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Egypt for 1 Month, then MexicoEgypt for 1 Month, then Mexico
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Egypt for 1 Month, then Mexico

December 2022 - April 2023
A 114-day adventure by Ladyandtramp Read more
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  • LadyandtrampEgypt for 1 Month, then Mexico

    The Citadel and the Mohammed Ali Mosque

    December 14, 2022 in Egypt ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    A new day. Once again, at 5 a.m., we heard the Call to Prayer from the neighbouring mosque but we got up at 7 and were ready to face the day at 8:30 a.m. Today’s tour focussed on Old Cairo, not ancient Cairo but old Cairo. Our driver, Ahmed, and guide, Mamoud, were the same two guys that were with us yesterday.

    Our day was going to be a little easier today - The Citadel, the new Museum of Egyptian Civilization, the Coptic (Christian) area and the big Khan El-Khalili Bazaar.

    The Citadel of Cairo, located on a high limestone ridge, was built by Salah ad-Din (Saladin) and further developed by subsequent rulers. It was the seat of the government and the rulers’ residence for nearly 700 years from the 13th to the 19th century. It is now a historic site, including mosques and museums.

    Because it is high on a hill yet still near the center of Cairo, it offers great views of the City and the pyramids from its terrace, when it’s not too foggy or smoggy. Apparently the views from here are better than the views from the Cairo Tower.

    In 1976 it was designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site showing Historic Cairo (Islamic Cairo). It’s been open to the public since 1983 and is one of the must-see places to see when visiting Cairo.

    Have you ever wondered why the boxer Cassius Clay chose the name Mohammed Ali when he converted to Islam? Even though he said it meant “beloved of God”, it came from a real person, Muhammad Ali, who was known as the Father of modern Egypt. He was the founder of the Muhammad Ali dynasty that ruled over Egypt and Sudan from the 19th to the mid 20th century.

    There are four mosques in the Citadel today, with the most popular and the most visible mosque being the Muhammad Ali mosque which was built in memory of his oldest son by a Turkish architect. It is built of white alabaster and has domes upon domes upon domes. It took 18 years to build.    Read more

  • LadyandtrampEgypt for 1 Month, then Mexico

    Museum of Egyptian Civilization & Bazaar

    December 14, 2022 in Egypt ⋅ 🌙 16 °C

    Built in 1901, the Egyptian Museum in downtown Cairo was home to an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities, with over 120,000 items both on display and in storage. A new museum in Giza is almost completed (but very delayed) but the old museum will remain a major site in the centre of Cairo, but hopefully by less cluttered and more organized.

    We have not gone there yet, but went to a brand new museum called the national Museum of Egyptian Civilization.

    The crown jewel of the museum is the Hall of Mummies which displays the mummies of 18 kings and 2 queens of Egypt that were found in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor. By the way, we will be taking the train to Luxor to see this valley on Saturday.

    After death, the pharaohs of Egypt usually were mummified and buried in elaborate tombs. Members of the nobility and officials often received the same treatment, and occasionally, common people. However, the process was an expensive one, beyond the means of many.
    Using special processes, the Egyptians removed all moisture from the body, leaving only a dried form that would not easily decay.

    It was important in the religion of the Ancient Egyptians to preserve the dead body in as life-like a manner as possible. It was a little creepy but when we looked at all of the mummified bodies, we had a fairly good idea of what the person looked like in life, 3000 years ago. So strange.

    The mummification process took seventy days. Special priests worked as embalmers, treating and wrapping the body. Beyond knowing the correct rituals and prayers to be performed at various stages, the priests also needed a detailed knowledge of human anatomy.

    No photos were allowed to be taken in this hall (bags were checked), but if you are interested, there are some great videos of what we saw on the internet.

    By the way, the area that the museum occupies used to be a huge slum. The government razed this area and offered new apartments to everyone who lived there.

    After getting our fill of reading about ancient Egyptian kings and queens we were taken to the Khan El-Khalili Bazaar. It is one of the world’s first markets and a maze of narrow alleys. Many artisans have shops here and are involved in the production of traditional crafts like metalwork. It is great place to just walk around and try to grasp what life was like 600 years ago when merchants came from all over the world to sell their merchandise in this market.

    Chris and I are pretty used to dealing with hagglers and even though we were warned about the aggressive salesmen, didn’t find it too bad. It is all a selling game and yes, they are experts. A guy tricked me, in a pleasant way. He invited curious me to see something that I have never seen before. I went upstairs and he asked me if I had ever seen his employee before. Of course I hadn’t so he got me. I laughed and said firmly that I was just looking, not buying, and headed back downstairs. It was pretty funny actually. All part of the game.

