Egypt

Sorry dad, I know you didn't want me to go, but I had to! And I'm so beyond happy that I went! Egypt is amazing and this was a perfect trip for my first time in Africa. When we first arrived in Egypt, we checked into our beautiful hotel, the Le Meridien Pyramids, where you can see the Giza Pyramids just a few kilometers away. Then our tour guide took us to get a egyptian dinner and then to a lookout point where you can see all of Cairo and smoke hooka.

On Friday we first went to the Red Pyramid and your able to go inside. It was this very long, narrow, 5 foot tall tunnel thats slanted downward and once your completely inside the pyramid its SO hot and smells like urine. I would not recommend someone that is claustrophobic to go insde the pyramid. It's very hard to breathe inside because of how hot it is inside and is so dusty. Theres really not much to see inside either, it was only two rooms which didnt have anything in them. And boy was getting inside and outside a workout! My legs felt like noodles afterward and they were so sore for the rest of the trip. The second pyramid that we went to was the Sakkara pyramid and it was the first pyramid built in Egypt. And of course there was a lot of locals trying to get money from the tourist for pictures with their donkeys and camels. One guy said no charge but then followed us around trying to get money even though he said it wouldnt cost anything. Nothing is free in Egypt, people do something nice and expect you to tip them. Even in the bathrooms...... After Sakkara, we took camel ride to the Giza pyramids and it was incredible! It was so breathtaking and amazing to see these giant pyramids in person. Also it was the first time that I rode a camel and it couldnt have been more perfect! We also got to see the Sphinx. Everthing was amazing! Thinking about how the egyptians were able to build all these stuctures is incredible. After the camel ride we just went back to our hotel for the night because we were all so exhausted from being in the sun all day.

Red Pyramid

Sakkara

Giza Pyramids

On Saturday we went to Alexandria which took around 3 hours to get there one way. We first seen the catacombs which are an undergound tomb site. Theres a circular stair case with a well in the middle and waterways inside. They would send the mummy down the well and then it would float through the waterways and thats how they brought the mummies into the tombs. It amazed me how large the catacomb was, it was room after room with tombs for families and wealthy people. We werent supposed to take pictures in the catacombs but we did anyways.. Shhh... After the catacombs we went to the Citadel of Qaitbay. It's right on the Mediterranean sea and the water was so blue! I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing how blue the Mediterranean sea can be. Unfortunately we didn't go inside the Citadel but just took pictures of the outside. Then we went to this beautiful Mosque and we tried to go inside but women were not allowed in the same main entrance as men so we tried to find the women entrance but couldn't find it so Selma and I weren't able to see the inside of the mosque which was a little disappointing. We weren't sure if women weren't allowed inside while the men prayed because Ryan said that there wasn't any women when he was inside. We also stopped to see a famous library, but also did not go inside because we didn't fee like paying money just to see the inside of a library. Then we drove back to Cairo and went to a street market to get some souvenirs and at 7 took at night cruise on the Nile River. There was a belly dancer and a Sufis dancer. It was a lot of fun to be able to experence some of the cultures dances.

Oh and a lot of the locals wanted to take pictures with us, I think because were so different looking then everyone that lives in Egypt

Catacombs

Citadel Of Qaitbay

Mosque

Library

Market

On sunday we went to Coptic Cairo which is an older part of cairo and it has a few famous churches there and they were all so spectacular! It amazes me how elaborate they are and the architecture is so impressive. Then we went to the Muhammud Ali Mosque which was also incredible! Everything is so breathtaking and beautiful. Inside the mosque you have to take off your shoes and girls have to cover up and wear scarfs. Inside the mosque are chandeliers and lights hanging down from the ceiling. Outside had a stunning view of Cairo. Then we went to the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square. In the Museum there are SO many artifacts and mummies. They also had a lot of King Tut's stuff like his jewelry and two of the three tombs. He also had sandals made out of gold! A little unnecessary if you ask me. We only had about an hour to go through the hole museum because we had to get to the airport.

Egypt was AMAZING and I am so beyond happy that I went and now I get to check it off my bucket list! One day I'm going to go back to Egypt and see Luxor!

Coptic Cairo

Muhammud Ali Mosque

Mash up video of our trip!

#Africa #Egypt