EGYPT!

This is a big year for our family – a big anniversary, some big birthdays, and a graduation. We decided to celebrate with an epic trip that had been on our list for a long time: Egypt!  We kept an eye on the airfares for a long time, and the internet was right that the best price showed up on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, so we grabbed it.
 
We are very independent travelers, but we knew that we would need more assistance in Egypt, especially as a larger group. Through Amex travel we were connected with Mohamed at Egypt Unlimited Tours, and he and his team took fantastic care of us. Our package included all the highlights we knew we wanted and more. We were met at all of the airports with a representative to help us with the language barrier, and we had private, air-conditioned travel throughout the trip (which was great because navigation would have been extremely difficult as most signage was only in Arabic). Additionally, we were assigned an Egyotologist guide for our private tours throughout the trip – both in Cairo and on the cruise. Our Egyptologist, Hassan, was a wealth of information and kept the kids engaged with lots of great conversations. We cannot recommend him more highly – he made us all feel like VIPs.
 
Trip Overiew:
In Cairo our itinerary included the pyramids at Giza and the Sphinx, the Saqqara Pyramids, the Grand Egyptian Museum, and a visit to the Islamic and Coptic areas of Cairo including the Citadel/Mosque if Muhammad Alim Sultan Hassan, Ibn Tulun, the Hanging Church, and Ben Ezra Synagogue. From there we flew to Aswan to visit the High Dam, the granite quarries of the ancient Egyptians, and the Temple of Philae before boarding our Nile Cruise before setting sail on a small felucca to the famous Old Cataract Hotel.
 
Our cruise included stops at Kom Ombo Temple, the Temple of Edfu, the Valley of the Kings, the temple of Queen Hatshepsut, Luxor temple, and concluding at Karnak Temple before flying back to Cairo. I know many of you traveled along as I posted on Instagram, but here is a recap of the trip with lots of great historical context that we learned from Hassan.
 
This post has lots of details about our trip. If you want a more condensed version, please visit my Egypt  post under "Travel Itineraries."

Day 1: Cairo - Arrival
We arrived in Cairo late in the day, around 7:30. Our driver met us before customs, helped us through, and even had waters and snacks for the drive to our hotel. We stayed at the Marriott Mena House Hotel, in Giza very close to the pyramids. In fact as soon as we got to our rooms we went out onto the balcony for the most amazing nighttime view of the pyramids – so close that it felt like you could touch them. It was truly a perfect way to arrive at our destination!
 
We were starving at this point, so we grabbed a light dinner at the hotel’s restaurant. We came to Egypt with a list of new foods that we knew we wanted to try (like Koshari) so we had many of them that evening. It was a great way to start the trip.

Day 2: Cairo
 
The Saqqara Pyramid: The Step Pyramid of Djoser
Djoser’s Step Pyramid in Saqqara is one of Egypt’s most iconic monuments. It is not only the very first pyramid that the ancient Egyptians ever built, but also the oldest known ancient Egyptian stone structure.
The sheer age of the Step Pyramid is astounding. It is over 4,350 years old, and we were able to explore inside its colored tombs and see the ancient Hieroglyphics that are still clearly visible on the walls after thousands of years. It was built in the early Third Dynasty, during the reign of King Netjerykhet (c.2667–2648 BC), who is now more well-known as Djoser (hence the name).
 
Before his reign, royal and elite Egyptians were buried in an underground structure called a mastabas. The Step Pyramid is composed of six stacked mastabas, thus creating the stepped effect. Imhotep, its architect, may very well have been responsible for this major innovation. The pyramid served as the centerpiece of a massive 40-acre ceremonial complex surrounded by an enclosure wall. And beneath the pyramid lies a deep central burial shaft and over 6 kilometers of underground tunnels and labyrinth-filled chambers.
 
Before we headed to lunch, we stopped at a rug making school and saw how they are passing the skills and craftsmanship through the generation. Then we stopped at a papyrus workshop to see how they create paper out of the plant, why is works, and we were able to get some beautiful papyrus artwork to bring home. Lunch was at a local chain called Anas Al-Dimashqi and it was terrific.
 
The Giza Pyramids and the Sphinx
 
After lunch we visited the Giza Pyramids and the Sphinx, and of course had a camel ride. There is nothing like visiting the last standing ancient wonder of the world. The Giza Pyramids are over 4500 years old, and some of the blocks weigh more than two and half tons each.
 
