Spring Break Part II - Egypt!

After leaving Turkey we headed to Cairo. We arrived late at night (or early in the morning, as the case may be) and stayed at a hotel by the airport. The next day we headed into town to our "permanent" hotel location. The place we stayed at was great (thanks to my favorite travel planner, Pete Muilenburg). It was beautifully decorated - I want our house to look like that someday. Our first full day in Cairo we just walked around - the city is crazy! 25 million people live in Cairo and I think they are all out on the street all the time. The drivers there make Bulgarians look like perfect angels who follow all the rules of the road! Not only are the drivers crazy, but people are crossing the street whenever they please. You HAVE to dodge cars in order to cross the street, in fact. There really aren't any crosswalks - well, there are, but no one pays attention.
Out second day the tours began. We took a private tour that was fabulous! Our first stop was Saqquara, which is about a 20-minute drive from Cairo. Here we saw a pyramid that was falling down a bit, but still impressive. The coolest thing we got to see here were the tombs that hieroglyphics in them. It was so incredible. We weren't allowed to take pictures in the tombs, so I don't have any photos of that, but I can assure you they were amazing. The Egyptians believed that you could draw pictures of everything you needed and wanted in the afterlife, then you could say a couple of magic words and all the drawings would come to life. They thought of everything! There was even a hole in the wall where they could tie up the bulls once they brought them ones that were drawn on the walls back to life. It was truly incredible. Here are some pictures of Saqquara:

After Saqquara, we went to Memphis, which was the capital of ancient Egypt for a long time. There isn't much there any longer, but they have a nice outdoor museum with some interesting artifacts. Here are some pics:


That last picture was of Pete and I in Arab headdresses - nice :)
After Memphis we moved on to the highlight of the trip - Giza. The pyramids in Giza are among the most amazing things I have ever seen in my life! They are truly, truly incredible. It is so difficult to believe that they are over 4,500 years old. I think it is so unbelievable what humans are capable of. My favorite part of Giza was the Sphinx. I loved seeing the Sphinx with the pyramids in the background - so cool. It was possible to take a camel ride, but we ended up deciding against it. It was expensive and it just seemed too touristy when we got there.

Pete and I ate lunch sitting on the pyramids - awesome!




After our pyramid tour, we decided to take another tour the next day. On this tour we went to Muslim Cairo and Coptic (Christian) Cairo. Our first stop was Muslim Cairo where we went inside a mosque built by Mohammed Ali in the 1800's. It was beautiful.

In Coptic Cairo, we went to the Hanging Church. This was a church built by the Christian Egyptians during the Roman rule. It "hangs" between two tower - there is not foundation. It was beautiful inside - one of my favorite churches I have ever seen. It was also special to be there on Easter Sunday.

\

On our last night in Cairo we went to a belly dancing show. I tell ya - that's the way to stay in shape and have a good body! I think I'm going to start up lessons as soon as we get home! :)

It was difficult to get a clear picture because she was moving so fast, but I guess you get the idea.

All in all, it was a fantastic Spring Break! We loved every minute! I highly recommend Egypt for anyone intersted - it is a very special place.