Monday, December 30, 2013

So, Cairo is full of old stuff

The one thing everyone goes to Cairo for is the pyramids.  Lucky us, our hotel breakfast room had a great view.  The Mena House Hotel (formerly part of the Oberoi family of hotels) has quite the location, and the grounds are wonderful.  A few degrees warmer and the pools would have been a stop each day.  Accepting that it was late December, we just enjoyed the scenery.  It's a little depressing how quiet the area was as tourism in Cairo, and Egypt in general, is suffering greatly.  The Mena House had entire wings dark and closed off.  The staff was minimal.  The breakfast room sparsely filled.  And every stop we made was essentially us, our guide, and our security guard. That says a lot, when you think about it.  No parking lot was full, even the vendors were sparse.  Cairo is a city holding its breath.  Which was great and not-great for us.  On our second day, the security we saw had the kids a bit confused.  As one put it, they felt both safer and not.  After all, the security is there, which is good... but it's there for a reason, which is not.


The Pyramids are impressive and it felt like we had them all to ourselves.  I won't bother with the history of them, but it's one of the few times I felt like we should go back to a place.  Well, not exactly.  I wouldn't go back to Cairo, we're pretty much done with it.  But I'd definitely go to Egypt again to see Luxor and travel along the Nile. There's also a ring I have my eye on...

While in Cairo, we did what all good tourists do.  Take silly and obligatory photos with ancient ruins.







StinkyCamelsRUs






Looking up the Great Pyramid.

 We highly recommend Memphis Tours for your Egypt travel needs.  From airport pick-up to airport drop-off, they were there every step of the way.  They arranged hotel, took us to destinations, bought tickets, arranged lunches, and provided a great tour guide.  The kids said it was one of the best trips we've taken.  I think a lot had to do with the length of the trip, long enough to have fun (though swim suits were in order, even with the chilly temps, oops) but not so long that everyone was worn out.  We returned to the hotel mid-afternoon each day so were free to watch movies, take naps, order room service, and just hang out.

More tomorrow....

3 comments:

  1. Cairo is an amazing city. I went on a girls weekend getaway just a bit before the whole Tahrir Square events and am sad that I didn't take the family back then while we were 'so close'. The goofy pics with the kids and pyramids are fun!

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