What is crazy to think about is that the pyramids and the Sphinx were popular tourist destinations in Roman Times!! The Great Pyramid of Giza was built for king Khufu (c.2589-2566 BC). The other two were built for his son and his grandson, Kharfe and Menkaure. Khufu’s is the largest, and another structure would not be built taller than it for another 3,880 years. And while these three pyramids are the largest, they are surrounded by smaller pyramids for their mothers, queens, and other nobility.
 
The reclining Sphinx is a monument of a mythical creature with the head of a human and a body of a lion. It faces east on the Giza Plateau and is the oldest known monumental sculpture in Egypt. The head of the Sphinx is thought to be the head of Khafre or one of his sons.
 

Day 3:  Ancient Cairo and the Grand Egyptian Museum
 
We started the day by driving to the Citadel of Cairo, also called the Citadel of Saladin. We could see the citadel as we drive by the night that we arrived, and it is truly as massive and imposing as you might expect as it dominates the skyline.
 
The Citadel is a medieval Islamic fortification that was begun in 1176 by Salah ad-Din (Saladin). It was the seat of government in Egypt and the residence of its rulers for nearly 700 years from the 13th century until the construction of Abdeen Palace in the 19th century. In addition to being impressive in scale, the location of the Citadel made it difficult to attack which is why is served as the heart of Egyptian government for so long.
 
Inside the walls of the Citadel is the Muhammad Ali Mosque, also known as the Mosque of Muhammad Ali. It was commissioned by Muhammed Ali Pasha and was built between 1832 and 1857. Overlooking the city from its high perch above the city, it truly dominated the skyline of Cairo and is one of the most visible mosques. It is unique from other monuments and mosques because it was built in the Ottoman and European-influenced styler.
 
Hassan pointed out to us the beautiful clock above the northwestern wall of the courtyard. It was presented to Muhammad Ali by King Louis Lhippe of France in 1846 in exchange for the obelisk of Luxor that now stands in the Place de la Concorde in Paris.
The clock is very striking and feels a bit out of place with the rest of the architecture. It is made out of iron in an elaborate neo-Gothic style. It also doesn’t work.
 
Muhammad Ali is buried in a tomb inside the mosque that is hidden behind an elaborate screen of bronze openwork and is located in the western corer of the prayer hall.
 
Our next stop was the Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Hassan, and it was a very short drive away. It was built between 1356 and 1363, and was commissioned by Sultanan-Nasir Hasan. It is considered remarkable for both its size, and architecture. Due to it’s location near the Citadel it was often used as a fortified position from which to launch attacks on the Citadel. The very last Mamluk sultan, Tumanbay, took refuge here to evade capture by the Ottomans as they took control of Cairo. As a result, the Ottomans bombarded the mosque with cannonballs from the Citadel which left holes in its dome. Many different regimes, including the Ottomans, closed the mosque to prevent it being used as a base for rebels.
 
As you might imagine, this centuries old building was stunning in its scale and age. You could feel the history as you walked in your socks across it’s carpeted floors.
 
From here we went directly across the narrow street to a newer monumental mosque, the Mosque of ar-Rifa’I. Its construction began in 1869 and was completed in 1912. It is similar in size to the Sultan Hasan next door, and the area where they are both located is now called the old Rumayla Square, which has been renamed Midan Salah as-Din. An interesting note about this mosque is that is also the final resting place of Part of the burial chamber is also occupied by Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, also known as “The Shah” of Iran, who died in Cairo in July 1980 following the Iranian Revolution of 1979.
 
Our next stop was the Mosque of Ibn Tulun, which was also not far away. It was built between 876 and 879 by Ahmad ibn Tulun, and it is the oldest well-preserved mosque in Cairo. It’s design was inspired by the 9th century mosques in Iraq, and it is a significant monument of Islamic architecture in Egypt. It consists of a large courtyard  that is surrounded by sections that are covered with roofs, and a minaret with an usual external staircase (that we were able to climb!). Ther mosque served many purposes over the centuries (including as a military hospital and a blacksmith’s), and was later restored in the 20th century.

​Our next destination was a short drive away: Coptic Cairo. Coptic Cairo is a historic, walled district that is a very sacred destination for Christian pilgrims and contains several important religious sites such as the famous Hanging Church and the Crypt under the Church of St. Sergius and Bacchus.
 
