The Pyramids, Sphinx, the Nile, and mummies: is Egypt as good as it sounds?
DAY 1:
Our adventure starts arriving at Cairo International Airport about 8am in the morning. We planned to catch a bus into the city and then walk to our Airbnb from there. However, the buses are very difficult to use; there are no numbers, no destinations and no times published anywhere so we thought it was impossible to use the bus. Nevertheless we decided to call an Uber - we used Uber throughout our entire trip, in my opinion this is the best way to travel around Cairo. The prices are set and they won't trip and rip you off unlike normal taxis. One word of warning; when you arrive at the airport, typically if you are a white tourist, you will be swamped with drivers offering to take your luggage and wanting to offer you a taxi.
Our Airbnb in Cairo - check out my Airbnb Blog for more information
We dropped off our bags and headed straight to the city for some sightseeing! Cairo Tower was our first place on the list since it was fairly nearby to where we were staying. Towering at 187m (614ft), Cairo Tower is a free-standing concrete tower and it has been the tallest structure in Egypt and North Africa for about 50 years. You can see views of all of Cairo and Giza if you pay the fee of 200LE for foreigners or 50LE for locals/Egyptians. Up the elevator you come to the 360° restaurant - don't make the mistake we almost made, find the stairs and go up a little bit more to the outside viewing platform where you will have unrestricted views!
(Left) North view of the River Nile (Middle) West view of the Pyramids (Right) South view of the River Nile
We made our way down the tower and proceeded to the Cairo Opera House. We never had any intentions to go inside, we just wanted to take a look from the outside. Afterwards we walked to the city centre to find Abd Pastry - a really famous pastry shop in Cairo. On our way there we were hassled by people after people wanting to give us a ride in their taxi or coming up to us on the street trying to sell us stuff. We actually got tricked by one guy who practically forced us into his shop and it was quite a scary moment to be honest but we managed to get our way out and almost ran to the bakery! The bakery was heaving with people! We chose a small selection of a variety of pastries and dove right in! The more you read this blog you'll soon realise how much we loved the food there haha!
Located at the heart of Islamic Cairo, the Al Azhar Mosque is beautiful with its near mirror image-like marble flooring. Coming from the dirty streets that Cairo has and entering this clean and pristine mosque is quite a contrast! The Al Azhar Mosque is free to enter - like in all mosques in Cairo, shoes must be taken off and women must wear a type of gown as shown in the photo below. As a tourist this ruins the chances of taking nice photos of yourself but out of respect we must adhere to the rules and regulations to not offend anyone.
The Al- Azhar Mosque, Cairo
As the night was drawing in, we wanted to head to the Khan El-Khalili Market, which is a world famous market and is becoming ever more so on Instagram. The market is huge and finding the exact Instagrammable photo spot could be a challenge, but I think I ended up finding it by accident! The market is busy, colourful and home to so many Egyptian arts and crafts. Inside the market is also Fishawi's famous coffee place so we had a quick stop there, sampling Egyptian Tea and Arabic Coffee before heading for dinner.
The famous Khan El-Khalili Market
We kicked started off our food quest in Egypt with a visit to Zooba! Koshari, Shawarma, Falafel and Hibiscus Juice. Whilst we were in Egypt our plan was to take starters or appetisers and try and sample as much of the Egyptian/Arabic cuisine as possible! This meal was a ridiculously cheap price even for the value of money - we started off well! We grabbed our Uber and went back to our Airbnb for an early night, because the next day was going to be a big one!
DAY 2:
It was an early start to the day as we made our way to the Great Pyramids of Giza! To find out about our experience there, why don't you take a look at my blog: Pyramids, Sphinx & Camels:
After seeing everything there is to see at the Great Pyramids of Giza we continued the rest of the day back in the city, and it was only midday! So we headed to something called the Nilometer. The Nilometer is a structure once used for measuring the River Nile's water level during the annual flood season and therefore it could predict the success of the harvest and compute the tax rate for the year. Entry to the Nilometer costs 30LE and includes admission into the Manasterly Palace.
Now to end the day we had pre-booked a traditional Felucca boat cruise on the River Nile for sunset. We had already booked this through TripAdvisor, a 1 hour cruise costing just €15 or so each! The host offered to pick us up from any location, we were greeted with drinks and shortly we boarded the boat and set sail. We were showed the sights upon the Nile and it was really a romantic moment for the two of us with the sun setting. This was one of the things I really wanted to do in Egypt and I couldn't have imagined it any more perfect.
Cruise along the River Nile on a traditional Felucca boat
Time for dinner! This time we went to Abou El Sid restaurant (actually we struggled to find it because it wasn't too easy to see!) On today's menu was Shorbet Ads, Humus, Falafel, Ful (which is Fava Beans), and stuffed leaves. And if that wasn't enough, to go with it we tried two local beers - Stella and Sakara. The restaurant was luxurious, people smoking Shisha and it had a great atmosphere.
