Trip duration: 2 days, Dec 2023
Home to over 10 million people, Cairo is the capital and the largest city of Egypt. The city is ancient.. dating back to at least the Old Kingdom, with Giza and Memphis both being within its geographical boundary. It is in fact a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site.
This was the first leg of our bigger Egypt trip. Thanks to flight delays we arrived at around 4 am local time. As our driver drove us towards our hotel, my husband and I couldn't help but notice the stark similarity with Kolkata, my hometown in India.. the fascinating juxtaposition of the old and the new; flyovers amidst old buildings. Over the next 2 days, we definitely noticed more similarities in terms of architecture, style of buildings, the crowds and the chaos!
Day 1
At 6 in the morning, we finally checked into our hotel, Ramses Hilton, located in downtown Cairo. It's a decent hotel, albeit quite dated. Unable to sleep, we decided to freshen up and get a head start on our plans to explore the city on our own. After a really good breakfast buffet at the hotel, we called an Uber to take us to our first POI.
That's when things got interesting... given that the license plates are in Arabic (and we obviously can't read Arabic), it took us for-e-ver to locate the car. Finally we found it and off we went!
Salah ad-Din Citadel
Also known as the Cairo Citadel, this is an Islamic era fortification built by Salah ad-Din (Saladin) against the Crusaders and further developed by subsequent Egyptian rulers. Its strategic position atop the Mokattam hills, gave it a commanding view of the city that visitors can enjoy even today. It was home to Egypt's rulers for 700 years, starting in the 12th century AD.
Once our Uber driver dropped us off, we trudged up to the main entrance, purchased tickets (credit card only) and went inside to explore the sprawling citadel. Given that we were tired and not quite in the mood for a guide's chatter, we declined offers from several guides who offered to provide insight about the location.
The citadel houses four palaces amongst which are (Palace Ablaq, Al-Gawhara Palace), four mosques ( Mosque of Muhammad Ali, Al-Nasir Muhammad Mosque, Mosque of Sulayman Pasha, and Mosque of Al-‘Azab ) and two museums, the National Police Museum, and National Military Museum ).
Our first stop was the Mosque of Muhammad Ali. Nicknamed the Alabaster mosque, this beautiful monument from the 19th century boasting of Ottoman style architecture is a must-see. The complex consists of two parts, the mosque proper to the east and the open courtyard, or sahn, to the west. Visitors should aim to dress conservatively and women should carry head scarves, albeit no one asked me to cover my head. There was a person outside selling plastic booties for the shoes and we gladly purchased some to avoid walking barefoot.
The courtyard was grand... the mosque grand-er. The high dome and the circles of hanging lights, were indeed a sight to behold.
We then headed to one of the lookouts to take in the city's views. It was unfortunately a foggy day so the views were not that clear. On very clear days one can even view the pyramids of Giza... so I was a tad disappointed about that.
Next we visited Al-Nasir Muhammad Mosque. Albeit not as grand, the hypostyle mosque is still worth a peek. It dates back to the 14th century and was the royal mosque of the citadel. The person at the door recognized us as Indians and told us that the ceilings were made of sandalwood imported from India.
We then made our way out, hopped into a passing taxi and went to our next POI.
Cairo Tower
Constructed in the late 1950s, this freestanding concrete tower was once the tallest structure of Egypt, and at one point all of North Africa. It is 187m tall and resembles a stylized lotus plant, a pharaonic symbol of Upper Egypt. There is also a rotating restaurant at the top. We went in and purchased tickets. Keep in mind that if you are carrying a DSLR camera, you have to pay extra for a "photography" ticket. Given how cloudy/foggy it was, we deposited the camera at the entrance and relied on our phones for pictures. We rode the elevator up the 16 floors to the observation deck. We walked around and enjoyed the view of the Nile river and downtown.
Next stop... FOOOOOOOOOD!
Abou Tarek
Some preliminary research before the trip had yielded one result.. You must try Koshary at Abou Tarek. Koshary is Egypt's national dish.. and really flavorful. The restaurant is a 5 story "Koshary house" and it has just ONE dish on the menu.. Koshary.. and a rice pudding for dessert. Needless to say that's what we ordered and it was amazing! They brought the stuff to our table and showed us how to season it to our liking and that hot sauce was delicious. The rice pudding at the end was fragrant and mildly sweet.. and the server asked me how it compares with the Indian version (payesh/kheer/payasam).
