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We had planned our stay in Taba such that on the last day we would take a 2 day tour to Cairo so that they would organise the transport and show us the basics. We checked out of the hotel in Taba at about 5am and then were picked up by a small coach along with a young married couple and an old married couple. The tour was to be just 6 of us and for most of the tour the old couple had decided to go their own way. The journey to Cairo took us under the Suez Canal in a short tunnel and then another 4 or so hours to get to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. We went into the Egyptian museum and we were introduced to our guide. He was a bit of a strange person and didn't really seem to enjoy the guiding experience. The museum was full of different tour groups and he got very annoyed that other guides would just swarm over to where he was and interrupt him. He would do the opposite and wait for other guides to finish in one area before moving over there next. It is the queue or not to queue situation where in most of Egypt they choose not to queue. The tour around the Museum was very fast and we were only shown a small part of what was on offer. Steven and I chose to pay 100 Egyptian pounds extra each and see the Royal mummies, it wasn't as impressive as I had expected and most of the mummies were totally covered up. We left after a couple of hours in the museum, the rest of the tour group went straight back to the hotel as it was the end of that days tour, but Steven and I went to the main train station to collection some tickets for the sleeping train. At this time it was only about 3pm and given what we had all paid for the tour, it seemed unfair that we were rushed out of the museum, just to go back to the hotel. Lesson here is to avoid Longwood tours. The original Longwood rep had advised us to take a taxi to get to the main train station and then another taxi to our hotel, but our tour guide from the museum told us that it would be much better to get on the underground train as the nearest metro station was very near. We walked to the metro and then made our way to the ticket counter to order some tickets, the ticket guy spoke some English and we paid 1 Egyptian pound per journey. So a total of 4 Egyptian pounds (50p) for both of us to travel to the main station and then after that to go to Giza station. We were told that Giza station was near our hotel for that night and the taxi from there should be cheaper than from the centre of Cairo. Once at the main station "Mubarak" we found the “Abela Sleeping Trains” office to try to pick up our tickets. In Egyptian style they said they knew nothing about our reservation and we ended up booking a cabin for only the direction Cairo to Aswan, we were told we would have to sort out the return journey when we arrived in Aswan. After getting our tickets we had a little walk around in Cairo and then made our way to our hotel. The Movenpick resort - Cairo Pyramids. The hotel was pretty fancy and in view of the main Giza Pyramids. We went to dinner in the hotel and ended up having dinner with the young couple who were also on our tour, Sarah and Ken. After dinner we found a taxi driver who took us to a small coffee place in view of the pyramids. As we arrived the "Sound and Light Show" had just started which you normally have to pay about 30GBP each to watch. The coffee place had a perfect view of the pyramids but the Sound and Light show organisers had installed a large light which shines directly at the coffee place to make it hard to watch the show from there. As soon as the show ended that light was turned off. The show would definitely not be worth the 30GBP each, but for free it was ok. The following morning we had breakfast at the hotel and were taken on our tour of the Pyramids and then Coptic Cairo. The Coptic Cairo bit involved going around some the different Jewish and Christian churches. The Pyramids were good, but these things never live up to your expectations. They are big but not that big. As part of our tour we went into a couple of the Pyramids which was quite a hot experience. There is no real ventilation inside and all of the people going in and our makes it very hot and humid. After we had finished with the Pyramids and Coptic Cairo, the tour bus started making its way back to Taba; but Steven and I stayed in Cairo and made our way to the Juliana Hostel. The Juliana was rated number one on hostelworld.com and it lived up to that rating. The place was clean and the reception guy there was great, he made us some tea when we arrived and helped us to order some food. It was very nice being in a place where they weren't out to just take all of your money for the simplest things (i.e. hotels). We stayed in the hostel that night and talked to an American couple who were about to start a 3 week tour of Egypt, Jordon and Israel. Then an early night ready for the Desert Safari the next morning. |
