Cairo & ancient Egyptian civilization

With no direct flights between Kenya and Morocco, we weighed our options. While Cairo has a reputation for being crazy busy and huge, the opportunity to see ancient Egyptian history was compelling. So, we booked 4 days in Cairo.

To dampen the effects of Cairo-intensity, we hired a guide for about 2.5 days. Lamia has a PhD in Egyptology, and lots of experience. She began our whirlwind learning tour at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. This museum describes the full range of Egypt's ancient to modern history (Pharaos, Greek-Roman, Coptic, Islamic, and modern). We focused our efforts on ancient Egypt, starting to get acquainted with key concepts.

A major highlight was the royal mummies. They are in a separate, underground gallery, beautifully designed. It was an incredible and humbling moment to one day see the fossils of early humans, and then the next day to see the ancient king and queen mummies: Rameses, Nefertiti, Amenhotep and more.

"In accordance with their beliefs, they preserved their bodies for the sake of their souls. They constructed their tombs within the cliff of the valley on the West Bank of the Nile, near their capital at Thebes, and equipped them with all the necessary objects for life after death. The tombs’ entrances were then blocked and the chambers were hidden in order to allow the mummies to be preserved for eternity and carry out their role as a home for the soul in the Afterlife."Read more