When I was ten years old, I did a school project on the sphinx of Giza and it has lived rent-free in my head since then. As a teen, the King Tutankhamun exhibit was in Los Angeles so it was in the newspapers (I used to read a newspaper daily until 2016) and discussed often on TV. At that time, Steve Martin released his silly song “King Tut” and a few years later, the Bangles released “Walk like an Egyptian,” both songs added to my internal sound track. Mix in anything Indiana Jones or the Mummy, plus a sprinkling of the Amelia Peabody novels I consumed in my 40’s, and I had a little crush on Egypt.
Tuesday, February 17
Travel into Egypt was thankfully uneventful. The flight was fine and we had a driver pick us up rather than negotiate a taxi. Little did I know this would be the last hassle-free drive we had on the trip.
We splashed out on the hotel and had a panoramic view of the pyramids and sphinx. In awe, I spent hours sitting on the hotel balcony watching the sun set behind the pyramids.
Wednesday, February 18
At 6:20am, I created a makeshift camera stand to record a hyperlapse video of the sunrise over the Giza plateau. By 8am, we were on the plateau to explore the pyramids!!
The Grand pyramid was truly grand and I wanted to climb it, but of course I couldn’t, so I didn’t. I was so excited to actually go inside but was not prepared for the journey. The passageway was narrow, steep, and often so low I crawled on my knees. The heat and humidity made many sweat., but oh, so worth the experience. I mean, I got to go inside the fricking Grand Pyramid!!
For the rest of the morning, we wandered the plateau, enjoying all it offered. We entered the smallest pyramid which was not as steep or humid but still a thrill. We rode the requisite camel a distance off into the sand to get the iconic pyramid view and attempted to enter the queen’s tomb but given the time restraints and still not having spent time with the sphinx, we passed on visiting her tomb.
Then we get to my girl, the Sphinx. She so pretty. Hey, I know it’s a statue of Ramses, but I think of it as a beautiful woman. I looked at her from every angle and appreciated her tail and back leg. The crowd was thick at this point but we were patient to get as close as we could. My body was internally vibrating. Bucket list checked.
We tried to eat at the KFC but the register was down so we were denied. After lunch, we taxied to the Grand Egyptian Museum, and became immersed in the giant statues, artifacts, and deep history. An escalator traveled the Grand Staircase and we peered over the Giza plateau. After a badly needed ice cream break, we dived back into the GEM. The highlight was the Tutankhamun exhibit, complete with chambers, sarcophagus, and mask. This was a magnificent display which also covered the explorers and local workers during the excavation. After that, we viewed the Khufu boats and the history around their discovery. The GEM was a stunning museum and I am so glad it was open.
After a negotiated taxi ride back to the Sphinx plateau, we stayed in a modest guest house for a few hours before our flight to Aswan. My body was so sore and tired but I would not have traded it for the experience we had. Getting on the plane was a series of errors which resulted in a thorough frisking not once but twice. I swear that I was frisked so thoroughly that the female guard should have taken me to dinner first. Upgraded to business class, I did enjoy the warm face cloth and apple juice upon arrival. A driver picked us up, arranged by the guest house proprietor and we were ferried to Elephantine Island for 2 nights.
Thursday, February 19
After breakfast, we ferried over to Aswan and spent 45 minutes haggling over taxi fares. I really don’t like the haggling process. The driver took us to a remote port where his friends were rather than to the main ferry port to Philea so we were hamstrung into their ferry prices. When the Aswan dam threatened to submerge the temple in 1974, UNESCO moved it rock by rock and reassembled it above the dam. Damn, that’s amazing. The temple was interesting and beautiful. The weather was perfect but the crowds were thick. Influencers were doing their thing. We only had an hour to tour so we moved quickly to see as much as we could. The ferry system was crazy and I’m still not sure how we found our boat back to shore. The driver took us to the Unfinished Obelisk and back to the starting point.
