I had a restless, fitful night as I kept checking the clock. Finally we got up at 4:30 a.m., got ready and I quickly ate a yogurt with honey. We were unsure what we should wear but decided that we should wear long Dockers. At 5:25 a.m. we went down to the lobby where we met Mike G. and Emily. They were talking to Chris the night manager while we waited for the bus which arrived about 6 a.m. Off we went immediately to Paphos airport where we went through passport check and check in by 7:30 a.m. We boarded our flight on Eurocypria airlines about 8 a.m., leaving Paphos about 8:30 a.m.

Although it was a short flight, they brought us breakfast—a roll with cheese and ham (no surprise but I gave my ham to Mike), orange juice, and a chocolate cookie. About 9:25 a.m. we arrived in the Cairo airport. It was cooler today than they thought it would be—only 25º C. (Is that 90º F.?). We were SO excited to be in Egypt, a place we had always wanted to visit. Once we were through the passport check we were divided by language—so we were with Aeolus Tours English Bus 2. We quickly were loaded onto our bus and off we went through the streets of Cairo to the National Museum. On the way the tour guide talked to us about extra tours that we might choose—an extra tour to see the mummy rooms and a trip into the inside of one of the pyramids. We decided, what the heck? So we signed up for both tours.

We traveled through a beautiful area of Cairo, known as Heliopolis. It was originally a suburb of Cairo that was designed as a city of luxury and leisure where houses were built by the former Egyptian royal family, rich business people, etc. but had now merged with the city of Cairo. The traffic was unreal! No one seemed to be paying attention to the lanes—cars, mini-taxis, buses, bicycles, etc. all driving every which way. This place was SO crowded. We even saw a mule pulling a cart of watermelons beside us and the bus driver just turned in front of him without any signals! Yikes!

Next stop was the National Museum , also known as the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, the Egyptian Museum or the Cairo Museum which houses about 120,000 items. This was a place Mike and I had always wanted to visit! The museum was in an old building—red brick, built in the early 1900s!. It was SO hot as the museum was not air conditioned and in horrible repair. We were shocked! They were replastering various areas of the museum but it was shocking to see the unbelievable quantity of archaeological treasures in big wooden crates just stacked everywhere unopened and the exhibits that were there to see were in ancient wooden cases with wavy glass and yellowed typed cards describing the objects. As was usual our guide wanted to talk about objects that were not of interest to us.

Once our guide let us go off on our own, we hurried to the mummy room (the only air conditioned space in the museum) which was fascinating (we had paid extra to visit this room). Then we quickly rushed to see the Tut treasures many of which were just sitting haphazardly in the hallways. That shocked us for sure. By this time we needed to rush back to the bus although I had to stop at the WC where a large Egyptian woman was guarding the door and having us pay a euro for a single sheet of toilet paper! What a racket—and the WC was a foul nasty place.

We then rushed to the bus for the drive to our lunch site. On the way we drove through Cairo suburbs that were just wretched—filthy streets, polluted canals, and unfinished buildings. That was shocking—the difference in this area of the city and the earlier area we drove through was stunning. Once we arrived at the Movenpick Hotel which is right next to the pyramids, we had an elaborate lunch buffet.

Next stop was the pyramids! We were SO excited as Mike and I have wanted to see them in person since we were children. Those of us who had signed up for the pyramid tour were escorted to the 2nd pyramid, the pyramid of Khafre or Chephren where we were going inside (Mike G. and Emily had decided not to take the tour). This pyramid is the second tallest and second largest of the Ancient Egyptian pyramids of Giza. It is the tomb of the 4th dynasty pharaoh Khafre who ruled c. 2558-2532 BC. Oh my! The stone blocks where we enter were SO huge. We were amazed at how much larger these pyramids were than they look from the photos. The tunnel where we entered went down at a slant although they had added metal bars so you didn’t slip on the way down. Even so, it was not possible to stand up, it was more like duck walking down this hot, smelly, and very still tunnel. Finally we made it to the burial chamber where the only item was an immense empty rock sarcophagus. We were inside the middle of a pyramid—I have some problems with claustrophobia so was trying not to think about being inside this giant stone block—Mike about this time said Wow just think about how many tons of stones are above us! Well that didn’t help me any, for sure!

After we exited the pyramid, we walked around a little bit and took photos. It was surprising to us how close the pyramids and the desert are to the city of Cairo. We would have liked to have toured the Khufu ship or Solar Ship, an intact full-size vessel that had been buried in a pit at the foot of the Great Pyramid about 2500 BC. But we didn’t have time to do that. As we walked around there were many people trying to get us to ride a camel but we had been told not to do that as it was a scam and we would be told it was free but we would be charged to get off the camel. One of the shills put a scarf on Mike’s head and then told me to take their photo—which I did and of course it cost me! 

By then it was time to get back on the bus and off we went to visit the Great Sphinx of Giza! This limestone statue of a sphinx with the body of a lion and the head of a person (said to be that of Pharaoh Khafre) was carved out of the bedrock and is the oldest monumental statue in Egypt having been created during the reign of Khafre (c. 2558-2532 BC). We were both surprised at its size. The pyramids seemed so much larger than we would have thought and this was WAY less impressive than one would think. We of course took many photos and tried to ignore the waves of beggars trying to sell us jewelry, etc. We only had a very quick stop here and then we went to the jewelry store called Jewels of the Nile  where we could see them make gold necklaces with your name in hieroglyphics. Mike bought me a lapis lazuli and gold necklace while we were there. Next stop was the Papyrus Factory where they showed us how the Egyptians made paper then tried to sell us some of that.

It was then time to get back on the bus and drive to the boat dock on the Nile where we were taking a dinner cruise on a ship called the Nile Crystal. What fun! We had a buffet dinner while we floated down the river and watched the sun set over the Nile. For entertainment while we had dinner there was a belly dancer and a whirling Dervish. After that we decided to walk up to the roof of the boat so we could get a better view of the river and Cairo at night. 

Once we returned to the dock we boarded the bus and rode back to the airport arriving about 8:25 p.m. Then it was time to go through security and passport check again and board the plane for the quick flight back to Paphos. Even though the flight was brief they brought us a snack—a dry roll and a piece of cheese plus some salami that looked ancient. It was just downright nasty! In addition they brought us a container of orange juice (Mike drank both of ours) and a cookie that had a texture like a sponge. This was not good.

By the time we landed in Paphos, went through customs, and boarded the bus it was about 11 p.m. The air conditioner on the bus either did not work or was not turned on so it was a very hot ride back to the Jasmine Hotel. We arrived back at the hotel about 1:45 a.m. We were exhausted but with so many wonderful memories. Needless to say, we immediately went to our room, dropped the items we had bought, and went right to bed.