Egypte
Door: Niels
17 November 2019 | Egypte, Caïro
This summer I was literally between two jobs. In June I quit my previous job and in September I would start a PhD position at Maastricht University. So time was on my side, although I still had a teacher position at Maastricht University for 20hours a week. But what is there to do for a teacher during the summer holiday?! I had already booked a small trip to Paris and Malawi, but since I had so much time on my hands I decided to take my leave of absence and go to Egypt.
I booked this trip via Shoestring and it turned out that many of the group had different flight times. Together with three other girls, I had the morning flight from Amsterdam via Vienna to Cairo. The flight from Amsterdam to Vienna went according to plan and we would have a two hour layover there, so enough time to catch our connecting flight. But our flight to Cairo was delayed, long enough to get bored at the airport, not long enough to claim our money back from the airline.
In Cairo, we got our visa and drove to the hotel. This was again a standard middle-eastern hotel with a nice lobby, and that was basically it. This was again a 'shining' hotel. I slept on the tenth and top floor. Because no guys had arrived yet, only girls, I had the room for myself that evening. After dumping our stuff in the room we went to dinner with our guide. We sat at a nice restaurant at the Nile. I asked our guide what was typical Egyptian and I got bread, rice, and a greenish, oily soup. I did not care for it, and it turned out that you really should not go to Egypt for the food. Even the signature dish, kebab, is like eating an old shoe.
As I said, that night I had a room for myself. My roommate was only about to arrive around midnight. I was supposed to open the door for him, because I had the key. But I was so tired I fell asleep, thinking that I would wake up when he knocked on my door. But I didn't. I only woke up when somebody from the hotel tried to open the door. I quickly woke up and opened the door myself. And there I stood, in the door opening with a sleepy head, in nothing but my shorts facing three strangers, my roommate, a girl that had arrived the same time as my roommate, and the man from the hotel. According to my roommate, he was knocking on my door for a while when he went down again to ask at the reception if they could let him in.
The next day the plan was to go to the pyramids, but since some people only arrived at 5 in the morning (!) we went to the Cairo Museum first. What struck me in that museum was that all these ancient sculptures are randomly put somewhere, also not really protected. Only the mask of Tutanchamon is put behind glass and, for some reason, pictures are prohibited there. In the rest of the museum, pictures are allowed. But, they are moving the museum closer to the pyramids, so hopefully it gets better. After the museum we went to the Cairo Citadel where we visited the Mosque of Muhammad Ali (not the boxer!). Afterwards we had some drinks there and went back to the hotel. That night we went to the rooftopbar of our hotel (only the lobby and the rooftopbar of the hotel were nice). Many people went to bed early as they only arrived in Egypt that same morning. With roommate, the girl that stood in front of my door that night, and a few other guys, I was planning to take a walk next to the Nile. Before we could reach the banks of the Nile we had to cross the street. Traffic was crazy and to make a long story short, we only made it half way across the street.
The next day I woke up with a growling stomach. I went several times to the bathroom that morning. Would it have been the oily soup of the first day? It seemed to me that this was unlikely, since it was relatively long ago. And according to the guide it were the tomatos. Apparently they start to ferment in your stomach in such hot weather. In my opinion, it seems a bit unfair to blame this only on the tomatoes, since all the food in Egypt is shit. So, on the way to the pyramids I had to stop the van and puke my guts out. I appologized to the group and we continued our journey. Because little blame was also on the driver (he drove like crazy) I was allowed to sit on the passenger seat for the remainder of the trip. This seat was originally assigned for a security officer, a police officer that was there to guarantee our safety. Apparently this was necessary and compulsory. But he was only there the first day and we never saw him again...
Before we arrived at the pyramids, we made a stop at a papyrus workshop/factory. Here I bought a little painting on papyrus of the Last Judgement before Osiris.
We first visited Saqqara and went to the pyramid of Djoser, one of the first pyramids of stone. This pyramid was basically a prototype, a try-out, for the rest of the pyramids. Next, we went to Giza, where we visited the three pyramids of Mykerinos (Menkaure), Chepren (Kafre), Cheops (Khufu). They are truely magnificent! In the pictures you see it always looks like this place is in the middle of the desert, but it's not. It's in the middle of the city and even people who live there tried to extend their houses with additional floors or rooms towards the pyramids. This is not allowed by the governmet (luckely) so they destroy the houses that are too close to the pyramids. But nobody cleans up the mess, nobody cares. So around the pyramids you will find half-build buildings or debris of destroyed homes.
