We spent 11 days in Egypt in mid November 2023. This was Beef’s first* time in Egypt and V’s fourth time (Beef actually went to Egypt when he was 4, but doesnt remember). We decided to spend half the time on a Nile cruise from Aswan to Luxor and the other in half in Cairo. We were lucky enough to have family in Egypt who really went above and beyond to make sure we had the best of times. On top of this, we had an awesome family member who is a travel agent organize our entire trip with Etapes Nouvelles

We flew in into Cairo (Nice -> Cairo) spent a couple of days there then we flew to Aswan to start the Nile cruise. The Nile cruise ended in Luxor, so we flew from Luxor back to Cairo for a few more days. Note about currency: the Egyptian government doesn’t recognize 1$ bills or coins for the locals, so to tip an okay amount, transfer your currency into the local bills.

Cairo- 5 days

We landed in Cairo in the evening and once we got off the plane we were directed to get a visa which we needed USD or Euros for. The line for the visa was quite unorganized and took us probably 2 hours to get through! Once we got our visas we headed out and were greeted by my cousin Monica.

For the first half of the trip we stayed at Fairmont Nile City. We loved this hotel! it had great staff and service, a killer view of the nile, and a super awesome breakfast/room service.

Old Cairo

The next morning V’s uncle Abouna Salib picked us up and took us to his church called Abu Sefein for a service. This was the same church my mother grew up going to. After church, we had the BEST falafel we have ever had with V’s cousins, George and Miriam and Aunt Jane. After this Abouna took us to visit some of the historic churches.

Old Cairo is among the most important locations visited by the Holy Family-here the spiritual impact of their presence is still felt. An air of piety and devotion pervades the whole district.

First we visited the Hanging Church or Al-Muallaqa. It is called the Hanging Church because logs of palm trees and layers of stones were constructed above the ruins of the Roman fortress to be used as the foundation. Next we visited Abu Serga church which is the oldest church in Egypt dating back to the 5th century A.D. The church owes its fame to having been constructed upon the crypt of the Holy Family where they stayed for three weeks during their sojourn in Egypt. There are so many other historic churches in old Cairo but we only had time for these two.

We took a nap and watched a beautiful sunset over the nile. We ordered room service snacks, pita bread was 10/10. For dinner, we had a lovely dinner with Abouna, Aunt Jane and our cousins. After dinner we took a walk on the Nile with George and Miriam. Lots of hustle and bustle on the river. Beef really wanted to try street termis but we were instructed not to talk to anyone on the street haha.

Pyramids of Giza

The next day Monica picked us up bright and early to make the 1h drive to Giza to visit The Pyramids of Giza! We started our day at the 9 Pyramids Lounge which is a restaurant with an amazing view of all 9 pyramids! Peter met us there and we had a ridiculously good breakfast. Beef and V ordered the Egyptian breakfast while the Egyptians, Monica and Peter, ordered the continental breakfast. The spread was so delicious, we had homemade pita bread, ftir (layered bread), falafel, fava beans, and of course, with a glass of fresh mango juice The ftir has different cheeses and sauces you dip it in, but Beef, being the Beef he is, started dipping it in everything including the fava beans. Peter shook his head and said “Harām” which means “what a sin” haha. Anyways, we enjoyed this glorious spread and lounged around taking some cool pictures of the view. Before we left, a litter of stray puppies came around to beg for food. V almost took one home but Monica said no.

Now on the the pyramid tour given by Monica! While there are hundreds of pyramids in Egypt, the three pyramids of Khufu , Khafre, and Menkaura are one of the seven wonders of the ancient world and Khufu and Khafre are the largest pyramids in Egypt! The scale of these things are absolutely insane, it’s hard to put this into words. We bought tickets to go inside Khufu, the passageway inside is very narrow and short. You’ll take a couple of stairs up to a narrow passageway which has a steep wooden ramp, with slats to make your footing easier. The ceiling is so low you have to hunch over to hike up. This continues for about 15 minutes and let me tell you, I have never sweat so much in my entire life. This because of the lack of air and high humidity, we were melting. Eventually you’ll get to the tomb and the large stone sarcophagus. It was pretty exciting but don’t do this if you’re claustrophobic.