Craving western food, we walked to the KFC but were told it would open in 30 minutes. It was 12:30 but the sign said it was open at 11am. This did not bode well and I was suspicious that it would actually open at 1pm so we walked to find another restaurant. Instead, we found a boat selling beer. Yes please! This helped pass the 30 minutes and we indeed got KFC in the end. Amen. We rested for the afternoon and then went for dinner at the Cataract Hotel where Agatha Christie stayed and wrote “Death on the Nile.” We enjoyed our brief stint in Aswan and on Elephantine Island.
Friday, February 20
Off to Abu Symbel with a 3:45am pick up time. I was awake anyway. After a 3 hour drive, we arrived on the shores of Lake Nassar. This temple for Ramses screamed narcissism but was a thrill to see nonetheless. The pure mechanics of disassembling a temple and faithfully reconstructing it up-shore is mind boggling. UNESCO for the win. The outside statues loomed over the entrance and the inside carvings and frescoes were stunning. The smaller Temple of Hathor was lovely and interesting as well. The throngs of tourists made for challenging photography. Throw in a handful of influencers and their handlers and it was a bit of a circus. Alas, sand was a great preservative for this archeological find and I am in awe of this site.
When we returned to Aswan, we were supposed to be taken to the boat that we would be cruising down the Nile on later that evening. Another comedy of errors occurred where they didn’t have us on the roster and the tour company handling our reservations had to come in person to resolve it. The only thing good at lunch was the roast chicken. We toured the ferry and chilled the rest of the day. In the early evening, we walked the corniche back to the Cataract Hotel. We visited a shop near the McDonald’s and the proprietor quietly said “vodka?” Um, yes please! It was a decent sized bottle at a reasonable price. This was a complete score on a Friday (holy day) during Ramadan. We purchased some mango juice and had a cocktail before and after dinner. The ferry launched on the Nile at midnight.
Saturday, February 21
The sunrise was not impressive since there is so much haze in the air but we watched from the upper deck anyway. There was nothing redeeming about breakfast, even the yogurt tasted wrong. We were docked at the Temple of Kom Ombo and enjoyed the carvings and pillars in the morning light.
Back on the boat, we did laundry, opened our window, and watched the Nile riverbank slide by as we basked in the sun. After lunch, which featured only a few edible eats, we bundled into a van for a tour to the Edfu Temple. When we first arrived, there weren’t many people and we really enjoyed looking at the carved walls in peace. There were several areas that still sported their original paint! By the time we left, the crush of the crowd was suffocating.
The rest of the afternoon was spent reading on the upper deck or in the lounge. There was no WiFi and our phone data connection was weak so there was no social media while on the boat.
Sunday, February 22
It’s too bad our balloon ride was cancelled because I would have been awake without the 2:45am alarm. Around 5:45, I started feeling weird but by 7am, I felt nauseous. I progressively felt worse until our 9am checkout and pickup time for the day’s events. Great, let’s spend a fabulous day at the Valley of the Kings and Karnak Temple while barely conscious with severe tummy pain. I don’t remember that much about the day: some queues, some carvings, unbearable heat, and getting in/out of the van. At our guest house in Luxor, the French proprietor gave me anti-nausea medicine and tea while DH2 caught a ferry to the Luxor Museum. Ramadan thwarted his visit since it had closed early. By bedtime, my tummy had begun to unclench.
Monday, February 23
I could not believe my stomach allowed me to be functional! Although I wasn’t 100% better, I could partake in most of the day’s scheduled activities. We hired a driver for the morning to return to the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Nobles. I am glad I could return to the Valley of the Kings and actually appreciate what was there. We went into two of the tombs that were less obscure with the bonus of there being no lines and no rush to move through them quickly. The highlight was King Tut’s tomb but I was a little freaked to see they had the mummy on display. I’ve seen mummies before so I’m not sure why this one disquieted me, but it did. I am glad we saw the GEM exhibit first in Cairo so I could understand the tomb itself. Great experience.
Next, we visited multiple tombs in the Valley of the Nobles. This was a highlight for DH2 and a grand exploration for me. The frescoes were often vibrant but there was one unfinished tomb where the grid lines and sketches were still visible. As a designer, I loved seeing that process. Note to self: don’t die before your tomb is complete or it will be left unfinished or repurposed for someone else.
