Egypt - More Cairo

 

At the Bazaar

We’re on our own today, and in Egypt I’m a huge fan of Uber.  No negotiating rates, tip is through the app, you know exactly where you’re going and when, and some safety features built in.  All way better than getting in a random dodgy car and hoping for the best.  Current uber driver is playing English playlist that’s like 60s lounge music lol.  

And our hotel has extra security that confirms it’s the right uber before we even get in - doesn't help for any other starting place but mildly amused me.  Since the app also shows the car literally driving up, that helps clarify.  Keep in mind, here we can't read the license plates - and it would take longer than plausible in traffic to sit and compare what's on my screen to what's on the car.  So the app showing the car actually appearing, and the driver having my first name on his app, is also helpful.

Random museum artefacts

We started our day at The Egyptian Museum of Civilization, which our Cairo guide strongly recommended And while small, it was extremely well worth it.  Unfortunately no cameras allowed in the interesting section which houses the royal mummies, their coffins, and good descriptions of their lives - all extremely well displayed.   

This is in the middle, taken from the upper floor;
Down below, you walk around the circle to access the royal mummies

They only allow 20 people in the mummy area at one time (we were the only ones there today lol) so if you go in high season, go early!   The upper area did permit photos and had more normal museum artefacts.

The Egyptian Museum in Cairo

Next up we visited The Egyptian Museum in Cairo (not to be confused with the Grand Egyptian Museum - also in Cairo) because Chris really wanted to see a silver sarcophagi, which are rare and one was here.  And his mask was impressive.   

One of many silver artefacts in the Tanis exhibit

This museum is being reimagined, and as such is mildly chaotic at times - lots of things have no descriptions, some have descriptions but not in English (Google Translate win here!), the flow doesn’t entirely make sense, this one isn’t air conditioned (fair enough), several of their items are wrapped for shipping while others are missing.  There are entire rooms and hallways of stacked coffins. It’s learning its new identity with the GEM now being the star attraction.   So often little to no signage, way finding, identification, etc.   However - we found what we were looking for and more, so it was worth it.  And in this museum C videoed a YouTuber filming an educational bit lol - minor interlude to the day.

Certainly has potential to be impressive once more

After a short and yummy lunch we hit up the Khan el-Khalili bazaar.  Was that ever an experience - esp as we started on the local’s side 😆 but eventually found our way to where tourists should be.  People, cats, dogs, motorcycles, tuk tuks, even at one point a bus, all navigate the Cairo Bazaar in whatever way suits them.  There were places that were overwhelmingly chaotic and mildly terrifying, while others, sometimes found just by turning a corner, were oasises of calm - almost eerily quiet.  The vendors actually were not nearly as aggressive as I’d feared (don’t get me wrong, they’re pushy and will try endlessly to convince you to go in their shop or keep you there if you do, but not actually as aggressive as other places we’ve been on this trip).  

Chaos.  Supreme chaos.

The vehicles add an extra layer to the chaos - at one point I was walking balanced on a curb, just wide enough for one foot, with a fence on one side of me and a very slow moving car on the other, and had a moment of “and this is how people get die in crowds”.   Like I actually chose to step in front of said slow-moving car to get away from being trapped between it and the fence.   

But also moments of calm.  And animals.
People leave water out for the cats.

Similarly (and there’s a pic of this in that collection) a bus went right where we were walking to try to turn a corner - just about squished a number of people; C and I stepped into the closest - thankfully empty - booth to wait till it moved on.   I’m reasonably certain it brushed the display, but it took me too long to get my jaw off the floor and remember to capture it on camera.

Market shots - calm and chaos - all it takes is turning a corner.

We found the book section first, and while we didn’t go in any there were SO many of these stores. Not sure if writing books, reading books, or both - but they all seemed to have v similar stock.

One of *many* book shops

Also - it’s Friday, which is their Saturday, so the local’s day for the market as well.   It was definitely an adventure.  Our last uber of the day picked us up on a random, extremely chaotic, corner and got us safely back to our hotel.   We went out again to our standard street to find food and then went back to pack up for a 3:30am start tomorrow and the first leg of our journey home.

More random photos from today:

A calm oasis outside the Egyptian Museum of Civilization

Silver Sarcophagus

You can't be shocked this caught my attention ;)
There was an entire section dedicated to scroll writing in the Cairo Museum.

I enjoy that scribes are often shown with belly roles.  Also love that they have statues that show people aging, and in various degrees of fitness. It may still not be reality (see any woman choosing to be represented as a man to support her power), but their modifications are different from the ones we would do today.

Cutting it a *little* close to the booth I stepped into to avoid being run over ;)

You can't be shocked by now that I took any of these three photos ;-P

There were many sarcophagus displays throughout the Egyptian Museum in Cairo

Outside the museum

So many nooks and crannies, and fascinating architecture
throughout the streets of Cairo
That part, I loved.  Entirely. 

Egypt - Pyramids and statues and sphinxes oh my!

  

I mean...  What a place to spend my birthday :)

I mean, this was Chris’ bday trip, but I was definitely happy to be spending my birthday as the Sphinx - and the pyramids, and, and, and…. ;).  But really the Sphinx.  I’ve been fascinated by it forever.   AND - we got there early enough that we were *alone*!?!?!   At the Sphinx.  In Giza.   Like yes we’ve been lucky all along, but this was unbelievable.   And just So. Very. Cool.   

I still can't believe we had the place to ourselves, even for a few minutes!

Our guide does get full credit for that one.  So at Giza when you arrive it’s very structured, and unless you’re on a very large bus, you have to board a shuttle - so our lovely private mini-bus had to stay behind, and we boarded the shuttle.  Our guide was the one who told us to skip all the stops.  The scenic view.   The pyramids.  Really?

