We spent 2 weeks in Egypt over Christmas/New Year with 6 fantastic friends, and really had the trip of a lifetime. Partly this was due to Egypt being such an amazing place with thousands of years of history, but a lot of it was because we opted not to do an organised tour and to call the shots ourselves and travel independent, which meant we weren’t rushed/forced to wake too early/to eat at the tourist spots etc. We’ve broken the trip down here into locations. Some of the lasting memories will be waking to the call to prayer at dawn, the traffic, the food, great local guides and forming some amazing memories with our friends – oh and the constant request for baksheesh (money) of course.
We arrived into Cairo late at night to a real culture shock – people trying to help you with bags for “baksheesh” (we quickly planned a team code word for “help me get rid of this guy” which came in handy many a time), the crazy driving (no road rules but everyone seems to know what every other crazy driver is going to do, with a system of horn honks), piles of rubbish on the roads (a reminder we were in a third world country), and lovely warmth that we were in need of after snow in London.
We arranged a tour for day one and saw the pyramids at Giza and the sphinx, did a camel ride there, visited the bent and red pyramids (including going inside the red one which was worthwhile – not a lot to see but an erie pitch black atmosphere being inside a burial chamber), the step pyramids, a papyrus factory and a carpet factory. Ended a full day with a delicious Egyptian meal where we fell in love with Taamyia – like falafel but made with butter beans and lots of green herbs, delicious.
The gang at the step pyramid
Day two was Christmas day. We kicked it off with a visit to the Cairo museum and were glad we got a guide – as expected from our research, the museum is really poorly laid out, with small type written descriptions of things, or none at all. The museum has an awesome collection of treasures from King Tutenkhamen’s tomb which we would have merely glanced at had we not had a guide. After a picnic of treats from a bakery we wandered through the back streets of Cairo (we learnt pretty quickly that to cross the road you just have to go for it with confidence!) to the outside of the Citadel where we met a random guy who led us through more back streets to his Mosque which we looked around. Disappointing when despite his reassurances that he didn’t want money (“I just want to practice my English”) he too asked us for baksheesh! From there we spent a couple of very happy hours wandering the major markets in Cairo, buying some souvenirs and enjoying bargaining and the friendly banter that went with it. Another walk through the back streets and another Egyptian meal to celebrate Christmas.
Christmas day picnic at the Egyptian museum
The next day we flew south to Aswan. We visited Elephantine Island with its Nubbian village and ruins, went to the high dam(just Dean and Lou for the dam!) and to the local markets where we bought some lovely small turquoise alabaster bowls.
Lou with hyroglyphics on Elephantine Island
An early night given the early start the following day – a 3.30am pick up to join the police-escorted convoy to Abu Simbel. The convoy takes place for two reasons – one: Abu Simbel is in the desert so it’s safety in numbers if anyone breaks down, and two: there have been attacks on tourists driving there in the past. The early departure time is because it’s a 3 hour drive and it gets pretty hot in the desert if you’re there in the middle of the day. Abu Simbel was incredible. The twin temples were originally carved out of the mountainside by Pharaoh Ramses II in the 13th century BC, as a monument to himself and his Queen Nefertari. The temple to Ramses was created so that on two days of the year the sun shone deep into the mountain to light up the faces of the statues deep within. The temples were relocated in the 1960s to an artificial hill to avoid their being submerged during the creation of Lake Nasser which formed after the High Dam was constructed – an amazing feat in itself.
Us at Abu Simbel
We got back to Aswan early afternoon to get on board the felucca which would be our home for the next two nights. Feluccas are traditional wooden sailing boats – no motor, no bathroom, no stress. Our Nubian captain Mustafa treated us like royalty with incredible cooking (no idea how he did it with the basic facilities – we feasted on fresh fish, fried chicken, delicious soup, fresh figs...) and a wonderfully relaxing cruise up the river. We docked at sunset and enjoyed a night with a few drinks, some card games and hanging out. We set off the next morning after a delicious breakfast and stopped alongside some big golden sand banks and sprinted up then had a swim in the Nile. More food, cards, a shisha and a singalong that night.