DAY 3:
It wouldn't be a trip to Ancient Egypt without going to the museum, so straight away at 9am we were there for when it opens. To go into the museum it costs 300LE with entrance into the Tutankhamun and Mummies Room. The 'Museum of Egyptian Antiquities' is home to an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities with over 120,000 items on display and the remainder in storage. A lot of people have asked whether or not photography is allowed inside the museum: the answer? Yes, however, photography is strictly forbidden in both the Tutankhamun and Mummies Room (which is typical because these are the rooms where you will really want to take a photo!) There's so much to see inside the museum, they offer a guide to take you around and explain everything for you (obviously at an extra cost) - I think we managed to see everything within 2-3 hours or so...
(Left) Hieroglyphics upon a wall (Centre) Inside the museum (Right) A casket of a mummy
The world famous death mask of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun is estimated to be worth over $2 million making it the most valuable artefact discovered. The mask was discovered in 1922 by English archaeologist Howard Carter.
Anyway, we left the museum and continued the day heading towards the Ibn Tulun Mosque. When we got there it felt really dodgy, the roof had collapsed and there was debris everywhere, and it generally didn't feel like a safe place. We decided to go in anyway and ended up going up one of the towers. At the top there was no barrier so you could easily fall - I wasn't particularly comfortable here. We then went back down and went inside the main square of the mosque; although we are still not 100% convinced that the second place we went to was the same place because they wanted to charge us more money to enter. So we just took a few photos and left.
Next on the list was the Citadel! The Citadel of Saladin is a medieval Islamic fortification built by Salah ad-Din used to protect the city against the invading Crusaders. It was also the seat of the government of Egypt and the residence of its rulers for nearly 700 years. The Citadel is usually open from 08:00-17:00 and costs 60LE to enter. It really is a beautiful building both inside and out and we were able to take some great photos together there also. While we were there we were surrounded by school children whom were on a trip and they all wanted photos of us - we felt like celebrities haha! It was a great way to end the day, watching the sun set over the rest of the city.
For today's visit it was a stop at the Cairo Kitchen. It wasn't somewhere we necessarily planned to go to but still it looked promising! We tried Sobia Juice which tasted just like coconut, Molokhia which is like salad water (to be honest this was the only thing we didn't really like), spicy potatoes and minced meat Rokak (almost like samosas).
DAY 4:
Our last day of vacation in Egypt was set to be relaxed. We started off the day exploring the Abdeen Palace & Museum - home and official residence of the President of Egypt. For locals it costs 20LE however for tourists it costs 100LE to enter. Only 1 mobile phone per group is allowed to enter, and they are very strict with security (which is understandable). Inside the museum it is full of weapons, medals, etc, but inside the Presidential Suite it is full of all of the gifts the president has received from all the countries around the world.
In the grounds of Abdeen Palace
Towards the edge of the city is the Al Azhar Park which is bordered by the 12th Century Ayyubid Wall. An expanse of over 30 hectares of green space, the Al Azhar Park really contrasts with its surroundings of the rest of the city. We spent most of our time here relaxing in the sun and taking a look round. Because the park is so well kept, 5LE or so is asked for when entering the park.
Our final restaurant on the list was a lovely place called Felfela - Felfela is actually an alleyway inbetween two buildings, and it has become an iconic place to eat in Cairo so we took full advantage of this. We tried their famous Baba Ganoush (eggplant), Betinjan Maqli (fried eggplant), Falafel and Besara.
That was the last thing on our sightseeing list so we headed back to the apartment to get some rest. Unfortunately that is the end of the trip...
Here's a recap of all of the sights we saw on our trip to Cairo, Egypt:
Abdeen Palace
Abd Pastry
Abou El Sid Restaurant
Al Hussein Mosque
Al Azhar Mosque
Al Azhar Park
Cairo Kitchen Restaurant
Cairo Opera House
Cairo Tower
Citadel
Egyptian Museum
El Fishawis Coffee
Felfela Restaurant
Felucca Cruise on the River Nile
Khan El-Khalili Market
Mosque of Ibn Tulun
Mosque of Muhammed Ali
Nilometer
The Great Pyramids of Giza
The Sphinx
Zooba Restaurant
If you fancy giving the Egyptian cuisine a go, try some of these:
Baba Ganoush (eggplant)
Besara
Betinjan Maqli (fried eggplant)
Falafel
Ful (Fava Beans)
Koshari
Mahshi
Molokhia (soup)
Shawarma
Shorbit Ads (Lentil soup)
Egyptian Bread`
Hibiscus Juice
Sobia Juice
Arabian Coffee
Turkish Coffee
Egyptian Tea
Sakara Beer
Stella Beer
So I started this blog by asking, 'is Egypt as good as it sounds?' My answer would be yes, despite how the Egyptian locals are always coming up to you, how dirty the streets get and how dangerous the roads can be, it is genuinely a nice country. The Great Pyramids are a must see in Egypt and it is a wonder of the world that you cannot miss! Apart from not being able to drink the water, we had an amazing time in Egypt!
Like I said before, make sure you check out my other blog on Egypt: Pyramids, Sphinx & Camels to see how I spent my day at the Great Pyramids of Giza! I hope you enjoyed reading this blog, and I can't wait to hear your adventures in Egypt! Bye for now...
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