Cairo, Egypt

The very first thing we did once we were on Egyptian soil was to head straight to the pyramids! We had a long layover in Cairo and didn't want to waste a minute. Luckily, we had slept basically the whole flight over, so we were ready to go.

Either way - once you arrive at the pyramids, you can't really be anything other than wide awake! This is one of those moments you dream of since you are a little kid. If you can actually believe it, it was COLD when we first got there! The sun was hidden behind the clouds and the windy was crazy!

We took the time to climb into the center of Khufu - or the Great Pyramid. There wasn't much to "see", but I'm so glad we went in to explore. We climbed about 2/3 of the way up to the top between of mix of claustrophobic passages and gigantic open caverns.

Luckily, by the time we got out, it was a bit sunnier! We went to the classic "panorama" viewpoint and our guide art directed some lovely photos of us, haha!

Seeing the pyramids and the Sphinx was honestly the perfect introduction to our time in Egypt. 

We also stopped through Cairo after our Nile Cruise and time in Aswan and spent 2 full days there. Our first evening, we basically just hung out in the Executive Lounge at the Cairo Marriott. The next morning, we had a tour around Coptic & Islamic Cairo. 

We got a great introduction by visiting some classic sites like the Cavern Church (where the Holy Family is said to have lived), the Hanging Church, Ben Ezra Synagogue, Cairo Citadel, Mosque of Muhammed Ali, and the Khan al Khalili Bazaar. 

One of our favorite things we did this day was to get tea and shisha at El Fishawy. Neither of us particularly care for shisha, but the experience of sitting in the markets was pretty awesome!

Our last day in Egypt, we went to the Egyptian Museum! We definitely did this the "right" way since we had the context to where all of the artifacts came from before heading here. It was definitely the weirdest museum we've ever been to. 

Only about 1/2 of the things were labeled, stuff was randomly sitting in wooden crates (maybe in preparation to be shipped to the Grand Egyptian Museum?), and many rooms were barely lit. Oh! And the fire alarm went off about an hour into our visit and everyone just ignored it. 

That evening, we went to do a food tour with Bellies en Route. We did the downtown tour and got to try classics like koshary, ful, ta'ameya (Egyptian falafel!), all of the dips, cow brains, and tons of sweets! Not sure if I've ever eaten that much, but I'm proud of us for being so adventurous! We never turn down the chance to try local foods.

Our time in Egypt was jam-packed. We saw so much and LEARNED so much. One of the best evenings was our last when we just got a chance to chat with Amir, our guide, on a rooftop overlooking Cairo. 

I was pretty excited about our next stop though - and it was another place I had dreamed of visiting since I was little. 

Up Next: PETRA, Jordan!