The Hanging Church is also the Saint Virgin Mary's Coptic Orthodox Church. Historically served as the seat of the Coptic Orthodox Pope of Alexandria. To reach the church you climb a staircase of 29 steps between two bell towers. The church itself has a distinct wooden roof that is shaped like Noah’s Ark, and there are over 100 intricate 13th century icons throughout the church. It is referred to as the Hanging Church because it’s nave is suspended over the passage of a Roman Babylon Fortress gatehouse. For reference, the Babylon Fortress was a citadel built by the Romans.
 
Some date its origin to the nineteenth century B.C, after Pharaoh Sesostris defeated the Babylonians and took the prisoners of Egypt as slaves. The prisoners rebelled, building a fortress around their home which became known as Babylon. Others believe the fortress was built in the late sixth century B.C. by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, after conquering Egypt. The Hanging Church was erected over the citadel's old south Bastions, which marked the main gate to the fortress, and gives the church its ‘hanging’ feature.
 
The crypt under the Church of St. Sergius and Bacchus is the underground cave where the Holy Family is believed to have taken refuge for three months to evade King Herod’s order. It is directly under the church’s altar. The church itself dates back to the 4th century AD.
 
Just a few short blocks away is the historic Ben Ezra Synagogue. It is the oldest Jewish temple in Egypt and dates to the 9th century. It is said that the synagogue is built on the exact site where baby Moses was found along the Nile in 157 BC. The beautiful architecture is heavily influenced by local Roman-era Coptic Churches and thus has a two-story basilica. This is largely because it was originally a church before the Coptic pope sold it to the Jewish community in 882 AD. It is famous as the discovery site of the Cairo Geniza in the late 19th century, when scholars discovered a sealed storeroom (geniza) in the synagogue. The documents preserved inside were collections of nearly 400,000 medieval Jewish manuscripts that provided unparalleled insight into medieval Middle Eastern, North African, and Andalusian Jewish history.

The Grand Egyptian Museum
Our next stop was the Grand Egyptian Museum. We had an amazing lunch in their lobby at Zooba, which is a Cairo-based chain that served Egyptian street food. It was incredible. We even had a cat that came by to visit. Once we were rested and refueled we went into the museum to explore.
 
The Grand Egyptian Museum, located at the edge of the Giza plateau, is the largest museum in the world dedicated to a single civilization. Designed by Dublin-based architects Róisín Heneghan and Shih-Fu Peng of Heneghan Peng Architects, the museum covers nearly 123 acres and is aligned with the Great Pyramids which are located just 1.2 miles behind it.
 
The modern geometric facade evokes the pyramids and is covered in hieroglyphics while being anchored by a 110 ton suspended obelisk outside (which is 3,000 years old) and the 36ft tall statue of Ramesses II just inside the entrance. This 3,200 year old statue was discovered in 1820.
 
Overall, the museum contains more than 55,000 artefacts from every era of Egypt’s history, from prehistory through the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms to the Greco-Roman period.

​The highlights include the complete King Tutankhamun collection comprised of 5,398 pieces.
 
In addition to the treasures of King Tut, one of my favorites is the statue of Queen Hatshepsut, who redefined leadership and ruled longer than any other woman. Her priority was securing economic advancement and the building and restoring of monuments, rather than conquering new lands.
  
For dinner this evening we went into Cairo to eat along the Nile at La Tarbouche in the Zamalek neighborhood. In additional to the terrific food, it was nice to explore the city a bit more.​

Day 4: Aswan
 
This was an early morning start. We took a domestic flight to Aswan, where we toured the High Dam and learned about it’s impact on the local terrain and historical sites. We also visited the Aswan Granite Quarries and the Unfinished Obelisk. This is an open-air museum of the quarries that were the major source of red granite for ancient Egypt. These quarries were actively mined for over 3,000 years to build obelisks, statues and stones for pyramids. The Unfinished Obelisk is a 1,200 ton obelisk that is still there and attached to the bedrock due to fractures in the stone. It provides a historical record of ancient Egyptian mining and stone working techniques.
 
