{"id":458,"date":"2020-04-10T15:20:12","date_gmt":"2020-04-10T14:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rollingwith.me\/wordpress\/?p=458"},"modified":"2020-07-09T20:20:09","modified_gmt":"2020-07-09T19:20:09","slug":"egypt-part-five-cairo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.rollingwith.me\/wordpress\/egypt-part-five-cairo\/","title":{"rendered":"Egypt Part Five: Cairo"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is funny to think that when I began to plan this trip, I was thinking a week in Cairo and a couple of days in Luxor. Thankfully, I was advised to do the opposite. What good advice that was. If you have spare time, then spend it in Luxor or Aswan. Two or three days in Cairo is ample. That isn\u2019t to say there isn\u2019t a lot to see here. For example, we skipped the amazing Cairo Museum and could happily have spent longer at the pyramids. But making sure we had plenty of time in Luxor was a good decision.<\/p>\n

Cairo is obviously a mega-city of almost 20 million people. The most surprising thing about the Great Pyramids of Giza for most people is simply how close they are to the city itself. If you view Google Earth or other satellite images, you can see that they are right at the edge of the urban sprawl. I decided to use this to our advantage and with advice from travel sites such as Trip Advisor & Booking Dot Com, I found a hotel that was on the last row before the pyramids.<\/p>\n

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The satellite view shows how close the city is to the Great Pyramids of Giza. Note the \u201cGreat Pyramid Inn\u201d slightly right of \u00a0the \u201cGreat Sphinx\u201d.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This was to be Elaine\u2019s last surprise of the trip and the one that literally made her gasp in amazement. When we went in to the bedroom, the curtains were closed. The porter told Elaine to close her eyes, then he opened the curtains. When she opened her eyes, she could see the pyramids. It was quite an experience, literally seeing one of the Seven Wonders of the World while laying on your bed!<\/p>\n

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How cool is that? Seeing the pyramids from your bed?<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We paid \u00a3157 for two nights B&B at \u2018Great Pyramid Inn<\/strong>\u2018. This included a dinner & drinks that we charged to the room, so excellent value. As we found everywhere, the people at the hotel were incredibly friendly & helpful. There is a roof terrace that overlooks the pyramids. From here, you can experience the evening \u2018sound & light show<\/em>\u2018. We ate here, then sat back with a beer and viewed the show for free. Being elevated, we probably had a better view than the people who paid to go to it!<\/p>\n

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\"Sunset
Watching the sun setting, behind the pyramids, as it has for more than 4,500 years.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\"Night
A better view from the hotel terrace than if we\u2019d paid to go.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I had originally planned to only view the pyramids here, even though doing a tour that included the pyramids of Dahshur had been recommended. During the light show, we were chatting with three other guests who had just arrived. They had booked a minibus tour for the following day and had space, so invited us to join them. This turned out to be a double edged sword because although visiting Dahshur was certainly worth it, our guide kept us moving a bit too much, so we didn\u2019t get the time to stop and explore the sites properly. There was also an obligatory stop at some shops on the way back. If I was there again, I\u2019d be inclined to view the Great Pyramids independently on one day and then take a taxi to Dahshur and Memphis. That said, we didn\u2019t have a spare day, so packing as much in as possible was a good move. Basically, what we did here was how most people view Luxor, with a quick skim over lots of sights & sites rather than a gentle, more in depth visit. We also had to skip the Khufu Ship, which is housed within the pyramids site. Again, this had been highly recommended but our tour flew straight past this without even reference to it. That said, I wasn\u2019t too concerned as my research suggested that you have to wear protective \u2018boots\u2019 over outdoor shoes and it looked like there were steps, so I\u2019m not sure how accessible it would be?<\/p>\n

And accessibility is an interesting concept in Egypt\u2026 I almost caused a diplomatic incident!<\/p>\n

At the Great Pyramid, there is a wooden walkway from the carpark to the base of the pyramid. I rolled merrily along this until I got to the end. While access on to the walkway was ramped, at the exit there were steps. I managed to turn around and realised that there were no more tourists following me. There was a group, headed out by \u2018suits\u2019, men in dark glasses who were looking anywhere except at the \u2018Wonder of the World<\/em>\u2018 in front of them. Having spotted the obvious security detail and they having spotted me, in a wheelchair, with nowhere else to go, I grabbed my camera and started filming. I had no idea who was coming, but they were obviously important!<\/p>\n