It was finally here. The day we began the trip that we had been planning for the last 11 months. I had booked United award tickets for us from Mumbai to Cape Town via Cairo and Addis Ababa. We left Pune the previous evening for our first flight to Cairo MS 969 departing from Mumbai at 2:20 AM. The flight itself was uneventful and we reached Cairo early in the morning. The plan was to spend the day in Cairo in transit and then continue to South Africa. Since we were travelling on an award ticket, I wasn’t sure if we could get the complimentary transit stamp and hotel. So we had applied for the transit visa in advance just in case. We were redirected to multiple lines and immigration counters only to be told that we couldn’t exit the airport with a transit visa. Exasperated, we finally went to the EgyptAir desk for transfer customers and they arranged for us to get the transit stamp to enter Egypt and also gave us complimentary hotel accommodation for the day. Had we followed this path from the beginning we would have been better off. But we wasted money on the transit visa and also three precious hours trying to get through.
We were put up at Le Passage by EgyptAir during our day in Cairo in transit. The hotel shuttle picked us up from the airport and we arrived there after the short drive. The front desk staff took our voucher and noted our departure flight time. They gave us our room number and we were asked to have breakfast while we waited for our room to be ready. The breakfast spread was good with lots of local dishes along with a live omelette station. As we were done, our room was ready and we headed there to freshen up.
I had got in touch with Egyptian Sidekick about 10 days before our trip to Egypt. We were only going to be there for a day in transit and wanted to make the most of it. So we booked the full day Cairo sightseeing tour with them a couple of days before we were to arrive there. After the unfortunate delay at the airport and finally reaching our hotel about 3 hours behind schedule, I emailed our guide Mohsen and he was able to come and pick us up with Ahmed who would be driving.
We first headed to Dahshur which was about 1.5 hours from Cairo by road. It was great to see the Red Pyramid and the Bent Pyramid up close. We could walk right up to them and get a real feel of how huge they are and really wonder how they must have been built so long ago. This site is not frequented by too many visitors. This was our first stop for the day and when we reached the site, there were only 2-3 other visitors walking around. So this was like a private visit for us. It was surreal to take the narrow passage to see the Red Pyramid from the inside. The Black Pyramid was also seen further away but there is no direct tourist access to it. We could also see Saqqara and the Step Pyramid in a distance, which would be our next stop. There was a wondrous spell of sunshine and it made the pyramids glow in a golden hue which was magnificent.
We then headed to Saqqara to see the Step Pyramid and the Imhotep Museum. Saqqara had slightly more people than Dahshur but it still didn’t feel crowded. The Step Pyramid of Djoser was nice to see and the temple complex all around had many interesting structures. We also visited the Imhotep Museum which had a real Mummy on display. It was eerie to see how well preserved it was after thousands of years. There were also many artifacts on display from ancient times and it was well worth the visit.
We had to skip Memphis because there were traffic holdups on the way there and we wanted to make it to Giza before closing time to see the Pyramids and the Sphinx. Driving towards the Giza plateau we could see the pyramids from quite a distance but the approach road was far from pleasing. We reached there only in the late afternoon and didn’t have as much time there as we would have liked. There were lots of people following us trying to get us to take a horse-cart or camel ride. We were not too inclined and replied with a polite but firm “No” and most people lost interest soon. There were lots of little shops along the way trying to sell things; souvenirs and mementos. Going closer and seeing the Sphinx with the Pyramids of Giza in the background was incredible. But honestly the Sphinx was smaller than what I was expecting.
Having been inside the Red Pyramid at Dahshur, we didn’t attempt to see either of the Giza Pyramids from the inside. We didn’t wait for the Sound and Light show but did spend a long while just soaking it all in from the viewing area as the sun was setting.
Our last stop was Koshary Abou Tarek for a nice meal after which we were dropped off at our hotel. I just wish our fiasco at the airport immigration wouldn’t have happened so we would have got time to visit the Egyptian Museum and/or Memphis.
Visiting Egypt was always something both of us really really wanted to do. So I’m very glad we got this opportunity. We would definitely want to visit again with more time to see more of this beautiful country. All in all it was a great first day of our African Adventure.
The bus taking us back to the airport was delayed quite a bit so we didn’t really get time to visit the Gienah Lounge at Cairo Airport before our flight MS 851 to Addis Ababa and onward to Cape Town.
