The Route
We came into Egypt from Israel, spent some time in Dahab diving the Red Sea. Our favorite dives were of the SS Thistlegorm, a WWII battleship that was sunk by the Germans. The ship is enormous and you can see machine guns, tanks, and motorcycles as you tour the ship. We took a day to ascend Mt. Sinai and headed over to Cairo where we saw the Great Pyramids, the Step Pyramid, and the Red Pyramid. We got to see the inside of the Red Pyramid and the Pyramid of Khufu, but found the turpentine smell of the interiors a little nauseating. We headed south to Aswan to view the great wall-carved statues of Abu Simbel and took a short felucca trip at sunset. We visited Kom Ombu and Edfu during a two-day cruise up the Nile towards Luxor. While in Luxor we went to The Valley of Kings, Karnak, and Luxor Temple. After Luxor we took a night bus back to Cairo to catch our flight to Athens (photos of our trip).
Not Overrated
I had heard people say that the sphinx was really small and the pyramids aren’t that cool. If anything, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the phenomenal sights. There are too many monuments and tombs to see, and museums have hundreds of artifacts in back corners that Western musuems would feature as treasured pieces. The first time I saw hieroglyphics, I spent a lot of time looking at the intricate carvings, matching symbols from our book, trying to find traces of pigment left on the stele. By the end of the trip, I was breezing past carved columns of temples looking for “the cool stuff”. It’s easy to become desensitized, but it certainly doesn’t mean that the pyramids aren’t cool. Likewise, the monuments along the south of the Nile are amazing, especially considering that most of the temples were moved to higher ground in the 1960s after the Aswan High Dam project.
Avoiding Trouble
There was a lot of turmoil while we were in Egypt, but we managed to stay out of danger. While we were in Cairo, the interim government instituted Emergency Law, sparking protests across the country. We saw some of the protests in Tahrir Square on the Friday following the announcement. The day before we arrived in Aswan, Muslims burned a Coptic Church in the region. A week later, Copts organized a protest in Cairo that ended in a deadly riot. We arrived in Cairo the following morning, seeing burned vehicles, rubble, and army members in tanks as we entered the city.
We remained close to turmoil after leaving the country: strikes in Athens turned into riots just five days before and two days after our visit to the city. We were never in danger, but we caused our parents a lot of worry. Our travel itinerary (Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Greece and Italy) was in the news for the entire duration of our trip.
“Get Lost” in Translation
Before going to Egypt Brian and I tried to learn Arabic. We listened to language tapes and were still struggling to say “two teas please” and “I would like to go to a restaurant” after two months of work. Studying Arabic was unnecessary: everyone we wanted to communicate with spoke English, and all of the people that we wanted to avoid spoke English. The only Arabic phrases that I actually used were “Go away. I don’t want to buy anything." It's much easier to ignore people when they're speaking a language you don't fully understand.
Even though we didn't have language difficulties, Egypt was a very difficult place to travel on our own. There were transportation issues - we had to charter private transportation or tours to a lot of the sights. The biggest problem was the constant hassle. Many people tried to scam us by giving us incorrect information, trying to prevent us from getting to ticket booths, demanding payment for following us down a street, and generally wasting our time. People may have been more aggressive about pushing products and services due to the the tourism slow-down in Egypt, so perhaps the unbearable hassle might be an anomaly. The few days we spent aboard a cruise boat were very relaxing, so I can see the appeal of doing a package tour in Egypt.
Being a woman in Egypt
Before we left, I was fretting about what to wear and how many scarfs to bring to cover my hair. I wanted to be respectful and I made sure that none of my clothing revealed knees or shoulders. I felt a little jealous of the other female tourists at historic sites - people were wearing tank tops and shorts and I was sweating in long-sleeved shirts and pants. One nice thing about being a woman is that I didn’t get hassled nearly as much as Brian. I guess they assumed that he’s in charge of all purchasing decisions :).
More photos
We came into Egypt from Israel, spent some time in Dahab diving the Red Sea. Our favorite dives were of the SS Thistlegorm, a WWII battleship that was sunk by the Germans. The ship is enormous and you can see machine guns, tanks, and motorcycles as you tour the ship. We took a day to ascend Mt. Sinai and headed over to Cairo where we saw the Great Pyramids, the Step Pyramid, and the Red Pyramid. We got to see the inside of the Red Pyramid and the Pyramid of Khufu, but found the turpentine smell of the interiors a little nauseating. We headed south to Aswan to view the great wall-carved statues of Abu Simbel and took a short felucca trip at sunset. We visited Kom Ombu and Edfu during a two-day cruise up the Nile towards Luxor. While in Luxor we went to The Valley of Kings, Karnak, and Luxor Temple. After Luxor we took a night bus back to Cairo to catch our flight to Athens (photos of our trip).
Not Overrated
 |
| Great Temple at Abu Simbel |
Avoiding Trouble
 |
| Protest in Tahrir Square, Cairo |
We remained close to turmoil after leaving the country: strikes in Athens turned into riots just five days before and two days after our visit to the city. We were never in danger, but we caused our parents a lot of worry. Our travel itinerary (Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Greece and Italy) was in the news for the entire duration of our trip.
“Get Lost” in Translation
 |
| Hassle in the Marketplace |
Even though we didn't have language difficulties, Egypt was a very difficult place to travel on our own. There were transportation issues - we had to charter private transportation or tours to a lot of the sights. The biggest problem was the constant hassle. Many people tried to scam us by giving us incorrect information, trying to prevent us from getting to ticket booths, demanding payment for following us down a street, and generally wasting our time. People may have been more aggressive about pushing products and services due to the the tourism slow-down in Egypt, so perhaps the unbearable hassle might be an anomaly. The few days we spent aboard a cruise boat were very relaxing, so I can see the appeal of doing a package tour in Egypt.
Being a woman in Egypt
Before we left, I was fretting about what to wear and how many scarfs to bring to cover my hair. I wanted to be respectful and I made sure that none of my clothing revealed knees or shoulders. I felt a little jealous of the other female tourists at historic sites - people were wearing tank tops and shorts and I was sweating in long-sleeved shirts and pants. One nice thing about being a woman is that I didn’t get hassled nearly as much as Brian. I guess they assumed that he’s in charge of all purchasing decisions :).
More photos
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