When we found out we were heading to Egypt, our field office scrambled to get together a field program for us and I must say, they did an amazing job. Since I hadn’t planned for Egypt, I thought it would be best to do an overnight trip through SAS. And it turned out to be the best tour of the entire summer! I am so grateful I was able to do it…I didn’t have to worry about anything, everything was already planned out and it was fantastic. There were almost 300 people who went on the trip…that says how popular it was! I woke up before seven and we were on the bus by 8 traveling to Cairo. There were about 12 buses, I was on bus 8 and we had an amazing tour guide, a woman named Nevian whose grandparents were Turkish. For the duration of the trip, she called us group “sunshine…” ……we would be in the middle of the street and she would yell “SUNSHINE! SHAKE A LEG!” It was fabulous. For the 2.5-3 hours it took to get to Sakkara, our first destination, Nevian taught us some Arabic and shared with us the history of her ancient culture. We took the desert road to Cairo, the most popular way to get to the city. Sakkara is home to the oldest ancient Egyptian cemetery, where the Step Pyramid of King Zoser stands. This is not one of the pyramids that most people know, but is
roughly 5,000 years old! I couldn’t help but think this is where all the shows on the history channel are filmed! We were right in the middle of the desert and right before me stood the world’s first monumental stone building! Very close by are the Mastabas, which are tombs. From the outside, they look like a house but underneath they are much more than that. We couldn’t bring our cameras in, but there were beautiful hieroglyphics all along the walls depicting daily life in ancient Egypt. (some people took pictures…made me upset…why do people think the rules don’t apply to them?). Apparently Egyptians are still buried in mastabas today and follow the ancient Egyptian traditions, instead of the Islamic customs. For lunch, we headed to a hotel called the Mena House Oberoi, which used to be a palace! The ballroom where we were served lunch had the most amazing
décor and was easily one of the most beautiful rooms I’ve ever eaten in. Afterwards, we headed to the National Archaeology Museum in downtown Cairo, more commonly known as the Egyptian museum. The place was crowded with tourists and had no air conditioning, which made the visit a tad uncomfortable. Our tour guide took us through all the highlights but unfortunately, we weren’t able to go into the mummy room because it was extra. But we were able to see the treasures of King Tutankhamen, including his famous gold mask. There was a really great jewelry room, some of the pieces were so elaborate! We left after about an hour and a half of observing the artifacts and got on the buses to go to the Meridian Pyramids, a five star hotel where we would be staying, right across from the Pyramids. It took us at least an hour and a half to get there…the traffic in Cairo was just insane! It was bumper to bumper for the duration of the ride BUT it allowed us to wave to all the Egyptians in the cars beside us. Every single child would wave at us….the Egyptian children were adorable! I wanted to take them all home with me! It wasn’t just the children who would wave to us, almost every man would and some women. I didn’t mind the traffic…it was nice to exchange a smile here and there with strangers. The roads were so very busy but it was fun in a sense. Just watching everything, seeing so many people…all the noise, the animals, …anticipating what’s to come next, so much fun! When we finally arrived at the hotel, we found our rooms (very nice!) and had a wonderful buffet dinner. There was a marriage reception going on, where two brothers had married two sisters. The headscarfs and dresses were so beautiful, I couldn’t believe my eyes! I had never seen such elaborate and striking gowns. Luckily, I was able to find a Herald Tribune and our room had BBC and CNN so I definitely was able to get my news fill. Before we knew it, we were heading to the Giza Plateau around 8:45 to see the 
sound and light show, “Son et Lumiere” in the English version. This was the closest I had gotten to the Sphinx and pyramids thus far and to see them illuminated in such colors as blue, red, and even green was an incredible sight to behold. PLEASE do yourself a favor and see this when you go to Egypt. It was a wonderful show sharing the rich history of Egypt against the backdrop of the most amazing monuments in the world. And the colors…goodness, so awesome!! We got back after 10 and I got to sleep around 11. We had an interruption at around midnight which was really unsettling (Momoko answered the door, supposedly they were a bunch of our tour guides checking the rooms and what not) so I didn’t sleep very well after that.
A few hours later, we woke up at 4am to get ready and check out of the hotel. And then, we traveled to the pyramids to see the sun rise! The pyramids don’t usually open until 8am to the public so we were the only ones there. It was a beautiful thing to watch and something I will treasure for the rest of my life.
Unfortunately, it was somewhat cloudy so the skies weren’t as vibrantly colored as we had hoped. On the other hand, it made the whole atmosphere a little more eerie, which was appropriate. A couple hours later we got to ride camels! There had been another SAS tour offered, called the camel ride and jeep safari and participants on my overnight Cairo tour worried we wouldn’t be able to ride camels as well. Luckily, our tour guides organized it for us and it costed 10 dollars. We were so grateful our guides took care of it…we heard stories of paying men to get on camels and then not being able to get off the animal without paying even more money. Thankfully, we didn’t have to worry about that. When it was our turn, Momoko and I got on the camel and we almost fell off when it was standing up! My God, it was such a bumpy ride! And at first, very uncomfortable! But as we rode on towards the 
pyramids and realized once again where we were and what we were doing, the thought of comfort vanished. Here we were, in front of the great pyramids of Giza, in the middle of the desert, riding camels! It was unreal!!! I still cannot believe I actually did it…one of the most magical experiences in my life, without a doubt. After riding the camels, we went closer to the pyramids to take some pictures before heading to see the Sphinx up close. Following that, we got back on the buses and drove through Cairo to the Khan El Khalili Bazaar, which was the most amazing, lively place in the city! The bazaar was a maze of
narrow alleyways, filled with a variety of merchandise and tinted with a myriad of colors and sounds. There were shops selling hookahs, jewelry, leather, spices, scarves and dresses, coffee and treats. It was a city in itself, an atmosphere that hypnotized the senses. It was the exotic middle east that has always been romanticized with Arabic slipping off the tongues of sellers, and the smell of shisha and spices lingering in the air. I will write more about my interactions with the people later. I ended up buying some souvenirs because everything was incredibly cheap and haggling is easy to do.
The majority of Muslims are Sunni in Egypt but there is a small Shiite population. Right next to the bazaar was the most important Shiite mosque in the city, named after the grandson of Mohammad. Right when we were leaving, one of their prayer times started…it was an amazing experience to be right outside the mosque as people were swarming the area and the call to prayer was resonating in the square. I was able to take some video footage which I hope to put up on the site sometime later.
When we were finished in the area, we went to our final activity in Cairo, which was
a boat cruise along the Nile for lunch. It was a great way to end our tour, a time for relaxing, enjoying the food, and traveling along the most famous river in the world. Towards the end, we had a whirling dervish and belly dancer performance which was entertaining. After, we boarded the buses for the last time and took the 2 and a half hour trip back to Alexandria and the ship. Since we had been up since 4ish, everyone crashed on the way home (aka to the explorer). We got back around 530 but I didn’t get back on the ship until closer to 6ish…it takes a LONG time to get back on the ship because of the security measures we have in place. I slept until 11 this morning! But I’m still very tired…we had our Sea Olympics today…the ship is divided into seas, I’m in the yellow sea and I think we might have gotten third place? There were tug of war competitions, lip sync, synchronized swimming, among other activities. I didn’t sign up for any and I’m SO HAPPY because I don’t think I would have had the energy…right now is our cultural pre port for Greece but seeing as I’ve lived within the culture my whole life, I’m only watching it through the TV in our cabin. And I would like to continue sharing my thoughts on Egypt, now that I’ve written about my sightseeing.
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