Look, there they are!

Daar zijn ze! 12When the alarm goes off at 7:00 am, we are both already awake and listening to the honking traffic in the streets of Alexandria. It has not been quiet that night.
After a quick breakfast of bread with cream cheese, we put all our bags in the wooden elevator of the hotel. Once down, I am glad to see that the bikes are still there and the wheels are still under them. Closely watched by the parking attendant and his friends we tie our stuff on the bikes and ride away from the hotel early in the morning. On to Giza, on to the pyramids!

After a glance at the map, we drive around the crowded suburbs this time. From Alexandria two main roads lead to Cairo: the “Agricultural Road” along the Nile and the “Desert Road” just west of the Nile. The area along the Nile is completely crammed and very busy, so we opt for the desert. Although the name suggests that we will drive through an endless sea of ​​sand, this road also appears to be pretty busy. The only thing that reminds of the desert is the dust in the air.

We share the highway with lots of heavily loaded trucks, pick-ups full with fruits and minivans that take travellers to Cairo. It is a strenuous ride and we need to keep paying attention. At some points we make good progress, but the traffic can suddenly stop. Often because the road is very bad and the traffic rides very slowly through the holes. And although it is a highway there are many donkey carts on the road, people trying to get to the other side on the oddest places and minivans stopping anywhere to pick up passengers.

We are on our way to Giza. Once a town just outside of Cairo, but now a suburb of Cairo. A few kilometres from Cairo we see the huge city with its 19 million (!) people looming in the distance. As far as we can see there are buildings and flats. An unreal sight and hard to imagine that in one city are more people than in the Netherlands.

Daar zijn ze! 14The highway winds through the hills. The closer we get to Cairo, the busier the already busy road becomes. We ride with the fast minivans along the slower traffic. On one of the hills we suddenly see them: the pyramids! Left of the road we can see the two largest pyramids. They are huge and much higher than the flats near them. Fantastic! There we are: 13:26 pm on a Monday afternoon on our own bikes in Egypt along the pyramids!. It gives me goose bumps.

We follow the ring road around Cairo on to Giza. The rumours about the traffic of Cairo are correct: it is crowded and very chaotic. The experience we have gained in Alexandria comes in handy. The GPS leads us off the highway into Giza. Once we get off the main roads the asphalt stops. The road now consists of hard dark brown sand and is full of potholes. We bump on through the dusty streets of Giza until we arrive at our destination: Isis Garden Camp. When the doors open we suddenly are in a green garden with a high hedge of bougainvillea and a pool in the corner. Truly an oasis from the busy and dusty streets we just drove through.

We are warmly welcomed by the Egyptian Helal and his Australian wife Sue. We can set up our tent in the garden and are taken up to the rooftop terrace. From the fifth floor we have a wonderful view of the pyramids, which are only 4km away. A wonderful place!Daar zijn ze! 35

Now we are on the road, it is not only the environment that has changed, but also the sounds. The birds in the garden sound more tropical with the “hoop hoop hoop’ Hop and pleasant cooing of the little purple lovebird. Outside the gates of the camp we hear donkeys, water buffaloes and especially lots of dogs. The cars also are much noisier, not in the last place because of the hard horns that are installed.
Furthermore, since we entered Africa in Tunisia the ringing of church bells is replaced by the call of the muezzin. Five times a day we hear “Allahu Akhbar ” through the speakers by which Muslims are called to pray. The mosk-density in Cairo and Giza is enormous. The residents have to walk not more than a few hundred meters to go to the mosque. When the time for prayer comes, we hear the call from all corners at the same time. Well, almost at the same time, so it sometimes sounds like a badly directed canon choir that hums through the city for a few minutes. The closest speaker hangs about 100 meters from our tent and is so loud we could not hear each other. But we are lucky because our muezzin sings ’live’ and has a beautiful voice. Although it is a bit of a shock the first morning at 04:30 am, you get used to it soon enough. And even though we do not heed the call to pray to Allah, it does give the opportunity to stop with what you were doing and think about the finer things in life five times a day. Not so bad.

Daar zijn ze! 18Helal and Sue invite us the next morning for a traditional Egyptian breakfast of flat bread with falafel and salad of eggplant. From the roof terrace we enjoy not only breakfast but also the beautiful view. Sue and Helal tell a lot of stories about Egypt, Giza, the pyramids and other beautiful sites in Egypt. Their enthusiasm is contagious and we cannot wait to go and see all those sites. Today we will relax on the rooftop terrace and in the garden, but tomorrow we will go to the pyramids by camel.

The next morning the owner of the camels pick us up at the campsite. We bump through the dusty streets of Giza in his care while he questions us about ‘Goelit’ and ‘Kroijf’ and other football players from the 80s. We stop at his stables where he shows us his horses and camels. After some negotiations on the price, we both get assigned our own camel after which he sends us off with two ‘guides’. The camels are on their knees waiting for us to get on. When we sit on the saddles one of the guys says: “Hold on tight and lean back”, after which he gives a tug on the rope. With a huge force the camel gets up. It is good that we actually kept on firmly and leaned back, otherwise we would have surely glided off the camels.

We set off with the two boys, one foot and the other on a skinny horse. The neighbourhood we go through before Daar zijn ze! 15we get to the pyramids consists solely of stables. Everywhere are horses and camels waiting for tourists who want a ride. In heyday it must have been very busy, but now we are almost the only tourists.
We take a turn, walk through the gate and suddenly are in the desert. The boys take us to one of the hills next to the pyramids where we have a wonderful view of the nine pyramids, the Sphinx and the city. After some pictures we continue our tour in the desert and go to the base of the largest pyramid. Again it becomes clear how incredibly high they are! Extraordinary to think that the pyramids were built around 2560 BC and thus are already more than 2000 years older than the construction of Leptis Magna we visited when we where in Libya. Great to see, especially from our camels!

