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Egyptian Museum Cairo to be renovated

Barbara at the Egyptian Museum
Barbara at the Egyptian Museum
Barbara at the Egyptian Museum

After your Nile Cruise if you add a few days up in Cairo to see The Pyramids, as so many people do, then more than likely you will spend a couple of fascinating hours in Cairo’s Egyptian Museum just off the famous “Tahir Square“, scene of the heaviest protests during both revolutions.

Barbara and I have visited the museum on a number of occasions.

The famous pink building is to be renovated to “return the museum to it’s original status” according to it’s director Mahmoud Halwagy.

It was originally built and I would suggest it is probably one of the most visited museums in the world due to the nature of it’s exhibits. Today it is still a honeypot for tourists visiting the City however it’s interior has seen better days and the whole museum needs to move into the 21st century. Continue reading “Egyptian Museum Cairo to be renovated”

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Memphis, Saqqara and The Great Pyramid Full Day Excursion

A few years ago, on one of our visits to Cairo, when we were staying at the excellent Le Meridien Pyramids Hotel, virtually overlooking the Great Pyramid, we decide to take a full day excursion, visiting Memphis, Saqqara and The Great Pyramid.

We booked the trip via the hotel’s reception that evening and the next morning we were collected by our guide for the day in a small, air-conditioned and very comfortable mini-bus."Memphis, Saqqara and The Great Pyramid"

Our first stop, after an hour or so’s drive was the Memphis, Egypt’s first capital, and the Memphis Museum. We arrived quite early so there were very few other visitors around, as I imagine it must be like now. Amongst many other things we saw the colossal statue of Ramses the II, which apparently was the inspiration for Shelley’s poem, “Ozymandias“. The statue once stood 11metres high but now lies on his back with his feet missing. Even on his back you can still get an impression of just how awe inspiring the statue must have looked. And, as always in Egypt, you wonder how on earth they made and elevated these amazing structures. Continue reading “Memphis, Saqqara and The Great Pyramid Full Day Excursion”

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The Pyramids at Night

The Pyramids at Night

This illegal locally but somehow somebody managed to take this amazing photo from the top of the Pyramids looking over the lights of Cairo in the distance.

You can see the original here:

The Pyramids at Night looking over Cairo
The Pyramids At Night

Giza is the location of the Pyramid of Khufu (also known as the “Great Pyramid” and the “Pyramid of Cheops”); the somewhat smaller Pyramid of Khafre (or Chephren); the relatively modest-sized Pyramid of Menkaure (or Mykerinus), along with a number of smaller satellite edifices known as “Queen’s pyramids”; and the Great Sphinx of Giza.

Of the three, only Khafre’s pyramid retains part of its original polished limestone casing, near its apex. This pyramid appears larger than the adjacent Khufu pyramid by virtue of its more elevated location, and the steeper angle of inclination of its construction – it is, in fact, smaller in both height and volume.

The Giza pyramid complex has been a popular tourist destination since antiquity and was popularized in Hellenistic times when the Great Pyramid was listed by Antipater of Sidon as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Today it is the only one of those wonders still in existence.

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Visiting Cairo – Day 2

Visiting Cairo – Day 2

After a quick, but tasty, breakfast at the Movenpick Pyramids Hotel, it was off straight away to visit the Pyramids and The Sphinx. We have done this before but how can you not be excited about revisiting one of the remaining Wonders of the World?

As it was a Saturday there were lots of Egyptian school children. You forget when you are a visitor to Egypt that many of their citizens will not have visited the Pyramids for various reasons but school children particularly look forward to their first visit to one of their country’s most important heritage sites. As they were on school-trips it was obvious that their teachers had told them all about the trip and what to expect. Including the fact that they would see lots of visitors from overseas.

Well, there are still fewer overseas visitors than would have been there prior to the Revolution, so we found ourselves quite the focus of the schoolchildren’s excitement and found that we were being photographed for school projects as much as they were photographing the Pyramids!

Here’s the proof:

The Pyramids Nov 2012. School children photographing us! The Great Pyramid. School children photograph us.

Last time we visited Barbara actually entered the Great Pyramid and followed the corridor down to the burial chamber but, having done it before, she decided against it on this occasion. However we both climbed up to the entrance to the Great Pyramid so we could photograph each other. Continue reading “Visiting Cairo – Day 2”

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Nile Cruise from Cairo to Aswan

Nile Cruise from Cairo to Aswan

It was recently announced that due to new developments it would now be possible for Nile cruises to sail between Cairo and Luxor, something that has not happened for over some time.

Nile Cruise from Cairo to Aswan

“After being on break for 18 years because of safety reasons, the Egypt Nile cruises are back on Cairo-Luxor destination. According to the Minister of Tourism, Hicham Zazou, “the restoration of security is the key to the recovery of tourism in Egypt. All cruises are organized in collaboration with the Ministry of the Interior.” Before this development Nile cruises only operated on the upper Nile stretch that starts from Luxor to Aswan. A cruise that sailed from Cairo all the way to Aswan would take 15 days. That would include several days in Cairo to see the Great Pyramid and Sphinx followed by cruise to the south of upper nile that would probably last a week”.

We will be offering a 14 night cruise sailing from Cairo to Awsan on the superb Alexander The Great with the itinerary shown below departing on August the 12th and 26th 2013 for a cost of £2499 per person. Continue reading “Nile Cruise from Cairo to Aswan”