Egypt is home of the ancient Pharaohs, famous
monuments like pyramids, the Great Sphinx, Nile River which is considered the
world’s longest waterways, where the oldest tombs and mummies are, and famous
people like Moses, Cleopatra, Mohamed Salah, Saladin, Tutankhamun and many
famous Pharaohs are born. Egypt is considered
a destination full of dazzling temples, tombs, and historic treasures that
amazes all who visited it.
Visiting Egypt is listed in my bucket list as a top travel goal. And I ticked this goal "achieved" last October 2010 when I went on a
5-days tour of Egypt with my friend and ex-colleague, Ms. Jane Otic. Let me share our travel
experiences to this beautiful and famous country, full of antiquities and ancient
relics.
We boarded the plane bound to Cairo,
Egypt last October 22, 2010. We departed at 7:25 am via Kuwait Airways and travel time took 5 hours from Dubai Airport with a one hour stop over at
Kuwait airport. We arrived Cairo airport around past 1:00 pm on the same day and that marked
our first day in Egypt. We took a taxi and it took 45 minutes to reached our hotel which is Cataract Pyramid Resort Hotel located in Giza District. After
dinner, we arranged a tour guide in order to maximize our stay and covered as
many places as we could.
The next day started with an amazing breakfast as there is so much
food. The complimentary buffet breakfast was excellent with ample
food choices from the breads, beverages,
cut fruits, cereals and eggs served with hot/cold milk; eggs, bacon,
sausages, salami etc. That is one of the best breakfasts I ever had up to
now. After a sumptuous breakfast,
we toured the hotel grounds first while waiting for our tour guide. Our tour guide name is Wissam. She is a lady and very pretty.
Since our hotel is very near to
Giza Plateau, our first stop is a carpet village named Kerdasa- famous for its
handmade native-styled carpets, cloth and textile and it is regarded as the main economic resources
of the city. My friend bought a carpet which is a good quality and the price is
affordable.
The next agenda is we visited the museums. We went first to Mit Rahina Museum where we saw the giant statue of Ramses II which is about 10
meters in height. We had photo with a local guy (as shown below) beside
the giant statue. We also took photos with the Sphinx of Memphis which is
another famous and popular statue.
Afterwards, we went off to The
Pyramids of Giza which is one of most visited tourist attractions as it was
considered by the UNESCO as the
last surviving of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, as the Pyramids of Giza is one of the world's most
recognizable landmarks. Photo is shown below.
We were lucky because our tour
guide purchased the ticket in advance so we don’t have to take the long queue.
Right on the edge of the city, this place was bustling with tourists like me as
pyramids have thrilled travelers all over the world for centuries and continue
to be one of the country’s main highlights. Despite the heat, dust and tourist
bustle, we joined the crowd and went up the pyramid climb and felt triumphant when
we succeeded the uphill climb (photo is also available).
The Pyramid of Cheops, also called the Great Pyramid or Pyramid of Khufu which is the largest
pyramid which we visited mostly narrow passages and empty sarcophagus. Further south on the Giza Plateau, the
Pyramid of Khafre and the smaller is the Pyramid of Menkaure. Outside the temple and protecting these
mortuaries and also one of the iconic monuments of the ancient world is the
Great Sphinx, with the body of a lion and the head of the pharaoh. These tombs of the Pharaohs are guarded by the
enigmatic Sphinx, which top of most visitor's lists of tourist
attractions to see and a highlight of any Egypt trip.
After the Pyramids of Giza, we took a break and had
lunch in one of the Arabic restaurant.
We were amazed as the bread was served hot and straight from the urn and
very tasty and delicious. Photo shown below.
The last museum that we visited
for that day was the Imhotep Museum & Saqqara-Giza, which during our visit
there are areas that was under construction. Imhotep Museum is an
archaeological museum located at the foot of the Saqqara Necropolis complex,
near Memphis in Lower Egypt. The museum was named for the ancient
Egyptian architect Imhotep.
It was a tiring day having visited
3 museums in a day and did mostly walking. In the evening time, we attended a dinner
cruise in the Nile River. We were picked
up in the hotel at around 8:00 pm and was taken to the place. It was complimentary buffet with a live band
in the background and after dinner, there was a cultural show.
On the 3rd day, we visited the Egyptian Museum and The
Citadel. The Egyptian Museum contains
many treasures and kept 100,000 items of ancient antiquities. The Egyptian Museum is also considered one of
Cairo’s top attractions. There are two main floors of the
museum, the ground floor and the first floor.
On the ground floor there is an extensive
collection of papyrus and coins used in by the ancient Egyptians. On the first
floor there are artifacts from the final two dynasties of Ancient Egypt and
also many artifacts taken from the Valley of the Kings. Highlights include the
objects from the Tomb of Tutankhamen and the Royal Mummy Room containing 27
royal mummies from pharaonic times. We
were not allowed to take pictures while inside the museum that time.
Th next stop is the Citadel of Cairo. In order for us to enter the
mosque, we have to wore the Hijab Muslim dress and scarf to cover our head. The Citadel of Cairo or Citadel
of Saladin is a medieval Islamic-era fortification in Cairo, Egypt,
built by Salah ad-Din (Saladin) and further developed by
subsequent Egyptian rulers.
And according to Wikipedia, it was the seat of
government in Egypt and the residence of its rulers for nearly 700 years from
the 13th to the 19th centuries. It
is now a preserved historic site, including mosques and museums. The Great Mosque of Muhammad Ali
Pasha or Alabaster Mosque is a mosque situated in the Citadel of Cairo in Egypt
which is 1 minute walk from the gate of the Citadel.
