Home » Egypt » EGYPT ADVENTURE 1999, part 2

The trip was from Jan. 28th to Feb. 10th, 1999. I was with a Contiki tour for 9 days and on my own for 5 days.

EGYPT ADVENTURE 1999, part 2

Kevin55
2004-04-05 11:22:47

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Day 8

This morning we left Luxor and went to the nearby airport for the flight back to Cairo. As usual, it was delayed and we waited for about two hours. The flight was relatively uneventful, but like before we had another very rough landing. I guess they train their pilots on the the domestic routes. It took about a half hour to get to the city of Cairo. Back in the overcrowded city of pollution!!
We didn't do much today except eat at McDonalds again and visit the world famous Khan el Khalili bazaar. It is one of the oldest and largest in the arab world. I didn't travel too deep into it, because I would have gotten completely lost. This is situated in the old city of Cairo, and again, I felt like I was thrust back in time a few hundred years. This is a district that is swarming with endlessly twisting alleys, packed with people, carts, donkeys, camels, fruit, tea, and meat. And everywhere the smell of animals, leather, and poverty. Surrounding all of this are many ancient mosques and cemeteries.

Day 9
Last night we checked back into the Oasis Hotel, near the pyramids of Giza, where we spent the first couple of nights on the tour. Grant and I complained about our problem the first night, when we got ripped off and didn't get our single rooms. But we just got the runaround from the management. Wayne tried to help, but I think it was out of his hands. It was between the hotel and Spring Tours, and they just put the blame on each other.
In the morning, we departed by bus to go to the pyramid field of Sakkara, where the famous "step pyramid" of King Djoser is. It is south of Cairo, and I think it took about a half hour to drive there.

After leaving this area, we drove back to Old Cairo to see the citadel and the Alabaster Mosque of Mehemet Ali, which is the most famous in Egypt.

Later on we had lunch at a fancy Egyptian restaurant, and the food was very good. When we ...