Egypt 2024

 First Day - Stayed at Le Meridien.  Wonderful hotel at Terminal 3.  Never needed to leave the airport. Ate dinner when we arrived after 10 pm.   Picked up Egyptian cash at the ATM at the airport - (max we were able to get at the airport was 1000 Egyptian pounds but other ATMs we could get more  )

Day 2 we slept in and ate a late breakfast of croissant and cappuccino by the pool.  Then went to Nile Ritz via Uber the next day. Put a note into the Uber driver after booking  to pick up at the hotel because the  only option is to the airport. We had lunch at El Vivo at the Ritz overlooking the Nile. Went to Egyptian museum and a tour guide approached us for an impromptu tour which we took ($20).  In the evening we went to Bab El Sharq the Egyptian restaurant on the back patio - beautiful area overlooking the Egyptian Museum.  The evening had amazing entertainment from musicians to dancers including belly dancers. There were lots of people smoking Hookahs. Good food and great service.   

Day 3 we woke up a little earlier to get breakfast - a beautiful buffet in the same area as the dinner the night before. After transport to our new hotel - Tolip Golden Palaza, we arranged a tour via Trip Advisor  to old Cairo with Khalid the tour guide. Our hotel wasn’t listed with the hotels they pick up at but they were very accommodating with where to get us.  He showed us a synagogue, church and. Mosque.  He told us a lot about Egyptian life - and showed us things along the way. Like the cemeteries - Egyptians are not embalmed and never cremated. There are a lot of cats and dogs on the street.  The lines on the highway are a suggestion rather than a rule. The driving is unbelievable.   Babies children on motorcycles - never a helmet. People walking in and out of traffic even on major highways. There are donkeys and horses carrying carts in and out of traffic. Most but not all women wear a head covering -we have seen few with full burka. The weather is spring like with lows in the 50s and highs in the high 60s   We ended the evening back at the hotel and ate dinner at the nearby food area - Tívoli - with kofka and chicken.  No alcohol in the whole area. Then we met with the tour group to hear about our tour. Went to bed early at 9:30. 

07:00 - breakfast

08:00 - Giza pyramids and sphinx and Egyptian museum tour including lunch (camel ride)

Cairo Food tour and Felucca boat ride - arranged separately through Viator. 

Overnight in Cairo 

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05:00 – Check Out from Cairo hotel

07:00 - flight from Cairo airport to Aswan airport.

08:00- Aswan tour ( Philae temple and Aswan dam)

13:00 - Nile cruise boat check in

13:30 - lunch on board

15:30 - Nubian village tour

20:00 - dinner on boat 

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Day 4

04 :00. - Abu Simbel tour 

13:00. - lunch on board

14:00. - set sail from Aswan.

17:00. - Komombo temple tour

19:00. - set sail to Edfu.

Overnight in Edfu on boat 

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Day 5

05:00. - breakfast

06:00 - Edfu temple tour

08:30 - set sail to Luxor.

13:00. -lunch on board

17:00. - Luxor temple tour. 

19:00. 

20:00 - dinner

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Day 6

07:00. - breakfast and check out from the Nile cruise boat

08:00 - king's valley and Hatshepsut temple and Karnak temple tour

lunch at Africa-great meal in Luxor

20:30 - flight from Luxor to Cairo, then check in Cairo hotel.

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Day 7

07:00 -Breakfast

Check out from Cairo hotel and departure transfer to Cairo airport.

We wanted to see the sound and light show (several in different areas ) but it didn’t work out - sabbath is on Friday and for whatever reason it wasn’t going when we were at Giza.  It would have been nice to see that   

People are selling stuff everywhere- it’s a lot. Cairo is a very dirty (congestion and sand) and crowded city with something like 27 million in the metropolitan area.  Outside of the tourist areas it is not easy to navigate.  The traffic is truly unbelievable and people and animals are in the traffic.  

I totally overthought the wardrobe.  Wearing long pants and long sleeved shirts are polite for men and women but short sleeve shirts or 3/4 and v necks are fine. I was worried I needed to cover up completely but really not necessary.