Pyramiding Egyptian style and "Dr Sharif"...
Trip Start
Mar 01, 2012
1
92
260
Trip End
Jan 19, 2013
Where I stayed
Cairo, Egypt
Sunday, May 27, 2012
But after a quick brekky on the roof top we all squished into our driver's bunged up Hyundai. This would be our chariot for the day. Let's just hope it doesnt get too hot!
First stop was the Giza Pyramids. As we were driving along in the crazy Cairo traffic you could spot them in the distance, a really cool sight. Funnily enough our cab driver dropped us right out the front of his mates shop, and we were bombarded with offers of camel and horse tours. After some thrifty negotiating (basically just refusing to pay his price) we jumped on our horses and trotted off. Pretty sure we were on a dodgy tour as we entered from the back door and couldn't let an official keep our tickets (so that they could use the same ones again later). But we didn't care as we were just here to see the Pyramids. The area within where the 9 Giza pyramids are sit is a sandpit and unfortunately covered in bits of rubbish. Our guide took us to a prime photo spot and we obliged by making all the cliche poses. They were quite impressive although I must be honest I thought they would be bigger...despite one being 146 metres high and made of enormous granite blocks that where sourced from Aswan and floated up the Nile, plus resulting in some 110,000 slave deaths afterwards...I really should be more grateful :)
We continued trotting along and finished our tour at the Sphinx. Again this is not as big as I thought but this one is constructed from only the one stone so actually quite impressive. I was over the horses by now and considering 2 had had tumbles on the way to the sphinx pretty sure they needed a rest. So we walked back and again piled into our bet up chariot.
The Dashour Pyramid was next. This one you could actually go inside, so walked up and in. My goodness it was extremely claustrophobic and stuffy in there. So Gary and I were in happy snapped and out quickly.
And this was enough for us, so we asked the driver to drop us off at the Egyptian Museum, after a quick drive by of Tahir Square. The Museum was quite good, and definitely worth a look. I used the bathroom and there were these two little Egyptian girls in there who were staring and giggling at me. They ended up following us around and at the end came up to me and said "you are beautiful" - so sweet. But again Gary and I aren't good with museums so after about 45 mins we were done, not to mention starving.
As we were crossing the street just outside the museum a guy crossed with us and started up a conversation. We asked him where to eat so he showed where "he" ate, Girllion Gardens apparently where all the Museum Staff, of which he was one, ate everyday. The food was good but over priced for Cairo prices. Dr Sharif ended up sitting with us the whole time entertaining us with stories of travelling and Ancient Egytpian history. He also mentioned that he was an artist who paints on Papyrus so we should definitely check out the shop just around the corner of course. Off we went and as I am not particularly into that kind of stuff I just hung around while the others made purchases. He was then going to help us with our Sudanese visas as he just happened to know someone in the embassy (well of course he did) plus he mentioned the Lotus Flower Festvial happening tonight at the Cairo Tower which we should check out. We said our goodbyes and headed off exploring the shopping streets around wherever we where. It was really cool, as dusk hit its mad if everyone came out to the streets. There were people everywhere, I walked around with a grin on my face trying to take it all in. This area was much nicer than the area we are staying in. A sweet shop purchase later and after asking a few directions we were crossing the Nile River in the heart of Cairo. My goodness this place is out of control in the best possible way - too loud music, neon lights, people everywhere, just awesome!! And then we arrived at the tower - no one had ever heard of the Lotus Flower Festival...Oh well we had had an excellent evening just wondering the streets.
After the long day we were exhausted and tomorrow is a super early morning as we are driving to Luxor, so shower to get he mounds of dirt off then straight to bed.
