Being a tourist in Egypt is exhausting. Not necessarily physically although that can be quite demanding, especially in the heat of the desert. But you have to be mentally alert the whole time. Everyone is trying to make money out of you and in some cases trying to scam you and it is completely draining to have to think about it every minute. I wouldn’t have missed seeing Egypt, but it could be hardgoing.
My day in Giza started reasonably well. I didn’t fancy breakfast, I just wanted a drink. I asked for orange juice and got something that was orange in colour, the similarity to real orange juice ended there. I drank it and then went down to reception. First I needed to get some Egyptian money. The first ATM I went to had a blank screen. The next one I tried wasn’t attached to a bank and wanted to charge me a £2.50 fee. I declined. The next ATM was attached to a bank but wouldn’t give me any money. I spotted another one attached to a bank and this one gave me money without offering to convert into English pounds or charging a fee. Useful to know about, I could use that again if necessary.
The man who was supposed to be taking me on the camel hadn’t arrived so I had to ask the hotel to ring him. He finally turned up, took me to the ticket office where he bought a ticket for the Giza plateau and for me to go inside one of the pyramids. The Great Pyramid was closed today so I had a ticket to go in the smaller one, the Pyramid of Khafre.
We went into the pyramid complex and I could see the pyramids in front of me. I posed for the obligatory touristy photos which looked like I was picking up the pyramids. Not really my sort of thing, but never mind.
My guide went to get a camel for me and a horse for himself. I waited for a while and then he returned with a camel for me. It was quite easy getting onto the camel, I just had to hold on tight and lean back and the camel stood up.
My camel was very serene. The horse was a bit skittish as horses notoriously are, but camels don’t let much bother them. When I was in Australia I was told that if a camel saw a snake it would probably just step over if rather than panicking like a horse would. My camel on this trip kept calm for the whole ride.
I really enjoyed the camel ride. We rode out onto the Giza Plateau and went to a viewing point where we could see six of the nine pyramids on the plateau. This was a wonderful view and one that you would only see if you did a longer camel ride. It was much too far to walk and the 15 minute camel rides didn’t come on this route. I was pleased I had decided to come on this ride and see the pyramids on the plateau from this angle. I posed for more photos and then we were on our way again. At one point the horse lost its footing and got startled, my camel just kept going as if nothing had happened. I was pleased I was on a camel and not a horse.
We continued our ride towards the three big pyramids. The Great Pyramid of Giza was closed today, but I sat on my camel and had more photos with the Great Pyramid behind me. I then walked up to the second largest pyramid, the Pyramid of Khafre which does look bigger than the Great Pyramid, but that’s because it’s built on a higher elevation. I had paid to go inside this pyramid so I left my camel behind.
I descended into the pyramid and walked through it until I got to one of the rooms with a tomb inside. That was it, an empty tomb. That’s all there is to see inside the pyramids on the Giza Plateau. But I had read it wasn’t the most exciting thing you would ever do. I declined the offers to have any photos taken as everyone here was just after a tip. I got to loathe the tipping culture very quickly, everyone constantly asking you for money. That’s what I mean about being a tourist in Egypt being exhausting.
I got back onto the camel and we rode around to the Sphinx for more photographs. I wanted to get a closer look at the Sphinx so the guide took me closer to it and showed me the way out. He wasn’t impressed with the tip I gave him, but I thought was generous to say he had only given me about an hour and twenty minute camel ride rather than the full 2 hours that I’d paid for. However, I had plenty more to see today, so I didn’t argue for more time on the camel.
I walked around close to the Sphinx and got a fellow tourist to take a photo for me. They were the only ones that didn’t ask for tips. I’d got a new phone and wasn’t about to be held to ransom by any of the locals out to scam tourists. I only handed over my phone to either my personal guide or another tourist. I walked around the complex of the Sphinx for a short time and then made my way back to my hotel ready for my next excursion.
I had a car booked for late morning to take me to Dahshur and Saqqara. It was the same driver that had picked me up from the airport the day before.
My top priority was to go inside the pyramids at Dahshur, so I said we should start there to make sure I had enough time to go inside. I had read that only one was open at any time, however both of them were open today. The ticket was a bargain at the equivalent of just under £3 for both pyramids.
The pyramids at Dahshur are older than the ones at Giza. They are some of the best preserved and also the least crowded. Most day trips take in Giza, Saqqara and Memphis and as Dahshur is further away this often gets left out. One of the reasons I loved my experience at Dahshur was because of the lack of people there. This also meant there were no people hassling you for money, it wasn’t worth their while to be there. I know I keep going on about this, but if you haven’t experienced it, you’ve no idea how annoying it is!