Anyway, we where supposed to go around the pyramids on the back of a camel. Since I was still not feeling well, I politely declined, and a few others did the same. Since we also wanted to see the pyramids from afar, we decided to walk in the heat, wish might have been not the best idea. Around us were a lot of camels and horse-carriages with tourists on or in them. An Egyptian man rode by with his horse carriage shouting 'Heil Hitler' and his carriage was decorated with swastikas. Maybe it was his way to speak to and get the attention of German tourists there. I never realized Egypt also had a neo-nazi movement.
After seeing the mighty Sfinx, we went to our hotel again, had dinner and packed our bags to catch the night train to Luxor. All aboard, night train to Luxor!
It was a nice train and fortunalty I could sleep a bit, although I almost froze to death because some personel members were messing with the airconditioning. We arrived at Luxor station at 7.00am and went first to the hotel. Because it was so hot in Luxor, like 42 degrees Celcius, at that time almost as hot as in the Netherlands, we did stuff usually in the mornings and evenings. Around noon we were usually at the pool of the hotel.
That morning we went to the Karnak temple, a temple dedicated to the god Amun-Ra. It is truely amazing! Also, it is all built very high. Apparently the Egyptians start building the temple layer for layer. After one layer is finished they cover it with sand and start building the second layer. After finishing they have to get rid of all the sand again to reveal the temple. They must have been very patient!
After the Karnak temple, we all went to the Luxor museum, in which everything is way better preserved than in the Cairo museum. Here I brought postcards and stamps to send home. I wrote the postcards and gave them to the reception desk at the hotel to mail them. To this day they did not arrive. However, according to the guide, it can take 1 to 3 years for a postcard to arrive. But I suspect that the people from the hotel steamed of the stamps and threw away my postcards...
That afternoon we walked to the Luxor temple, which was very close to our hotel. Before the temple is the Avenue of Sphinxes. At one point UNESCO tried to restore this avenue, which was than covered in sand. Along the avenue is a Coptic Church that UNESCO tried to buy out of their property, but they refused. So now UNESCO gave up this project and only half of the avenue is visible. Our guide was really blaming the Copts for this, while there is also still a mosque operating inside the Luxor Temple. To me this seemed a bit hypocrite. The temple itself, dedicated to Rameses II and with the Colonnade of Amenhotep III, was really beautiful in the evening light!
Next stop was the temple of Hatshepsut and the Valley of the Kings. The temple of Hatshepsut is situated a bit on a slope and here you could really see the contrast with the Nile Valley below. Below it was all green while you stood in a desert-like environment in the fierce heat of the sun (it was already blazing hot eventhough it was still early in the morning). After the temple of Hatshepsut, we went to the Valley of the Kings where we visited three different tombs, the tombs of Rameses III and IV and the tomb of Tawosret/Sethnakht. For the tomb of Tutankhamon you had to pay extra and according to the guide is was not worth it, because everything worthwhile was already taken to the museum anyway. I think the Valley of the Kings was really a highlight of my trip to Egypt!
At noon we would have lunch on a boat on the Nile. But not before we made a brief stop at the Collosi of Memmon, two big statues of Amenhotep III with holes in them so they 'talk' when it is windy. Then we took the boat and had lunch. Finally, good food! We set sail for the 'banana island', which was not an island really, but only the other side of the river. But I have to admit, there were a lot of banana trees.
The next day we took the bus to Sharm el Naga at the Red Sea. A desolate place really. The only thing there was basically the all inclusive resort where we would spend the next 2 days. For me that is more than enough, because I get bored easily. I liked the snorkling and there was also good food, but not much else. While snorkling I always wore a t-shirt. I learned from my mistake in Belize, where I went snorkling without a shirt till the skin burned off my back. While I was snorkling there I found Dory and now at the Red Sea I finally found Nemo!
The next day the same driver that we had in Cairo (the crazy one with the heavy foot) came to pick us up and drove us back to the hotel. I lost count of the near death experiences on the way...
The last night in Cairo we spend at the same hotel. For a goodbye dinner we arranged a Nile dinner-cruise, which was nothing more than a big fat tourist trap. Also the flight home went not without trouble. First, it was a bit uncertain if we could go home at all. Around that time Lufthansa announced it would not fly to Cairo till further notice. The reason, however, remained ambiguous. At last we flew home via Frankfurt only with a small delay. However, because of the delay in Cairo we would maybe miss our connecting flight to Amsterdam. Because we could still make it in time, we were allowed to move to Business Class to sit close to the door of the airplane and be the first to leave the aircraft. But when the plane landed, the front door did not open and we were supposed to leave the aircraft through the other door in the middle. Fortunately it turned out that our connecting flight was also delayed and we were still in time to make it. Because I now arrived at midnight in Amsterdam, the trains were not running anymore and my dad had to pick me up from Schiphol.
