Final Cairo day as a group

This morning Amr and I packed our bags as we are checking out of the hotel and moving to spend the last 3 Egyptian nights with Omnia. And we all had our final group excursion…a minibus came and collected us at 9 and first drove us to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation….it is new and just excellent. (I imagine that the new Egyptian museum when it finally opens will be just as excellent)…the highlight was the Royal mummies…a whole collection of about 20 mummies of kings and queens…amazing to actually see the preserved faces of Ramses II and Hatshepsut from about 3000 years ago….and many more…many great exhibits and beautifully presented. We spent a couple of hours there and met in the café which curiously was a Brioche Dorée - a chain in France - and had delicious pastries!

Then our bus drove us on to the Coptic area, where there are many Coptic churches and also a synagogue, though this was closed for renovation…the churches are very historic, and associated with the flight of the holy family to Egypt when escaping from Herod…the whole place had a very different atmosphere from the rest of Cairo…another world!

We returned in the bus to the hotel by about 2.30 and suddenly realised it was time for farewell…a weird feeling after being all together for 2 weeks and sharing this whole experience!! Anyway, we made our farewells, and will all meet again back in Oz before long. Sunday everyone does their own thing - some leave late that evening as they have a 1.30am flight, and Sally and John are off spending a few days in Malta…

We collected our bags and got a taxi to the apartment, and very soon after left for the Gezira club to meet a group of Omnia’s friends. Lovely people, and it was fun, but am feeling in need of a lot of downtime!! 2 more full days in this chaotic city, and we leave in the early hours of Tuesday to get a morning flight to KL.Read more