Everyone should go to Egypt once in their life. With so many iconic attractions, the pyramids, the temples, the tombs and the River Nile, I believe these are things you should make the effort to go and see. Whether you decide to return is up to you!
Egypt was on my list of places to visit, but it certainly wasn’t anywhere near the top of that list. That all changed when I found a cruise through the Suez Canal and managed to grab a cabin on that sailing in April. I wouldn’t see a huge amount of Egypt on the cruise, so I decided since I was going to have to fly to Egypt to get on the clipper ship I might as well spend a week in the country beforehand to see some of the sights.
An abundance of flights to Cairo meant it was logical to start my holiday in Egypt there, or more specifically, in Giza.
There were huge problems with enormous queues at British airports and this week which was the run up to Good Friday was no exception. I was flying from Manchester via Heathrow to Cairo so I had booked the early flight from Manchester to Heathrow as I knew there were 2 flights to Cairo from Heathrow each day. If I aimed for the first flight out of Heathrow and missed my connection, I had a fighting chance of catching the second flight. Despite the queues I got through check in and security in good time to reach the gate.
We were all boarded about 10 minutes before take off, but then everything went wrong. The computerised navigation system had apparently disappeared overnight. So the pilot had nothing to guide him to Heathrow. Did he not know his way there? Surely he must have flown the route hundreds of times? As far as I could tell the computer never did get fixed, but they got maps so that he could fly to Heathrow. We took off an hour late. When I originally booked my flights I had 90 minutes to make the connection. Now I probably wouldn’t have half that time to get to the gate at Heathrow. And I might miss my connection altogether. Just as well I’d allowed for this. The flight attendant told us incorrectly that there was only one flight to Cairo a day so if we missed the connection we’d be stuck in Heathrow for a day, but I pointed out that there was another BA flight to Cairo later that day plus two Egyptair flights.
We landed at Heathrow and thankfully I didn’t have to worry about going through security again, I just headed straight to the gate for the Cairo flight and I made it to the aircraft in time for boarding. Hopefully now I could relax a bit and enjoy my flight to Cairo which was just over 4 hours. It was basically a short haul flight, the seat configuration was 3-3 and there were no seat back screens. Music it was then.
I was extremely concerned that my suitcase would not have made it onto the plane. I had put extra stuff into my rucksack just in case my suitcase didn’t make it onto the same plane as me. The carousel in Cairo was set to be a roulette wheel for me. Would my suitcase be on it or not?
Cairo looked so built up when I saw it from the air. It was the most crowded city I’d ever seen in my life. And all the buildings were varying shades of sand which made them all look exactly the same colour from the air, brown like the desert. As we got closer to the ground I could see more clearly that there was no space between the tower blocks, it was extremely crowded. The other thing I noticed from the air was when we first saw the African continent from the coast it was all lush and green and farm fields. Then suddenly all the green stopped and it was yellow desert. It was almost as if you stepped over an invisible line and all the green and the vegetation disappeared and you were faced with a never ending expanse of barren wasteland.
I got through the airport fairly easily and thankfully my suitcase had made it onto the plane at Heathrow. Then had the problem of locating the driver who had come from my hotel to pick me up. It was very confusing because one bloke was waving a sign Giza Pyramids Inn, but I was at the Giza Pyramids View Inn which was different. They all have similar names down this street in Giza, the appropriately named Sphinx Street. I located the right driver and got into the back of the car to go to the hotel.
It must have taken about an hour and a half with the traffic to get to the hotel in Giza as we drove through Cairo. The sand coloured tower blocks were everything from brand new to practically falling down, I couldn’t actually tell whether some of them were being built, being knocked down or had just been left to collapse of their own accord. Some looked like slums, much like I’d seen in Rio a decade ago. But Rio had a very different feel to Cairo and after the initial culture shock, I fell in love with Rio. I didn’t feel the same about Cairo. Fortunately this was the only experience I would have of Cairo. I had just 2 nights in Giza and all my time would be taken up seeing the pyramids. I was a little disappointed I wouldn’t have time to visit the Egyptian Museum, but you have to make choices with your time and seeing Tutankhamun’s gold mask was sacrificed in favour of other attractions.
The traffic in Cairo was awful and there were no lane markings, I wasn’t sure how many lanes there were supposed to be, not that this seemed to matter as the drivers were just making their own lanes and cutting in. The honking horns were constant. I didn’t spot one car without dents or scuffs. Several pedestrians were taking their life in their hands by diving across the road between cars, others were trying to sell to the passing traffic jam, one man was wearing a fearsome Halloween mask, but the ones that intrigued me were the ones selling pastries and pancakes. One of them was wearing a matching suit and tie! I wouldn’t have thought the traffic fumes would have done the suit a lot of good. Another one didn’t have a tie on, but still wore smart trousers and a jacket. Bizarre.
The traffic was bad, but I had seen worse. It certainly was not as bad as Mexico City despite my driver claiming otherwise. And while it was a bit scary in this traffic and it wasn’t an experience I was planning to repeat, it was nowhere near as scary as the traffic in Buenos Aires which so far no other place I’ve been has come close to regarding me wondering if I would end the journey alive or dead. I noticed there were a lot of collective minibuses and decided I was never getting in one. The essential quality to be a driver of these minibuses was maniac. Or possibly lunatic. Probably a bit of both. As we drove through Cairo I had no desire to spend any time in the city whatsoever. I don’t know why I was surprised by this. In fact, I don’t think it did surprise me. I hate crowds and I’ve never been a huge fan of cities. Especially not somewhere like Cairo with its crumbling sandstone skyscrapers, home to 22 million people.
I was beginning to wonder if I’d made a huge mistake deciding to spend a week in Egypt. But as I got to Giza and to my hotel I started to relax a bit. I got my excursion sorted for the next day, a 2 hour morning camel ride, followed by time on the Giza plateau and then a driver to take me to Dahshur and Saqqara in the afternoon. The man on reception told me to go to my room and relax and watch the Sound and Light show. I asked him if I could watch it from my room. He said yes, that was the room I’d booked with a balcony with a view.
I was very impressed with my hotel room. For once the photos on the website didn’t lie. I got exactly the view I’d been promised in the photos, a balcony looking straight at the pyramids and the Sphinx. The room was large, clean and comfortable, it had been a good choice. I sat on my balcony in my down jacket waiting for the Sound and Light show to begin. In Giza it’s still quite cool at night in April.
The Sound and Light show in Giza is the story of the pyramids narrated by the Sphinx. They narrate in one language and there are translations for anyone else attending. As I was watching from my hotel rather than going into the pyramid complex I didn’t have the option of a translation and unfortunately for me the narration tonight was in Spanish. I didn’t need to understand to enjoy watching the pyramids and the Sphinx illuminated intermittently by different coloured lights. After it had finished I decided to get some sleep. It had been a long day. Tomorrow I was going to see the Giza Pyramid complex and explore the interior of some of the pyramids of Ancient Egypt.
I travelled to Egypt in April 2022.
I stayed at the Giza Pyramids View Inn in a panoramic pyramids view double room with a balcony. I booked through Expedia and paid £43 per night which included breakfast and a complimentary one way airport pick up which was offered with a booking of 2 nights or more.
I flew to Cairo with British Airways from Manchester via Heathrow. A one way flight from Manchester to Cairo via Heathrow takes approximately 4 hours and 30 minutes and cost £237.
You will need a visa to visit Egypt. I applied for my visa online through the Egyptian government e-Visa portal website. A single entry tourist visa costs $25 USD and is valid for 3 months.
Read about my visits to
Pyramids of Giza, Dahshur and Saqqara
