Hi, first time travellers to Egypt giving something back to the forums that we took so much from before we went.
Briefly… a week on a Nile cruise followed by 3 nights in Cairo and 4 nights in Luxor. Whole trip booked through Longwood, who were very good throughout.
For thoughts on the Nile Cruise and Luxor please see the Luxor forum.
Cairo: 3 nights at the Marriott (Zamalek)
Cairo is MAD….. but is an experience not to be missed. If time allows, try to walk. Cabs are easy, but the traffic is awful. Walking in Cairo is part of the fun.
The Marriott is like a town in that you could live there with all the shops, restaurants, bars, etc. It’s totally clean, comfortable and the perfect place to come back to after an afternoon rushing around the craziness of the city itself.
We visited:
The Egyptian Museum : Good to spend a couple of hours here. Just don’t expect too much information about what’s what. Worth the trip for the Tutankhamun gallery alone.
Khan el Khalili: Just wander and sample the stallholders enthusiasm as they try and sell you all sorts of tat (there’s some good stuff too, but you have to look for it). Don’t just ignore these guys. They know you’re a tourist, you know they want to sell you something at a premium. Just play the game and have some fun. They’ve all got a sense of humour beneath the hard exterior.
Saqqara, Dahshur & Giza: The pyramid site at Giza is tourist town. Sure, the pyramids are huge and hugely impressive, but if this was London they’d be in Zone 2. You have to share the site with hundreds of others. So, go there, get your photos, maybe ride a camel (there are some that are looked after, see below) and get yourself off to Saqqara and Dahshur. Saqqara is merely busy rather than resembling Oxford Street at Christmas, but Dahshur is quiet. I went inside the Red Pyramid – no queues. Just me, a lot of steps (up and down) and the smell of what the bats leave behind. Met two people on the way in, one guy in the burial chamber, and two more on the way out. There’s nothing like standing inside a pyramid, surrounded by stuffy, smelly, hot air in a room that hasn’t seen daylight for 4,500 years. A real experience – just pray that the generator doesn’t fail…..
A mention here for our tour guide, whom we booked from home before we left. Karen is the Heart of Egypt (http://www.heartofegypt.com). We took a full day tour of Saqqara and Dahshur and a half-day tour of Giza with Karen and we were totally impressed. At Giza, Karen uses a particular camel ride vendor. His camels seemed in good health (I’m no expert) and the experience was well worth it. We went to a different vantage point to where everyone else seemed to go and the view of the pyramids was amazing. Karen will act as tour guide, chief organiser, photographer, translator, hassle shield, tip manager and shopping / restaurant guide. In a day-and-a-half we couldn’t find anything that she couldn’t handle - and we tried ☺. Even when a Cairo jeweller misunderstood our instructions and engraved a cartouche wrongly, Karen got it replaced for us and had the correct one couriered to our hotel in Luxor.
Thank you Karen, we’ll be back…...