Sated... we walked back to the hotel. At this point the guide from Egypt Tours Portal picked us up from the hotel to take us to our evening plans
Dinner Cruise aboard the Nile Crystal
Day 2
We had a slightly early start this day, given our packed itinerary. After a filling breakfast at the hotel, we were out the door by 7 am, off to check off my bucket list. It took us about 30 minutes to get to the Giza Necropolis, located on the west bank of the Nile (where the Egyptians historically buried their dead). En route our guide filled us in with lots of interesting and useful information about what we were going to see next as well as the Egyptian civilization in general.
If you want to read up my little crash course on Egypt's history, go here.
Giza Pyramid Complex
The Giza plateau boasts of the ONLY surviving member of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the 4th dynasty (Old Kingdom) pyramids of three generations of Pharaohs; Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure. These massive monuments were unsurpassed in height for thousands of years after their construction. In addition to the three major pyramids, there are also six secondary pyramids for queens, and tombs of other nobles and workers who helped build the pyramids. Each pyramid has a mortuary temple for daily offerings, a valley temple where the pharaoh's body was mummified and a causeway connecting it to the pyramid for carrying everything into the tomb.
The stones/blocks for the pyramids were quarried upstream and carried down by the Nile river over a period of 3 months every year (when the Nile flooded). Each block weighed about 1.5-2 tonnes and almost 30000 workers built each pyramid over a period of almost 20 years. Contrary to popular belief, the pyramids were not built by slaves and certainly not by aliens. They were in fact built by local workers. The pyramids were once covered in a casing that was made of white limestone, that was so highly polished that it would reflect the sun’s rays. Some remnants of this casing are still visible at the top of Khafre's pyramid. Each pyramid is mostly a solid mass of these blocks, with not much empty space left within. Here's an interesting post about what's within the pyramid.
Once we arrived at the ticket booth, our guide purchased tickets for the complex as well as for going inside Khufu pyramid.
Pro tips: If you are carrying a DSLR, leave your other lenses behind... or pay for a separate photography ticket. Also don't bother entering all the pyramids... they are pretty much the same once inside.
We then walked over to Khufu Pyramid.
Pyramid of Khufu aka The Great Pyramid
This is the oldest and tallest of the three pyramids. It was built by Khufu and rises to a height of 146 meters (481 feet) and was built with 2.3 million blocks of limestone. Its original valley temple is buried beneath the nearby village of Nazlet el-Samman.
Once we stood in front of it, our jaws dropped at the sheer size and the engineering feat of the 4600 year old monument. After taking some pictures, we queued up to go inside the pyramid.
Warning: If you are claustrophobic or have knee/back problems, please skip going inside the pyramid.
Pro tip: Leave any big backpacks and thick jackets outside. It gets pretty warm inside the pyramid. Also, the tunnel is very low and a big backpack would cause major hindrance.
The inside of the pyramid is far from spacious. In fact the only accessible area is a series of passageways that connect to the King's burial chamber.
The initial 20 m or so is narrow but passable. Once we got past that section and went up a small winding staircase is when things got interesting. There was a narrow, steep uphill passage with a railing and wooden slats. It's very low so adults would definitely have to bend over. My 7 year old of course kept gloating that he was able to walk upright... albeit barely.
After what felt like a pretty long stretch, the passage way opened up into the "Grand Gallery". One suddenly appreciates what a privilege it is to still go uphill... but without bending over! We also saw the closed off passage that leads to the Queen's burial chamber.
At the end of this section there is a small, flat and low passageway that connects to the King's burial chamber, which is in fact located at the center of the pyramid. The room is pretty barebones and simply houses Khufu's sarcophagus.
By this time we were definitely sweating from the heat and the workout we had just gotten. On the way out (via the same route), watch your head. I bumped it at least 4 times, and going downhill while crouching is no walk in the park.
That being said, the adventure was indeed quite memorable and I would certainly recommend it.
After this we hopped into the van which took us to a spectacular view point.
View point for All Pyramids
There is a view point up a tiny hill from which all nine pyramids are visible. Khafre's pyramid appears bigger here simply due to perspective, even though Khufu's is larger.
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| Pyramids of Giza |
The best way to get there is by camel or horse carriage. We opted for the camel ride for that once-in-a-lifetime shot against the backdrop of the pyramids.
The 3 camels were tethered together and we enjoyed a pleasant ride to the viewpoint, with the guide giving us little tidbits. At the viewpoint we got some fantastic photographs.
Post ride we got some more pictures and then hopped back into the van to go to the next spot.
Valley Temple of Khafre's Pyramid
Considered the best preserved valley temple in all of Egypt, this was built by/for King Khafre using local limestone and pink Aswan granite and lay undiscovered under the sand until the 19th century. Its wide courtyard includes homogeneous granite columns.The niches carved into the walls of the square were arranged symmetrically along the walls to contain statues of the king, some of which are currently on display in the Egyptian Museum.
