Egypt at it's best!

1 year ago, a couple of my friends invited me to join them on a trip to Egypt. I like to travel and I've been saving money, so I accepted their invitation. After 3 days we took the plane to Egypt. Now, I am going to give you a brief guide of my experience in this country.

Day 1,

We arrived in the Cairo International Airport at 8 o'clock in the morning and took a taxi to the Pyramids View Inn. , the hotel where we booked our rooms. The price for each of the 2 guest rooms was $65/night. We ate breakfast at the hotel, the food was great and I especially liked the orange juice (you can find fresh fruit juice around Cairo pretty easily, there are a lot of Juice stalls). Breakfast is a buffet with endless choices of food (it’s one of the best hotel breakfasts we have had yet). Plus, you can sit outside and stare up at the Great Pyramids. We were pretty tired after the flight and decided to sleep for a couple of hours, because we didn't want to feel tired during the day. After we woke up, my roommate and I got some amazing Egyptian coffee from the hotel then regrouped with our friends for our first visit of the day, which was of course, the Great Pyramids of Giza. We took the bus to the Giza Complex, which costed less than $0.1 ( less than 1 egyptian pound ). The Pyramids of Giza are a big bucket list destination for many travelers, like us. In fact, the Great Pyramid of Giza (also known as the Pyramid of Khufu) is the last remaining ancient Wonder of the World. The Pyramid of Khufu, with its two neighbors, the Pyramid of Khafre and the Pyramid of Menkaure, form one of the most iconic sights in Egypt, if not the entire world. Top things to do on the Giza Plateau include a camel ride around the pyramids, seeing the Great Sphynx, going inside one of the pyramids, if not all of them, visiting the photographic viewpoints and seeing the solar boat. The Giza Plateau opens everyday at 10 a.m and closes at 5 p.m. I recommend budgeting 2 or 3 hours for a full experience of the spectacular Giza Complex. After visiting the great plateau, we took the bus back to the hotel where we chilled for the rest of the day.

Day 2,

We woke up, we ate breakfast from the hotel. We drank a glass of coffee and took a bus to the Egyptian Museum. We've had this museum on our bucket list for so long, because we were all interested in egyptian history. The Egyptian Museum contains the world's largest collection of Egyptian artifacts. Highlights of a visit include seeing the solid mask and the golden sarcophagi of Tutankhamun ( also known as the "Boy King" ), the Royal Mummies room and an astonishing number of statues, jewelry and treasures. The Egyptian Museum is located on Tahrir Square in Cairo and the price for a regular ticket is $3.7 ( or 60 egyptian pounds ) and there is a ticket for the Mummies Room, which is $1,8 ( or 30 egyptian pounds ). You have probabily heard of the opening of The Grand Egiptian Museum by now. It is expected to open in 2021, but this date seems to change frequently. This museum is also conveniently located next to the Giza Plateau, so it will be very easy to combine these two sites without needing to navigate the streets of Cairo. From the Egiptian Museum, we walked trough Tahrir Square to the Quasr al-Nile Bridge. The view from the bridge over the Nile river and the city was outstanding. From the bridge, we walked a short distance to the Cairo Tower. From the top of the Cairo Tower, you get a bird’s eye view over the city. On a clear day, you can see the Pyramids of Giza. There is a restaurant on top of the Cairo Tower which offers good food and drinks while you are watching Egypt from above. The Cairo Tower is open daily 9 am to midnight. The ticket price for kids below 6 years old is free, and for adults the ticket price is $4,4 ( or 70 egyptian pounds ). After we saw Cairo from the highest point ( the peak of The Khufu Pyramid is the highest point, but it is not allowed to climb the pyramid ), we went back to the hotel to get well-rested for the final day in Cairo.

Day 3,

For our last day in Cairo, we wanted to visit everything we could and hadn't visited yet. We ate breakfast at the hotel then took the bus to Dashur. Dahshur contains two of the oldest and best-preserved pyramids in Egypt. These were built between 2613 and 2589 BC, so these pyramids are older than those in Giza. The Bent Pyramid was the first attempt at building a smooth-sided pyramid, but they didn’t quite get it right, which accounts for its different angles. The Red Pyramid was the second attempt and it was a success! the first smooth sided pyramid. This pyramid gets its name from the red limestone, the material that was used in the construction of this pyramid. You can go inside both of the pyramids ( the Bent Pyramid was closed to visitors since the 1960s and reopened in 2019 ). First, we walked up a series of steps, since the entrance sits up off of the ground. Then, we climbed down a long, narrow tunnel. It’s too short to stand up completely, so expect to be hunched over until you get to the bottom. Once in the interior chambers, it can be hot and muggy. There are several chambers to explore in each pyramid. Inside the Bent Pyramid, you can see a lot of bats. Also, if you suffer from claustrophobia, knee,back or neck pain, I recommend that you skip the visit of inside the pyramids. After visiting both the pyramids, we took the bus to Memphis. Memphis was the first capital city of Egypt, and some records state that it could have existed as far back as 6000 BC. What remains today are the foundations, the stumps of pillars, and some statues, which we visited in the open air museum. We saw the alabaster sphinx and the massive statue of Ramses II ( the most well-known and biggest pharaon of Ancient Egypt ). After our trip to Memphis, we took the bus to the hotel, ate dinner and packed up. It was 5 p.m and the bus for Aswan was at 7 p.m.