We arrived safely in Cairo by air, breezed right through immigration and easily got our visa for Egypt. As soon as we picked up our bags, we were approached by a lady stating she worked with the state government tourism bureau. They had an office in the airport, which made it easy for us to arrange for a tour for the next day of the pyramids and sphinx. Upon arriving at our hotel, we had a some problem as there was a mix up with our reservation as it had been cancelled! However, the hotel was able to give us a very nice room and we were settled. This hotel was a 5-star hotel but at a very reasonable rate. It was on an island that is in the middle of the Nile River in Cairo. We had beautiful views of the city and of the Nile. It also had very nice restaurant accommodations with walkout patios facing the Nile.
The next day we embarked on our adventure to the pyramids and viewing of the sphinx. As we left Cairo city, we passed through the village of Saqqara, which is like an old village where the people still farm with horses and water buffalo. There are many vegetable crops.
The pyramids and the sphinx are indeed quite breathtaking and they are considered one of the seven original wonders of the world. We were able to see the stair-step pyramid that was the oldest and to go inside two of the pyramids. Each of these had hieroglyphics on the walls but the tombs and other relics had been either stolen or removed for safe keeping to the Museum in Cairo. We also enjoyed a local cuisine lunch at 3 pm (Egyptian lunch time) and a sound and light show that was presented using the pyramids and sphinx as the backdrop. We also visited papyrus store where we were shown how they make the papyrus paper even still today. This area is also well known for their carpet schools, where young people learn how to carry on this art.
Once back in Cairo, the following day we decided to go out on our own. You must bargain here for everything including taxis, which makes it difficult for us as the tourist.
This city is quite large with16 million people. There are few traffic lights in the city and as our guide told us, the drivers pay little attention to them any way. The horn seems to be the most important driving tool as cars zoom around each other and the horse drawn wagons.
Once we returned to the ship at 6 am on the morning of the 3rd, we dropped our bags and promptly went on a land tour arranged by the ship to Karrnak, Valley of the Kings, and to visit other ruins in the Luxor area. These great temples and burial monuments were built in the days of the pharaohs and many of the obelisks were constructed of a solid piece of granite weighing several tons. These tombs were also decorated with hieroglyphics but were done in colors. There were very exquisite.
We also found that there was a higher police presence within Egypt than any other port we have visited. We were provided with a security police escort for our caravan of buses that we took when we drove 3 hours to visit the Karmak, Valley of the Kings, and other ruin sites in Luxor. From what our guide said, this is standard procedure for a security measure. One of our cab drivers joking said that 50% of the people in Egypt are policemen.
We are sailing in the Red Sea on our way to the Suez Canal before reaching Port Said, Egypt and then on to the Mediterranean Sea and Athens, Greece.
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