Monday, February 3rd – Thursday, February 6th 2025
World Tour Days 93 – 96
We excitedly landed in our 11th and final country in Africa, Egypt, at 6:00am after a red eye flight from Johannesburg, South Africa. Our hotel sent their driver to get us from the airport and the drive went smoothly. We noted almost immediately that Cairo was a place where if there is a car it is honking. Constant honking from morning until late at night no matter where we were. It was fun people watching out the window with people seated sideways on scooters, delivery boys balancing planks of wood loaded with loaves of bread on their heads while bicycling, and lots of smoking.
The first meal in Egypt was lunch at a recommended place called Felfela. It was nearby our hotel, had stained glass panels for the ceiling, and live birds as decoration. We tried the stuffed pigeon which was crispy and delicious, as well as the Fatah lamb shank which was served with rice, tomato sauce, garlic yogurt, and a mystery layer.
After lunch we walked to the Egyptian Museum, which we had a view of from our hotel’s restaurant balcony. The museum had two floors of many eras of Egyptian history. Some sections were organized with labels and descriptions, while others were rooms filled with items to look at with no information. The highlight was the room with Tutankhamun’s fabled treasures. The museum had many sections dedicated to various pharaoh’s, mummies, and pieces of recovered monuments. Dinner was a stop at a simple Lebanese open face shop, Rouh Beirut, Nick tried sujuk shwarma and I tried the falafel which was so crispy.
Our second day in Cairo we spent a few hours walking around the Citadel: an old fortress with many museums and mosques inside. The highlight was the Mosque of Mohammed Ali Pasha which was large and beautiful. Nick and I walked the courtyard of the Military Museum, saw some of the Citadel prisons, and the Mosque of Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad Ibn Qalawun. Lunch was at Koshary Abou Tarek, which was recommended to us by the uber driver. Koshary (the only item they served) is macaroni, two types of spaghetti, rice, tomato sauce, lemon juice, chick peas, and crunchy toppings mixed together. To be honest it looked like something a toddler would mix together but tasted delicious.
One of Nick’s favorite things is getting haircuts in different countries as the experience can vary greatly for different cultures. Egypt might have been my personal favorite one to witness. The haircut itself was fast but then they placed a face mask and leave in product on his hair. They shoved his whole face under a sink tap and rinsed off everything aggressive baptism style. The barber then dried Nick off like a man drying off his dog with a towel, frustrated that it had gotten wet. It was hysterical.
The final evening in Cairo we were picked up and taken to the Nile for a river cruise. The boat had two levels plus a rooftop deck for watching the river bank as we cruised. There was a belly dancer to start off the evening show portion. She went around the room trying to get people to come up and dance with her. A few people did but very reluctantly. She tried to get Nick to get up but he told her she’d have more fun with me. I went up and danced with her for a long time and had so much fun. Next there was a man who did the Tanoura Sufi, which was a dance where he twirled in one place with large skirts around him. He did tricks with it, too, like pouring water into a glass on an angle on a board while spinning, playing the drums, and taking off his various accessories. Dinner was an open buffet with lots of options of meats and side dishes.
Nick and I were picked up by our Giza hotel in the morning to check in there. It was a short drive, only 20 minutes as Giza is right beside Cairo. At check in we got a welcome drink on the rooftop which had a view of the pyramids. They then brought out pastries and fruit. Just when we thought the food was done they brought us a full Egyptian style breakfast spread with about a dozen dishes to sample.
After check in we did the free city tour with the hotel. We stopped at the Pharaonic Papyrus Museum which showed how papyrus paper is made, what the plant looks like, and how to write our names in hieroglyphics. We purchased a papyrus painting as our first Egyptian souvenir. After that we went to Farahaly Fruit, where we tried sugar cane juice freshly pressed from the giant machine. It was green in color and very sweet. Our guide also bought us some Egyptian snacks to try. Our third stop was the Cleopatra Palace Perfumes. There it was explained to us how the scents are made and we got to smell a few samples while enjoying some cold hibiscus tea. We also strolled around a cotton store.
Following the city tour we headed over to the Grand Egyptian Museum. This is new and isn’t fully completed yet so there hasn’t been a grand opening. There were most of the main halls open, though, and those still took us around 3 hours to go through. It was organized way better than the one in Cairo and everything had information and labels to read. The highlight was the architecture. The outside had a neat shape with half pyramids on the outside in gold, and there were many open air doorways giving a unique indoor/outdoor feal. It was magnificent. We enjoyed some gelato, which was amazing.
Our last full day in Giza was what we had been looking forward to most for coming to Egypt: The Great Pyramids of Giza, the last standing of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. Luckily it was close to our hotel, just a 10 minute walk. Once past the ticket booth there were people with horses and camels who tried to convince us it was impossible to walk the area. It was incredibly easy to walk to all of the pyramids, the Sphinx, the tombs, and the panoramic view points.
First we took in the Pyramid Complex of King Khufu, otherwise known as the Great Pyramid since it is the largest. This one we got tickets to go inside. We climbed the stairs on the outside to get to the entrance. Inside there were small lights to guide the path. It was narrow and had two way traffic, us going in and others going out. The majority of the time we were hunched over or squatted making our way up the passageways into the tomb. It was hot and many people were sweating. It was a neat experience but we were glad we only did one. They have removed all of the treasures from inside so there is not much to look at.
Next we walked to the second pyramid, the Pyramid Complex of King Khafre, son of King Khufu. This one was neat and beside it were some ruins of tombs for officials. Many camels were outside this area, with owners convincing people they needed them to get up to the panoramic point.
The walk to the panoramic view point was easy. At the top of the hill we walked along some hills finding the view points we enjoyed best. We could see all nine pyramids from this view point and got our favorite pictures from the day. There were many people riding camels and running on horses below by the pyramids which were fun to watch.
After taking in the views we walked back down to check out the third and final of the great pyramids in the area, the Pyramid Complex of King Menkaure. This was the third generation to build here and it was the smallest pyramid. Then our final stop was the Great Sphinx. When we stood in front of the face there was a pyramid in the background which was beautiful. We originally wanted to sit at a Pizza Hut and enjoy the view but they were only taking to go orders, this is a great spot for the view according to reviews online. We had lunch at the Maktub Cafe instead which was very good.
Overall we did not get hassled as much as we were anticipating at the pyramids, which was nice. It was great walking close to them, going inside one, and being able to look at them everyday at breakfast from our hotel rooftop. Giza was incredible.