Exploring Egypt
ANCIENT EGYPT. I remember learning about Ancient Egypt in the 2nd grade. Ever since, Egypt has been one of the places I dreamed of visiting- solely for The Great Pyramids of Egypt.. however, after this trip I have learned that Egypt has much, much more to offer!
We booked our trip through Memphis Tours, which was recommended by a colleague of mine who traveled to Egypt a few years ago. Memphis Tours are rated #1 on Trip Advisor. You can customize your stay however you want for the amount of time you are there, which is how we got to scuba dive in Sharm El Sheikh!
Having a guided tour is safest and most stress-free way to explore Egypt. I could not recommend this enough! There were several times we were stopped at security checks along the roads, and we did not have to do ANYTHING!
We had planned 2 days in Cairo and a day in Alexandria, however, upon arriving in Cairo our guide suggested other options to consider. One of which was scuba diving and snorkeling in the Red Sea in Sharm El Sheikh- one of the premiere scuba spots in the world.
Background of our excitement: Russell got his advanced open water diving certification a few months ago, and I am currently in the process of finishing my open water cert. However, I had not dived in the ocean yet to complete the cert because Lagos’ water is cloudy and a polluted mess due to the rainy season.
Therefore- we said hell yes, and booked the one hour flight to Sharm and cancelled our plans to go to Alexandria (a total of a 6 hour drive to Alex and back from Cairo- um, no thanks).
Back to day one in Cairo – During our first few hours, our guide shared 3 rules about Egypt.. I added a 4th.
- Don’t drink the water.
- Don’t try to cross the street- the cars will not stop for you.
- Don’t trust the merchant’s first price. For example, they may tell you a camel ride is $1, but in order to get down off the camel it’s $10.
- Girls should bring a scarf and/or sweater with them around the city… I used both very often.
Day 1- Memphis (the Old Kingdom’s Capital), The Great Pyramids Tour, and 4 wheeling in the Sahara Desert
Memphis Tours upgraded our hotel for free so we stayed at Four Seasons, and the hotel was beautiful! After getting in the night before, we woke up and had the hotel’s breakfast buffet. The staff was so kind, and brought us authentic Egyptian food to try. I consider myself a somewhat picky eater, but it was all fantastic! My favorites- Fetter with powered sugar and honey, the oats, falafel, and baba ghanoush.
1st stop- Memphis- the first capital city in Egypt (therefore some of the oldest artifacts)
We went to a small museum that contained several pieces from Old Egypt. Highlights: a massive statue of Ramsey II and a miniature Sphinx.
Fun Fact: We learned that King Ramsey II had 45 wives. —
2nd stop- The Step Pyramid of Sakkara- the oldest pyramid built during the 27th century BC. We also saw tombs and other smaller pyramids here as well. The tombs contained hieroglyphics which was very surreal.
On the way to lunch we stopped at a carpet school. I had first hand experience with how they make the carpets by hand! After seeing the process we were taken upstairs to view the carpets they had for sale.
3rd stop- The Great Pyramids of Giza – (Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure) one of the ancient 7 wonders of the world
PHENOMENAL. MASSIVE. OLD. APPRECIATION. a few words that come to mind after viewing these ancient structures made by 200,000 hands from 2550 to 2490 B.C… it took 20 YEARS to build the first pyramid.
You can go into the biggest pyramid, but our guide told us that there is really not much to see other than an empty room. He also said if you’re claostrophic you shouldn’t go due to a small 4-foot-tall walkway. The ticket to go inside was also very expensive. After walking around the pyramids we drove to the panoramic view to take pictures of all of them at once. At this stop we also took a 30 minute ride on camels to the smaller (3rd) pyramid.
Afterwards we drove to the other side of the pyramids to see the Sphinx!
4th stop- Quad bikes at Sunset
We drove to an area to get on the 4 wheelers. They were ready to go right away, so we drove straight out to the Sahara Desert right beside the pyramids as we watched the sunset. It was beautiful, and such a unique experience!
*TIP*- wear a scarf or something to cover your face while driving because it can get dusty and sandy while driving! Just know that you will be covered, so don’t plan on going to any fancy dinner afterwards!
Day 2- Sharm El Sheikh
We woke up at 4:30 AM for a 7 AM flight out to Sharm, however, when we got to the airport they told us the flight had been cancelled and we would have to take the 8 AM flight. Unfortunately, that messed up our diving plans but Memphis Tours was very accommodating and found an alternate boat for us to go on.
As soon as we arrived at the airport, we hopped into the car and drove to the jetty. Our only regret of the trip was not grabbing bottles of water and snacks for the boat trip. The boat had water in the jug- which would be breaking rule #1: do not drink the water.
We boarded La Luna in anticipation of 1 scuba dive stop and 2 snorkel stops. I completed my first ever scuba dive, and it was incredible, but short-lived due to other people trying it. However, Russ asked the captain if we could dive again for 30 minutes during the second stop. After some negotiating, he obliged.
The second site was near a shipwreck, and it was the best stop of the whole day! 30 minutes turned into 45 remarkable minutes swimming with unique and colorful fish.
We had lunch aboard and then snorkeled at our last stop of the trip before we headed back to the dock.
Even though we were exhausted from scuba diving and snorkeling we had another adventure awaiting… another 4 wheeling expedition. However, this time our trek was by the mountains of Sharm El Sheikh. During the ride we witnessed camel corpses, yelled our names by Echo Mountain, and had tea at a local village.
Echo Mountain
We headed back to the airport covered in dirt for our flight back to Cairo!
Day 3- City of Cairo
We headed to the Egyptian Museum in the morning.
Highlights included:
- King Tutankhamen’s jewels, his 4 sarcophaguses, 4 coffins, and the 11 KG gold mask that was placed over his mummified body. No pictures allowed at that exhibition 🙁 – google images?
- ROYAL MUMMIES- Yes, I saw REAL mummies.. I thought they were going to wake up and scare me to death- Punny I know. They still had hair, well some did, but they were incredible.
- A mummified alligator.. because… GO GATORS
- And just realizing how old the 120,000 pieces were in the museum
After the museum we went to Coptic Cairo.
Visited the Hanging Church, Ben Ezra’s Synagogue, and the Cavern Church.. all three were next to each other but built for 3 different religions.
Best part- learning that Mary and Jesus stayed under the Cavern Church for 3 days.
Finally, the last two stops were Mohamed Ali’s Mosque and the Khan El Khalili Market!
In the Mosque you need to take off your shoes before entering, and make sure you are covered with a scarf!
The trip was historically rich, adventurous, and aesthetically pleasing. We highly recommend spending a few days here. Next time we hope to visit Luxor, Aswan, and Alexandria!
♥ & xx
