agreeing to take a 2 hour tour on camels into the Giza Pyramids site instead of just taking a sunset ride. The tour was quite an adventure, as a tourist riding a camel has money signs written all over us. People would wedge their ‘merchandise’ between your leg and the camel saddle…. And then expect you to pay them. Katie alone had a soda opened and wedge in her leg and a traditional headdress put on her head. Our guide told us that this will continue, but say “NO” and do not accept anything from anyone. Getting used to riding a camel was a bit tough, but once we got comfortable, we really enjoyed ourselves. We walked through the local town (on the same roads as cars, horses, buggies, donkeys, bikes, any pretty much anything moving) on top of our camels and then got into the Pyramids area. Getting up close to these HUGE pyramids on top of a camel was a very surreal experience.
We went inside the second biggest pyramid, which wasn’t all that impressive except for the fact that it was a long ramp down to it and it was very warm and not ventilated. A king was entombed there with his wife as with every other pyramid. All of the bodies, jewels and treasures of the king were now in the Egyptian Museum. However, we did learn that many of these tombs were raided (sounds like a movie?), so they lost many of the artifacts. Afterwards, the camels took us up to Mustafa, a large plateau area next to the pyramids. From this peak, we had an unbelievable view of Giza, Cairo and numerous pyramids below. The amount of smog or the ‘black cloud’ above Cairo was unbelievably disgusting. We later learned that a combination of people burning trash, diesel cars and industrial pollution have caused the World Health Organization to rate Cairo’s pollution over 5 times the healthy output rate.
After the sunset on the pyramids, we headed down and out of the park, after having to tip many of the ‘tourist police’ along the way, since we were there after sundown…. and checked out the Sphinx, although it was too dark to really see it. Winding our way back to the “stables” we dodged horses, cars, motorcycles, people and buses all while on top of camel. Of course, we forgot to mention that the “stables” were off a busy street, and it was pretty much a storefront. Our poor guide’s horse got spooked and ended up trying to buck him off, but fell on top of our guide! We got off the camels (Katie almost got thrown off as well…), settled our bill with the stables and then headed out to a Sheesha café with Ahmed. We saw a bit of the pyramid show (very cheesy) before returning back to our hotel. We soon realized that riding a camel for 2 + hours can make your legs very sore, so we ordered room service, watched a movie and then went to bed.
Our morning was very relaxed, as we packed and checked out to head into Cairo. Ahmet gave us our last tour and dropped us at the Nile Hilton. Our room wasn’t ready, so we had a light breakfast and drinks in the complimentary executive lounge (got to love the perks of corporate travel). After checking into our room, which we got upgraded to the 12th floor, we headed across the street to the Egyptian Museum. Since it was later in the day, we didn’t even encounter a line, and attempted to tackle 4500 years of history.
Luckily, our lonely planet Egypt book has a tour of the museum, so we saw the entire museum in around 3 hours. The highlights were seeing the royal mummies room (extra fee), where there were 11 kings and queens mummies. It is incredible how well preserved and ultra creepy these corpses looked… you could see their skin, hair and even finger nails. We also learned that the museum is looking to be expanded into a new home closer to Giza and the pyramids. They are currently raising $500 million for the project, as they have storerooms full of antiquities that aren’t able to be displayed due to their limited space. We were very surprised that many of the artifacts were not enclosed in anything, but considering the tourists of the 19th century used to take HOME mummy parts (usually hands, feet) that fit easily in their suitcases.
After our fill of Egyptian history, we headed out to Felfela Restaurant in downtown Cairo. We realized how much we missed Ahmet… to help us cross the street—but we ended up crossing with a local, and he was very nice… we found our way through the crazy streets and enjoyed some very tasty Egyptian cuisine.
Our last morning in Cairo was spent exploring the island of Zamaleck. We enjoyed our complimentary breakfast and headed out to the most ‘green’ part of Cairo. We crossed the Nile by foot over a bridge and then walked up to Zamaleck. We passed an Egyptian independence statues, a country club, as group of Egyptians praying to Allah on the sidewalk and a fancy French bakery; quite a mosaic of life in Cairo.
We had lunch in a little coffee shop that had internet access before returning back to the hotel. We packed up our stuff and jumped into a cab to the bus station. The cab ride epitomized Cairo traffic as the driver had to rather aggressively guide his car through an intersection with no lights and no sense of rules.
After waiting for about 40 minutes in the very non-modern bus station, we boarded a Super Jet bus headed towards our next destination: Sharm el Shiek. The bus ride took about 7.5 hours, but went by quickly. We made one rest stop where Katie and Dermot both had schwarma sandwiches for a snack.