    I think that the market has become a tourist market though. The prices for objects are way overpriced. You have to be good at bartering to get the prices down. We were told that we should start by offering half of the price and then try to get to a price that we feel the object is worth to us. We did buy some Egyptian candies this way and it worked.    Read more

  • LadyandtrampEgypt for 1 Month, then Mexico

    Kushary Dinner

    December 14, 2022 in Egypt ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

    Well, we had heard so much about kushary that we decided to try it out. THE place to try it was at a restaurant called Abu Tarek, a short walk away but …we had to cross a few streets. As I mentioned before, Cairo streets are treacherous places! Cars, trucks, donkey carts, busses, skateboarders, motorcycles, tuktuks and people make streets a nightmare to negotiate.

    As written in our guidebook, “Playing Chicken. It may sound silly, but the greatest challenge many travellers face in Cairo is crossing the street. Traffic seldom stops, so you have to trust that the cars will avoid you.” Once you step off the curb, you can’t stop or hesitate. Do it fast!

    The first street that we had to cross looked impossible but a kind man saw our distress and took charge. He signalled us to follow him and we crossed the road with him. Phew. Chris finally got the hang of it.

    Now back to the restaurant Abu Tarek. It is quite the place, 5 storeys, all lit up with lights and flashing signs. People can take out kushary or dine in. We opted for the full Abu Tarek experience, dining in the elaborate decor upstairs. Little did we know what we were in for.

    We were seated next to a group of men on a short trip to Egypt from Abu Dabi. One fellow spoke a English quite well and he offered to help us out. Kushary is a mix of noodles, rice, black lentils, fried onions and tomato sauce dressed with lime, more fried onions, a garlic and olive oil dressing, hot sauce and chick peas. We were told that the waiter would mix it for us, which he did expertly. Delicious!

    Then the guys beside us told us that they had paid for our dinner and a rice pudding dessert! What?! That was such a surprise but we have found that people are very kind and generous here. We feel like superstars. After telling us that they raise and race camels, they got up, said goodbye, and left. What a night.

    As we walked back to the hostel, the kindness continued. A women sitting beside the sidewalk made sure that we noticed a puddle on the sidewalk, other people wished us, “Welcome”, and a young boy smiled at us as we passed the nut store he was working in. We are not in Canada!

    Tomorrow, we will go to the Black and White Deserts and sleep under the stars.    Read more

  • LadyandtrampEgypt for 1 Month, then Mexico

    Overnight Trip to Black & White Deserts

    December 15, 2022 in Egypt ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    When we contacted the Holy Sheet Hostel, we found out that the owners could arrange an overnight trip into the desert for us. We had thoroughly enjoyed our camping trips in deserts in Namibia, Morocco and California so didn’t want to pass up on another trip into a desert in Egypt.

    Several young people at various hostels were picked up at 6:30 a.m. and we were driven to a hotel in the Bahariya oasis where we had a big ‘breakfast’ at around 11 a.m. We were broken up into small groups of 4 or 5 people and a Bedouin guide. Our guide, Mo, has done this job for 25 years and was a wealth of information about living in the desert.

    During our 4×4 expedition, we were lucky to have two fun and loving Nigerian sisters in our group. Together we saw unbelievable sand dunes, the volcanic Black Desert, a Crystal Mountain and the chalk rock formations of the White Desert. Not all deserts are the same and the ones we saw on this trip were very unique.

    Mo, who lives in a small oasis town called Siwa took care of everything from driving us there, setting up camp with tents, preparing the delicious dinner while we watched a beautiful desert sunset and later even demonstrated playing on a Bedouin bamboo flute as all sat under the fantastic starlit sky around a warm camp fire drinking a Bedouin tea.

    When the sun went down, Mo placed thin mats on blankets in the sand, gave us sleeping bags and pillows, then covered us with 5 thick blankets. Five! It was cold but not that cold. Off came several layers.

    We slept outside under the starlit sky hoping to see a desert fox but only saw lots of their tracks in the sand in the morning.

    Did I mention that we slept in our clothes and had to relieve ourselves behind any sand dune that suited us? Haha. Dig a hole, go, and then cover it up with sand. No privies in the white desert.

    After a quick breakfast, we got back into the 4x4 to start the long trip back to noisy, congested Cairo and our clean, sand-free Holy Sheet Hostel.    Read more

  • LadyandtrampEgypt for 1 Month, then Mexico
    1

    Holy Sheet Hostel

    December 17, 2022 in Egypt ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    We had read a blog about Cairo that recommended a hostel with excellent reviews, located in the centre near Tahrir Square and the Egyptian Museum - the Holy Sheet hostel. So this is where we are staying while we are in Cairo. The outside isn’t very pretty but the inside is great. Egyptian buildings are taxed by what they look like on the outside, like Mexico.

