Sharm El-Sheikh was the beginning of our trip, landing there as the flights were cheaper than flying direct to Cairo from the UK and also because how can you say no to a quick swim into the Red Sea? Sharm El-Sheikh airport is big and the controls are super picky and strict, so keep your passport in your hands as you’ll be asked to show it every step of the way! Once out we needed a taxi to get to our hotel, it’s obviously full of cars as you exit but if you want to save some money I recommend to walk just outside the airport entrance and onto the main road where we found many taxis passing by. If it is your first time in an Arabic country, remember to keep in mind that you must barter for everything. A very typical aspect of their culture is making deals for anything you want or need, including taxis, they always tell you the highest price first.
Sharm El-Sheikh is a touristic oasis south of the Sinai desert, full of convenient resorts, hotels, clubs and shops surrounded by the stunning desert, clear blue sky with the hot sun and the crystal clear Red Sea’s water. We stayed two nights at the all-inclusive
Amphoras Blu resort and as like all the structures in town it has its own private beach. The incredible coral reef so close to the shore gives you the chance to meet many friendly, stunningly bright and colourful tropical fishes!
We booked one of the many excursions from the hotel desk: The Desert Experience because it was conveniently priced and promised lots of fun. We were shuttled from the hotel and into the Sinai Peninsula where we all were given a Quad-bike to drive, I absolutely recommend to bring a scarf with you or you can buy one there (a nice souvenir!) as it will be very sandy and you don’t want to breathe it in. We met many Bedouin kids on the way, asking us to give them candies or gum and they were all very happy to take pictures with us. As part of the tour, we stopped at one Bedouin tent for some local tea and enjoyed the beautiful sunset light and arid desert scenery.
The day after we were back at the airport again to fly with Egypt Air on a local flight. The direction? The magical Cairo.
Cairo & Giza are each halves of one big city. Once we landed in Cairo's airport, we headed to our hotel in Giza by Uber! It was an incredible surprise finding out that just recently they introduced Uber in Cairo and that is very very useful ! With about £5 you can cross the entire city. It’s a very secure way to move around especially if you are a woman or solo traveller. Once we crossed the huge city and we got closer and closer to Giza, we could finally see the pyramids in the background. I actually cried for happiness! The image of the Pyramids and Sphinx is something that we all have seen everywhere printed in books, on tv and in movies but I can say that seeing them with your own eyes will be something totally astounding that can hardly be explained. The divide between the modern city and the sudden backdrop of desert and the pyramids feels like a time-travel gate and in one second you are catapulted 4000 years back in time. The traditional music coming from far away street corners and then camels instead of cars, even the city of Giza almost looks stuck in the past.
The day after we arrived we couldn’t wait to enter the Pyramids gates and step into the ancient past. We took the entrance ticket for about £7. You can choose to have a guide, ride a camel or be taken by horse and cart but we chose the normal ticket so to enjoy walking and save some weight on those poor animal’s backs!
We didn’t go inside the Khufu pyramid due to my claustrophobia but there are many small ancient buildings like a mummification chamber which were okay for me. All-in-all we spent about 4 hours walking around all the pyramids, sphinx and the temple including a rest in the new bar/restaurant behind Khafre, called Khufu’s Restaurant and enjoyed a beer on the balcony with the best view ever! I really recommend wearing a hat and bringing many bottles of water as the sun is incredibly strong!
All the small hotels in the Pyramids area have the best views, if you’re lucky with a little bit more expensive price you can see them from your room window, otherwise you can enjoy the pyramids from all the balconies and rooftops. The hotel we chose was just £13 per night with breakfast included. It was a great deal considering the view from the rooftop but the room was really old and not very nice and the “breakfast” was very poor in quality. In general all the area is very cheap, we’ve had lunch twice in a local restaurant close to the hotel and with about £7 each you can have a three course menu with typical egyptian food. For who is not a fan of Egyptian food I have a tip: the second day we headed to the Cairo’s city centre, which is the only area where you can find alcohol to drink and international foods, all inside the luxury hotels where you can have a nice meal and a glass of wine spending about £30 each. They all are on the Nile River, where you can have a nice walk around, seeing the famous Cairo Tower, El-Tahrir Square and feel transported into the Egyptian chaos.
Other fancy areas are Downtown and Zamalek. We went to Zamalek and we had a very nice dinner! The area has a very nice architecture. I noticed the many elegant villas, 50's style, clean and quiet roads. It seems to be another city. As soon as you turn the corner you can notice the difference with the rest of the City. I was sure to visit the famous old Bazaar: Khan El Khalily. A huge market area with thousands of vendors and shops. Here you can find all the typical charming Egyptians souvenirs and staff such as papyrus, furniture, carpets, statues, the unique Arabic oils and perfumes, jewellery and vintage house objects, be prepared to fight with every vendor as they all want a sale!
The next day we went to the Nile River. If it is not too windy you can go on the typical Felucca river boat, this short trip is a lovely way to see a different perspective of Cairo. Speaking of different perspectives; If you want to enjoy the good and bad, you need to take a tour behind the scenes in the real Giza. We took a horse and cart with a local guide and he drove us behind all the main roads and through the local market. We saw some very strong images that are still stuck in my head like a literal mountain of faeces with a dead horse's body laying on the top, sheep eating trash in a lake of rubbish and the meat and fish vendors in the market killing live animals in front of you. Hygiene was all but non-existent with flies everywhere and any fish and meat would have been touched by many passing hands. This all made me feel very lucky for the life we have.
The Egyptian Museum in Cairo (which has now moved into an impressive and vast new building, a little bit outside the city centre) is something you must not forget - I’m happy we visited the old building just in time with its very iconic entrance - The museum is spread across 2 floors, downstairs there’s mostly big heavy columns, stones and pieces of buildings, temples and statues. While upstairs you have many special artefacts such as precious jewelleries, shoes, clothes, chairs, vases and plates, mummies and sarcophagi, the most famous Tutankhamun room and the two mummies of Yuya and Thuya.
I was shocked to see how a pair of red leather shoes, 4000 years old, still looked so great and it made me reflect upon how much those objects have been through all this time. The mummies are unbelievable and very well preserved, even still with the hair on their heads! The only bad side I noticed, is not enough security around such special treasures (often there’s just a thin glass as protection, even around the mummies) and many things were very messy, missing the tags on it so you couldn’t properly know what it was and from what year. While in the Tutankhamun room the security level is very high, you can’t take any pictures and you can’t stand in front of the treasures for more than a few minutes - I was really emotional to see the many jewelleries, the sarcophagus and other things belonging of the famous Pharaoh.
In less than one week it is possible to see all these fantastic things, to enjoy natural beauty such as the Red Sea and the desert, to jump into the most charming and mysterious civilisation, the historical and archaeological sites, the chaos and beauty of the huge Cairo. I will definitely be back.
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