We got up at 4:30 this morning. Our room service breakfast arrived promptly at 5:15. At 6:00 we were in the theater for our coach assignment. Our tour was scheduled to leave at 6:30 but the call was for 6:15. We were all on the coach at 6:30. Our guide explained that we would have to wait until all of the coaches were loaded. Then our security man would board and the police escort would guide and accompany us on our way.
At 7:15 the caravan set out for Cairo, a 3-hour drive away. En route our guide lectured us on Egyptian history. She was pretty impressive and we thought we had a winner. Then she explained that a prized keepsake is a gold cartouche. This very nice jewelry was representative of objects found in the pharaohs' tombs. She explained Egyptian hieroglyphics and how they were used to spell a name on the cartouche. If we ordered on the coach these custom 18-karat gold pieces would be delivered to us at our final stop.
She wore cartouche earrings and the brochure displayed the various styles available. It took her quite a while to make her way to us near the back of the coach. Alice and I had been talking about this and concluded that earrings would be nice. Boy were they nice. $740 would buy a lovely pair of earrings. Maybe for somebody, but not for us. We passed. Most seemed to be ordering a gold-plated pendant for $65. The price was reasonable. The quality was not. We were shown two of these the next day on the ship. Both were flawed with a dimple in the metal.
Our tour visited the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization to view artifacts from several thousands of years on the first level. On the lower level, we then saw 18 mummified pharaohs. We lost 15 minutes waiting for our listening devices to be activated and distributed. Then our guide told us where the restrooms were. We had been on the coach for 3 hours. Many of us headed there. When we returned we could hear her but we couldn’t see her. Some of us finally caught up with her. She was oblivious to the fact that we had left and some had not yet returned. We missed viewing the objects she covered in our absence. This became typical of her group management.
She rushed us through the objects on display with brief explanations and no time to read any material. Then she gave us some time to view the mummies on our own.
Back on the coach we drove to the included lunch on a River Nile cruise. The barge-like restaurant slowly left the dock while we ate. We were then entertained by a whirling dervish-type performance by one young man. He was quite good as was the belly dancer who followed. Our boat ventured about 2 blocks from the dock before returning. Not exactly the Nile cruise we expected.
Finally, we got underway to the pyramids. Cairo is on one side of the Nile. Giza is on the other side. The pyramids are in Giza. As we drove to them they stood above the neighborhoods that surround them. This was not the picture from our geography books. We expected a desert location. As it turned out this was in the desert but urban sprawl had encroached on it.
As we approached the pyramids our guide explained that camel rides are available. She warned that the operators of many of these were cheats and that we should only use her guy. Several people signed up with her. When we arrived at the pyramids she stepped out to talk to the camel driver. She returned with the news that the cost would be $10 not $5. We wondered what her commission was.
Alice and I used our free time here to carefully navigate the camel litter, uneven terrain, and steps around the 3 pyramids. They are awesome. We felt like we were in a dream. When looking at pictures and learning about these in grammar school neither of us ever thought we would be here.
We returned to the coach a little early. At the designated time we were missing 2 gentlemen. Hoda, our guide finally tracked them down and we set out for the Sphinx. It was nearing sunset and even though the sphinx was in sight it took 30 minutes to make our way through heavy traffic to get to it. This impressively large sculpture was carved from a single piece of the mountain in place. It was not created elsewhere. We did get to view the sunset before leaving.
As we drove through the neighborhood adjacent to the site, it was getting late and we still had a 3-hour drive back to Journey. Hoda announced that our next stop would be for shopping at the bazaar. The outcry from the passengers was impressive. There was a unanimous request to go straight back to the ship. Hoda explained that we could not do that because the shopping was on the itinerary. It was also where the previously ordered cartouches would be picked up. We went to the bazaar. She did not shorten the time there but stuck to the schedule. We got back to Journey at 8:30. The restaurants had stayed open so we could have supper. Lunch was many, many hours earlier.
This was clearly a mixed day. The museum and the pyramids and sphinx were outstanding. The lunch on the Nile was good, and the entertainment was enjoyable, but the cruise was disappointing.
So we went to bed happy with our visit but disappointed with our guide. This day was made great by the scope of the sites we visited and the fact that we were here.
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