The gang with our felucca and crew
We were really sad to leave the felucca for Luxor the next day. On the way there we visited the temples of Kom Ombo and Edfu.
Dean at Kom Ombo, you can see the Greek influence in the pillar style
Our driver was pretty average, having no clue where our hostel in Luxor was, but he followed us into it and waited in the lobby until we returned with baksheesh! Can’t blame a guy for trying, and he successfully guilted us into it.
The next day we’d booked a tour of the West bank. The ancient Egyptians believed east, where the sun rises, is for the living, and west, where the sun sets, is for the dead, hence the West bank being full of tombs. At the Valley of the Kings we visited the tomb of Tuthmosis III after a recommendation to do so from our Cairo guide. It was amazingly well preserved with every inch of wall covered with drawings, and the roof covered with blue and gold stars. His tomb was down lots of stairs so it was pretty hot and stuffy in there. The tomb of Seti II was quite a contrast as it was unfinished, and the tomb of Septah was finished in a hurry so came to a very abrupt end at the end of an entrance way. From there we visited Queen Hatshepsut’s temple with its wonderfully preserved coloured pictures (albeit with images of the Queen erased when her stepson came to power), the Colossi of Memnon, Medinat Habu (another recommedation from our Cairo tour guide – hardly visited by tourists but a wonderful one to see, full of colour again), and back on the east bank the temple of Karnak with its huge hypostyle hall. One of the other highlights that day was again the food – a bakery lunch with fresh coconut, date and cheese rolls. The Egyptians know how to eat!
The colour at Medinat Habu temple
The hypostyle hall at Karnak
We flew to Dahab that night to begin a few days of relaxation at the resort town. Dahab is on the red sea and while much less touristy than the popular Sharm el-Sheik resort, was still set up to cater to tourists. We spent 6 nights in Dahab and, while we spent plenty of time relaxing poolside, we also went snorkelling at the blue hole, walked up Mt Sinai to view the sunset (where it’s believed Moses received the 10 commandments), enjoyed some delicious seafood platters and treated ourselves to some beauty treatments.
At the top of Mt Sinai
In our wetsuits for snorkelling - it was winter so while the sun was hot the water was cold!
Then alas it was goodbye to Egypt and back to London to snow!
We arrived into Cairo late at night to a real culture shock – people trying to help you with bags for “baksheesh” (we quickly planned a team code word for “help me get rid of this guy” which came in handy many a time), the crazy driving (no road rules but everyone seems to know what every other crazy driver is going to do, with a system of horn honks), piles of rubbish on the roads (a reminder we were in a third world country), and lovely warmth that we were in need of after snow in London.
We arranged a tour for day one and saw the pyramids at Giza and the sphinx, did a camel ride there, visited the bent and red pyramids (including going inside the red one which was worthwhile – not a lot to see but an erie pitch black atmosphere being inside a burial chamber), the step pyramids, a papyrus factory and a carpet factory. Ended a full day with a delicious Egyptian meal where we fell in love with Taamyia – like falafel but made with butter beans and lots of green herbs, delicious.
The gang at the step pyramid
Day two was Christmas day. We kicked it off with a visit to the Cairo museum and were glad we got a guide – as expected from our research, the museum is really poorly laid out, with small type written descriptions of things, or none at all. The museum has an awesome collection of treasures from King Tutenkhamen’s tomb which we would have merely glanced at had we not had a guide. After a picnic of treats from a bakery we wandered through the back streets of Cairo (we learnt pretty quickly that to cross the road you just have to go for it with confidence!) to the outside of the Citadel where we met a random guy who led us through more back streets to his Mosque which we looked around. Disappointing when despite his reassurances that he didn’t want money (“I just want to practice my English”) he too asked us for baksheesh! From there we spent a couple of very happy hours wandering the major markets in Cairo, buying some souvenirs and enjoying bargaining and the friendly banter that went with it. Another walk through the back streets and another Egyptian meal to celebrate Christmas.
