Egypt Diaries

 I slept early that night but woke up at 4 am to do my usual pre travel cleaning, mopping, dishwashing ritual.

All sorted and left to M?a Chester airport on time. Parked the car, checked in and had a lovely lazy brunch at G!raffe. Flight was slightly delayed but reached ‘Sinba£d Club’  Hu£rghada around 12 am as it was only 15 minutes from the airport. ( R spent 3.5 hours of the 5.30 hour flight studying her biology b!ble !)

Had late dinner , checked in to the room and crashed.

Day 1 (24th)

Just spent lazing around, checked out the hotel and booked spa appointments while R wrapped up some maths . They then went on the acqua par!krides while I relaxed by the pool. We all went swimming, K went for massage and R and I for hair. The Xmas eve celeberationsxwere on, so we just enjoyed the drinks, music, lights, decor and wound up around 10.30 as pick up to Cairo the next day was around 7 am.

Day 2( 25th)

We got ready bright and early, had the packed breakfast. The tour guide was on time and we were picked up in a Van where there were already a French family of a mum and two daughters. We boarded the flight to Cairo which was delayed and reached only by 11.30. Our guide Salamek was on time and we had the driver, car and guide to ourselves. The guide was an old gentleman, who was slow but very pleasant. We drove to Giza braving the Egyptian traffic.

We reached the pyramids. First R wanted a camel ride to the photo point but when she saw that the camels were flogged, she preferred the horse cart. The horses were not flogged as much, at least. We went by horse cart and reached the point where the pyramids were behind us. 4500 years of history was our background as we took some pics. It was breathtaking.

We went by shuttle nearer the pyramids and K and R went inside one of them. It was too claustrophobic for me so ai turned away at the entrance. K and R said they did not enjoy it either. It was too steep, dark and narrow  a climb and there was nothing at the end of it. Only K ended ended hurting his ankle and hobbling for days after! That was £20 euros per person we could have saved!

We then went to the sphynx. Once again it was an amazing view. Since the time I had read the ‘River God’ by Wilbur smith, I had wanted to visit Egypt and this trip was a dream come true. We took some pics and moved to the GEM.

As we drove from the sphinx to the GeM it was surreal as the entire drive we had a view of the pyramids at dusk. 

We opted to skip a sit down lunch and visits to the papyrus factory and perfume shops as we wanted more time at the GEM. We just had some packed croissants, juice and chocolate on the go in the canned instead.

The GEm as expected was fantastic and I saw live everything I had read. The ushabtis, the Ba and the Ka, the steales , the mask of Tut, the pectorals, the faience jewels, the beads, the thrones, the beads, hatshepsuts beard, the sarcophagus it was mind blowing to say the least! The cartouches in the statues, Ramses at the entrance etc were magnificent.

We wrapped up the GEM, had a sit down dinner at the cleopatra restaurant and went on a feluccacride on the Nile by ourselves. R  got some music played and it was a fabuluous experience with all the posh hotels around the Nile lit up for the new year! ( Foyr seasons, Sofitel to name a few)

We said bye to Salamek and drove through old town Cairo to the airport. It was a very painful 3 hour wait and we boarded the flight at 30 past midnight and landed at 2 past. Unbelievably the guide was waiting for us and whisked us straight to the hotel so we could crash gratefully.