We originally planned a 10 hour layover in Cairo to have a tour. As it turns out Egyptair had plotted against us at every turn and we nearly didn’t get any time in Cairo. Our original cairo layover was supposed to be before the safari but that got switched to today. Which left us with an 8 hour layover. Today’s flight was rescheduled a week before to a later time so that left us with 5 hours. Then the plane didn’t leave at 5:55am as planned, it was closer to 6:30 because… In addition to the 3 metal detectors and X-ray machines we went through they also had a table setup in the jetway where they hand searched every bag. I don’t mean TSA type searching, I mean break out your dirty clothes, toiletries, etc and ask what every little thing is (they were particularly enamored with the piece of rope wrapped bamboo I’ve been using for a GoPro handle)
The Cairo flight was otherwise uneventful. After arrival and paying for our visas we met our Egyptologist Leila who knew we were tight on time. She said they hadn’t done such a short tour before but said it was possible if we agreed to let the driver drive “faster”
I laughed and said we were just in Bangkok, she said “oh” yeah, you’ll be fine. He drove about the same way but somehow it wasn’t as harrowing. I asked her why they even bother painting lines on the road since no one pays attention. She laughed and said “decorations, all countries have them, these are ours” we all got a chuckle out of that.
Honestly I am starting to wonder what would happen to traffic in America if we drove this way. I suspect we’d kill more ppl but get there faster. Somehow everyone would be a better driver and worse at the same time because it is certainly offensive driving!
We did a whirlwind tour of the 3 big pyramids (and the queen pyramids) as well as the great Sphinx. We learned a bit and had a good time even if we only wound up there for less than 2 hours. I had no idea the pyramids were once covered in granite fascia that mostly fell off during an earthquake a few centuries ago. They’ve taken most of it that fell and used it in mosques, churches and other public places in the city.
The pyramids are a little ways from civilization and yet we could hear the Muslim “calls for prayer” echoing through the city in the distance.
Our guide stopped on the way to the airport and grabbed us some traditional Egyptian pittas with falafel that we are on the way, they were quite good!
Apparently the revolution in 2011 and 2014? has killed tourism which is a main industry for Egyptians. Many many empty buildings were everywhere, and the pyramids were EMPTY. By far the quietest tourist attraction we’ve been to. Leila said it’s safe now and we felt safe, honestly I felt safer than Kenya and in both places we had a 100% of the time guide to keep us from straying too far. I knew that the us govt had issued a travel advisory for Egypt but, I wasn’t sure if we’d ever get a chance to see the pyramids so we (I) made a calculated decision to “just do it” and I’m happy we did!
Our guide even asked us if we’d make a short video for them to use for promotion of the safety. She said before she’d work 29-30 days s month but now she’s lucky to have 3 days work in a month. Kinda sad really, when you think that the citizens are suffering because they overthrew a dictator and had elections (Leila said the first election (installation?) of a Muslim “extremist” was a mistake and was rectified by the second election of a leader who treats all Egyptians the same “the 75% Muslims, 25% Christians and 8 Jewish, 1-2-3-4-8, yes 8 Jews live in Egypt” yes that was her quote. She seemed optimistic and we were all impressed with the site and her.
We have gotten pretty good on this trip about figuring out the arrival and departure visa process but this layover stop was a challenge since we didn’t have a small Korean lady escorting us 😃
Oh and update: yay I appear to have our trips first bout of food poisoning! Good thing we had a travel doc who prescribed the solution!
We’ve logged 6 miles and 55 flights so far today
Wow! I hate to admit it, but as much as I’ve enjoyed your journey, I was beginning to think you might have lost your mind. I saw your pictures from Africa and Egypt tonight and now I understand. 🙂
Looks like you were able to salvage some of the stop over. What an amazing looking place!
It really turned out perfect, I could have gone for 2-4 more hours to get the whole experience but… What we did was good enough.
The places we’ve been and the things we’ve been lucky enough to see, both big and small… I can’t tell you how lucky I feel, truly, truly lucky