Our Trip to Egypt! part 1

For Christmas this year we did a tour of Egypt, and it really was the trip of a lifetime thanks to our awesome tour guide Yomna (if you want her info let me know.)

It was 11 days of travelling, with a baby, so sometimes it was challenging but it was totally worth it.

We left on the 17th of Dec and took the train to Rome. We spent the night at a B&B that was within walking distance of the station. The B&B, Aroma, was nice but we got totally ripped off at the restaurants there. You aren’t supposed to eat in that area because everyone KNOWS it is a total rip off, but we were tired and didn’t want to travel anymore that day. The next day we flew to Cairo from the Rome airport. We were met at the airport by our tour reps and driven to our hotel – the Sheraton Royal Gardens. It was a pretty nice place.

On the 19th our tour started in earnest. We saw the Pyramids of Khufu, Khafra, and Menkara. We saw this weird “solar boat” that was found buried there. We took a camel ride from the pyramids over to the Sphinx. All 3 of us were on 1 camel. The camel guy really wanted Sammi to ride along beside us on a horse. I guess they were worried about her. But she was secure in her Ergo and the motion actually put her to sleep. She had a little camel nap! The thing about the pyramids is, once you see them it is obvious that people built them – especially if you listen to your guide explain about the mud ramps. So, if you think aliens built the pyramids think again. Sad, I know.










We were told to “bring snacks” along but didn’t realize this meant “bring enough for LUNCH along.” We hardly ever had lunch on our tour (except on the Nile Cruise) and the only snacks we had were M&M’s. So, if you ever go, take lots of snacks along!! They just love their country and its history so much they want you to see everything.

Next, we drove to Saqqara and saw the first pyramid ever built in Egypt, the tombs of the nobles, and the pyramid of Unus. Then we rushed over to Memphis, the capital of ancient Egypt. (All the tourist places close at 4 pm.)










On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a carpet factory. It is where all the kids work. They learn the trade and get paid and then go to school at night.










On the 20th we went to the Papyrus Institute and saw how they make papyrus paper then we went to the Egyptian Museum. It is a great museum with so many treasures of ancient Egypt, and we only saw the highlights and still spent a few hours in there.
Yomna, who has a B.Sc in Guidance says even she hasn’t seen it all – and she studied there. Then, we went to a gold store and of course, bought some jewellery. We got Sammi a little Ankh pendant. While we were there she got a new tooth. Her front left tooth. So, we figure when she loses that tooth the “Egyptian tooth fairy” will come and give her that. Hopefully she doesn’t lose that one first or it will set the bar too high for the normal tooth fairy!




Next, we saw the Saladin Citadel, otherwise known as the Mohammed Ali citadel. It is located on a hill in the center of Cairo so the view of the city is awesome – although the pollution cuts down on the visibility. The Egyptian Military museum is there, too, so we went and visited that as well. It was interesting, but Sammi was at the end of her rope by then so we had to rush through it.

The traffic in Cairo is insane, so it always took us forever to get back to our hotel each night. A combination of 14 million people and 4 million cars or so, plus scooters and donkeys. And we had to get up at 2 am the next morning for our flight to Luxor, so we wanted to go to bed early. It was weird at the hotel – it seemed like we were practically the only guests there. After 9/11 the tourism was cut by about 40% and you can really tell. It is coming back, but this was prime season and it wasn’t crowded at all. We always felt perfectly safe, so I don’t know what the big deal is.

OK- that is it for now. I will post the Nile Cruise part of our trip as soon as I get a chance to write it.