I started at the Red Pyramid and I just took my mobile with me and left my rucksack in the car. This turned out to be a good move. If I had no money with me I couldn’t be pestered by everyone for tips. They soon leave you alone when they realise you have no money.
The Red Pyramid, also called the North Pyramid is the largest of the pyramids at Dahshur. It’s called the Red Pyramid due to the fact that red limestone was used to construct it. The pyramid is the third largest in Egypt after the two largest ones in Giza.
To go inside the Red Pyramid the first thing you have to do is to climb several flights of steps on the outside so you’re part way up the pyramid. Then there’s a kind of ladder to climb down to get to the base of the pyramid. You go down backwards like you would with a real ladder. This ladder has wooden rungs, but there’s also a wooden platform underneath rather than fresh air like a normal ladder, so you can slide your foot along the wood until you reach the rung. There’s a handrail at each side. You go a long way down. I was amazed how long the ladder was and how far down I was going. I counted on the way back up and it was somewhere around 150 rungs which equates to about 60 metres. That’s a big ladder!
Once you get down to the bottom of the ladder you’re in the interior of the pyramid and unlike in the Giza pyramid you can tell you’re in pyramid. It is pyramid shaped!
There was a set of stairs leading further up into the pyramid. So I’d climbed all that way down to go back up again. I got to see more of the interior of the pyramid, plus the rubble that had been discarded, presumably when the pyramid was constructed. There wasn’t a huge amount to see, but it was quite an adventure climbing a ladder into a pyramid. That was one of the things I enjoyed about going inside the pyramids at Dahshur. It felt like I was exploring and on an adventure.
Next off I went to the Bent Pyramid, the other pyramid at Dahshur that you can go inside. The Egyptians constructed the Bent Pyramid first and this early pyramid was built at the wrong angle at first. When they realised that the angle wouldn’t work they corrected it and resumed building at a different angle, but the result was a bent pyramid.
Again I had to climb up some steps outside the pyramid in order to climb down into the pyramid. This descent was 80 metres and there were well over 200 steps on this ladder. This was a bit more difficult to climb down because of the varying size of the ceiling because of the different angles. It felt like it was taking forever to get to the bottom of the ladder.
This was even more of an adventure than the Red Pyramid because as well as steps inside the pyramid, there were also some tunnels to get through. You didn’t have to crawl, they weren’t that small, but you had to crouch right down in order to get through them and there were some tight spots. Again, I could tell that I was in a pyramid, you could see quite clearly the shape inside.
The final destination wasn’t a tomb, but a bat cave and there were quite a lot of bats sleeping in this part of the pyramid. They seemed quite content to sleep, so I observed them silently for a few minutes and then went back through the pyramid to the ladder. I had to keep my head lower than my back as I climbed up because of the varying height of the ceiling.
The complexes all closed at 3 o’clock today because Ramadan had affected the closing times of places. So I had a choice to go to Saqqara to see yet another pyramid or to Memphis. I decided I might as well see all the pyramids while I was here. If I ever came back I could go to Memphis then. I have since determined it’s highly unlikely I’ll be back to Egypt, I’m getting older and running out of time for repeat visits and Egypt didn’t grip me enough to compel me to go back. The only Memphis I’ll ever see in my lifetime now will be the one in Tennessee.
I really enjoyed the Red Pyramid and Bent Pyramid. I loved being able to explore the interiors and you could tell you were inside a pyramid. I also loved the fact that very few tourists were there. Almost all tourists who came to Dahshur had come with a guide so no one was hanging around wanting to offer their guiding services or anything else. The blokes at the entrance to the pyramids had asked for a tip, I’m not sure what for, they only showed me the entrance to the pyramid and I could see that myself! But other than that there was no one around. It was as close to peace as I was going to find.
Saqqara is closer to Giza and much more on the tourist trail. So the fact that I didn’t have a guide there was a nuisance. I had blokes following me around all the time.
Saqqara is the home of the Step Pyramid which was built in stages, deliberately stepped, not a mistake like the Bent Pyramid. I had bought a ticket to go inside. I had been annoyed when I’d paid my entrance ticket which was 285 Egyptian pounds and I only had 400 in notes and so the ticket office man decided it was reasonable to give me 100 pounds in change and keep the extra 15. Okay it only amounted to about 70p, but why should he get to keep it?
