Egypt had always lived in my mind as a faraway place with monuments that I’d only briefly seen on travel channels as a kid, full of ancient history that seemed more legendary than concrete. When I had the chance to go, I seized it, with few expectations or plans. And from the moment I landed, Egypt was unexpected. As I’d come to find, this place was vastly more than just visual masterpieces; it was deeply complex and spiritual in a way that I’d never imagined.
From the Cairo Airport to Giza
Arriving in Cairo felt unreal. I thought it would be easy enough to Uber from the airport to my hotel by the pyramids, but looking for my Uber driver was more difficult thanks to my complete inability to read numbers in Arabic. (We found each other after some slightly chaotic searching.)
The drive across Cairo was unsettling; my driver described how the highway we were driving on, Salah Salem Road, was widened without regard for the surrounding buildings. I saw straight inside buildings that were half-demolished to make room for this giant connective artery.
The inner guts of these buildings were on display from the clogged highway lanes. Stairways hanging off the sides of once-complete buildings, gaping holes that used to be someone’s apartment. I felt shocked at what I was seeing, never having heard of this phenomenon. It was a strange entrance into this historic place.
Exiting the thick of the city and cruising onto smaller streets, my head was spinning with the unfamiliarity of it all. Even the local streets were a blur of Arabic signs and abrupt turns to get to the entrance of the Marriott Mena House. As the sun was already almost gone, I could only make out the shadowy outlines of the Giza pyramids behind the hotel. Getting checked in safely and enjoying a dinner of ful medames (a classic Egyptian dish) helped ease my nerves about exploring the big city the next day.
The Pyramids of Giza
Shockingly, the pyramids were literally footsteps away from my hotel. After picking from a wide range of breakfast foods, Egyptian and international, at the breakfast bar, I ventured out to meet my guide for the day. We had a simple itinerary planned, with a pretty comfortable start time of 9:30 am.
I wore comfy clothes. Breezy linen pants, a light long-sleeved blouse, and a wide-rimmed hat. My strategy for this trip was to save my skin from the hot Egyptian sun, as well as to be relatively modest to respect the local culture. However, upon arrival at the Great Pyramids, I felt underdressed and out of place on multiple counts.
Tourists roamed in shorts, t-shirts, and flip-flops. Others were dressed to the max, doing photoshoots in elegant dresses or matching outfits. Were these pyramids a pretty backdrop, or everything history teaches about them? In that moment, among the other tourists, the contrast between the iconic past of these great tombs and the modern, selfie-taking tourists was dizzying.
My guide patiently explained an array of impressive facts about the three pyramids that rose up around us. There was the Great Pyramid, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid of Menkaure. The three of them make up the famous scene I knew only from images; I was ignorant of much of their history, and therefore thrilled to learn more about the symbolic architecture meant to help these pharaohs ascend to the afterlife.
Camel Riding & The Great Sphinx
In typical tourist fashion, I partook in a classic camel ride around the pyramids. I’d never been so close to a camel before, much less ridden on one. Their giant size took me aback, and my camel’s broad movements were a bit unnerving at first. The sight was something out of a dream: colorful, frilly tassels hanging off my camel’s saddle, pale yellow sand stretching out all around us, the pyramids taking up the background.
Continuing our tour farther down on the same Giza Plateau that holds the pyramids, we walked over to the Great Sphinx of Giza. This sizable limestone statue blends almost perfectly with the sandy ground beneath it. Noticing the poles and rope that held tourists back from the Great Sphinx, I was reminded that this spot was sacred and historically significant. It was hard to wrap my head around just how ancient this great stone sculpture was: an estimated 4,500 years old.
Saqqara & The Step Pyramid of Djoser
After a lunch stop of classic Egyptian mixed grill + mezze spread with another small tourist group, my guide and I headed out for the next stop on our itinerary. We headed south out to Saqqara, to the Step Pyramid of Djoser complex. At this point, the temperature was rising, and I was sweating buckets, even with my light linen layers. It was around 38°C (100°F), but in the sweltering sun, it felt even hotter.
With zero shade and not a cloud in sight, it was a relief to walk under the tall, solid colonnaded corridor at the front of Djoser’s complex. Smooth, giant stones rose up around us, and my guide’s voice echoed off the corridor walls. The flat, open complex is also home to the Step Pyramid, which I learned is even older than the Pyramids of Giza.
Another spectacle was a sheer vertical drop, a rectangular hole cut straight into the limestone ground, with stairs descending deep underground. In utter amazement, I learned that below us were tunnels and rooms and storage spaces, all underground, making up the hidden world of this complex. We descended deep underground to explore the intricately decorated subterranean parts.
I truly felt like an intruder in this sacred space that was previously sealed for millennia. The faded artwork (only some red paint remained) wasn’t meant to be viewed by tourists like me, yet here we were. The designs carved into those stone walls, and the red paint that reminded me of dried blood in some parts, were a glimpse into a past culture that I was only beginning to understand.
Just the Start of My Egypt Experience
Exiting Djoser’s complex, my guide blasted the air conditioning for us as we rolled down the long, dusty road out to a new scene. In stark contrast to the arid place we just toured, bright green palm trees began lining the road. It was hard to believe that our journey had just begun, and my curiosity for ancient Egyptian culture had been sufficiently piqued. What would be next? Continue reading about my trip to Egypt in part two.