Next we walked around for a bit. Some people rent camels to get around but we mostly drove and walked. At the end, I insisted we get some camels to have the true experience, and also, watch Beef ride a camel. 10/10 would recommend this, it was so fun! V had a baby camel that kept wanted to nip like a puppy. Our guide told us to play with him but V was too scared. Beef was terrified of the camels, it was so funny. Pro-tip, bring along a Monica to bargain because they will seriously try to make you pay the max. On our way out, we drove by the Sphinx.

That evening, we went to Aunt Suzy’s and Uncle Antony’s house where we met up with Monica, Marmar and her adorable kiddos. In typical Egyptian fashion, we had an exceptional meal with all our favorite Egyptian foods including my favorites of molokhia soup and cheese puffs. Beef loved the food and was absolutely stuffed by the end of this. V has a soft spot for fresh fruit to tant Suzy ordered SO many delicious fresh fruit from the fruit stand across the street.

That night Monica took us to her local bar for drinks where Beef got a beer and V got a whiskey sour and Monica got a crazy blue drink. First time at a bar in Egypt!

Citadel of Saladin and the Egyptian

The next day Monica took us to Citadel of Saladin. At the entrance, we hired a tour guide to explain things to us in english. Basically, the Citadel is one of the most iconic monuments in Islamic Cairo, and among the most impressive defensive fortresses dating to the Middle Ages. The insite was beautiful and richly decorated with marble floors, marble and gold paneling.

After the Citadel we headed to the Egyptian Civilization Museum. It was time to see the mummies!! There’s a lot to see in the museum but we were very excited to see the the the special exhibit of the Royal Mummies Gallery which had mummies of the ancient 17 Kings and 3 Queens of Egypt. One of the most extraordinary artifacts we saw was the mummy of King Amenhotep which is one of the very few intact, undisturbed mummies in existence. We also got to explore the coffin of King Thutmose and the outer coffin of Queen Ahmose Nefertari. You aren’t allowed to take pictures of the mummies so I hope I will never forget these amazing memories.

To close out this awesome day, we headed to Giza to visit Peters bar/restaurant. On the way, V expressed her disappointment that it was November and she hasn’t had a PSL from Starbucks so Monica saved the day and took us to an Egyptian Starbucks. It hit the spot.

Peter’s bar/restaurant was technically not open at the time we visited but he opened it up and cooked a special meal for us. We asked him specifically for a “light meal” and we in fact had the literal opposite. We started our meal with a pitcher of Sangria, yum! Then the food started coming out. While the quantity was alarming, this food was out of this world. AMAZING, DELICIOUS, FABULOUS. I can’t even list all the foods we had but our favorites where the hawawshi, macarona bechamel and the appetizer sampler. The aesthetic of the plates was just as good as the taste. Amazing experience. After dinner we walked across the street to a hookah bar and had ice-cream and Beef tried some passionfruit hookah. Monica rolled our stuffed bodies into the car and back to hotel.

Saqqara and the Serepeum and The Egyptian Museum

When we got back from the Nile cruise, we had 2 nights left in Ciaro and decided to stay in a different area, closer to family in Heliopolis. We chose to stay at the Hilton Heliopolis, mostly because we had points to stay for free. It was a great hotel, very clean and nice.

Today Monica picked us up and we headed out for our two tours today (1)Saqqara and the Serepeum and (2) The Egyptian Museum. We picked up our tour guide for the day at gas station near the the Saqqara. At the gas station V picked up Kebab flavored lays. A must try.

Even though I’ve been to Egypt multiple times, it was my first time at Saqqara and the Serepeum. Saqqara is an Egyptian village in the Giza Governorate, that contains ancient burial grounds of Egyptian royalty. Saqqara is truly an open-air museum, one that has all of ancient Egyptian history on display.