Saqqara is the necropolis for the city of Memphis, a large complex where the Step Pyramid can be found as well as the royal tombs. I was hounded by a bloke trying to sell me a scarf, my rucksack was in the car, I had no money on me, I kept telling him no, but he persisted for a while until I took a turn into one of the courtyards with decorative tombs.
I then diverted around the Step Pyramid and walked all the way around it. There were no touts there, just security and tourist police who were just as much of a nuisance trying to show you things so they could get tips. I largely ignored them as there were a couple of other tourists they were busy with and continued all the way around the pyramid until I saw the entrance into the Step Pyramid.
The Step Pyramid of Djoser was built in the 27th century BC. The interior of the Step Pyramid was nothing like the other two I’d been inside this afternoon, fairy lights lit the corridor of columns that led you down a short path to a barrier and when I looked over the barrier it was a definite wow moment. I very much doubt it has been captured adequately in the photos I took, but basically when I looked over the barrier it was into the depths of the pyramid. And it was really deep. Like looking into a well and always being surprised how deep it is. The Step Pyramid obviously had huge foundations.
I walked around the rest of the complex, once again ignoring the scarf salesman who then had a word with one of the tourist police who had a big gun and he wanted to show me around. I wasn’t interested in a guide, but he seemed intent on sticking with me, even when I deliberately held back pretending to read something.
He showed me one of the tombs and the bloke guarding the tomb kept asking me for my phone to take a photo of me. I declined and took my own photos. The tomb was very beautiful with coloured paintings on the wall, similar to what I saw in the tombs on the West Bank in Luxor. As I exited the tomb he asked me for money and I told him I had none.
The policeman was still waiting for me and the scarf salesman now reappeared, I told them I had no money and finally, when they realised they weren’t going to get a penny out of me, they left me alone. Do you see a pattern developing here? I was concerned they were going to follow me to my waiting car, but thankfully they didn’t! The enjoyment of my visit to Saqqara had definitely been diminished by the fact I had no guide to bat away the hawkers.
My driver then took me to a papyrus museum. It was obvious that this was a tourist trap with commissions for taxi drivers, but I was quite interested in getting some nice papyrus and it was a very smart shop, not some backstreet market stall.
My original intention was not to buy anything, but the salesman showed me a few pieces. When he gave me the price I told him I wasn’t going to pay anything like that and gave him a budget for him to work with. I went up from my budget and he came a long way down from his initial price and offered to have my name written in hieroglyphics on the papyrus which was a scene of Egyptian gods weighing a heart. So I agreed.
I’m under no illusions that I got the bargain of the century, but the sum wasn’t outrageous. I got a guarantee certifying that this was genuine Egyptian papyrus made from papyrus grown on an Egyptian farm, the same material that the Ancient Egyptians used. I had no reason to believe it wasn’t genuine papyrus, it certainly didn’t look like the stuff they were trying to flog for $2 at the pyramids that morning.
If you’re interested my name in hieroglyphics is loyal, protective, strong personality and a triple amount of truthfulness as both E and Y mean truthful and obviously I have one E and two Ys in my name.
My driver took me to a perfume shop after the papyrus shop, this time I did resist the hard sell and came away empty handed.
By the time I got back to the hotel I was tired and hungry. The man at hotel reception who had greeted me the day before offered more tours, an hour round the streets in a tuktuk, a trip to the Grand Bazaar, another shopping trip for perfume and papyrus. I didn’t have the energy, I was drained, I said I was going to eat and then I just wanted to rest. He said to be sure to watch the Sound and Light Show. So that would be the sound and light show I’d watched from my balcony the previous night. I just agreed.
I went back to my hotel room and had an early night. I waited for the Sound and Light Show to start to see if it was in English this time. It was in Spanish again, so I didn’t bother listening to it a second time.
Tomorrow I had a long day ahead of me on the train all day. Tonight I needed some rest.
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 arranged my excursions through Giza Pyramids View Inn. The full day tour which comprised of a morning camel ride, visit to Giza Plateau and transport to Dahshur and Saqqara cost approximately £90. There is a list of tours available on the website which can be adapted to your requirements.
Entry to the Giza Plateau costs £200 EGP. Entry inside the Great Pyramid costs £400 EGP and entry inside the Pyramid of Khafre costs £100 EGP.
Entry to the Pyramids at Dahshur including the interior of the Red Pyramid and Bent Pyramid costs £60 EGP.
Entry to Saqqara including the interior of the Step Pyramid costs £285 EGP.
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 other adventures in Egypt.
First Day and First Impressions of Egypt
