Our trip to Egypt is our first trip to Africa! We took a 7 a.m. flight from Dubai to Cairo with a layover in Jordan. Early flights are usually the best deals. We got into the airport lounge in Dubai and Jordan. Having a credit card that gives us airport lounge access is great!
Traveling in Egypt is tiring. We moved fast and had to figure a lot out as we went along. We looked into booking a tour, but we were quoted over $6,000 for a ten day trip. We organized a trip to Cairo, Aswan and Luxor for less than a quarter of that price. It would have been easy to pay for someone else to organize it, but we have a travel budget, so we often opt to figure it out on our own.
Arrival
When we arrived in Egypt, we had to get a visa. You can get them online before you arrive, but it is easy to do upon arrival. You walk up to a window, give them $25 per person (you have to have cash –USD, Euro, and British Pounds are all accepted), and get your visa.
We got money out of the ATM because it is a more cash-based economy. The exchange rate was 30 to 1 while we were there. We bought a SIM card because the internet is not always great in some hotels and is sometimes nonexistent in many areas.
Cairo
A driver from the Dahab Hostel, where we spent our first two nights, picked us up from the airport. We read that Uber is ok too, but it is not more expensive to have the hotel send a driver. In the message confirming pick-up, they stated: “Please ignore anyone from the limousine company telling you the driver didn’t show up.” We read that many people in Egypt try to take advantage of tourists. We found that to be true, but we also met wonderful, honest people in Egypt.
We toured the Egypt Museum and Giza Pyramids on our first full day in Egypt. We had a guide and a driver. Our new friend Fifa, who we met at the hostel, joined us on the tour. Fifa is from Benin, and she works in Congo.
The Egypt Museum is bonkers. There is no order, no lines, and it was crowded on the day we went. We arrived about 15 minutes after it opened. It took 30 minutes to get tickets because of the chaos and the ticket office running out of paper.
We met our guide inside the museum. It was helpful to have a guide because the museum is large. The guide pointed out the highlights and explained some of the pieces. Lucas’ favorite part was seeing the King Tut exhibit.
After the museum, we went to eat lunch while our guide and the driver went to pray. We were in Egypt during Ramadan. Tourism is not heavily impacted during Ramadan, but it is quieter during the day.
In the afternoon we went to Giza to see the Great Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx. The Great Pyramids of Giza were built as tombs for the pharaohs Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure during the Old Kingdom period of Ancient Egypt. The oldest and largest of the three pyramids is the Great Pyramid of Khufu, which was built over 20 years and stands 146 meters high(481 feet).
The Sphinx is a limestone statue of a mythical creature with the body of a lion and the head of a human. It is located on the Giza plateau in front of the pyramids. It is believed to have been built during the reign of the pharaoh Khafre, who was also responsible for building the second-largest pyramid at Giza.
The purpose of the Sphinx is unclear, but it may have served as a symbol of royal power and protection. It has also been associated with the sun god Ra and the pharaohs.
The construction of the pyramids and the Sphinx is considered a remarkable achievement of ancient engineering, as the massive stones used to build these monuments were transported from quarries located several miles away and then carefully placed in position.
Aswan
We woke up at 3 am for our 6 am flight to Aswan. We opted not to take the 15-hour train. The flight is not significantly more, and we heard that the train ride is rough.
Our hotel in Aswan is the Basmatic Nubian Hotel on Elephantine Island. Elephantine Island is the largest of the islands in the area and has a rich history dating back to ancient times. The island was a center of trade and commerce between Egypt and Nubia and was an important religious center.
In ancient times, Elephantine Island was home to the Temple of Khnum, the ram-headed god of creation, which some believed was the place where the world was created.
We wandered around the island and visited the Aswan Museum and the Temple of Satet. We went into the home of one of the island residents and got to hold a baby crocodile.
For lunch, we ate at the Bon Marley Moonlight Terrace restaurant. The food in Egypt is delicious, but there is not a lot of variety. The meals consist of salad, rice or potatoes, stewed vegetables, hummus or tahini, and meat.
On day two in Aswan, we took a tour of Abu Simbel. Abu Simbel is an ancient temple complex located in Nubia, in southern Egypt. It was built during the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II in the 13th century BC as a monument to his greatness and as a tribute to the gods. It is a three-hour drive to the temples. Shared tours to the temples leave at 4 a.m. We took a private tour so we left for the temples at 7 a.m.
The complex consists of two massive temples: the Great Temple of Ramesses II and the smaller Temple of Hathor, dedicated to the goddess of love and joy. The most striking feature of the complex is the four colossal statues of Ramesses II that adorn the façade of the Great Temple, each standing over 20 meters tall.
Abu Simbel was rediscovered in 1813 by Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. It was later excavated and restored by a team of archaeologists led by the Egyptian government and UNESCO in the 1960s.
Due to the threat of flooding caused by the construction of the Aswan High Dam, the entire complex was moved from its original location to a new site about 200 meters away and 60 meters higher. Abu Simbel is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Next stop on our Egypt adventure — Luxor!
