Cairo, Egypt

Salam ‘alaykum from Cairo, Egypt!

After the longest, bumpiest, 2 hour flight from Athens, we have arrived in Cairo, Egypt. 

We’re Actually Here!

I cannot believe we are here. Learning about the Egyptians in school was my favorite. I’ve always been in such awe of the pyramids and the ancient-ness of it all (does that make sense?), but never in my wildest dreams would I believe that I would set foot here one day. I have way too much anxiety and fear to go that far. But lo and behold, here I am. Standing in the middle of a crowd of screaming Egyptian people, waiting to pay some guy in hopes of getting a visa so I can get out of this loud and crowded airport. I’m going to be fine here. Just fine. Everything is fine.

Fasten Your Seatbelts

We obtained our visas, and went in search of our ride. Seth had arranged a ride prior to coming here. We knew Cairo, Egypt was going to be a little sketchy, so we (and by “we” I mean Seth), planned everything to a “T” before we came. And yes, this made me a lot more comfortable, but you couldn’t tell at all. We found our ride and made our way to the hotel. Holy. Moley. If you think you knew what bad traffic was, think again! Welcome to Egypt! It’s basically one giant lane. And everyone drives quite literally however they want. Some people are headed in one direction, then someone right next to you is heading the opposite way. There is a constant blare of horns and people yelling at each other. There were children, and BABIES walking/crawling in between the cars begging for food and money. People would walk right up to the car window and start banging on it, trying to talk to us. This was craziness.

(Crazy fact – We found out later that day that there had been a car bombing on the street we were currently driving down. Lovely.) Our driver was extremely nice. He made me feel comfortable, which helped me calm down a lot. He gave us a lot of information, and even invited us to come hang out later. So nice.

The Fairmont Nile City Hotel

We arrived at our hotel in Cairo, Egypt, and I basically flung myself out of the car, so happy to be done with that. We are staying at the Fairmont Nile City Hotel. Wow. This is the nicest hotel we have stayed at on this entire trip. It’s massive. There was some serious security at the front, which is both terrifying and comforting. We could not believe our eyes. European hotels and apartments are small. Really small. This room was bigger than any of the places we’ve stayed in. It felt so palatial. The bathroom itself was double the size of our London hotel room. Then there’s the view. This huge balcony overlooking the Nile. THE NILE. I can’t believe I’m seeing this. There is a cloud of sand that hangs low over the city. The setting sun a ginormous orb that I felt I could reach out and touch. It feels like the intro to a movie. 

We were so tired once we got here, so I took full advantage of this room. I took the longest, hottest shower of my life, used all of the fancy bath stuff they had available, ordered some room service, stuffed my face while sitting in my bathrobe overlooking the Nile, then crawled into the biggest, softest bed ever. And I don’t even think it was 7 o’clock. I don’t think it would have made any difference if it was noon. We needed sleep.

Take Me to the Pyramids

Oh what a fun filled, jam packed day we had planned! We had found a private tour thing, for fairly cheap, and I’m so glad we did that. I was way too afraid to explore on my own. We thought this was just a tour of the pyramids, and boy were we wrong! Our guides met us at the hotel early that morning. We hopped into their van and off we went! There was a bigger gentleman who drove us, and a lady who gave us all the deets as we drove. We were starting at The Hanging Church, also known as Saint Virgin Mary’s Coptic Orthodox Church, and the oldest church in Cairo, Egypt. It dates back to the third century. Pffff. Mind blown. It’s hard to wrap your head around how old this place is. You definitely get a feeling coming here. I have a feeling I’m going to be getting a lot of feelings here. You feel me?

So Many Churches

The next stop on our tour was the Saints Sergius and Bacchus Church which is traditionally believed to have been built on the spot where the Holy Family, Joseph, Mary, and the infant Jesus Christ, rested at the end of their journey into Egypt. WHAT?! My mind was blown. I had no idea this was here. I really need to catch up on my religious history when I get home. As soon as we were told this, we both got really quiet. We needed to soak this in. They took us under the church, down a dark and narrow stairway, showing us through glass windows in the floor where they slept and hid, and the well they drank out of. This was so surreal. Religious or not, you will leave here feeling different. Inspired. Hopeful.

Then we were off to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. I am so glad this is on the agenda for today. There is so much to see here. I wish I had an entire day here. We cruised along at our own pace. Our guide followed along, jumping in to give us tidbits of good information. This lady is like a walking search engine. She had the answer to every question we had. It was amazing. 

Feed me All of the Food

After this, I was famished. They took us to a literal hole in the wall restaurant. I am not even sure if there was a sign out front. It smelled so good in there. We sat down and our guide told us she was going to order for us and asked a few questions about our preferences. They brought out appetizers first. Baba ganoush, hummus, labneh (like a thick salty yogurt), and pita, then the main courses of koshary (a macaroni dish), ful and ta’meya (like a falafel), and chicken kabobs. I think they even brought another dish or two to the table. So much food! The atmosphere here was very lively. They came over and put a fez on Seth, people were singing, and everyone was laughing. This was the most fun I’ve had during lunch in a long time. Afterwards, we swung by the Egypt Papyrus Institute, which was a really cool experience! 

The Great Pyramids of Giza

Now for the grand finale of the day. The Great Pyramids of Giza! We are here!! What a sight. We parked and started the walk towards the pyramids along with our guides who also acted as our security guards. They fought off the guys trying to sell us things or offer different tours. Some of these people can be pretty aggressive, so I was appreciative of their support. We walked along the pyramids, our guides explaining the difference in each one. We were able to go to the base and walk along the bottom stones. The sheer magnitude of these is mind blowing. Standing at the base and looking up, you can’t even see the top. How did they do this?!

We also got to see the Great Sphinx. Wow. Someone pinch me. Our guides started walking away from the pyramids, and I’m like uhh..where are you going?! We just got here! They were taking us towards a group of camels and told us we were going for a ride. I guess I never realized how tall camels are. When laying down they don’t look so intimidating. I’ve never even ridden a horse. How am I going to do this? The guy told us to hop on, and hold on for dear life. So that’s what I did. I was squeezing on so tight with my legs and arms, that poor camel probably thought I was trying to suffocate him. (My legs had never been so sore after this. It was hard to walk or sit for almost two weeks after!) Once we got going I started to calm down. We rode our camels around the pyramids. In the desert. In Egypt. Holy crap, this is really happening. Some days it’s hard to believe that all of this is real.

Processing.

What. A. Day. These days go by so quickly, it’s hard to process all that we’ve just seen and done. We showered off the sand that coated our skin, ordered some room service, and enjoyed ourselves in silent reflection. I am somewhere that seemed so far out of reach. I’m all the way in Cairo, Egypt! I never thought I’d muster up the courage to be here. I tackled a lot of fears not only today, but since we’ve left for this trip. And I am so proud of myself. I did it. I freaking did it.

The next day we had some time to explore the hotel. After breakfast we went in search of the pool which was located on the roof! What a view. From the hot tub you can see the pyramids in the distance. They would go in and out of view from the sand clouds blowing by. We hung out here for a while before needing to get our stuff and check out. We checked out and hung out in the bar/lobby area and ordered some coffee drinks. They had quite an interesting drink menu. We ordered an orange juice with espresso! It sounded so odd, and it was so delicious. We also got some sort of banana flavored coffee. So. Good. We anxiously awaited our ride. I was nervous about getting out of here, but extremely excited for what’s to come. The next half of our trip is where we get to relax. I can’t wait.

Follow along as we explore beautiful Thailand!