Cairo and Giza (Egypt Part 1)

After a long day of travel, during which the drive from the airport in Cairo to the hotel took half as long as the flight from Frankfurt to Cairo, we fell exhausted into our beds in the evening.

The next morning, however, the wake-up call arranged by the tour guide came at 6:30 a.m., so that we were all ready to depart at 8 a.m. With the minibus and our group of 15 people, we headed to the Pyramids of Giza.

First, we looked at the impressive buildings from the outside and then climbed into the burial chamber of the largest pyramid, the Cheops Pyramid. The ascent was quite narrow and steep, and we were glad that not many tourists were there yet. There wasn't much to see in the burial chamber - except for an empty stone sarcophagus and bad air, there was nothing there. Nevertheless, the walk through the pyramid was impressive.

Before continuing to the Sphinx, we had the opportunity to ride a camel. Although we were initially skeptical, we finally dared to do it and were allowed to ride 'Valentino' through the desert. The ascent and descent were a bit adventurous because Valentino didn't always want to wait for his owner's signal before getting up, but we managed to stay in the saddle despite all the swaying.

After visiting the most famous pyramids, we continued to the oldest pyramid in Egypt: the Step Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara.

Initially, it was a simple tomb, but it was expanded and then built with new steps upwards for more dead.

On the site, you could also visit various smaller burial chambers of high officials, in which impressively well-preserved hieroglyphics could still be admired. These tell of the everyday life and rituals of the ancient Egyptians.

We then continued with the minibus to Memphis, the former capital of Egypt.

On the way, our tour guide stopped the bus to order fresh flatbread for us at a roadside stand. To ensure that it hadn't been sitting in the exhaust fumes and dust for too long, he insisted that it be prepared in front of our eyes. So we all got a delicious warm flatbread to try.

Roadside stand with flatbreads

With this strengthened, we then visited the open-air museum, where we could see various statues, including the 10.5-meter statue of Ramses II, which was found in Memphis.

On the way back to the hotel, we got stuck in traffic as usual. In Cairo, there is no rush hour, our tour guide explained, but the traffic jam lasts from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. Traffic lights are also rare, and right-of-way rules seem not to exist. People also like to drive on the left if the driver hopes to make faster progress.

In the evening, we visited the 'Sound and Light Show' at the pyramids, where the history of the pyramids was told with appropriate music and illumination.