Cairo, Day 1

I don’t know where to start with this post, because I have so much information swimming around in my head.  But I guess, start at the beginning....
We arrived into Cairo from Rome yesterday at around 5.30pm but didn’t reach the Marriott Mena House until 7.30pm.  There was a lot of traffic between the airport and our hotel.  The Odynovo representative was waiting for us in the arrivals hall and was able to fast track us through immigration and customs (what a blessing!).  We were then taken to our vehicle operated by Spring Tours and introduced to our driver.  I was then handed this beautiful bouquet of flowers!  How awesome is that....

We settled into room and immediately went to bed.  No dinner for us tonight as we were still stuffed from the huge meal we were served on our flight from Rome.
We were up bright and early to meet our Spring Tours guide at 8.00am.  His name is Mohamed.  We had a rather large itinerary and it would take around seven hours to complete.  We started our journey by heading south to Memphis, the ancient capital of Egypt during the Old Kingdom.  Archaeologists are unearthing artifacts here on a daily basis and it appears that the area was used as a dumping area for carvings that were not perfect as there is many unfinished pieces here.  Outside the boundary of Memphis we were given extremely sweet peaches to eat. A delicious snack.

Next was the Stepped Pyramid of Djoser, the first pyramid, built during the 27th century BC for the burial of Pharoah Djoser.  Next to it is a collapsed pyramid that is thought to be the last pyramid ever built. Once it collapsed it opened up the burial chamber that we were able to enter in a crouch position.  Inside the tomb lies the coffin and all the walls are elaborately carved.  Quite remarkable.

As we were walking back to our mini van our guide started chatting to a guard who was guarding a locked entrance to the latest tomb that has been unearthed. After a little negotiation ($$$$) we were given access to this tomb.  I’m still gobsmacked at how well preserved it is and how absolutely stunning it is.

Next we visited a carpet making store where we were given a demonstration as to how the carpets were made. We purchased a small piece woven from soft Egyptian cotton that will sit proudly on my coffee table.

As it was close to midday our guide asked if we would like to have Falafel for lunch.  Would we ever! He kindly purchased them for us and we devoured them.  It was the best Falafel I have ever eaten.  Everything of course was made in-house and the chickpea falafels had the crunchiest texture that I have ever eaten! Soooo good!

After lunch it was on to the Pyramids of Giza.  These Pyramids are one of the world’s seven wonders and were built during the fourth dynasty by King Khufu who built the biggest pyramid for himself.  There is a smaller pyramid beside King Khufu’s and our Egyptologist guide told us that they built the smaller as a trial for the larger.  He also informed us that the workers that built the pyramids were not slaves (as were thought) but paid workers who received many benefits for the work they did. This information was found in scribes that were unearthed and we will see them tomorrow when we visit the Egyptian Museum.

The last thing on our agenda was the Sphinx and it is huge.  It is built from a solid piece of granite and is the oldest known monument sculpture.  The face of the Sphinx is generally believed to represent the face of the Pharaoh Khafra.

We ended our tour at around 3.00pm and as soon as we got to our room we lay down and went to sleep!  We have now been sitting outside watching the sun change the colour of the Great Pyramid and enjoying club sandwiches and fries for dinner.  Bon Appetite and Good Night!