The Wows of Egypt

Wow #1: Cairo

After landing in Cairo at 2am, we took a taxi to our hostel. We were surprised to see so many shops open and so many people milling about the streets. The city of Cairo was alive in a way I’ve never seen before. Cairo is considered a magacity, composed of almost 22 million residents with around around 14 million tourists visiting per year.

The city is crammed with cars, houseflies, pedestrians, cats, street vendors, and motorbikes. The buildings are old and beautiful. You hear hundreds of cars beeping constantly, trying to urge the bumper to bumper traffic forward. There are cars double parked, cars parked on the sidewalks, and cars parked around the street corners, as if they are trying to block the pedestriansi of from crossing the street.

The first day in the city, we walked to a section of the city called Islamic Cairo with colorful markets, beautiful gates, and elaborate mosques. Mekael and I stopped to take photos so frequently that I paused and said, “you can tell how much we love this by how many photos we are taking.” Every angle we looked there was unique beauty. Right at sunset, we took a tuk-tuk to the citadel that overlooks the city. Once we walked to see the panoramic view, our jaws dropped as we saw sweeping views of the city in the gorgeous sunset. The expanse of the urbanity amazed us. And then, I gasped as I saw them. For the first time in my life, I saw the outline of two pyramids in the distance on the horizon. To be looking at a skyline with pyramids was a thrill.

The next day, we went to Saqqara where we saw four pyramids. The step pyramid (named for its angled levels) was a delight to see. We went into the Unas pyramid, which had stars etched into the ceiling and hieroglyphics etched into the walls. Our jaws dropped at the intricacy. We then went to Dashur where we went to the Red Pyramid and the Bent Pyramid. Then we went to Giza, where we rode camels around the three famous pyramids built by 3 generations of Pharaohs. In one day, we had visited 15 pyramids! As if that were not fantastic enough, we found out that there are over 115 pyramids all around Cairo! Wow!

The size of the city and the amount of pyramids astounded us!

Wow #2: Luxor

We took an day-long train from Cairo down the Nile River to Luxor, enjoying the views of passing cities and landscapes. After staying overnight at our hostel, we visited the sites on the west side of the river. We saw astounding artifacts. We then drove toward a large mountain range, what is now known as the Valley of the Kings. Unlike Cairo where each Pharoah built himself a pyramid, 63 Pharoahs in Luxor each built themselves a tomb within the mountain itself. We walked into three tombs, and were astounded to find large, intricately decorated passageways down to their cargophagus. It was a delight to see the vivid colors still so well preserved and the complexity of the designs and archictecture.

On the second day of our tour, we visited the east bank of Luxor. We saw two gigantic temples called Luxor Temple and Karnak Temple; we were shocked how intact they still are. Their size and preservedness delighted and wowed us! The two temples are connected by a 3 kilometer (2 mile) road lined with sphinxes. The road was built in the 4th Century BC and was originally lined with 1,050 sphinxes and rams. We also saw heiroglyphics and representations of Alexander the Great dressed as an Egyptian etched into the the walls of the temple!

Wow #3: Mt. Sinai

We left the small town of Dahab around 10pm, and we arrived at the base of Mt. Sinai around midnight. After waiting in line to go through security and submitting paper copies of our passports, we started the hike. We hiked in the pitch-black darkness, using a headlamp to see right in front of us for our next step. We usually walked single file and kept our eyes on the ground. There were many other groups that were hiking to the top; I could hear many languages being spoken around me. The crisp, cold air was a combination of cigarette smoke from the guides, camel dung, and smoke from campfires. We had to maneuvre around a several camels on our way up. It was hard to know how much more we needed to hike, since we couldn’t see the mountain or frankly any of the landscape around us. At about 3:30am, we reached a small hut that marked the start of 750 steps to the very top of Mt. Sinai. We rested inside the hut for around an hour. We grabbed a couple thick blankets and began the final climb to the top. There was a large pilgrimage group of Ecuadorians in front of us, along with several other groups. We waited in line for each step, listening to the Ecuadorians chant their prayers enthusiastically.

We got to the top and our guide placed us on a cliff edge and then moved on to direct the others. We napped for a few minutes before the sunrise, trying to stay warm. We watched the sun peeked up on the edge of the horizon through the clouds, realizing that “the place on which [we] are standing is holy ground.”