Egypt Highlights in 10 days - Wow!
- Ilene
- Jan 4
- 4 min read
Updated: Aug 20
When we added Egypt to our list of countries we didn’t completely understand what we were getting into. We definitely knew this wasn’t a DIY travel country like many other countries we've visited. We knew Egypt was a country where we needed to book a tour… AND, we were so glad we did!
What were our expectations for Egypt? Well, we knew the basics… we were coming to see the Pyramids, the Sphinx, the Nile River, and Egyptian artifacts. Check, check and check.
What we weren’t prepared for was the experience itself. Seeing artifacts in a museum is one thing, walking through temples and tombs that are over 5000 years old is another. Yes, these structures date back to roughly 3000BC. And this stuff isn’t just Hollywood or movie studio make believe. It is solid stone, right there in front of you… massive, ancient, and honestly hard to wrap your head around.
Something else that was truly hard to grasp was that fact that a significant part of these ancient structures had been buried under the sand for thousands of years. We are talking about temples and structures hundreds of feet tall that were lost to a couple thousand years of sand blowing through and covering them. It wasn’t really until explorers and archaeologists of the 1800’s “re-discovered” them that modern society could begin to view them.
The concept of this really struck home when we were standing in the Temple of Pharaoh Ramses II in Luxor surrounded by massive 100 foot tall pillars, walls, and statues. Our guide said “Everything is in such good condition because it was buried by the sand and in fact the archeologists had to remove a Roman temple built on top of this site in order to uncover the Egyptian temple.” Yep, you read that right… they removed the “modern” Roman temple in order to expose the “ancient” Egyptian temple. You know this stuff is old when Romans are considered modern!
On our second full day in Egypt, we started exploring Temples and got our first real exposure to hieroglyphs. I had seen pictures of hieroglyphs before but pictures really don’t begin to explain the intricacy, detail, or the story they tell. I had always assumed the hieroglyphs were painted onto the walls when in fact they are intricately carved into the stone and then painted. In most cases, exposure to the elements like floods, sun, and sand storms have worn away the colors but in some places, like the Valley of the Kings, the richness of these comes to life. Our Egyptologist guides were also able to explain and read the hieroglyphs to us many of which detailed the Egyptian history through descriptions of events, daily life, rituals, conquests, mathematics, calendars, pretty much everything you could imagine.
We started in Cairo visiting the Pyramids in Giza and the Sphinx - the expected stuff. Then we flew to Aswan, a city in the south, almost at the Sudan boarder and one I had never heard of. From here we visited Abu Simbel, another place I’d never heard of but had heard we had to go - and yes, you have to go! In Abu Simbel we saw two amazing temples built by none other than Ramsses II for himself of course and his beloved Queen Nefertari. Then three nights on a Nile cruise stopping along the way for more temples then disembarking in Luxor. Of course we’d heard of Luxor, there’s a Vegas hotel named after it, but again, didn’t know what to expect. More amazing temples and then the Valley of the Kings which was definitely a highlight. From Luxor we flew back to Cairo for a couple final days.
Yes, that was fast and furious and we were definitely “templed-out” by the end… the equivalent of seeing too many Churches in Europe. As Josh said, “I forgot that traveling with you guys isn’t really a vacation.”
We were also EXTREMELY happy with the tour company… Djed tours was amazing! We had private transportation and private guides who were knowledgeable (Egyptologists) and friendly. We had a “City Host” that met us upon arrival in each city, got us settled at our hotel and helped us at each departure point. The Nile cruise on one of the traditional Dahabiya boats was pretty unique and definitely the right choice versus the larger Nile cruise ships.
Other random thoughts and things we’d want others to be prepared for when visiting Egypt
It’s a cash based, tipping culture
Like other African countries the cities and countrysides are littered with trash
The traffic is insane and “traffic” here includes, horses, donkeys, motorcycles, no-crosswalks, no adherence to lanes, the constant and incessant beeping of horns, and general overall chaos
High levels of security, especially around the big sights (i.e. bomb sniffing dogs, armed guards, etc.)
but never once did we feel unsafe
Old school graffiti carved into the monuments by adventurers in the 1800’s!!
Don’t expect to explore or walk around the cities much on your own, and it’s recommended to eat in the hotels
In the hotels we didn't lack for Western conveniences, in fact I didn't see a single squat potty. The country is built for tourists to come see the amazing sights
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