2011 and Dad and I went to Egypt in the Autumn. We had been due to go in February, but the Arab Spring happened and at the last-minute insurance cover was withdrawn. Tourism was still a fraction of the normal level with the usual crowds missing. We had to have an army guard with us everywhere we went on a coach.
Cairo airport was an exercise in job creation – one person took your passport, one stamped it and one gave it back. The roads were still jammed solid at 11pm – one lane appeared to be reserved for herds of goats and sheep being brought into the city for Eid. Our coach driver for Cairo was amazing – traffic was jammed five abreast into three lanes yet he never touched anything.
My door swipe did not work in the hotel. I have constant problems with this when travelling. I keep the swipe away from other cards, mobiles, etc., yet they work less than a third of the time.
It was a holiday of early starts – a 6am alarm call for the day in Cairo. We took a coach to Giza at 8am, already hot despite it being November. We had a local guide called Randa with us for the whole trip. All the accredited guides have degrees in Egyptology. All the guides carried signs so that their tour groups could see them at a distance – Randa had a giant sunflower instead.
It was relatively quiet at the Great Pyramid of Khufu. Photos are taken very carefully to make them look isolated in the desert as Cairo has extended right up to the pyramids now.
The place was full of hawkers and it was hard to get use to them – you could not talk to them or look at products without being totally harassed. Even the Police were charging for taking pictures (all armed).
We had a group photo taken on the plateau.
(Randa and dad on the left at the back, I’m at the left at the front)
Some of the others had a camel ride down but the rest of us drove to pyramid 3. Dad went in but I had done that in 1996. There is nothing inside anymore, it has all been relocated to the Museum of Antiquities. It is just hot and claustrophobic.
(Dad by the Sphinx)
Some time there then back to Central Cairo for lunch. We were meant to have a buffet on a boat but the place was so quiet there was no buffet, so we all had beef falafel.
(Dad exiting the lunch boat with others)
(The Nile in Central Cairo)
After the lunch we went to the Museum of Antiquities via Tahrir Square. It was much hotter in Central Cairo. The museum was almost deserted and allows no photos. It has finally been relocated to the Giza Plateau so more can be exhibited.
In the evening we went to the Sight and Sound Show at the pyramids (as seen in The Spy Who Loved Me https://fivemilesout.home.blog/2020/12/12/arm-yourself-because-no-one-here-will-save-you/ )
It was actually cold on the plateau at night, only nine degrees centigrade. The show was not as spectacular as it had looked in the film. Something to do for the experience – but once is enough.
The Stranglers shot the video for this song at Giza, mimicking a faded British colonialism. The song is actually about heroin.
Golden Brown
Playlist:
- No More Heroes
- Hanging Around
- Peaches
- Dagenham Dave
- Nice ‘n’ Sleazy
- Duchess
- Golden Brown
- European Female
- Skin Deep
- No Mercy
- Always the Sun
Five Miles Out 