"See the pyramids along the Nile. Watch a sunset on a tropic isle"....tra la la la. This is a travel
agent's favorite song...or one of them! But seeing them so close to Cairo and with no tourists
there, was a little unbelievable!
In 2011, there was much unrest in Cairo. The demonstrations were against the government. Buildings were burned and political protests took place, mostly because of the huge gap between the rich and extremely poor. This went on for a few months and then there was a lull for a couple of months. So that's when we decided to visit Egypt, believing it was safe now and of course we would avoid any protests!
When we arrived on our tour, with only two other gals from the Philippines, we met our guides and also our body guard, Ali!! Our Embassy insisted that Americans have this extra protection. This scared us a little!
On the first day of the tour, the 4 of us with 3 guides and a body guard (almost a private tour), first stopped at the Step Pyramid. This was the first pyramid built in Egypt in the 27th century BC for King Djoser. It was being renovated at the time. But as you can notice by the picture, there are no tourists. I think we were the only ones there, with our guides, body guard, and a few camels!!
Next stop was the Giza Pyramids, which can be seen from the highway around Cairo. They used to be much farther away until the city of Cairo expanded. Again, there was not a crowd and we had lots of photo ops! We had time to walk around all 3 and explore before taking a camel ride!
With our body guard, Ali
No crowds, just camels!
The Great Spinx is a colossal one-piece sandstone structure with a Pharaoh's head and a Lion's body. It was carved in order to unblock the king's view!
After a full day of sightseeing, we boarded a sleeper train for an overnight trip to Aswan. We relaxed and enjoyed a scenic ride along the Nile for much of the journey, past palm trees, camels, and men working the fields. In Aswan, we toured the damn which provides power to all of Egypt, visited a few temples and an obelisk site . We ended the day with a "felucca" sunset sail on a on the Nile.
Spent another day on excursions to small islands, villages, temples...all amazing! Then we crossed through the locks on the way to Luxor. Waiting for us to pass through the locks, were many, many small boats with men selling souvenirs from their boats! They would throw something up to the people on board and if they liked their wares, they could put cash in a plastic bag and throw it back. If a person did not like the product, he could throw it back to them, hopefully landing on the dock! It was quite an experience and fun!
Vendors on the River
We continued sailing North to Luxor "World's greatest open air museum". It has a population of 1 million people with 2 famous temples in the center of the very modern city. Two of the temples that we visited were the very ornate and large Temple of Karnak and The Luxor Temple, which is a little more refined.
Temple of Karnak
Luxor Temple
The Valley of the Kings is a sheltered valley where tombs were built for the Pharaohs and their treasures for 500 years until the 11th century BC. It contains 62 tombs surrounded by natural shaped peaks to protect the bodies and treasures from grave robbers.
Inside of one of the tombs
King Tut's Tomb
Back in Cairo, on our last day, we visited the Egyptian National Museum. We saw archeological finds dating back to 3000 BC and the treasures of King Tut. All of this was amazing! Very noticeable outside in Tahir Square was the burned out office building of President Murbarak. This was the only sign of the protests that we saw.
The Egyptian National Museum on Tahir Square
The next day they picked me up to take me to the airport and a few hours later when they picked up my traveling companion, the riots had just begun again. She was taken to the airport by armed guards.
Another adventure to remember! Fantastic time, thanks to our great local guide, Johnny!