I booked this trip via Shoestring and it turned out that many of the group had different flight times. Together with three other girls, I had the morning flight from Amsterdam via Vienna to Cairo. The flight from Amsterdam to Vienna went according to plan and we would have a two hour layover there, so enough time to catch our connecting flight. But our flight to Cairo was delayed, long enough to get bored at the airport, not long enough to claim our money back from the airline.
In Cairo, we got our visa and drove to the hotel. This was again a standard middle-eastern hotel with a nice lobby, and that was basically it. This was again a 'shining' hotel. I slept on the tenth and top floor. Because no guys had arrived yet, only girls, I had the room for myself that evening. After dumping our stuff in the room we went to dinner with our guide. We sat at a nice restaurant at the Nile. I asked our guide what was typical Egyptian and I got bread, rice, and a greenish, oily soup. I did not care for it, and it turned out that you really should not go to Egypt for the food. Even the signature dish, kebab, is like eating an old shoe.
As I said, that night I had a room for myself. My roommate was only about to arrive around midnight. I was supposed to open the door for him, because I had the key. But I was so tired I fell asleep, thinking that I would wake up when he knocked on my door. But I didn't. I only woke up when somebody from the hotel tried to open the door. I quickly woke up and opened the door myself. And there I stood, in the door opening with a sleepy head, in nothing but my shorts facing three strangers, my roommate, a girl that had arrived the same time as my roommate, and the man from the hotel. According to my roommate, he was knocking on my door for a while when he went down again to ask at the reception if they could let him in.
The next day the plan was to go to the pyramids, but since some people only arrived at 5 in the morning (!) we went to the Cairo Museum first. What struck me in that museum was that all these ancient sculptures are randomly put somewhere, also not really protected. Only the mask of Tutanchamon is put behind glass and, for some reason, pictures are prohibited there. In the rest of the museum, pictures are allowed. But, they are moving the museum closer to the pyramids, so hopefully it gets better. After the museum we went to the Cairo Citadel where we visited the Mosque of Muhammad Ali (not the boxer!). Afterwards we had some drinks there and went back to the hotel. That night we went to the rooftopbar of our hotel (only the lobby and the rooftopbar of the hotel were nice). Many people went to bed early as they only arrived in Egypt that same morning. With roommate, the girl that stood in front of my door that night, and a few other guys, I was planning to take a walk next to the Nile. Before we could reach the banks of the Nile we had to cross the street. Traffic was crazy and to make a long story short, we only made it half way across the street.
The next day I woke up with a growling stomach. I went several times to the bathroom that morning. Would it have been the oily soup of the first day? It seemed to me that this was unlikely, since it was relatively long ago. And according to the guide it were the tomatos. Apparently they start to ferment in your stomach in such hot weather. In my opinion, it seems a bit unfair to blame this only on the tomatoes, since all the food in Egypt is shit. So, on the way to the pyramids I had to stop the van and puke my guts out. I appologized to the group and we continued our journey. Because little blame was also on the driver (he drove like crazy) I was allowed to sit on the passenger seat for the remainder of the trip. This seat was originally assigned for a security officer, a police officer that was there to guarantee our safety. Apparently this was necessary and compulsory. But he was only there the first day and we never saw him again...
Before we arrived at the pyramids, we made a stop at a papyrus workshop/factory. Here I bought a little painting on papyrus of the Last Judgement before Osiris.
We first visited Saqqara and went to the pyramid of Djoser, one of the first pyramids of stone. This pyramid was basically a prototype, a try-out, for the rest of the pyramids. Next, we went to Giza, where we visited the three pyramids of Mykerinos (Menkaure), Chepren (Kafre), Cheops (Khufu). They are truely magnificent! In the pictures you see it always looks like this place is in the middle of the desert, but it's not. It's in the middle of the city and even people who live there tried to extend their houses with additional floors or rooms towards the pyramids. This is not allowed by the governmet (luckely) so they destroy the houses that are too close to the pyramids. But nobody cleans up the mess, nobody cares. So around the pyramids you will find half-build buildings or debris of destroyed homes.
Anyway, we where supposed to go around the pyramids on the back of a camel. Since I was still not feeling well, I politely declined, and a few others did the same. Since we also wanted to see the pyramids from afar, we decided to walk in the heat, wish might have been not the best idea. Around us were a lot of camels and horse-carriages with tourists on or in them. An Egyptian man rode by with his horse carriage shouting 'Heil Hitler' and his carriage was decorated with swastikas. Maybe it was his way to speak to and get the attention of German tourists there. I never realized Egypt also had a neo-nazi movement.
