Egypt

Journey to Ancient Civilization

Egypt

Like many who traveled to Egypt; I had to witness this ancient civilization of the Old Kingdom through the military conquest that I often heard of. The country is indeed rich in history, from my visit to: the Pyramids, Village of Pharaoh, Nile River Cruise, to Alexandria Library, The Citadel of Qaitbay, The Catacombs, Pompey’s Pillar, The Egyptian Museum and last but not least to the Old Cairo many sites on my last day.

I enjoy experiencing a country like a resident would. I thought the best place to stay was in downtown Cairo right across from Tahrir Square where the June 30 Revolution occurred in 2013. The best part of my time in Cairo was meeting some of the members of the rally at After 8 Lounge, just a few blocks away from the square. As the night wore on, they showcased many of the songs regarding the revolution. They laughed through it all as neither of us that night spoke Arabic and were repeating after the band. 

My tour guide was beyond excellent, knowledgeable, honest and affordable. I suggest you contact him if you plan on going to Egypt. His name is Sherif Shaban (can be contacted through Facebook). He explained that he does his best during tours to encourage others to promote Egypt as tourism drastically diminished in the past few years. Unfortunately there are just a few individuals like him in Cairo.

Apart from the positive listed above Cairo, Egypt has been such a disappointment when it comes to the people and cleanness. For starters the place is FILTHY, DUSTY, flies and piles of trash everywhere. I would not go as far as saying that the people are uncivilized but nonetheless dishonest, aggressive and primitive. I thought by blending in, I could discourage  their attention but far from it. I was hassled and abused constantly without fail.

I caught the train from Cairo to Alexandria and woke up from this excruciating pain on my head. This guy literally pulled my hair out of my scalped. I am guessing, he had never seen coiled hair before. I don’t know when I became so famous but I had paparazzi from every angle flashing their cameras, pulling my clothes, relentlessly offering to sale things every day. What I hated the most was when they threw their products on me or said “here a gift for you” and comeback minutes later to ask for funds. This guy started walking with me in Old Cairo, telling me he was a school teacher and all not to worry he just wanted to talk. He asked to follow him to the oldest mosque in Cairo for the best view of the city and when we got there asked to donate 40 pounds each to the mosque; that was not all he also badgered us at the end for additional donation for his daughter and that happened every day. At least if he was showing me something interesting but complete lies he sent me upstairs and disappeared through thin air. People would not help without tipping.

 Taxi drivers average cost in the city is 10 pounds, as a tourists my final offer was always 20 pounds but before I can get someone to accept that amount I can spend easily about 30 minutes to an hour stopping drivers. The moment they realized you are not from town the price skyrocket to 50 to 100 pounds. I’d say ridiculous! The common chant is their meter did not work so I had to pay the asking price. Only once throughout my journey did I meet a driver willing to use his meter. Although I offered 20 pounds he refused and said it was 7 pounds. I was shocked so I explained to him that “he was the second honest person I met in Egypt that he had to accept the 20 pounds”.

On another note, tour guides always take you off your journey to visit their friend’s local boutique and tells you “no pressure you don’t have to purchase anything, just look” but when it is time to leave they practically harassed to make a purchase. I do admire their impeccable marketing skills. 

So I suggest you contact a guide for your Egypt Journey it gets exhausting and expensive if not well strategized.