Egyptian Pyramids in Cairo

One of our favorite days in Egypt is when we had our day trip in Cairo. We booked a private tour that took us from our hotel (Kempinski Soma Bay) to Cairo, which is 6 hours each way! Now, I'm sure you think we are crazy but that is just how much we wanted to see the pyramids.

On Sunday, July 29, we were picked up from our hotel at 2am. Our hotel was great and even had breakfast boxes waiting for us in the lobby to take with us. We got into our van and off to Cairo we went. Luckily, we had the whole back of a van with three rows just for the two of us so we both layed down on a bench and slept. I slept nearly the whole way, lucky me! Upon waking, we were in crazy busy Cairo. It felt like Christmas- I was so excited! P.S. Did you know that 22 million people live in Cairo? The traffic was insane! So, Atlantans, you have nothing to complain about after seeing it! 

Once we arrived, we went to the Egyptian Museum, also know as the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities. We had our own tour guide that was amazing. Seriously, the guys knew so much and even answered all of our questions and then some- surely he got an A+ in History. Anyway, we saw King Tut's tomb and so many other wonderful Egyptian artifacts. If you know me, you know that I'm not really interested in museums and history (I like to think that I have selective history knowledge because the subject just has to interest me) but this was was super cool (and I paid attention almost the whole time!). I just wish we were allowed to take pictures.

After the museum, we were off to the pyramids at Giza and to the Sphinx. What a beautiful sight! From far away the pyramids didn't look that large but as soon as we walked right up to the Great Pyramid of Khufu, I am pretty sure I just stared in amazement for several moments before I could even say a word. No wonder why they are one of the seven wonders of the world! It was listed as one by Anitpater of Sidon and is the oldest and only one in existence today. Crazy!

There are three pyramids at Giza, the Great pyramid being the most famous but also the most difficult (and expensive) to get tickets to go into. The Great pyramid was built as a tomb for the Pharoah Khufu. It took 20 years to build and was the tallest man-made structure for thousands of years. I still can't wrap my head around the fact that they didn't use any machines to build it. The other two pyramids were for the Queen and his daughter. We got tickets to go inside the Queen's pyramid. It was so neat to be able to go inside a pyramid that I had read about in history books (history is much more exciting when you actually get to see it all in person!). I'm really glad we chose the Queen's pyramid to see rather than the Great pyramid because it was so hot inside and I couldn't imagine having to be inside with a whole bunch of other people. I bet I lost about 5lbs that day.

After the pyramids, we walked down to see the Great Sphinx of Giza, aka the Sphinx. It was so much bigger than I had anticipated (they really need to make pictures of all of this bigger in books ;) ). This was very interesting to me because the basic facts about it, such as when it was built and by who is still debated. This has resulted in the "The Riddle of the Sphinx". Very interesting!

After our departure from the pyramids and the Sphinx, we had a great Egyptian lunch at Caviar, where we had a wonderful view of the pyramids. It was super delish and the chocolate icecream was nothing short of amazing.

Our last stop on our trip was to a bazaar and to a papyrus factory. The bazaar had a lot of cool items but the papyrus factory was the best. There they taught us how the ancient Egyptian scrolls were made and the history of the papyrus plant. We even bought ourselves a beautiful piece of artwork for our house. I can't wait to hang it up!

All in all, our 12 hour round trip journey to Cairo was definitely worth it. I am so glad we were able to see such an amazing part of history. It truly is one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. I only wish I will have the chance to go back someday. xx