The Last Wonder of the Ancient World

There’s a saying that goes something like “The Pyramids are incredible, it’s a shame they are in Egypt”. We wouldn’t go that far, but we would be hard pressed to fill this post with glowing compliments and reasons to visit Cairo. We would likely just offer one primary reason – visiting the Pyramids of course, which we are so glad to have done – supported by a few interludes that helped keep our time in Cairo interesting.

With our experience in Luxor finding accommodations having been quite a letdown and eye opener (the first hotel we checked out that had been described in our guide book as offering 4-star amenities, which turned out to be a gross exaggeration), we booked ourselves into one of the big chains in Cairo. It’s a huge city and we were arriving late, so the last thing we needed was a desperate search for an adequate place to stay. The public bus station was just a block from where we would stay, and we were feeling adventurous when we arrived, so we hopped a public bus at the airport. It zipped straight to the bus station with several of our fellow Egyptian passengers keeping the journey lively with helpful pointing and head nodding that yes we were going in the right direction and yes, welcome to Egypt. It was one of our best ‘everyday’ experiences in the city.

We checked into the Corporate Big Brand Hotel, a prison-looking Brutalist structure rising 28 stories over the Nile. The view west to the city and Pyramids was killer, but the décor inside was more ‘70s- Vegas-about-to-be-imploded-to-make-way-for-a-modern-hip-structure’ than Corporate Big Brand. Regardless, that night we enjoyed a cocktail from the 28th floor and every morning we tucked into the extravagant breakfast buffet (also a plus). But when we attempted to explore the chaotic neighborhood, the hectic mix of people, cars, shops, and stray cats all battling for the right of way amidst constant yelling and honking compounded by foul exhaust, trash, beggers, and pollution made us yearn for the relative civility and serenity of Corporate Big Brand Hotel.

Finally, we set off for the Pyramids. Our previous bus experience had increased our confidence, so we hopped a mini-bus bound for Giza and the Pyramids area. Along the way, a man who knew the driver quite well started talking to us in rather good English. He told us all about his American wife, his American friends, how he wanted to visit America, how he loved America, etc. etc. etc. He also convinced us that he had a better way to see the Pyramids than just going through the public gate where one had to buy individual tickets for entry and for each tomb, the Sphinx, etc. We should instead talk to his friend who owned a stable of camels, who would get us in and guide us around. We wanted to do this anyway and the price sounded reasonable, so off we went. 

For the next 4 hours we plodded around hot and dusty monuments (our butts would remind us of these hours spent in the saddle for the next 3 days). Denise was apparently a natural camel rider, at one point even galloping across the sandy track. Finally our camel riding came to an end, and we finished the day with a very hot, very humid, very dull trek down into one of the Pyramids to see one of the empty burial chambers.

Veni, vidi, vici.