The pyramids of some of the most important kings of the Old Kingdom Fifth and Sixth Dynasties are located in Saqqara. One of these, the pyramid of Unas, features the oldest pyramid burial chamber decorated with texts. One of the coolest of Saqqara’s monuments is the Serapeum, a series of underground galleries in which the Apis Bulls were buried from the Eighteenth Dynasty to the Ptolemaic Period. It was truly amazing to wonder how the giant sarcophagus were built and moved around back then.100% recommend this tour!

Next we drove to the Egyptian Museum. You could spend days here, its so massive with so much to see! We asked our tour guide to give us a fast “best of tour” because we were already tired at this point. The Egyptian Museum is the oldest archaeological museum in the Middle East, housing over 170,000 artefacts!

That evening, Monica and Peter took us out to a bar named Minglings for a yummy steak dinner, drinks and live (american haha) music. We savored our last night on our 3 month journey with great company.

Our flight was around midnight so we had an entire day left for last minute errands. We went to the mall to pick up a few things and had to make a stop at the famous Tseppas to bring back some dessert for our families. They had SO many amazing options and they package them up for flights perfectly. Our families were so excited when we brought them back these Egyptian desserts. Our favorite was basbousa. And of course, we stopped at a street juicer and V chugged some fresh mango juice.

At night, we went to the night market called Khan el-Khalili.  This is a famous bazaar and souq in the historic center of Cairo. Its filled with so many different shops where you can buy anything from rugs to jewelry to little souvenirs. This place is crazy! and while its kind of a must see in Cairo it was not my favorite because of the constant urge from everyone to buy things, it was a little too touristy for my liking.

Nile Cruise Aswan to Luxor

There are so many options for Nile Cruises I didn’t know where to start. Lucky for us our lovely travel agent helped out picked one. Honestly, there were only a few options given the day restrictions we had. You can do Luxor to Aswan or start at Aswan and end at Luxor. We did the latter.

Our cruise was the 4 day cruise from Aswan to Luxor on M/S Tulip by Coastal Sea. We had a private tour guide that was on the ship with us and would take us out on our excursions everyday. Highly recommend a tour guide for this. Some excursions are included with the cruise fee but a lot were extra. The ship was simple and low key but honestly we didn’t spend much time there. Our room was comfortable but we spent most of our free time on the deck up top where there was a nice lounge area. There was a tiny gym that no one except V ever visited haha.

Day 1: Aswan, Philae Temple and Felucca Sunset

We landed in the Aswan airport in the morning and were greeted by our private guide Ahmed. We took a motor boat to Philae Temple which dedicated to the goddess Isis. It was super cool to learn about how the temple was underwater due to the damn and was deconstructed and moved in 1970!

Next we visited an essence perfume palace where we got sampled all sorts of oils and perfumes. Everything smelled sooo good! It was a little touristy but still pretty cool. We bought a jasmine essence to take home with us.

After visiting the temple we visited the Unfinished Obelisk which gave us insight into ancient Egyptian stone-working techniques, with marks from workers’ tools still clearly visible as well as ochre-colored lines marking where they were working.

Spices are very famous from Aswan and my mom requested we bring back some Epytian spices for her. So we stopped at one of the many spice stores. I bargained for a bit but it still felt like we got taken advantage up. Oh well, we left the spice store with enough spices to last us years.

We settled into the the cruise vessel and then headed out for our evening activity which was a sunset cruise on a traditional wind only sailing boat (Felucca). After sunset, we had a yummy dinner on board. After dinner on the ship there was a Galabia party where we watched traditional dancing and had a few drinks. V got pulled on stage to show her talents haha.

Day 2 Abu Simbel and Kom Ombo

Abu Simbel was an optional excursion but was a must do, so we woke up at 4 am to go. Its a 3 hour drive so this excursion is not for the faint of heart but sooo worth it. Our guide took us in a private van so we could sleep on the way. Abu Simbel was exquisite. It is a temple built by Ramesses II in ancient Nubia because he wished to demonstrate his power and his divine nature. Four massive statues of Ramesses II stare down at visitors. Sitting next to and between the legs of Ramesses are members of the royal family, including his wife Nefertari, sons, daughters, and his mother. The broken statue was damaged in an earthquake and a portion of the statue sits on the ground in front of the façade. Inside of the temple, eight statues of Osiris, with the facial features of Ramesses II, fill the first main chamber. There are numerous smaller chambers and vestibules to explore.

