Cairo, Egypt (CAI)

...guide throughout); 3 nights in Cairo, 1 night at Abu Simbel, 7 night Nile cruise from Aswan to Luxor, back to Aswan for 2 nights and then 1 night in Cairo before flying home. *This year the tour has changed, there are 4 nights in Cairo, 7 night Nile cruise, 2 nights at Aswan and 1 night in Cairo. You are now met at Cairo Airport by your tour manager/guide.

CAIRO
We arrived in Cairo after a five hour flight and while I was busy ...
...my worst nightmare drive in Cairo, the traffic chaos from taxi level (not bus level where there is a greater view of an accident waiting to happen) seems organised. The horns are used instead of indicators - which believe me are of no use (if they even work) as they drive so closely together. It is the attitude of the drivers which is a shock - they are so laid back! There are no heads hanging out of windows cursing at the driver who just has cut ... more

INTRODUCTION
I never intended to write a review, after all there is nothing more boring than somebody else's holiday stories but after reading some of the reviews on Egypt I had to! My mother had always wanted to go to Egypt and I love history - you can't get anymore historic than Egypt so we went on a holiday of a lifetime.
Let me get one thing straight - Egypt is a Third World country. It is a complete and utter culture shock and unless you get over that fast there is no point going to Egypt. There is no Welfare State and even the good jobs pay crap money so while it is a real pain everyone holding their hand out for a tip, it is understandable. With an exchanged rate (at the time of going) of 1 UK pound to 10 Egyptian pounds, even people on the dole here are richer than most in Egypt. Even so it doesn't mean being taken for a sucker, just use common sense, use alot of good humour and always be polite.

We went to Egypt last May (7-21 2005) for 15 glorious days travelling with Bales Worldwide on their 'Splendour of Egypt'* escorted group tour - there were twelve of us - (with a tour manager from travelling with you from London and Egyptian guide throughout); 3 nights in Cairo, 1 night at Abu Simbel, 7 night Nile cruise from Aswan to Luxor, back to Aswan for 2 nights and then 1 night in Cairo before flying home. *This year the tour has changed, there are 4 nights in Cairo, 7 night Nile cruise, 2 nights at Aswan and 1 night in Cairo. You are now met at Cairo Airport by your tour manager/guide.

CAIRO
We arrived in Cairo after a five hour flight and while I was busy dying (I am a poor flyer) my mother had enjoyed herself chatting to a really nice Egyptian man she was sitting next to. Egyptair isn't BA. The seats are comfortable, the meal is fine (I rely on my mother's opinion as I never eat on any flight, no matter how long it is) and the in flight entertainment is usually a 'not too old' Hollywood film. However, it is worth paying the extra and travelling business class for the extra space and comfort which I will do when I go again. Business class isn't an option on this tour on the internal flights but fortunately they don't last very long. The first thing you notice as you are coming down the airplane steps is the heat, even at 10:30pm local time it was really warm. The usual procedure getting through immigration went smoothly and then it was onto the luggage carousel. Here the gangs of 'porters' wait to assist you with your luggage. The agent for Eastmar travel (Bales Egyptian contact) told us to get our luggage ourselves and bring it back to him. From then on the only time we had to deal with our luggage was to unpack or pack our belongings in our hotel room/cabin. (A tip - make sure your luggage is distinct, my trolley case was a bright baby pink and my mother's was lilac. They got to be markers letting the rest of the group know their luggage was on the way!)

We were staying at the Nile Hilton (see my seperate review) in the centre of Cairo right next door to the famous Egyptian Museum of Antiquities. The hotel room was first class and really clean - I work for a Local Authority in Environmental Services so I was more than a little interested in the accommodation we would be staying at and food we would be eating on our trip. Up early the next morning (no lying in bed on this holiday, all the visits are done early morning to beat the midday sun) and off to the museum with our escort/guide who was a trained Egyptologist. (Many guide books mention a camera/video charges, I never paid to use my camera at any of the sites, and I only used my video camera onboard ship or at the hotels and that was only because I couldn't face lugging it around along with everything else. However, no camera's etc are allowed to be used (some cases not even allowed to be physically taken) inside museums and enclosed monuments and it won't be long before camera phones are stopped too.)

The museum was amazing. There might have been crowds and no proper air conditioning other than the wide open windows but it finally brought home the fact we were really in Egypt. We started off on thr ground floor working our way through the Old Kingdom to the New Kingdom and it's more well known pharaohs. We went upstairs to the first floor which is mainly dominated by Tutankhamun's treasures and funerary possessions. And of course in it's seperate room the famous Death Mask which isn't done justice by the photographs and the gold coffins. Make sure the collection will be at the museum when you go as it is regularly sent aboard for tours. Some of the jewellery had already been packed up ready to go. We also went into the Mummy Room, there is an additional charge but is worth it to see the likes of Ramses the Great and his father Seti I lying in state. Some people have a problem with the ethics of the mummy room but the mummies are treated with reverence befitting their royal state and it is clearly indicated that visitors should show some decorum and respect and on less reverent note the only area to have full air conditioning. We had a full day ticket and had we not been 'Egypt virgins' and followed along with the rest of the group, we would have spent a leisurely morning at the hotel getting acclimatised and visited the museum in the afternoon. Most guide books (Rough Guide) have plans of the exhibits.

