Cairo

After a fairly short flight from Athens we arrived in Cairo early on Friday evening. We were first greeted by the employees of the Egyptian Health Minister’s office. After a quick temperature check (swine flu free, thank you very much) we were greeted by our hotel’s visa assistant. We had set up our airport transportation through our hotel and I can’t recommend this service enough. The guy was able to skip all lines and get us a visitor visa and out to claim our bags in about 10 minutes. So nice!

We were excited that our friend Cloris from the India audit was able to meet up with us on her way to Kenya. She had arrived that morning and had set up the sunset Nile cruise for that evening as well as our tours for the next day (thanks again C!!). After a long walk along the Nile we finally found our boat for our cruise. We boarded the giant gold ship with a little hesitation but the food was actually pretty good, the entertainment was decent and although it was completely cheesy, I think a “must-do” when in Cairo.

Saturday after breakfast we met up with our tour guide and headed to Giza to see the pyramids. I think sometimes major attractions can be a bit of a let-down. Sometimes they just aren’t as grand or as beautiful as you’ve imagined. This is not the case with the pyramids in Giza. The sheer size of them is enough to make your mouth drop open. Guess they’re not one of the 7 wonders of the world for nothing!

After Giza we headed out to Saqqara to see the step pyramid and a few others. The drive out gave us a glimpse of rural Egyptian life and it didn’t look like it had changed much in the last few hundred years. Saqqara, itself, was actually pretty though with its rows and rows of palm trees at the many date farms. The step pyramid is the oldest in all of Egypt and the surrounding pyramids look like nothing but piles of rubble. But, it was one of these piles of rubble that we entered and saw the only carvings ever found inside a pyramid’s tomb…very cool. We also toured the interior of a minister’s tomb which was filled from floor to ceiling with incredible carvings and hieroglyphics.

Afterwards Jules and I went to the Antiquities Museum. I was very thankful we had a guide with us to enable us to hit the high points. It isn’t a huge museum, but it is packed with artifacts. Definitely the highlights were the treasures from King Tutankhamun’s tomb. Incredible stuff. I know there was a traveling exhibition of his treasures a few years back that even came to Atlanta. Our tour guide said the famous gold funerary mask never traveled. Let me know if you saw it and if the mask was there. If not, I find it sad the rest of the world must travel to Egypt to see it. It was really amazing.

We had an early dinner with Cloris at the hotel and for some reason decided to forego naps before our 2:40 am flight to South Africa. Up until our trip to the airport I really felt the people of Egypt were incredibly warm and welcoming. In general I think the culture and people can really make or break an experience. Unfortunately, this feeling dissipated during the last hours in Egypt. It began with our taxi driver who upped the price of his ride because he took us to the wrong terminal and even pulled over demanding payment before we had even reached the correct one. It ended with the ridiculous amount of people grabbing at my bags and demanding tips, including an actual employee of Egypt Air who seemed to be threatening to not allow us our carry-on luggage until he received money.

But, I’m going to do my best to erase those memories from my collective thoughts on Egypt. It seems only fair to not punish a whole for the rudeness of a few. If I did I’d have ill feelings towards most countries, including my own.