I think what fascinates me is how much is still unknown about the Sphinx

Yes really.  There’s a reason he’s in charge.  And that reason brought us to the Sphinx - before anybody else.  It. Was. Incredible.   I was disappointed we couldn’t go down between the paws; that’s the real dream but apparently requires significant price tag and special approvals.  Neither of which we had.  So side view it was, but still super cool.

Riding camels was not recommended by the tour company due to the standard of care of the animals.
We respected that, and continued on our way.

Next stop after the Sphinx was, of course, the pyramids.  The only remaining wonder of the ancient world.  Shockingly close to the city of Cairo.  The sand is soft and flowing, you can quickly start to imagine how the various tombs etc have been buried over time.  

It's almost disconcerting how close the city is to the pyramids

This was the busiest of all the places we’ve been in Egypt and yet still wouldn’t be considered crowded even by Canadian terms. If you wandered from the one or two prime tourists spots, you could easily get people-free images.

Yup, it's a pyramid.  Also note the lack of people!

We had the potential to go in the pyramid here OR the step pyramid.  When the guide described the two options (option one - extremely tight, will probably need to crawl, nothing at the end, but bragging rights for Giza; option two — can stand the whole way and something to see at the end.   

Where the ship we saw yesterday was found

Neither C nor I care much about bragging rights, so we chose the Step pyramid and at Giza just walked around the outside.   Which is still pretty friggin cool.   I have actually touched the great pyramid.  That’s a thing that’s a true statement now.  I still don’t really believe it.   We also saw where the ship we saw yesterday was unearthed.

We had a fair bit of guide-free time to explore

Then we hit up the viewpoint we drove past right at the start - not surprisingly, the view was still good.  But by now the Sphinx was crowded.  Guide win :).  

The view point was worth the stop!
*After* visiting the other areas ;)

Next up was the Imhotep Museum in Memphis.  It was tiny but had had a couple Very Large statues in it - including two of Ramses II (one standing outside, one lying flat inside) and the second-biggest Sphynx. 

I got to be in front of this one ;). Not quite the same, but still!

Most of these were not in great condition.  The outdoor pieces were all found around the Memphis area. 

Outdoor Ramses II

The most fascinating part about this is that it’s still interesting after everything else we’ve seen ar experienced on this trip - also, I did get to stand in front of this one ;)

This one was indoor Ramses II.

Then on to the Step Pyramid at Saqqara - which is the oldest cut stone architecture in the world.   

Unedited.  Count the people.

This one - A, we were pretty much the only people there.  

Many areas to explore around the pyramids;
several of which we could go in

B, we could wander around - lots of other tombs around it and an interesting wander.  

Inside the pyramid!

And C - we got to go inside?!?!   What an experience.  The entrance has reinforced steel beams, the rest is as it originally was.  There’s a coffin at the end, buried deep down a shaft.  We were the only ones in there at that time.

At the end there was this giant shaft, with the coffin at the bottom.
Don't drop your phone!

And to top it all off, when we got back to the hotel, this arrived at the door :).  

This was an extremely nice touch.
Gonna admit I laughed when there was only one fork ;)

Other random photos:

At the entrance to they Pyramids and the Sphinx,
where you catch the shuttle

It felt almost surreal

Heading into the Step Pyramid

Walking around the Step Pyramid

Step Pyramid

Inside the step pyramid

At the step pyramid before reaching "the front lawn" for lack of a better description
Several of these pillars that are no longer supporting anything had dogs sleeping on top of them.
I have no idea how they got up there.

Exploring at Giza

Inside the step pyramid, looking towards the entrance

We're here!!!

The immigration card is on brand

Omg we’re in Egypt.   We landed in Cairo, got our visa (which took all of 2 seconds had had no line) and found our guide even before we crossed customs.   I’m amazed they guides are allowed in that area, but given all the horror stories we’ve heard, was a nice plus.  Our guide was representing both Insight (our tour) and Trafalgar (sister company) because there were only 3 couples total on that flight.   Our luggage was last to arrive and then our guide shepherded us through all the people wanting to “help” or offering taxis.  Which honestly - wasn’t nearly as bad a gauntlet as it is in Mexico, so that was the first surprise.  I had been expecting a lot worse.

The trip to our hotel was…. An experience ;). Cairo driving is wild - the lanes are irrelevant.   Everybody is on the hwy - cars, buses, tuk tuks, motor cycles with multiple people strategically balanced on them, even a donkey?!?!   Horns constantly - apparently if you want to pass someone you just lean on the horn to let them know you’re coming and go.   I was extremely glad I wasn’t driving.   Turnarounds in the middle of the hwy - again much like in Mexico - where you go from a dead stop to merging into hwy traffic to roll back the other direction.   The other people were dropped off first so we had a longer drive to get to the hotel but…

… it turns out we’re getting a private tour?!?!?  We’re the only ones on our tour - there’s nobody else to meet.   So we’ll meet our guide tomorrow and it sounds like it’s going to be just us.   So that is… beyond amazing.

Anyways - we grabbed dinner at the Egyptian Restaurant in the hotel.   It was good food but really expensive.  However, we didn’t feel like going adventuring to find food at this point.  We also lost two hours to timezones in traveling and have an early start tomorrow.

Super excited, mildly overwhelmed by the chaos that is Cairo, and looking forward to tomorrow.

View from our hotel window; if you squint, you can see the Nile.
We would learn later the brown haze/smog is omnipresent in Cairo, but not the other places we went.