Day One

Our first day was actually a day all to ourselves and we could have sat around the hotel pool and soaked up the Egyptian sun, but we decided to take an optional tour and find out a bit more about Cairo.  Ramez (we have nicknamed Ram-Two) picked us up from the lobby and we went off to meet our guide for the trip, the lovely Viola.  She is extremely knowledgeable which made the places we visited so much more interesting.

Our first stop was to Dahshur where there are a couple of unique pyramids, part of the necropolis of pyramids that stretch across the country.  The pyramids, as we know are the tombs of the Pharaohs built during the times when it was believed that the Pharaohs were in fact gods.  They spent so much time perfecting these monuments to last that they neglected to do the same for their cities, hence the lack of ancient Egyptian cities and palaces today.

Just getting there was an bit of an eye-opener…..the traffic is crazy, but is seems to work.  The lines on the road are merely there for decoration and why bother limiting the number of cars across the width of the road to the number of lanes?  Hey, if 7 can fit instead of 4 then go for it!  We both agreed that we would never survive driving here, or even crossing the road unassisted for that matter!  Our driver was excellent and only had one bumper kiss in the entire day (which he waved off even though he was the one who ran into the back of the other vehicle!!).

The cultural differences hit you immediately.  From the garbage that is freely thrown into the canals (which are now being covered with dirt to reduce the disease) to the multiple methods of transportation.  Donkeys and carts seem to be the most popular, but we did see men on horseback, and even the occasional camel carting palm fronds.  Everyone seems to do their business on the streets which makes it so interesting to drive through the small villages.  One of the striking things to note even in Cairo is the fact that there are so many unfinished buildings.  This is primarily a tax dodge which in turn leads to all the social issues they have – lack of health insurance, poor quality of water, roads that are falling apart etc.  Families will start to construct a brick building and leave the upper part unfinished supposedly for the future generations to complete and live in; in the meantime, they enjoy the lack of taxes!

Our first sortie into a pyramid was thrilling.  We descended butt first (pleasant for the tourists coming back up!!) down a long, steep shaft that beats working out on a stair master!  The air became quite stale when we reached the bottom and felt very strange when breathing in.  The walls inside were incredibly smooth and so precisely constructed, it was amazing.  Unfortunately cameras were not allowed so we can’t show you what it was like……but just to be there thousands of years later was pretty mind-blowing.  Our return to the surface was an excellent workout and it felt good to get into the fresh air.

The next pyramid is called the Bent Pyramid, or the Red Pyramid, because they tried a slightly different design.  As they were building it, the one next to it collapsed so they changed the design immediately hence the slightly different shape.  It was called Red simply because of the red hue cast by the finishing layer of stone, which has almost disappeared.

After that excursion we headed back into Old Cairo (once known as Babylon) to check out the government run perfumery.  This is where we got to smell the pure essence that they create in the ancient way – no chemicals or additives so the perfume will last forever.  Apparently vials of lotus perfume dating back to Cleopatra still exist and the perfume is as good as it was when it was first produced!!  Figuring that we would not live that long, we decided to pass on purchasing any of the perfumes, but it was certainly a heady experience.

Next we visited the Coptic Church, which is part of the Egyptian Orthodox Church and one of the oldest in Cairo.  It was build on top of two Roman towers and is therefore the only hanging church in the world.  We also visited another Church that it is said have provided refuge for the Holy Family when they had to flee to Egypt.  And lastly we visited a synagogue that was built on the place where Moses was first found in the basket amongst the reeds of one of the long dried up arteries of the Nile. 

That heralded the end of our day tour but we asked if we could have something to eat but not in a restaurant.  We wanted to taste the local delicacies and our guide kindly took us through the centre of Cairo to get the best falafel made in the city.  To do this we experienced the full on Cairo traffic!!  The falafel – delicious and well worth the detour.

Back to our hotel and we had enough time to head to the pool for a quick dip and lounge in the fading sun……it was actually a bit too cool for the dip, as I discovered!  We then met Ram-Two in the lobby and headed back out to experience the Sound & Light of the Giza Pyramids.

We were blown away by being this close to them (we’ll be closer tomorrow for sure) and the pair of us wore huge grins the entire time.  Dusk fell and the show began with Omar Sharif narrating…..all very dramatic and, to be perfectly honest, a bit hokey!!  However, it was a packed audience and it was interesting to hear the history.  While the show was going on we saw a shooting star over the pyramids….once we determined it was not actually part of the production it was quite cosmic!

This was the end of our very long first day in Cairo and we gladly hit the hay around 9.30 pm tired little campers!