The Small Temple is a temple of Hathor, dedicated to Nefertari. Once inside, you will see that this temple is much smaller than the one dedicated to Ramesses II. And then you will be mind blown that these temples, were actually moved by archeologist piece by piece into this location Only explanation for this grandness thousands of years ago, per Beef: Aliens.

We had to be back on the ship by noon (hence the 4am wake up call) to start sailing towards Kom Ombo. We sailed for 4 or 5 hours until we got to Kom Ombo temple. This temple is unique because its a double temple—dedicated to two deities, Sobek and Hor. The deity worshipped at the temple is Sobek, a crocodile-headed god with a human body. Later, since the inhabitants did not like having a deity representing evil, they added another god to the cult, Haroeris (Horus the Elder). We also visited the chapel of Hator, where you’ll see some very well-preserved crocodile mummies.

Back on the cruise ship we sailed toward Edfu. That evening on the cruise ship we had dinner followed by a belly dancing party. V also got pulled up and we all learned she dances like the Americans haha

Day 3 Luxor Temple and Karnak Temple

We spent the morning sailing. Today our ship crossed the lock at Esna to a lower level of water. This was cool to see. However, there were atleast 10 little row boats surrounding our ship with sellers who were yelling and trying to get us to buy things from them. I’ve never met more aggressive sellers in my entire life. It was a bit much, but at the same time impressive that they could just throw goods up 3 stories up haha.

The Luxor Temple is different from others because it is not dedicated to a cult god or a deified version of the pharaoh in death. Instead, Luxor temple is dedicated to the rejuvenation of kingship; it may have been where many of the pharaohs of Egypt were crowned!

Next we took a quick walk over to Karnak Temple. The Karnak Temple has a vast mix of temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings. The Great Hypostyle Hall in the Precinct of Amun-Re has an area with 134 massive columns arranged in 16 rows. One hundred and twenty-two of these columns are 33 ft tall, and the other 12 are 69 ft tall with a diameter of over 9.8 ft. These columns, are estimated to weigh 70 tons!!

Today was our 1 year church wedding anniversary! That evening on the ship during dinner, they brought out a cake and sang to us for 10 minutes. They even made V stand up and dance. While they cut the cake for us, the server made a baby out of a napkin to symbolize wishing us children haha.

Day 4 Valley of the Kings -Temple of Queen Hatshepsut at El-Deir El-Bahari and the Colossi Memnon

We woke up at 3am to do something exciting!! Hot air balloons! We were driven to a boat, boated across the nile to a different van to the hot air balloon site. Pilots were smoking hooka, bathrooms were available for fee, but 3 hours later it got cancelled due to high winds. Super disappointing but we had a great time meeting people and Beef not needing to be anxious!

We had a full last day starting with Valley of the Kings. This desert valley contains the ancient burial ground of many Egyptian pharaohs. Among over 60 royal tombs is the famous Tomb of Tutt which was found in pristine condition (only reason this Pharaoh is famous). We visited 4 Tombs total. Each Tomb was slightly different, but they all involved climbing into the ground and each one was decorated with amazing art and hieroglyphics some still with bright coloring. This was truly a sight that blew our minds. Be prepared for lots of people and excessive heat. Don’t be fooled by the people passing carboard as fans! They expect tips and for you to return it.

After this we drove to the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut at El-Deir El-Bahari and the Colossi Memnon. The mortuary temple of Hatshepsut dates from the New Kingdom. It nestles at the foot of the cliffs in a natural “bay” on the West Bank of Luxor. Hatshepsut was a female pharaoh who had herself represented pictorially as a male. She served as co-regent with her nephew Thutmose III.

On the way to the airport we asked Ahmed to get us the best falafel sandwiches in town and he delivered!!

Family!

We had such an amazing time thanks to my uncle and aunts and cousin on both Veronica’s Mom’s and Dad’s side. One evening we all gathered at Monica and Marmars villa where we had amazing food and reconnected with family we haven’t seen in many many years