Sunday 25th October
It was only overnight that the noise of Cairo, referred to in the previous title, became obvious. The incessant beeping of the car horns meant that getting a good nights sleep was quite difficult. It hadn't seemed so bad during the day. Of course it would have been better if there was even the slightest chance of a decent door to the balcony. It was the flimsiest excuse for a door ever.
Anyway it was a fairly reasonable hour that we had to get up at, 8am. Breakfast was at 8.30 and we met up with the rest of the group and our guides at 9am. The rest of the crew, Claire, Toby and Toni, are all similar aged, from the South East of England as well, and have all been on similar types of holidays in the past. So I guess it should be a good trip.
As well as meeting Mezza, our guide for the Egypt leg of the trip, we also met Haba who was our guide for the day. She first took us to the Egyptian museum in downtown Cairo. It was only about 10k from the hotel, but it took about an hour and a half to get there. The traffic was really bad, as bad as anywhere I've ever experienced. Because although this was a Sunday, being an Islamic country, it was actually a work day.
We got to the museum and went inside to see the various artifacts. As usual we couldn't bring our cameras inside. It was quite interesting, all the more so because our guide did have quite a lot of knowledge of all the bits. Of course the main attraction is Tutenkhamun, where you see the world famous golden headdress. It was pretty impressive, but it was smaller than you might think. But he was pretty young when he died. Of course a number of other artifacts were there, but possibly the next most famous was the one that was missing, the Rosetta stone. There was a slightly embarrassed silence as our guide explained how it has been taken and should be returned, because of course all of us have been to the British Museum to see the real one.
Anyway the artifacts were quite impressive, but the museum can still be done in a couple of hours. The new museum, when built, will be even bigger. It has been designed by an Irish company, and will be out by the Pyramids. Which is a good thing because then we won't have to suffer the hour and a half of traffic back to them.
The one disappointing thing of the day was that we went to a papyrus museum, which was really just an excuse for a sales trip. They did show us how they make the papyrus, but it was a really annoying diversion.
Because time was getting on, we opted to skip lunch and go straight to the Pyramids. These were much more spectacular than you can imagine. You think they can't be, because you have heard so much about them over the years, but they really are massive. The Great Pyramid was the tallest structure in the world for 3000 years, until 1311, and because they are on a hill, and despite a couple of buildings downtown that are pretty tall, Cairo is not a tall city, so they are impressive where they might be drowned out on the outskirts of a Western city.
It was only overnight that the noise of Cairo, referred to in the previous title, became obvious. The incessant beeping of the car horns meant that getting a good nights sleep was quite difficult. It hadn't seemed so bad during the day. Of course it would have been better if there was even the slightest chance of a decent door to the balcony. It was the flimsiest excuse for a door ever.
Anyway it was a fairly reasonable hour that we had to get up at, 8am. Breakfast was at 8.30 and we met up with the rest of the group and our guides at 9am. The rest of the crew, Claire, Toby and Toni, are all similar aged, from the South East of England as well, and have all been on similar types of holidays in the past. So I guess it should be a good trip.
As well as meeting Mezza, our guide for the Egypt leg of the trip, we also met Haba who was our guide for the day. She first took us to the Egyptian museum in downtown Cairo. It was only about 10k from the hotel, but it took about an hour and a half to get there. The traffic was really bad, as bad as anywhere I've ever experienced. Because although this was a Sunday, being an Islamic country, it was actually a work day.
We got to the museum and went inside to see the various artifacts. As usual we couldn't bring our cameras inside. It was quite interesting, all the more so because our guide did have quite a lot of knowledge of all the bits. Of course the main attraction is Tutenkhamun, where you see the world famous golden headdress. It was pretty impressive, but it was smaller than you might think. But he was pretty young when he died. Of course a number of other artifacts were there, but possibly the next most famous was the one that was missing, the Rosetta stone. There was a slightly embarrassed silence as our guide explained how it has been taken and should be returned, because of course all of us have been to the British Museum to see the real one.
Anyway the artifacts were quite impressive, but the museum can still be done in a couple of hours. The new museum, when built, will be even bigger. It has been designed by an Irish company, and will be out by the Pyramids. Which is a good thing because then we won't have to suffer the hour and a half of traffic back to them.
The one disappointing thing of the day was that we went to a papyrus museum, which was really just an excuse for a sales trip. They did show us how they make the papyrus, but it was a really annoying diversion.
Because time was getting on, we opted to skip lunch and go straight to the Pyramids. These were much more spectacular than you can imagine. You think they can't be, because you have heard so much about them over the years, but they really are massive. The Great Pyramid was the tallest structure in the world for 3000 years, until 1311, and because they are on a hill, and despite a couple of buildings downtown that are pretty tall, Cairo is not a tall city, so they are impressive where they might be drowned out on the outskirts of a Western city.
The other thing about the site that you don't really realise is that it is so big. The site covers a number of square kilometers, and the distance between each of the 3 pyramids is bigger than you think. So you have to go off up a hill to get good pictures with the 3 of them. So we spent a couple of hours wandering around the sites and we went into one of the Pyramids. Rather than pay the 100 Egyptian pounds to go into the big one, we went for the middle one for 30 pounds. Which I think was better value.
Being inside the Pyramid was a bit cramped, but not that bad. I do think you can go in even if you are a bit claustrophobic. In fact one American women coming out seemed pretty chuffed with herself because she made it in and out even though she normally avoids going into lifts. There isn't actually much to see inside, thanks to grave robbers, but just to have been inside a Pyramid is amazing.
After that it was off to the Sphinx, again a bit further away from the Pyramids that you think, but again it was pretty impressive. It was also packed. As the Pyramids are so big even a few hundred people clambering on the sides getting their photos taken doesn't get packed, but down by the Sphinx it was much more noticeable.
We were about 2 1/2 hours at the Giza Necropolis complex (as it is called) and we only left at 5 because it was closing up, to get rid of all of us cheap tourists so they can get the expensive ones in for the Sound and Lights show. We headed back for the 'lunch' we missed, which was now dinner. After that we played cards and then later went shopping for supplied for the long trip which we were going to go on the next day.
One last bizarre thing, as I was going to bed I looked out the window, and in the middle of a city I saw a herd of goats being driven across a 6 lane dual carriageway. Its pretty unusual.
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