After seeing the mighty Sfinx, we went to our hotel again, had dinner and packed our bags to catch the night train to Luxor. All aboard, night train to Luxor!
It was a nice train and fortunalty I could sleep a bit, although I almost froze to death because some personel members were messing with the airconditioning. We arrived at Luxor station at 7.00am and went first to the hotel. Because it was so hot in Luxor, like 42 degrees Celcius, at that time almost as hot as in the Netherlands, we did stuff usually in the mornings and evenings. Around noon we were usually at the pool of the hotel.
That morning we went to the Karnak temple, a temple dedicated to the god Amun-Ra. It is truely amazing! Also, it is all built very high. Apparently the Egyptians start building the temple layer for layer. After one layer is finished they cover it with sand and start building the second layer. After finishing they have to get rid of all the sand again to reveal the temple. They must have been very patient!
After the Karnak temple, we all went to the Luxor museum, in which everything is way better preserved than in the Cairo museum. Here I brought postcards and stamps to send home. I wrote the postcards and gave them to the reception desk at the hotel to mail them. To this day they did not arrive. However, according to the guide, it can take 1 to 3 years for a postcard to arrive. But I suspect that the people from the hotel steamed of the stamps and threw away my postcards...
That afternoon we walked to the Luxor temple, which was very close to our hotel. Before the temple is the Avenue of Sphinxes. At one point UNESCO tried to restore this avenue, which was than covered in sand. Along the avenue is a Coptic Church that UNESCO tried to buy out of their property, but they refused. So now UNESCO gave up this project and only half of the avenue is visible. Our guide was really blaming the Copts for this, while there is also still a mosque operating inside the Luxor Temple. To me this seemed a bit hypocrite. The temple itself, dedicated to Rameses II and with the Colonnade of Amenhotep III, was really beautiful in the evening light!
Next stop was the temple of Hatshepsut and the Valley of the Kings. The temple of Hatshepsut is situated a bit on a slope and here you could really see the contrast with the Nile Valley below. Below it was all green while you stood in a desert-like environment in the fierce heat of the sun (it was already blazing hot eventhough it was still early in the morning). After the temple of Hatshepsut, we went to the Valley of the Kings where we visited three different tombs, the tombs of Rameses III and IV and the tomb of Tawosret/Sethnakht. For the tomb of Tutankhamon you had to pay extra and according to the guide is was not worth it, because everything worthwhile was already taken to the museum anyway. I think the Valley of the Kings was really a highlight of my trip to Egypt!
At noon we would have lunch on a boat on the Nile. But not before we made a brief stop at the Collosi of Memmon, two big statues of Amenhotep III with holes in them so they 'talk' when it is windy. Then we took the boat and had lunch. Finally, good food! We set sail for the 'banana island', which was not an island really, but only the other side of the river. But I have to admit, there were a lot of banana trees.
The next day we took the bus to Sharm el Naga at the Red Sea. A desolate place really. The only thing there was basically the all inclusive resort where we would spend the next 2 days. For me that is more than enough, because I get bored easily. I liked the snorkling and there was also good food, but not much else. While snorkling I always wore a t-shirt. I learned from my mistake in Belize, where I went snorkling without a shirt till the skin burned off my back. While I was snorkling there I found Dory and now at the Red Sea I finally found Nemo!
The next day the same driver that we had in Cairo (the crazy one with the heavy foot) came to pick us up and drove us back to the hotel. I lost count of the near death experiences on the way...
The last night in Cairo we spend at the same hotel. For a goodbye dinner we arranged a Nile dinner-cruise, which was nothing more than a big fat tourist trap. Also the flight home went not without trouble. First, it was a bit uncertain if we could go home at all. Around that time Lufthansa announced it would not fly to Cairo till further notice. The reason, however, remained ambiguous. At last we flew home via Frankfurt only with a small delay. However, because of the delay in Cairo we would maybe miss our connecting flight to Amsterdam. Because we could still make it in time, we were allowed to move to Business Class to sit close to the door of the airplane and be the first to leave the aircraft. But when the plane landed, the front door did not open and we were supposed to leave the aircraft through the other door in the middle. Fortunately it turned out that our connecting flight was also delayed and we were still in time to make it. Because I now arrived at midnight in Amsterdam, the trains were not running anymore and my dad had to pick me up from Schiphol.
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