We then walked towards the Sphinx.
Great Sphinx of Giza
This is a gigantic limestone statue of the recumbent sphinx, a mythical creature which has a human head representing intelligence on a lion's body, which represents power. The facial features of the sphinx with its royal headdress resemble King Khafre. It is believed to have been commissioned by the King because the limestone outcrop disturbed his view and he wanted a monument to represent his strengths. The statue is among the world’s largest sculptures, measuring some 73 meters (240 feet) long and 20 meters (66 feet) high.
In case you are wondering what happened to the nose, there are many theories.. ranging from erosion to intentional destruction by Muslims in the 15th century.
We took all the cliched photographs with the Sphinx and soaked in the beautiful landscape before heading out from the complex.
3 Pyramids Papyrus Institute
Our next stop was a museum cum store for papyrus. At a little table a lady demonstrated how papyrus is made. It was really really interesting! We were then given the option to buy a papyrus of our choice and have our names written in cartouches (Egyptian name tag of sorts) in hieroglyphic. No point for guessing that we did pick one of those up.
Our next stop was for an authentic Egyptian lunch at El Dar Darak. We started with shorba (soup) and then indulged in delicious kabobs with rice and aish baladi (bread.. like roti) with various dips. As for the fresh squeezed mango juice... that was a revelation! I had no idea that fruits and vegetables are that good in Egypt.
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| Delicious Egyptian meal |
Post lunch we did some souvenir shopping and then headed to Tahrir Square back in downtown Cairo.
The Egyptian Museum
Our last stop for the day was the largest museum in Africa, famous for its massive collection of Egyptian antiquities, including the contents of King Tutankhamun's tomb.
We had about 2 hours to explore the museum and our guide basically showed us around so that we could cover the highlights.
The ground floor is an extensive collection of large-scale works in stone including statues, reliefs and architectural elements. These were various statues, including a teeny tiny statue of Khufu (who built the Great Pyramid), parts of temples that had broken. Many of these statues were made of diorite, the second strongest rock in the world after diamond.
This floor also had artifacts from the New Kingdom and the 5000 year old Narmer Palette among various other things.
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| Clockwise from top right: False Door, King Khafre's statue found at the Valley temple, Papyrus scrolls, Statue of Queen HatshepSut, Statue of King Khufu, Narmer Palette |
We then made our way upstairs where the walls were flanked by frames containing 6000 year old papyri, still looking good as new.
On the first floor, we primarily focused on the room where the contents of King Tut's tomb are displayed. Photography was not allowed inside.. but we sure were dazzled by all the gold and the fine detailing on each of the pieces. And did I mention the 110 kg solid gold sarcophagus??? My Indian heart skipped a beat at its sight.
We went on to see some mummies and other artifacts before heading out. I must say I was a bit disappointed to not see the royal mummies which by then had been relocated to a different museum (more on that later)... but still a wonderful museum to visit.
We then headed to the airport to catch our flight to Luxor.
Other things to see in Cairo
Khan el-Khalili
This is a famous bazaar/souk in the middle of old Cairo. Home to many Egyptian artisans and workshops, this is the place for souvenir shopping. Be prepared to drive a hard bargain though!
Grand Egyptian Museum
Located close to the Giza pyramid complex, this is a brand new partially open museum that's home to many artifacts from the ancient Egyptian civilization including Khufu ship and some of the contents of Tutankhamun's tomb.
National Museum of Egyptian Civilization
This is a large and new museum located in Old Cairo and home to 22 royal mummies, that were moved here from the Egyptian Museum in an event named "Pharaohs' Golden Parade". These mummies include Rameses II, Queen Hatshepsut and many other famous names.
I found out about NMEC rather late and was unable to squeeze it into our itinerary :(
Fun fact: Rameses II is the only Pharaoh with a passport. His remains had to be transported to Paris for treatment to prevent a fungoid growth more than 3000 years after his death.
Hanging Church
This is an old Coptic church that gets its name from the fact that it is built atop a gatehouse of Babylon fortress, an ancient Roman fortress. The current structure was built sometime in 7th century AD, although another church existed at that location about 3-4 centuries prior.
Saqqara Pyramids
Saqqara served as the necropolis for the Egyptian rulers of Memphis. It is home to many pyramids, including the Pyramid of Djoser which was the first successful pyramid. It was built during the Third Dynasty for the burial of Pharaoh Djoser.
Pyramids Sound and Light Show
It is a 50-minute show narrates a story about the pyramids along with music, laser image projections, and spotlights on the sphinx plus all the pyramids.
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