Day 79 - Giza, Egypt

Today we woke up at 5:30am to get ready for the day, breakfast was at 6am and we had to be on the mini bus to head to Giza by 6:30am.

Mohamed gave us some facts along the way to Giza about how they think they made the Pyramids and how they picked the sites for the Pyramids. We arrived at the Pyramid complex at 7:10am and had to wait for the guards to let us in even though they open at 7am. Once in, Mohamed purchased our tickets, who wanted too could purchase a ticket into the Great Pyramid to see the Kings Tomb as well here.

We were the first tour group to reach the Great Pyramid so Mohamed gave us an hour to explore the Pyramid and told who had brought tickets to go in the pyramid, to go now before other groups came.
Katie stayed out but I went in with others. Apart from our group there were 4 people going up and a couple coming down. It was a tight climb yet amazing to see in person, it was also very hot & humid in the pyramid! Number One wonder of the world ticked off!

Once out Katie and I walked around the Great Pyramid to look how huge it actually is and take some photos.

Our second stop in the complex was the panoramic viewing area of the pyramids. Seeing the haze was thick we could only make out the outline of the Great Pyramid but could see Pyramid of Khafre, Pyramid of Menkaure & the satellite Pyramids.
This is where we meet the camels to have a 15 minute ride on one each! It’s interesting riding a camel as you only have this little point to hold onto and the camel has a bit of a mind of its own! Great experience, even happier to be back on the sand!

The third stop in the complex was the Sphinx, the biggest sphinx in Egypt, the haze had lifted so we had a good view of the Great Pyramid & Pyramid of Khafre. We walked through the Valley Temple of Khafre to get to the Sphinx, the temple is made out of Alabaster Marble for the floor, Granite blocks for the walls and now has no roof. The Alabaster floor was chosen so when the candles are lit, the floor reflects the light and is said to be an amazing site to see with candles all over the floor.
Our guide Mohamed had organised this perfectly for our visit to the Pyramids, every time we were done somewhere, 3 bus loads would be turning up! He just wished he could of fixed the Haze for us but we were all appreciative that we got the Pyramids to ourselves for a bit!

We left the Pyramid complex and started to head back into Cairo, Mohamed gave us an option to visit a Papyrus shop that makes the Ancient Paper Papyrus, that is made from the pith of the Papyrus Plant. We got a demonstration on how it is exactly made & how durable it is.
This was a wee bit of a touristy shop that once the demonstration was done you could buy something, so being the tourists we are, we really liked one that had the Egyptian family tree on it so figured it would be a good memento for home.

After the lunch stop we jumped on a bypass motorway and saw buildings with multiple coloured walls and what used to be a building. Mohamed explained that the government when building this bypass, pulled down what was needed and left what wasn’t need to be pulled down!
Mohamed made lunch simple, two options, mix grill or an Egyptian national dish called Koshary which is mixing pasta, Egyptian fried rice, vermicelli, brown lentils, and topped with a zesty tomato sauce, garlic vinegar and garnished with chickpeas and crispy fried onions. Garlic juice is an option on the side as well.
The whole group wanted to do the Koshary dish, lunch for Katie and I with two cokes cost $4.25NZD and it was a great dish! Katie couldn’t finish all of hers so had to help out!

After lunch we went to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Mohamed got us in and took us through the exhibits and explained in great detail about some of the artefacts. He took us through to what he thought were the better pieces, as there is so much to see, we definitely couldn’t see it all. We got to see the Tutankhamun collection which I have always wanted to see, this will be moved to the new Museum near the Pyramid’s once it finally opens officially.

We went back to the hotel and between the group we had 3 rooms for people to have a shower and clean up ready to jump on the night train to Aswan.
Before pick up time of 6:30pm to head for the train, we went to the 10th floor to have a beer with some of the group.

We arrived at the train station in Giza early, as traffic can be 15minutes to an hour from the hotel. The train was scheduled for 7:45pm… it arrived at 8:45pm or so, Egypt time!

We got on the train and they served us dinner, once dinner was done they converted the bottom seats into a bed. Katie took the top bunk and I the bottom.Read more