Travel Friday: Egypt

Welcome to my first ever Travel Friday! Today I will highlight our overnight stop in Egypt on our honeymoon cruise. Traveling to Egypt and seeing the pyramids was the number one thing on my bucket list. I'm glad I got to go before I was older and before all that crap happened in 2010 (only a few days after we left). Since it was such an amazing moment in my life, why not start there!

 

When our cruise ship arrived in Cairo we went through customs and got onto our tour bus. We did the overnight tour which included staying at a hotel while the ship was docked. It was about a 3 hour drive from the port into Cairo.

 

Driving up and seeing the pyramids for the first time was absolutely breathtaking.

 

 

The Great Pyramid of Giza!

I had read online that you could buy tickets at the Gate to go into the Great Pyramid. Unfortunately it did not tell me that they only sell 100 per day and that they sell out in minutes every morning. But, we were able to buy tickets to go inside one of the smaller pyramids. No cameras were allowed inside but the tour guide took a picture of us walking in.

I almost had an anxiety attack before going in because you have to get on your hands and knees and crawl down until you get to the bottom. I went down on my back basically doing a "crab walk" which was better. When you got to the bottom you could stand up and walk around. It was amazing to think of all the history and who stood there before me! 

 

When we were done, we boarded the bus and headed to the Sphinx! We only had about 30 minutes here so we walked around, took some pictures and enjoyed the scenery.

 

 

After walking around at the Sphinx, the tour guide took us all to the Giza Plateau for some great picture opportunities. Some people took camel rides, but we opted just to get on and take a few pictures. I was more nervous than my husband as you can see.

 

At the Giza Plateau...enjoying the view!

Now, it was time for lunch! We went to a local restaurant where we had the opportunity to eat local food. From all the research we did we knew the following things:

~ Do not eat anything that is cold (not cooked like fruits or raw veggies)

~ DO NOT DRINK THE WATER

(This is very serious, sometimes the people over there will even re-fill water bottles and glue them shut. You need to inspect any bottle that you drink from. There were even people that got seriously sick and had to stay in the sick bay of the cruise ship the last two nights. My advice - PAY ATTENTION!)

3. Don't eat the meat

4. Don't eat anything that has been washed in the water

 

Unfortunately, these rules left us with eating rice and the bread. But it was good! We had brought a lot of snacks and 6 large bottles of water from the ship so we were good.

 

After lunch, we went to see the Step Pyramid in Sakkara. It's a beautiful sight and so many amazing structures are perfectly in tact!

 

For dinner, we did a Nile River cruise. There was dancing, drinking and an awesome show. It was definitely an experience but we were exhausted. I caught this shot while we were leaving the dock.

 

We stayed at the Le Meridien hotel in Cairo. There was an abundance of security and we felt very comfortable. Plus, the view was out of this world!

View from our hotel!

The next morning we had a continental breakfast and then went to visit Salah el Din Citadel, Albaster mosque of Mohamed Ali. It was beautiful and a very interesting experience. You have to put footies over your shoes to walk around and I had to cover my hair and arms. But it was worth it!

View of the city from the Mosque.

After that we had lunch and then headed to visit the Egyptian Museum which includes an exhibit dedicated to Tutankhamen collection which was absolutely amazing to see! Again, they didn't allow us to take pictures, but I can tell you that the images are burned in my memory forever.

The last stop on our tour before the 3 hour ride back to port was the Egyptian Papyrus store. There you can see how they made Papyrus paper and purchase some paintings. We actually purchased a painting that signified marriage/love and they put our names and wedding date on the papyrus paper in hylogryphics.

There were so many things about our honeymoon that were amazing, but seeing the pyramids and a county that I never thought would be possible, was truly the highlight for me!