Pharaonic symbols

Garry and I flew into Cairo on November 27. We'd literally flown directly from South America to Egypt, stopping briefly in Madrid and Barcelona to change aircraft. It was a long and arduous flight - even in business class. Our arrival kicked off with a minor disaster when our bags didn't accompany us from Argentina. I suspect that an incredibly tight, and rather confusing, transfer we made in Madrid didn't serve us well.

We'd booked a direct flight from Buenos Aires to Barcelona, with a brief stop in Madrid. Or at least, that's what we thought. Upon arrival in Madrid, we discovered that our flight actually changed aircraft. Even more confusing, the transfer aircraft was parked at a gate in a completely different terminal. Finally, despite all these changes, our onward flight to Barcelona was still listed under the same flight number. We ultimately had to work all of this out alone after we'd disembarked in Madrid, The Iberian cabin crew gave us absolutely no instructions before landing and said nothing as we left the airbridge.

Needless to say, missing luggage was hardly the sort of news we wanted to hear at 2:00am in a Cairo airport baggage hall. However, things ended well as our tour guide, Shona, did an incredible job tracking down our luggage and having it safely delivered to our cruise boat in Luxor, four days later.

Shona was simply delightful. As a lively, independent, intelligent, outdoor-oriented Yorkshire woman, she did a magnificent job bringing the Middle East to life. She had a cheeky side, that made the occasional dull moment quickly pass and regularly went beyond the call of duty, genuinely caring for the needs of others on the tour. She even came to see us in London a few months after we’d finally arrived in London.

Shona knows her stuff. She made our Lonely Planet guide next to useless. Of course, we never admitted this. Instead, we constantly threatened to check our guidebook before acting on her 'local knowledge' recommendations. She soon had an effective solution to this threat, simply banning guidebooks from regular briefing sessions.

Cairo is a wild city. It's noisy, dirty, chaotic, and filled with endless odors. The traffic is predictably chaotic and random. The tourist touts are everywhere and keen to empty your wallets. It would be fair to say that it wasn't our favourite city on our world tour. Fortunately, the rest of Egypt was far better, and at times, exceeded all expectations.

Our first day in Egypt was spent visiting key sights in Cairo. We started with the Pyramids and the Sphinx, before visiting the equally famous Egyptian museum where King Tutankhamun's golden treasures are displayed. The Pyramids are everything you'd expect them to be. Sadly they didn't make the most memorable impression as the Giza plateau was crowded with persistent touts, dodgy tourist police on the make, and local students keen to become your well-paid 'guide'. However, in fairness, some kids just wanted us to take a photo with them for fun.

It was hard to absorb the historic atmosphere with so much distraction. Perhaps the one surprise was to discover how close the Pyramids are to the city of Cairo. You literally drive past the last suburb and there they are in front of you. We also took an opportunity to climb down into one Pyramid and view the burial chamber inside. Not for the faint-hearted or those who fear confined spaces. However, it was a unique experience nonetheless.

Tutankhamun burial mask is spectacular. Photos barely do it justice. It is a stunning work of art. We saw it at the aging Egyptian Museum, an imposing colonnaded building sitting downtown by the Nile River. Unfortunately, cameras were forbidden in the museum so we never got to photograph it. A few days later, in the Valley of Kings, we were lucky enough to visit the original Tutankhamun tomb. Here we saw his comparatively humble mummy and stone sarcophagus.

  

Jet lag, and our late-night arrival, finally took its toll on me during our museum tour. I literally fell asleep on my feet in the midst of the sarcophagus hall. Our local guide was less than amused as I stumbled across the floor interrupting her mid-sentence.

From Cairo, we caught the sleeper train to Luxor. These trains are reasonably civil affairs with comfortable fold-down beds and fresh linen. Garry and I were able to get a reasonable night's sleep. The complimentary dinner was a remarkable combination of bread, rice, and other unidentifiable starches. We reached Luxor, shortly before dawn (about 6am) after a reasonable night's sleep. 

Follow our next adventure here.