That's one of the personal posts I like, LOL once a year. AMAZING was my recent trip to Egypt and I can't describe how much I loved going.
Since I recall, I've been in love with Egypt. My mom is a History student, so she was able to pass on the love to me and my sister for something important. Egypt was one of the oldest civilizations and so rich and interesting was their history. Can you just imagine 5000 people building concrete-free pyramids with math and the available technology? If you need more evidence of the greatness of Egyptians, I can't give you more.
Or perhaps I could, through the trip's images.
That was kind of a sudden — at the end of last year I graduated, and this year my sister graduates. It's common in Brazil to have a big party after you graduate and spend, $$but that didn't matter to me or Clara. And then my parents asked whether we would rather not spend it on a trip. And we said yes, of course!
Unnamed (3) In a tourist party we went to Egypt. This is important for some countries because it makes travel safer and it is easier to get around. For the first time, I can't imagine myself doing this trip without having a group and transportation. Because of the many shared experiences, having a group is great–the only con is the fact that you often have a schedule to follow and are not allowed to spend more time in the temples.
We spent nine days in Cairo–the first two, and then we flew to Luxor and boarded one of the Nile Cruises to Aswan and saw the sights on the way.
I was so overwhelmed by the pyramid's sheer grandiosity. Since the day you were born, they're what you see everywhere, but it's just SO DIFFERENT standing under them and looking up. The blocks on the foundation are about one ton and a half taller than me, so you can imagine what it was like to push them at the time. It's a masterful venture in construction.
I also went to the Great Pyramid, something I definitely didn't think I was going to do! So many people said it was claustrophobic and that to get inside we had to kneel down, which sent shudders through my body. Luckily, it wasn't quite as bad as I thought –there's only one spot you have to kneel effectively, but the inside passage is quite wide.
We have visited the Sphinx on the same day and later on Sakkara and Memphis, both good as well! I wanted to get closer to the Red Pyramid (in memory of Kane Chronicles, which funnily inspired me to already know a lot of things) but we didn't have the time, so I just had to look away.
Unnamed (20) We visited the Museum of Cairo on the second day. They are currently building a new one closer to the Pyramids that will be HUGE, so some displays have been taken down. The museum itself is gigantic, but it's kind of a mess, frankly–it looks like a large deposit. There's just too much stuff there. There are eighteen rooms devoted to Tutankhamon's treasure almost exclusively.
And it was my birthday on Sunday as well! And if this is not the best way for you to spend your birthday, I honestly don't know what it is. We also visited the Muhammad Ali Mosque and the Saladin Citadel that was built in the Middle Ages on the morning. I honestly wanted to have been able to spend more time in the Muslim part of the city, but there was just no room on the calendar.
We embarked on Luxor the next day. We visited the Karnak Temple on the first day (which you may remember from some of The Mummy 2's iconic scenes), and the Luxor Temple. In ancient times there was a road lined by sphinxes connecting the two temples, and now they are being rebuilt by the government! It's absolutely amazing, and the walk from temple to temple could be about 2 km away.
I was also fortunate to have the absolute best Karnak experience. And my sister wanted to go to the Sound & Light show in the Pyramids badly, but we couldn't fit in with the timetable. We had an opening on Monday, though, and they offered the show at Karnak as well. The only thing is that if there were seven or more participants, the show just happened, and no one was sure if it would happen. (There are 3 series, the first one is always expected, the other two don't happen eventually). So my dad spoke to the guy who was arranging the excursion, and if we were able to pay for the extra seats if nobody else showed up, they would regularly play the game.
And what do you think? NO ONE SHOWED UP. And that was incredible. It was just the four of us–me, my sister Clara, my mom and my dad enjoying the fun show on this big ass temple. I can't recommend it enough, it's so STUNNING. It's super dramatic, and it tells the story of the temple building and all the pharaohs that over the years have added to its construction. The show plays through sound and music with both narrative and light— the entire temple lit up as we walked through in the most different colors. I wasn't able to get enough. It was Egypt's finest, most magical experience. We were all tearing up when we were in the column room because it was so amazing and emotional.
Like that, I can't even start explaining how much I enjoyed it.
We visited the Kings ' Valley the next day! This was especially awesome for me because I have a WIP set about a group of archeologists in Egypt, some of you might know. With The Mummy and Indiana Jones, it's very in line, except it's all Modern Day. For a while I stopped writing it, but that was the inspiration I needed to get back to it. I learned so much and saw so many great things that my drive to return to Adelina's story and Emerald's story could not be intensified. We also had the chance to visit the temple of Hatshepsut, and I think I actually learned to write her name without mixing it up (a very real achievement for me).
The sun doesn't really agree with my eyes The next three days we flew across the Nile between Luxor and Aswan. Something I liked most about it was the contrast shown in the picture— the deep blue water and the very green margins full of palm trees and bushes, but if you looked beyond, on both sides there was the orange desert. It felt like the whole time I was in a movie.
We visited the temple of Abu Simbel (another of my favorites), Edfu temple dedicated to Horus, and Kom Ombo temple. I'm going to be honest and say that my only disappointment with the trip was that I didn't see any crocodiles!!!! Now they're only in Lake Nasser and there's no more in the Nile.
The biggest tourist and selfie ever We also visited Philae on the last day in Aswan. This was particularly interesting to me because Amy and Dan were going there to get one of the clues in the 39 clues book series. I couldn't help but get really excited about going to the same temple and wondering if there were really no ruins left behind that just sunk into the sea. We also visited and rode camels in a small Nubian village, so it was a very complete LOL trip. I wasn't really brave enough to swim in the Nile (omg, it's UNBELIEVABLY COLD), but I got my knees in it.
Then we had two more days in Cairo afterwards. We had a free day on Saturday, so my family and I decided we'd walk to the museum. That was good because I'm not going to complain about São Paulo traffic again. It's totally INSANE. Five people were riding a single motorcycle like that. There is no signal at all. No lights of traffic. There's nothing. It was frankly scary, but it was also a great way, not just from the bus, to actually see the town. We spent a good part of the morning in the museum and then we went to Felfela, a local restaurant that truly had the best kofta I've eaten in MY ENTIRE LIFE. When I remember it, still in tears.
A great doggo that I met in Aswan, I'd pet 10/10.
Sadly, Sunday was the last day. It was sad to go packing up, but it was such a great trip that I couldn't think about. Since our flight was only at midnight, we spent the afternoon at Bazar Al Khalili and then we went to a shopping mall (where I got a beautiful silk scarf that I will always cherish).
It was finally time to say goodbye to Egypt. I just hope that one day I will come back, and it's such a wonderful trip, I can't recommend it enough. People are warm and nice, and that's how it was so great to be welcomed. The people of Egypt are extremely receptive and I have never felt misplaced. It's such a great country, and the number of tourists has fallen from 15 million to less than 5 million in the last few years, which is awful. I can't really recommend this trip enough–it was so amazing to see such incredible things from the past, and because I love history so much, it was indescribable to just stand in the same spot where other people stood more than four thousand years ago. I hope you choose to go too, if you can!
I like, too, a hundred pictures of the trip on Instagram and I didn't want to clutter the message. My mom even took more than 4000 pictures in her own phone! You can also make all the Mummy and Kane Chronicle references in your posts, which increases the value of the trip by around 100%. So, am I right to be slightly disappointed that our cruise in the Nile did not lead to death?