We flew from Germany to Cairo, laughed at the ATM next to ‘visa on arrival’ (clearly just for the money) and then met the driver waiting to take us to the AirBNB we’d booked. We arrived at 1am, so the host set this up for us as the only option.
We booked an AirBNB that is literally RIGHT. ACROSS. THE. STREET. from the pyramids, and we had awesome views from the rooftop of the building. I highly recommend staying in this area of Giza.
We settled in and slept that first night before exchanging formalities with the host in the morning.
This trip was amazing. That first day, he walked with us to a local cafe that we never could’ve ordered at, because it was geared toward locals and didn’t have menus/anything in English. We paid about $6 total for enough food for breakfast, lunch, dinner, breakfast, then lunch the next day. Not each. $6 total. Wow.
After that, we walked around the sites and pyramids at Giza. We paid for a guide at one point. When we got back to the house, the host was irate with the price we’d paid, went to find the guy, and got some of our money back. What a guy.
We were the 2nd and 3rd people to ever stay at this house, and he was having a housewarming party that night. A bunch of his friends came over, bringing local dishes, and we sat on the roof watching the sunset behind the pyramids then watching the nightly laser show/history of the pyramids show. It costs money to go to it, but we had a great view for free. Amazing experience.
The next morning, we’d booked a guide from ToursByLocals.com to take us to some of the sites further south, which are older than the pyramids at Giza. These were the first attempts by Egyptians to build pyramids. They obviously weren’t as good as the perfected ones at Giza. This was a fantastic day.
The 3rd day, our host and the driver from the first night were our guides into central Cairo. We went to the Coptic quarter, lots of historic sites, Tahrir Square, and the Egyptian history museum. We also went to some beautiful mosques then out to ‘trash city’ and the church carved into the rock there.
After this, another guest for the AirBNB was arriving, so we met up with her in central Cairo, all had dinner together, a boat ride on the Nile, and then returned to Giza.
The next morning, we had to head back to the airport. I LOVE EGYPT. The people, the food, the sights, the sites…everything was incredible. I loved it.
I realize that combining pictures with other people has made them all grouped weird. There are almost 400 pictures. It’s too much work to move them around, sorry.
This entry was posted in Africa, Cairo, Egyypt, Giza
