experiencing the pyramids of Giza and the streets of Cairo…

I had a business meeting in Cairo and my youngest daughter, Giovanna had a few days off from school … so I took her with me to see the pyramids in Giza and experience Cairo.

I take each of my girls on a trip (just the two of us) to adventure and experience.  Giovanna is 14 years old.  Last year, I took her to see the Gorillas in Rwanda … and this year it worked out well to take her to visit the pyramids.  I am taking my oldest daughter, Maire to Japan in 6 weeks …

Ideally, these trips/adventures are opening their eyes to the world.

The flight from Dubai to Cairo is very easy 3 hours.  We arrived at 10 am and quickly got through customs and out of the airport.

We stayed at the Four Seasons Giza … as soon as we checked into the hotel, we went off to experience the Cairo museum.
To be honest, I am not a museum person … and I reluctantly went and only did so because Sophie insisted I take Giovanna see it ….

The above photo is of a mural that was carved in stone … it took up the entire wall in the museum..and it glow-ed beautifully.

The museum was packed … and luckily, a sweet Egyptian woman came up to us and sold me on her being our guide … she was great and I advise getting a guide for anyone going to the Cairo museum.

The above large statue of Ramus and his wife was so massive that the museum was built around it.

The Cairo museum has 1,000s of artifacts … it is unbelievable how you can touch the majority of the many 1,000+-year-old items.

Although the museum was crowded, it is big and spread out enough so it wasn’t too bad.  We visited the museum for nearly 3 hours.  I paid extra to go into the mummy room – to see mummies.

After the museum, we went back to the hotel and got ready for dinner.  I was on day 35 of my 40-day water fast, so I was not eating .. but I wanted to take Giovanna to the best restaurant in Cairo, and I was told the best restaurant in Cairo is “Sequoia” which is directly on the Nile.

The restaurant is gorgeous.  We sat a few feet from the Nile.  While Giovanna ate her Mediterranean vegetarian meal, I enjoyed a cigar and a bottle of water.

After dinner, we walked back to our hotel – walking in the streets of Cairo at 8 pm was a brilliant experience.   It took us about 90 minutes to walk back to the hotel, but we had a great time walking and experiencing the city.

The next morning, I had organized for our private tour guide to take us to the Pyramids at 7:30 am…

I wanted to be at the pyramids as early as possible to beat the tourists.

I have visited the Pyramids before, but experiencing them with my 14-year-old daughter was much more enjoyable.

We got to go inside the big pyramid (you pay extra and its limited to only 100 people per day) .. and we were some of the first people on that day to go inside the pyramid … thus we were all alone for the 15-minute visit.  I am a tall guy, so the 100 meters in the 3 feet by 3 feet crawl space to the top was a total hassle, but getting to the top was worth it.

The top of the big Pyramid … we had all to ourselves.  Amazing experience.

Our guide was great….she took us all around the 7 pyramids, and we were early enough so we saw very few tourists.  It was magical!

We walked and climbed all over …

… a funny memory and stuff like this only happens in Egypt!  We went on a horse tour … the guide shows up with 4 horses.  I help Giovanna onto her horse (the first time she has ever been on a horse), I climbed onto mine … our small, chubby guide struggled to get on her horse .. and once she got on hers, the guide got on his and off we went … without any teaching of how to ride the horse….

As we are riding, our small chubby guide’s horse took off .. running and she fell off her horse.  It was something out of a movie … I started laughing… and I could not stop laughing.  Giovanna was embarrassed and told me to stop  … but it was so funny to see our guide fall off her horse and then roll around in the sand.  Her horse long gone, but she was ok.

After 10 minutes or so, we were back on our way … and ultimately, we had a kick-ass 2-hour horse ride around the desert and pyramids

We also rode camels for an hour or so … brilliant experience.

When I visited the pyramids before, the Sphinx was closed, but this time it was open … and I was surprised to see very few tourists at the site.

It is amazing how precise the stones are in place … 2,000+ years before Christ.

After the Giza pyramids … we went to visit the oldest pyramid discovered, called “Sakkara” … 3,000+ years before Christ.   This place was special because we were the only tourists … remarkable!

Our guide took us into a section that was closed, but her friend is the security guard who opened it for us  (God bless the Four Seasons hotel) … crazy to be able to touch the walls with engravings 3,000+ years before Christ.

We had a great day of adventuring around various pyramids .. and we walked for several hours (I was on day 36 of my water fast and felt great)

Later that night, after our dinner … we walked 14kms back to the hotel.

Our walk was from the same area as the night before, so we walked along the Nile, and also in the back streets .. gorgeous walk and very interesting to experience Cairo at night.  We also walked through the famous “Taher Square” where the last few “mini-revolutions” began.

The next day we went to Islamic Cairo .. a walled-in old city.  We walked for a couple hours around the back streets of this historic city.

I organized for my 3 business meetings to take place at my hotel … so it worked out great and very convenient and the trip was a big success.

I started this annual adventure trip ritual with my oldest daughter, Marie 12 years ago … and for several years, she and I traveled and experienced some cool trips/places and many countries (I did several blogs on those adventures).  Now Giovanna and I are doing the same.

The focus of these trips is on the adventure, and also helping open their minds to the world … and showing them first hand how different it is to what we see on TV or facebook.

I hope these blogs inspire and encourage the reader to go out and experience life to the fullest.