My friend and I are college students majoring in history. We have read so much about ancient Egypt that we decided to travel to Egypt during the spring break. We wanted to see the pyramids, and we wanted to visit the Egyptian Museum. As two female college students traveling overseas for the first time, we were concerned about our safety. We decided that our best bet was to join local tours in Egypt. We researched some Cairo tours, and came across a day tour by Travel2Egypt.org that covers most of the attractions that we wanted to see in Cairo. We emailed them the questions and concerns that we had, and they always responded very promptly.
Our guide, a nice gentleman, met us at the hotel lobby, and we travelled in a clean air-conditioned van to the Pyramids of Giza. On our way there, we were delighted to find out that our guide was a history buff. We chatted about ancient history all the way to the pyramids. The Pyramids of Giza were stunning! No matter how much we had read about them, their “wowing” factor far exceeded our expectation. We entered one of the smaller pyramids to see what it was like. The space was pretty small and definitely not for anyone who is claustrophobic. You can’t take photos inside the pyramids but make sure that you take as many photos as you want outside.
Our next stop was the Egyptian Museum, the largest museum in the world. It was the first time ever we saw mummies and Egyptian treasures with our own eyes. It was definitely an eye opening experience for both of us. Admission to the mummy room wasn’t included in our tour, but we decided to pay extra to go in. It was definitely worth it. To me, the most incredible artifact in this museum was the coffin of King Tut. It was covered with gold with gorgeous relief. There was so much to see at this place. According to our guide, if we spent one minute on each artifact, it would take us about 90 years to see them all!
Our third and final stop of the tour was Khan Al-Khalili, a tourist market that sells all kinds of stuff. It was a good place to get souvenirs but be sure to bargain because some of the prices were rather unrealistic. The sellers almost expected you to bargain, and that was the fun part. We got some interesting t-shirts and magnets at pretty good prices.
Turns out that our worries about safety were unfounded, and we really enjoyed this day tour of Cairo.