I had seen everything which a tourist should see in Egypt during the 9 times I have been there, but I had never been to Cairo and I had never seen the Pyramides either. I won't bother you with history and dates if you are interested in knowing more about Cairo just look here in Wikipedia which does it much better than I.
I got a very good offer, for only 120 € (180 $) everything included a driver and a guide took us to Cairo and showed us around.
We left Hurghada at 2 am in this nice Van and arrived in Cairo at around 9 am and had a coffee in the last King of Egypt Farouk's palace, now a Hotel/Restaurant. (I wrote already about that here).
When the sun had raised we finally saw something ! We drove through the desert and along the sea, it was beautiful. That's why I didn't want to take a plane because then you go up for 30 min, go down, look at the pyramides and go back again. I wanted to see some landscape too.
after 500 km (310 miles) we saw the pyramides from far
and a mosque
Unfortunately there were also quite ugly modern buildings
a view from the Pyramides parking places over Cairo
cars, buses and taxis, we were lucky it was not too packed !
A guard
and another, I wished our policemen would also use camels
The entrance of the pyramide
there were so many people there, that we didn't want to line up and loose time. It was also too difficult to get into there with my friend Chantal and her crutches and our guide told us that there was anyhway not much to see.
We believed him and enjoyed the looks from outside
I don't know what I do to camels but as soon as they see me they lay down and roll around. It also happened to me in Morocco !
Finally we sat high up and we had a walk of one hour. Please note that I sat on Michael Jackson !
and then we left our camels and drove over to the Sphinx
Of course I had to be on the photo, to prove that I had really been there. I was a little disappointed I had imagined the Sphynx much taller.
Poor Sphynx had certainly had never seen such a lot of people from all around the world since it was excaved in 18 something, and it gets worse and worse each year.
and then we asked our guide to show us Cairo and let us drive around
We saw a public bus
and also the biggest mosque in Egypt
Vases all along the way
Saint Virgin Mary's Coptic Orthodox Church also called The Hanging Church
The traffic was a nightmare ! There were red lights and stop signs but everybody seemed to by colorblind or blind !
Always friendly and very cheerful !
A horse and carriage, waiting for tourists
Alzar University
old and modern houses
we had a little coffee break at a gaz station
just some buildings, photos taken out of the car
another public transport bus
and unfortunately this too is Cairo.
At 4 pm we left and I tried to catch the sunset, but unfortunately we drove in the "wrong" direction, so all I got is this. It had been a wonderful day.
Our guide told us that whole Cairo together with the suburbs etc. counts 30 million inhabitants !
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