Our next stop after the dam was the Temple of Philae.  The Temple of Philae is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, known as the “Pearl of Egypt.” It is a temple complex in Aswan dedicated to the goddess Isis. It is over 2,700 years old, with its earliest structures dating back to around 690 BC during the 25th Dynasty. It was famously relocated from Philae Island to Agilkia Island in the 1970s to save it from flooding from Lake Nasser after the Aswan High Dam was built.
 
The temple of Philae was built for the Goddess Isis, the goddess of healing, birth, and magic, her husband Osiris, and their son Horus. The temple is one of the last places where ancient Egyptian religion survived after Christianity swept the shores in 550AD.
 
One of the 30ft tall ancient obelisks that were once located in front of the Temple of Isis is now located in a garden in Dorset, England after it was brought there by the explorer William John Bankes who installed it in his home in 1827. It and the Rosetta stone were vital for researchers translating and deciphering hieroglyphics, and it inspired a fascination in Egyptology among the upper classes in England as documented by poems about the era of the Pharaohs by both Percy Bysshe Shelley and Horace Smith.
 
Oh, and you get there on really cool boats. And there’s 2,700 yrs of history - and tons of cats. It’s awesome.
 
After boating back from the Temple of Philae we headed toward our home for the next few days – the M/S Movenpeck Sunray. We cruised the Nile for a bit, then disembarked to get on a felucca, which is a traditional wooden sailing boat with large triangular sails, no motor, and no keel. It was amazing, and it transported us both back in time, and to the Old Cataract Hotel for afternoon tea.
 
The Old Cataract Hotel
The Old Cataract Hotel is a historic, British colonial-era resort built by Thomas Cook in 1899, and it is located on the banks of the Nile River. It is most famous for being the hotel and view that inspired Agatha Christie to create one of her most famous mysteries, “Death on the Nile.”
 
In addition to both versions of the film (1978 and 2022) other movies have been filmed there, and they have had a lot of famous guests including Tsar Nicholas II, Winston Churchill, Howard Carter, Margaret Thatcher, Jimmy Carter, François Mitterrand, Princess Diana, and Queen Noor.
 
We were here for high tea on their gorgeous veranda that famously overlooks the Nile River, Elephantine Island, and the felucca boats (which we arrived on!)
 
Inside the hotel it is decorated in the Moorish style with a gorgeous bar/lounge area, and a library furnished with velvet Chesterfield sofas, perfect for sinking into with a good Agatha Christie novel.
 
The gardens in front of the hotel are overflowing with a grove of palm trees, vibrant petunias, and a rainbow of bougainvillea. Not to mention the vintage Fiat 1100 that parked out in front of this vintage hotel. What a perfect ending for our story that day.

Day 5:
 
The Temple of Kom Ombo
The temple at Kom Ombo was built in 332 BC and is unique because it is actually a double temple, dedicated to two gods: Sobek the crocodile god and Horus the falcon-headed god. The walls feature renowned carvings of ancient Egyptian surgical tools, including scalpels, forceps, and birthing chairs, suggesting the site was a center for healing.
 
In ancient times the Egyptian Nile was infested with ferocious animals (hippos, crocs) who would lie on the riverbanks. Local inhabitants believed that worshipping crocodiles would keep them safe. Captive crocodiles were kept within the temple walls and they would be mummified when they passed. Many of them can be viewed at the crocodile museum also on site. Which was weird, cool, and strange.
 
I have to wonder if they became a surgical center out of necessity because they lived with crocs inside the temple?!
 
Bonus - there are cats.
 
The Temple of Edfu
 
The Temple of Edfu is dedicated to the falcon god Horus. The temple took 180 years to complete and was officially finished in 57 BCE, and it is considered the most complete and best-preserved temple in Egypt, largely because it was buried under sand for centuries. It represents the Ptolemaic period’s effort to maintain traditional Egyptian religious, architecture, and rituals.
 
We really liked the large statues depicting Horus. I think he’s now one of our favorites.

Day 6:
 
Valley of the Kings
The first modern maps of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings date back to Napoleon’s expedition in 1799. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979 and is located across the Nile from the town of Luxor. The ancient Egyptians felt that the East (sunrise) represented life, birth, and renewals, while the West represented death and the afterlife. That is why the tombs (pyramids), are always on the west side of the Nile.
 
There are 65 tombs and chambers located in the Valley of the Kings, and explorations and excavations are ongoing. These tombs range from a simple pit to the tomb for the sons of Ramses the II which contains over 120 chambers. The most famous is of course the tomb of Tutankhamun, which was discovered in 1922.
 