    We find that hostels are the best option when you arrive in a new country or new city. We meet other experienced travellers who are not on set tours and who have lots of great tips and suggestions. Also, hostels often have the best recommendations for guides and tours at reasonable prices.

    I booked a twin room with private bathroom and a balcony for $40 Cdn/night including breakfast for both of us. Mina and Antonio, the young owners, have been excellent. They were very welcoming and communication has been very good. They love helping people out with their plans and have given us lots of tips and information. Our room was clean and quiet and had an old world charm to it. Restaurants and stores are close by and so is a mosque with its Daily Call to Prayer songs.

    We can watch real life on the street as people and animals walk by, from comfort of our balcony on the third floor.

    At the end of our trip, we will finish up by staying here once again for a few days.    Read more

  • LadyandtrampEgypt for 1 Month, then Mexico
    14

    Cairo's Egyptian Museum

    December 17, 2022 in Egypt ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    While waiting for the train, we had time in the afternoon to visit the museum. It is only a 5 minute walk away. Mind you we had to face the crazy traffic! Luckily several Egyptians offered to take our hands, haha, and walk us across the streets. They are only 2 traffic lights that we have seen in our time here and one is near the museum. Thank heavens.

    We heard that previously the museum had been absolutely packed with artifacts but with the pending opening of the new Giza museum, a lot of artifacts have been moved over there already. We found that going to the museum on our own, was a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours. We especially loved the King Tut display. For some reason, we didn’t have to pay to take photos, but once again there were several rooms with precious artifacts that we were not allowed to take photos in.

    The museum had a lovely outside restaurant so we ate a tasty spaghetti bolognese lunch there while thinking of an old family friend (Italian) who is in her last hours of life. Here’s to a good life in Canada, Auntie Maria.    Read more

  • LadyandtrampEgypt for 1 Month, then Mexico

    Overnight Train to Luxor

    December 17, 2022 in Egypt ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Morning blog…

    Tonight, we will leave the Holy Sheet Hostel and take the Ernst train to Luxor so …. we have a free day to just hang out in the sun on our balcony, catch up on our blog if the wifi cooperates, pack up our bags and maybe go out for a walk to the Tahrir Square and the old museum. There are a few options for travel from Cairo to Luxor but we opted for the overnight train. It is more expensive than the day train but offers a new experience.

    It’s windy yet warm today so the sand will blow in from the desert. Our clothes haven’t really stayed very clean in Cairo. It’s a fact of life for the people here. We were able to send our clothes out to be washed, courtesy of the hostel, and we have hand-washed some of our clothes and we have only been here for 5 days!

    In the hostel’s common room, we met a runner from Boston who paid a lot of money to run a 60km race yesterday around Giza. He didn’t have a very good experience though. The hotel he was put in was filthy that he decided to move to the Holy Sheet. Good move. During his race, gangs of kids threw rocks at him and even tackled him to steal his phone and any money he might have. Once he fell to the ground while hanging on to his things with the kids on top of him, until the police showed up. The police used whips on the kids to break them up. What a horrible experience for him!

    Afternoon blog…

    We packed up and realized that we had time to walk to the old museum. No easy feat with the traffic but we did it. I wrote a footprint about it.

    Early evening blog…

    We had heard that because of the incredible traffic at rush hour, the 1 km trip to the train station may take forever. Knowing this, we decided to take Uber an hour earlier. The train was going to leave at 7:45 pm. S we left at 6:30 pm. We have never used Uber so the manager at the hostel have Chris a very good lesson and watched as Chris booked our first Uber ride. It all worked out well but now we had to deal with a very busy train station.

    A tourist police took us, and an Australian family of 6 (Melbourne), under his wing and put us in a special waiting room. He said that he would take care of us. And he did. At the right time, he picked us up and led us to the sleeper train waiting area. Then he made sure that we got on the right car. Chris tried to tip him but he wouldn’t take the money. We were all so relieved. Remember that everything is in Arabic here.

    About 30 years ago, my mother and I took a sleeper train from St. Petersburg to Moscow. The trains here are Russian-made so they are very similar. It is an experience to say the least!

    Our clean room is about 2m x 3 m, a tight squeeze for 2 people. Haha. We have bunk beds, a high rack for our bags, a sink with soap but no towels, a mirror, a window, and a few handy hooks. The washroom is at the end of the car.

