Egypt in Three Kingdoms- From the Nile to the Red Sea

Early Kingdom: Act 1

 

 It was our first official well deserved semester break. Two weeks of freedom and we rode the magic carpet to Egypt. We booked our tour through Imaginative Travel, and our agenda was set. Arriving in Cairo late in the afternoon we had our first bargain with three different taxis. If you go to Egypt, rule number one, never take the

first price (or the fourth for that matter) on any purchase. We accepted the cheapest ride and headed into Cairo. Cairo is like NewYork city on steroids! With 20 million and only rule of the road, survival of the fittest. It's crazy. We settled into our hotel and prepared for our first adventure in Islamic Cairo.

Our first day was a walking tour of old Islamic Cairo. Taking the Metro (subway) and walked the back alleys where tourist rarely venture. We were met by curious faces and welcoming eyes.







 







We stopped for the best falafel in town,  hand made and without a store front. After winding our way out of the  dirt alleys, we toured the ancient city dwellings and the Islamic bazaar and started haggling for prices. We walked back along one of the busiest streets in the world at rush hour to find the Metro station at last. A full day deserves a cold Stella beer, an Egyptian local brew.







The next day was packed with sites. Starting early again we had a guided tour of the Cairo Museum. Extremely educational and overwhelming to see the antiquities of the Pharaohs. These were truly advanced artisans, engineers and craftsmen.

                                                               
Boarding a small bus we were off to the great Pyramids Giza. Now we can say we've been inside the Pyramids-Wow!

and of course the Sphinx! Amazing!

At the hotel we packed our bags again and headed to the train station for an overnight rail south to Aswan. This was business class seats, big and lounging. Of course they were last cleaned in 1975, but it was a smooth ride. We did our best to sleep with visions of mummies dancing in our heads.

Day 3
 

 Arriving in Aswan we found our next hotel and boarded a tiny boat for the island of Philae and the Temple of Isis. The temple, once buried in the Nile, now sits in its new location and we had a beautiful sunny morning to explore it with an informative guide. 

 As we hit the the main land we all decided we had not had enough of the Nile and choose to have lunch on a felucca and spend the afternoon sailing. This felluca was a huge futon, with reggae, sunshine and relaxation. Laid back...We sailed for a few hours and docked on the west bank to climb the sand dunes and get a birds eye view of Aswan. 

Another full day had not ended- there was still the bazaar in the evening and we took a ride to a perfumery to get some local essential oils. Now you know a day like this deserves a beer!

In Egypt, sleeping is for mummies!

Act II- We head to the Sudan border.....stay tuned!