That evening Bales hosted a welcome dinner on one of the Nile's floating restaurants. The meal was a mixture of Egyptian starters and appetizers (various dips and bites) and a main meal of season chicken pieces, salad and chips. All the food was at the right temperature and cooked thoroughly and was really nice. (Providing you are eating at a major hotel, drinking (tamper free) bottled water and haven't been in contact with anyone infectious, the main cause of diarrhoea is the heat. We had a well stocked first aid bag - Imodium and rehydration salts being the most important.)
The next day we went to Giza. Fabulous! How could anyone going to Egypt not visit the Pyramids? We parked in front of The Great Pyramid of Khufu (I'll smack anyone who says Cheops) and by god it's big! After a lecture by our guide, we finally got of the bus and under the watchful gaze of our bus drive and armed guard (who was more for show than possible effectiveness) marched over to the base of the pyramid and looked up.

Breathtaking! We stood at the base and touched the last wonder of the ancient world. One more thing crossed of my life 'to do' list. While others of the group went inside, we wandered around the eastern side towards the solar boat museum to the south of the pyramid. Here I'm afraid is where we got jumped (for the first and only time I hasten to add, once bitten twice shy) but it cost me 100 Egyptian pounds (10 English) to get my camera back along with an unwanted photo. So I learnt two things the hard way in spite of reading all the warnings in the guide books; if your camera has got an adjustable strap wear it tight on your wrist (if you ask anyone to hold it for you make sure they do the same) and don't let anyone see what is in your purse! Now don't get me wrong, for a mugging it was quite painless, even business like. Any where else in the world they would have kept my camera and the entire contents of my purse. If they had gotten really obnoxious there were enough tourist police around had I wanted to make an issue of it. So I learnt my lesson and if this prevents the same happening to someone else, the 10 pounds was well spent! We went back to the coach and were driven around to park near Khafre's Pyramid for our visit to The Solar Boat Museum. This is a really modern museum and in a way is something like the Tardis as it is alot bigger on the inside that it seems from the outside! Inside we had to wear canvas covers on our feet so we ended up shuffling along like penguins across the wooden floors. On the ground floor is the actual pit the boat was found in with a few of the covering stones left in place to give an idea of the sealed pit. There is all so various exhibits showing items found on the boat and how it was extracted from the pit and put back together. I wondered at first where the boat was - until I looked up. The boat is raised above the ground floor and has two levels of walk ways around it so no aspect of the boat is missed. Although it is only about the boat it is a really interesting museum to visit and visually stunning.

We all piled back into the coach and drove up to the plateau for the best view of all three pyramids. Here were the usual sellers of tourist goods - things ordinary Egyptians wouldn't give house room to, but then that is just my opinion. Camel and horse back rides are offered here and if we wanted to our coach driver would have negotiated on our behalf but none of us were that brave. My mother and I had our photo taken here with Khafre's and Khufu's pyramids in the background by one of the group (it's her favourite). Where we were stood there is a 40 foot drop directly behind us so in the photograph I'm not really smiling, it's more of a grimace!

After the photo shoot we're back in the coach for the short drive down the hill towards the Sphinx. One thing else you have to get used to is how close ordinary life is to these ancient monuments - the Sphinx looks out onto a KFC outlet and our guide lives with the view of the pyramids outside his house! The Sphinx looks smaller in life than on the TV and unlike the pyramids you are unable to get up close and personal with it, you can only view it from the road or for a bit closer view there is a wide rock platform which follows the lenght of the sphinx. First you go though the mortuary temple and a couple of passage before reaching the slope up to the platform. From seeing the the Sphinx we went onto a papyrus 'institute' which is really a shop which also demonstrates how papyrus was made before being encouraged to look round the shop shadowed by a 'store detective' style shop assistant who the minute you make up your mind to buy something isn't anywhere to be seen. I dislike shopping; I like it even less in Egypt so my advice is to shop at the hotel/boat shops. The souvenir shop in the Nile Hilton complex was really good, the shop keeper was really friendly but allowed you to shop in peace, the quality was good and the prices were the same if not cheaper than what could be brought elsewhere.
After the papyrus institute, the rest of the group were going onto Saqqara and Memphis but we went back to the hotel (the Cairo stay is better now as there is one more night stay so not so much rushing about). We travelled back in one of the infamous black and white taxis. The coach driver again sorted out the fare and tip (Bales paid our return fare as the afternoon excursion was an additional trip) and we experienced at close quarters Cairo's traffic system or lack of. The car made my '02 Corsa look like something out of the future but the engine sounded fine and the brakes worked. The journey was fine along the Pyramids Road (a sort of by-pass around southern Cairo which is the easiest if not direct route) but naturally we weren't looking forward to getting back into the city. And the strange thing is that while I would never in my worst nightmare drive in Cairo, the traffic chaos from taxi level (not bus level where there is a greater view of an accident waiting to happen) seems organised. The horns are used instead of indicators - which believe me are of no use (if they even work) as they drive so closely together. It is the attitude of the drivers which is a shock - they are so laid back! There are no heads hanging out of windows cursing at the driver who just has cut in, no rude gestures and no road rage. If everyone drove like this for just one hour in London they would have to call in the troops - it would be a blood bath! We spent the afternoon relaxing, buying some souvenirs and stamps for the postcards we wrote out while sitting next to the hotel pool (yes, they did arrive home before we did). It seems we had had the better afternoon compared to the rest of the group. The included excursion lunch had made one of our group quite poorly and the complex at Memphis had closed early. I definately want to visit Saqqara and Memphis next time I go but I was glad I missed that trip.
The following morning was an early start. Out of the hotel by 5 am to fly to Aswan and catch the plane to Abu Simbel.

Cairo is an unbelievable city, you would really need a month here to even start to scratch the surface of both the ancient and modern Islamic world. And yes it's over crowded, polluted, noisy and at times completely mad but it is also vividly alive which can't be said for alot of places where death and the after life are what draws most visitors here.

(And if you are interested my holiday tales continues with my review of the Seti Abu Simbel Hotel.) 

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