    At 8:30, the porter brought us a piping hot dinner of rice, boiled potatoes, zucchini, and carrots,
    beef chucks, peppers and onion as well as a salad, roll and orange. We had brought drinks, snacks and a sandwich just in case the food was bad but it was all good!

    The porter returned to put up a ladder and make up the bottom bunk. We were surprised that there was a charging station for our phones.

    Anyways, we’ll see how sleep goes tonight. The porter said that he would wake us up at 5 a.m. for breakfast. I think that we get into Luxor at 6:30 a.m. Our hostel is letting us come in early.

    The next morning…

    We didn’t get a lot of sleep. The train kept stopping along the way. Haha. We haven’t had much sleep on this trip. We got in to Luxor at 6 a.m. and walked a short distance to the hostel through a garbage strewn area and the market as people were setting up. Egypt has not dealt with plastics at all. It’s everywhere!    Read more

  • LadyandtrampEgypt for 1 Month, then Mexico
    1

    Nefertiti Hotel, Luxor

    December 18, 2022 in Egypt ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    I had read lots of reviews for inexpensive hotels/hostels on the East Bank in Luxor, and one of them, the Nefertiti Hotel, stood out. It had all the things that we were looking for as well as a highly-rated restaurant and terrace on the roof that overlooks the Nile river. A huge breakfast buffet was included with our booking. The hotel, at the edge of the Luxor market is a 3-minute walk from the Luxor temple and the square and 4 km from the Colossi of Memnon statues.

    Booking.com had this write up about it:

    “Overlooking the ancient Luxor Temple, Nefertiti offers comfortable rooms with air conditioning and a private bathroom. Luxor’s railway station is only a 10-minute walk away.
    The rooms of Nefertiti enjoy a simple interior. Some of the rooms have a private balcony.
    Nefertiti has a tour desk which offers Nile River cruises and several sightseeing trips in Luxor. It also has a convenient 24-hour front desk service.
    A variety of drinks and Egyptian dishes are served on the rooftop terrace. Here, guests can also smoke a traditional Egyptian water pipe.
    It is only a 20-minute drive from Luxor International Airport.”

    The outside of the hotel is very old fashioned and unassuming and the rooms are small but the family that owns it have owned the hotel for a long time and have thought of everything. A kettle, hairdryer, toiletries, fresh towels every day, T.V., a balcony, comfortable beds, lights above our beds, a refrigerator, hangars in the closet, a safe box, and so much more.

    It was perfect for us!    Read more

  • LadyandtrampEgypt for 1 Month, then Mexico
    12

    Luxor - First Impressions

    December 18, 2022 in Egypt ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    We got off the sleeper train at about 6 this morning and walked along a deserted and very dirty, garbage strewn road to the Nefertiti hotel. I think we took a back route through a poor area. Even though it was pretty early, there were some taxi drivers trying to vigorously offer us rides. We knew the walk to the hotel wasn’t very far and we really needed to stretch our legs, so we walked.

    The first thing we did after getting to the hotel was go to the rooftop restaurant, that had a great view of the Nile, and have a coffee while watching the boats, the horse-drawn caleches, the dogs and the hot air balloons parade by in the early morning fog. There is definitely less traffic and horn blowing here compared to Cairo, but a lot more horses and caleches.

    Once our room was ready, we tried unsuccessfully to have a little nap (too much coffee) and then went out for walk to the Luxor Temple along the Nile Corniche, or the promenade, on the East Bank of the Nile. This is the great temple built by Amunhotep and Ramses II. From the Luxor temple, we could see a very long line of small sphinxes, that lead to the Karnak temple which we will visit tomorrow.    Read more

  • LadyandtrampEgypt for 1 Month, then Mexico

    Tahtib - Egyptian Stick Fighting

    December 18, 2022 in Egypt ⋅ 🌙 23 °C

    Tahtib, pronounced Tahteeb, is a modern version of the Egyptian stick-fighting martial art that later turned into a folk dance. Tahtib is now on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. What a mouthful!

    Well, wouldn’t you know but Luxor is hosting a National Festival of Tahtib in the nearby square during the time that we are here. Musicians play folk instruments, like the mizmar or Egyptian flute while men, from several surrounding towns in Upper Egypt, dance using long bamboo sticks.

    We walked to the square and watched the performances for about an hour. We were the only foreigners in the crowd so we became mini celebrities. Several people wanted to say hi or have their photo taken with us or talk to us. They even wanted me to try the dance. Yikes! I turned that offer down quickly.

    Tomorrow we are up early (4 a.m.) for a balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings. When will we ever catch up on our sleep?    Read more

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