Most of the tombs were robbed in antiquity but still demonstrate the opulance and power of the pharaohs. The tombs are covered with traditional scenes and instructions for the deceased in the afterlife.
 
King Tut’s Tomb
I was little, but I vividly remember King Tut Mania that took over New York in 1978, and I’ve been fascinated ever since.
 
King Tutankhamun was the 13th pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of ancient Egypt, ruling as a teenager from 1332 - 1323 BC.
 
The tomb was discovered by Howard Carter in 1922. It was difficult to locate since it was hidden under another tomb. The tomb is not actually very large (only 4 small rooms) but was filled with over 5,000 artifacts.
 
Fun Fact for my Downton Abbey Fans - the expedition of Howard Carter was underwritten by the 5th Earl of Carnarvon of Highlclere Castle, also known as the filming location for Downton Abbey. In fact there is an exhibition about King Tut at the castle that showcases replicas of treasures found in the tomb and details about the excavation.

The Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut
Queen Hatshepsut ruled for over 20 years in the 15th century BC. She took on the full titles, regalia, and roles of a male pharaoh, thus redefining leadership. She is regarded as one of the most effective and respected of ALL the pharaohs, and her rule resulted in a time of prosperity.
 
Queen Hatshepsut’s reign was also marked by ambitious building projects, economic development (trade), and support of the arts. She supported the arts to legitimize her rule, commissioning hundreds of construction projects, including her mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri and monuments at Karnak. She sponsored over 200 statues, and many of them depicted her with masculine traits—like a beard and muscular frame—to align with traditional pharaonic imagery. 
 
Her stepson, Thutmose III had almost all of the evidence of Hatshepsut’s rule—including the images of her as king on the temples and monuments she had built—erased. You can see the chisel marks on the walls (in the second two photos) where she would have been in the stories. Though he tried to erase her example as a powerful female ruler, in 1822 scholars were able to decode the hieroglyphics at the temple and learned the truth.

Luxor Temple
Luxor Temple is on the east bank of the Nile and dates back to 1400 BC. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and unlike other temples it was not dedicated to a specific god but rather to the rejuvenation of royal power. It is likely where many pharaohs were crowned.
 
You’ll notice only one pink granite obelisk out front. The other one stands in Paris. Another interesting fact is that the site includes a 13th-century mosque that was built over the ancient ruins. The temple was also used as a Roman fortress. You can still see a few of the Roman frescoes, and strangely enough it even includes a granite shrine dedicated to Alexander the Great (332 - 305 BC).
 
The there is an ancient a mile and a half-paved road that connects Luxor Temple to Karnak Temple. It was initially lined with 1,350(!) sphinx statues along both sides, and you can still walk along this road.

Day 7:
 
Karnak Temple
Karnak Temple is believed to be the second most visited historical site in Egypt, after the pyramids at Giza. It is the largest religious building ever constructed (it covers 200 acres) and dates from 2055 BC to 100 AD. The great temple at the heart of Karnak is so big that St Peter’s, Milan, and Notre Dame Cathedral would fit within its walls.
 
Queen Hatshepsut built many monuments here, including the Red Chapel which contains iconography depicting her coronation. She also built two large obelisks in honor of her father, and herself. Hers is larger, and so we had to pose in front of it as a flex of girl power. There should have been 26 obelisks at Karnak in total, but today there are only three.
 
Queen Hatshepsut (which means “noble lady”) was one of the most successful Pharaohs (according to Egyptologists,) reigning longer than any other woman-ruler of Ancient Egypt. The American archaeologist and historian James Henry Breasted declared that she became known as “the first great woman in history of whom we are informed.” Hatshepsut died in the 22nd year of her reign, around 1458 BC.
 
After visiting Karnak, we had a wonderful lunch at Sofra Restaurant & Cafe before heading to the airport for our flight back to Cairo. Upon arriving we were met by a representative from Egypt Unlimited who made sure we successfully collected all of our luggage and made it to the hotel (which was connected by a footbridge) and got checked in without any issues. The hotel was the Le Meridien Cairo Airport Hotel. And it was lovely with a great workout room and sports bar with outdoor tables by the pool. It was also super convenient since we had an extremely early morning fight to our next destination: Istanbul!