Our tour guide gave us a brief history of the
mosque and what stayed in my mind, is the ceiling architecture which were made
in circle or dome. The design was so amazing and we were told it was an Ottoman
inspired design and the interior was made of a central dome and four small and
four semi-circular domes. The main material that was used mostly was limestone,
which was actually sourced from The Pyramids of Giza and for the floor, the
materials was made of alabaster. The rest of the day was spent shopping souvenir
items and we visited several stores for the papyrus paintings like Merit Papyrus Institute and the Royal Perfume Palace. In the evening, we were treated to a lovely dinner
by our Egyptian colleague with his mother and brothers. Quite thankful that we met them and he
offered to accompany us to Alexandria on our 4th day.
On
the 4th day, we went for a day trip to Alexandria and was accompanied by an Egyptian
friend and colleague, Mr. Ahmed Waziry. From
Cairo, we took a bus going to Alexandria and travel time took more than 3 hours.
We arrived in the city almost 1:00 pm and we took a quick lunch first in one of the burgers fast foods.
Alexandria is considered the
third largest city in Egypt and a port city located on the Mediterranean Sea in northern Egypt founded in 331 BCE by Alexander the Great, hence the name. One of Egypt's most romanticized destinations, Alexandria was
home to Egypt's last pharaoh, Queen Cleopatra, and was one of the ancient
world's great centers of learning.
After
lunch, we headed off to Bibliotheca which is our
first destination in Alexandria. There was already a long queue
when we arrived and we bought three tickets.
The Library of Alexandria was founded in the 3rd century B.C. and for six centuries, was the cultural center
of the world, it was in operation for six hundred years and was destroyed
definitively between the years 250 and 270.
The idea of reviving the library began in 1974 and reconstruction work
started in 1995 and was inaugurated in October 16, 2002.
Once inside the library, we explored the place and was amazed by its
collection of 8-million books and the huge dome. The library has shelf space for eight million books, with the
main reading room covering 20,000 square metres (220,000 sq. ft.). The complex
also has conference centers; specialized libraries for maps, multimedia, the
blind and visually impaired, young people, and for children; four museums;
four art galleries for temporary exhibitions; 15 permanent exhibitions; a
planetarium; and a manuscript restoration laboratory. We stayed for more almost two hours touring the
library and off we go to our next destination which is the Citadel of Qaitbay.
The Citadel
of Qaitbay in Alexandria is a famous site for tourist as the castle was built
in 1480s by Sultan Qaitbay (1468-96) and in the site there is also a Lighthouse
which they called “Pharos Lighthouse”; the materials used in building this castle
is from a dilapidated building. Within
the castle, there is a small mosque and it is the oldest one in Alexandria and
also there is a Naval Museum which display relics from the ship that sunk, which
is from the battle that happened between the Roman and Napoleonic Sea battles
before
We
were not able to enter the citadel as it is closed during that day so we took pictures only as a souvenir that we visited the place
(photo is also available). The rest of the afternoon was spent
walking in the corniche, a waterfront promenade in the city.
At around
5:30 pm, we took a bus for the Alexandria Misr Station.
The train was jampacked as it was a peak hour and went down at Ramses
Station in Cairo, and from there we took a taxi back to our hotel. That
was already almost 9pm. It was a tiring
day but we were happy as we accomplished and visited one of the biggest libraries
in the world.
Day 5 which
is October 26, our last day in Egypt was spent having our last breakfast in the
hotel and taking final pictures in the hotel. Our flight is around 12:00 noon. That ends our 5 days journey to Egypt.
My 5 days tour of Egypt is an
amazing experience and quite unforgettable too. Though my first impression of Egypt was not
good in the beginning because in my mind Egypt is a modern city like Dubai and have modern facilities and infrastructures. But around the city of Cairo and in the Giza, there are some roads are in ruins or shambles, probably it was destroyed during the war. And it is not easy to find clean toilet in the public areas during the time. If you want to use a clean toilet, you have
to pay a certain fee. But that was in 2010, and so much time had passed and by now things must have improve there.
After my 2nd day in Egypt,
I came to realize and find Egypt rich in culture and historic places. There are tombs, that are 2000 years old. Isn't that rare and amazing. I guess that is why Egypt growth is not like any other cities as they have to protect and preserve many historical sites so that people can see and visit these places. And I was happy that I visited this place and the experience brought fond memories and good ones too.
I felt lucky that I have visited Egypt as it was quiet and no unrest yet during those times . The
tourists were protected as there are many police around checking the transportation
from time to time for any kidnapping of tourist. Tourism is one of the major sources of income in
Egypt aside from selling carpets, agriculture and natural gas. In December, 2010, mass demonstrations and uprising
broke out in Egypt and the following year, revolution erupted in Egypt toppling the Hosni Mubarak regime. We were very lucky for visiting Egypt before the protest happened.
I would like to come back
to Egypt in the future someday. There still so many places to see and
visit like Aswan, the ancient temples of Luxor and the Valley of the King, the
mountains of Sinai, the Siwa Oasis which is in the boundary of Egypt and Libya,
Abu Simbel as I have read a book written by Christian Jacq entitled Ramses (The
Lady of Abu Simbel) and Karnak.
I have made my you tube channel regarding my 5 days Egypt tour, and feel
free to watch the below link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWeQGtS9KBU. Please like and subscribe.
Thank you for reading my blog and please keep safe everyone!