We were supposed to visit the Valley of the Queens but Ramadan meant everything would close early so we chose to visit the Luxor Temple instead. Luxor wasn’t as large as Karnak but benefitted from the Avenue of Sphinxes which I had been eagerly awaiting. I never really understand a place until I’m there. Set and setting play a huge role in my absorption of a monument, city, or location. Exhausted, I napped until evening.
I’ve not detailed all of the Egyptian travel woes but I was very tired of every interaction being a harassment. When we left the guest house to travel to the train station, a tuktuk agreed on a price but he stopped down the road to ask someone on the side of the road to translate where we wanted to go but that person didn’t understand “train station.” We got out of the tuktuk and said we’d take a taxi but the taxi driver didn’t understand “train station” either. Ok, let’s take a ferry to at least get on the same side of the Nile as the station. We got on the boat but the engine wouldn’t start. We abandoned that ferry to one that worked. As we traversed the Nile, DH2 said “ah, it’s all part of life’s rich tapestry” to which I replied, “I’m not fond of this part of the tapestry.”
Once at the train station, we had a few bumps getting proper information but finally knew where we needed to be and at what time. My tummy finally felt ok to eat but the only thing available was a street pita. As the vendor prepared the food, all I could think of was: 1. How long had that food been left unrefrigerated, and 2. When was the last time he washed his hands. I ate it on a wing and a prayer.
We had a sleeper car to travel to Cairo and overall the journey was uneventful.
Tuesday, February 24
I woke up with only a dozen bug bites. Note: I’ve not shared the various places over the whole North Africa trip where I woke up covered in bites. My tummy didn’t feel great but ok. We arrived at the glorious Cairo Marriott which used to be a palace and I was excited by the view, nice room, and bathtub. At check-in, I noticed my body still felt like it was on the train, like I was still swaying back and forth. In the shower, the rocking sensation intensified and soon I felt nauseous from the perceived movement. I had one of the anti-nausea meds so I took that and laid on the bed where I proceeded to feel very cold. Apparently a side effect of anti-nausea medication is low blood pressure and it took the rest of the day to recover from the nausea and warm up. Not a good day but at least it was in a nice room. In the evening we walked around the hotel, noting the palatial architecture.
Wednesday, February 25
The train car to Alexandria was the nicest form of transportation we had for all of February. The ride followed the Nile, passing lush farms and poor dwellings. The taxi dropped us at the Cecil Hotel which in WW2, housed the British Secret Service featuring Winston Churchill. I was surprised to stay at a nice hotel two nights in a row but it was a lovely suite with a great view of the cornice. The original elevator was gorgeous, quiet, and in mint condition; it was the kind where you had to close two cages for it to move and all of the mechanics were open to view.
Our activities for the day were the catacombs and the Greco-Roman Museum. I had always wanted to go to the Colosseum catacombs so I was happy to see these as a substitute. They were quite the labyrinth and it was weird to think how many tombs we’d visited this trip. The Greco-Roman Museum housed some great pieces and I especially liked anything Cleopatra related. We walked back to the hotel and rested until dinner.
The evening was low-key. We walked the cornice to the restaurant where we could pick our fish and they cooked it for us. I think we had the grouper and we picked all the delicious flesh off of the bones. Afterward, we walked to the end of the cornice to the Qaitbay Citadel where the old Lighthouse of Alexandria used to be. As we strolled back to the hotel, we picked up ice cream and juice. Lovely date night.
Thursday, February 26
Getting a ride to the airport was a challenge both with procuring the taxi and the long and convoluted ride itself. We had the usual drudge of processing through the four security checks and immigration. I read during the 2 hour flight to Istanbul and watched “The Pitt” during the 9 hour flight to Bangkok. Thankfully, I slept a couple hours on the 9 hour flight to Melbourne and was relieved to touch down on familiar turf.
Now it’s time to recover from the trip.
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