Christmas day picnic at the Egyptian museum
The next day we flew south to Aswan. We visited Elephantine Island with its Nubbian village and ruins, went to the high dam(just Dean and Lou for the dam!) and to the local markets where we bought some lovely small turquoise alabaster bowls.
Lou with hyroglyphics on Elephantine Island
An early night given the early start the following day – a 3.30am pick up to join the police-escorted convoy to Abu Simbel. The convoy takes place for two reasons – one: Abu Simbel is in the desert so it’s safety in numbers if anyone breaks down, and two: there have been attacks on tourists driving there in the past. The early departure time is because it’s a 3 hour drive and it gets pretty hot in the desert if you’re there in the middle of the day. Abu Simbel was incredible. The twin temples were originally carved out of the mountainside by Pharaoh Ramses II in the 13th century BC, as a monument to himself and his Queen Nefertari. The temple to Ramses was created so that on two days of the year the sun shone deep into the mountain to light up the faces of the statues deep within. The temples were relocated in the 1960s to an artificial hill to avoid their being submerged during the creation of Lake Nasser which formed after the High Dam was constructed – an amazing feat in itself.
Us at Abu Simbel
We got back to Aswan early afternoon to get on board the felucca which would be our home for the next two nights. Feluccas are traditional wooden sailing boats – no motor, no bathroom, no stress. Our Nubian captain Mustafa treated us like royalty with incredible cooking (no idea how he did it with the basic facilities – we feasted on fresh fish, fried chicken, delicious soup, fresh figs...) and a wonderfully relaxing cruise up the river. We docked at sunset and enjoyed a night with a few drinks, some card games and hanging out. We set off the next morning after a delicious breakfast and stopped alongside some big golden sand banks and sprinted up then had a swim in the Nile. More food, cards, a shisha and a singalong that night.
The gang with our felucca and crew
We were really sad to leave the felucca for Luxor the next day. On the way there we visited the temples of Kom Ombo and Edfu.
Dean at Kom Ombo, you can see the Greek influence in the pillar style
Our driver was pretty average, having no clue where our hostel in Luxor was, but he followed us into it and waited in the lobby until we returned with baksheesh! Can’t blame a guy for trying, and he successfully guilted us into it.
The next day we’d booked a tour of the West bank. The ancient Egyptians believed east, where the sun rises, is for the living, and west, where the sun sets, is for the dead, hence the West bank being full of tombs. At the Valley of the Kings we visited the tomb of Tuthmosis III after a recommendation to do so from our Cairo guide. It was amazingly well preserved with every inch of wall covered with drawings, and the roof covered with blue and gold stars. His tomb was down lots of stairs so it was pretty hot and stuffy in there. The tomb of Seti II was quite a contrast as it was unfinished, and the tomb of Septah was finished in a hurry so came to a very abrupt end at the end of an entrance way. From there we visited Queen Hatshepsut’s temple with its wonderfully preserved coloured pictures (albeit with images of the Queen erased when her stepson came to power), the Colossi of Memnon, Medinat Habu (another recommedation from our Cairo tour guide – hardly visited by tourists but a wonderful one to see, full of colour again), and back on the east bank the temple of Karnak with its huge hypostyle hall. One of the other highlights that day was again the food – a bakery lunch with fresh coconut, date and cheese rolls. The Egyptians know how to eat!
The colour at Medinat Habu temple
The hypostyle hall at Karnak
We flew to Dahab that night to begin a few days of relaxation at the resort town. Dahab is on the red sea and while much less touristy than the popular Sharm el-Sheik resort, was still set up to cater to tourists. We spent 6 nights in Dahab and, while we spent plenty of time relaxing poolside, we also went snorkelling at the blue hole, walked up Mt Sinai to view the sunset (where it’s believed Moses received the 10 commandments), enjoyed some delicious seafood platters and treated ourselves to some beauty treatments.
At the top of Mt Sinai
In our wetsuits for snorkelling - it was winter so while the sun was hot the water was cold!
Then alas it was goodbye to Egypt and back to London to snow!
No comments:
Post a Comment