The next day we go to Cairo. We would like to go to the Egyptian Museum where -among other things- things from the tomb of Toetanchamun are shown. The museum is located at the Tahir square, which is especially known from the demonstrations that have been held there for a long time. The latest reports show that it is quiet in the square and we can visit the museum without any problems. Sue and Helal send us out with Walid, who will be our driver for the entire day. It is a great luxury to ride through busy Cairo and enjoy the view from the back seat.

Daar zijn ze! 21The road to the Tahir Square and the museum is deposited. Behind the barricade is a long row of tanks and in the buildings along the way are large groups of young soldiers. Here it is clear that it can be unstable in the city for the first time. We follow a group of tourists along the barricades and tanks to the entrance of the museum. Since we are in Egypt we have only seen a handful of other tourists. That is quit different here, because before the entrance of the museum are large groups of Chinese and Russian tourists. Once inside the museum we do not see them again and we can walk around without any crowd.

From all the pyramids, tombs and temples that have been found in Egypt. things have been brought to the Egyptian Museum. The museum is full of statues, parts of walls with hieroglyphics, sarcophagi and stuff that has been found in the various tombs. The museum is very big, but still too small to show everything. The cellars of the museum are apparently still filled with all kinds of treasures that will be shown in a new museum. And to think that probably only a small part of all the tombs and temples in Egypt is found and the greater part is still hidden below the Sahara sands.

It is extraordinary to see everything. Especially Peter, who in his heart is a explorer and who did pay attention in school when the old Egypt was covered, is very happy to be at the museum. The most special items in the collections are probably the things from the tomb of Toetanchamun. Although he has not played an important role in the history of Egypt, he is one of the most famous pharaohs because his tomb was found and was complete. In his tomb was all the stuff that he had used during his lifetime supplemented with stuff he got when he died. Beds, chairs, jewellery, clothing, really everything you can think of. We could also admire the famous mask that had been placed over his mummy.

In a separate section of the museum are the royal mummies.Daar zijn ze! 22 That means the mummified bodies of the kings and queens of ancient Egypt. They are in display cases in a refrigerated chamber under a white sheet which only shows their heads and sometimes their hands. Some still have a full head of hair and a good set of teeth. Very special to see!
Apart from the collection, the museum itself is an attraction also. It is located in the building at the Tahrir Square since 1900 and has not changed much since then. It is full of beautiful wood cabinets  with yellowed notes with text that was typed with a typewriter. The one time in English, sometimes in French. It is definitely worth a visit!

After three hours, Walid picks us up on the other side of the wire. He treats us to Kushari, a spicy dish of rice, pasta and lentils with spicy red sauce. Delicious! At the suggestion of Helal and Sue we then visit two mosques and citadel of Cairo. During our previous trip to Morocco we were not allowed to visit mosques as non-Muslims, but luckily for us that is different here. On our socks and with a scarf covering my hair, we admire the various buildings. Like in Rome, we especially like the pretty, painted ceilings.

When we arrive at the campsite after a day in the smog of Cairo, there is a small fire burning in the street before the gate of the camp. On the fire is a teapot with water. The rest of the evening we all sit around the fire drinking tea. A nice ending to a great day !

Daar zijn ze! 27We ended up staying two more days at the campsite in Giza. We relax in the garden, call home using Skype, enjoy home cooking in the outdoor kitchen by the pool and enjoy the delicious food cooked by Helal. Above all, we enjoy the beautiful view from the rooftop terrace of the pyramids and also the many minarets, the donkey carts in the street, the fanciers with their flags, street dogs that run after a cyclist and the sunset over the desert.

A great week at a great place we intend to visit again!

Distance to Giza : 5913 km (3675 miles)

Click here to see the pictures.

PS Unfortunately we could not take any pictures in the Egyptian Museum. Just go and see it for yourself, it is great! 😉

| Leonie | AFRICA, Egypt

8 Reacties (Comments) - Look, there they are!

  1. Martin

    Ha Leonie en Peter,

    Ik heb de site gevonden .. Wat een mooie verslagen.
    Geniet van jullie avontuur!!

    Groeten,
    Martin

  2. Elto

    Heel mooi allemaal.
    Mooie verhalen en leuke foto’s.
    Jullie hebben er 2 volgers bij.
    Groet Elto & Annemarie

  3. rob nieweg

    Mooie verhalen en een prachtig avontuur!!
    Heel veel plezier nog,
    groetjes vanuit een koud Tjamsweer.
    Rob Nieweg

  4. Mieke

    Hoi Leonie en Peter. Wat hebben jullie weer veel moois gezien. Geniet maar weer lekker verder in het volgende gebied. Liefs van ons

  5. Jet

    Die kamelen staan jullie ook leuk, hoor!
    Mooie verhalen en fantastische foto’s weer.
    Geniet ervan!

  6. Mip

    Wat heerlijk om te lezen dat jullie het zo goed naar je zin hebben! Ik zat het verhaal echt met een :-) op mijn gezicht te lezen.
    Ik ben heel benieuwd of jullie Sudan net zo gaaf vonden als wij, en ook hoe jullie de overtocht van Aswan naar Wadi Halfa ervaren hebben.
    Lekker blijven genieten! Dikke kroel van ons.

  7. Jan en Mariët

    Staat je best goed zo n hoofddoek!
    Liefs Jan&Mariët

  8. Ben en Anja

    Hallo Peter en Leonie. Het is altijd fijn om een levensteken van jullie te ontvangen. Met fotoos er bij is helemaal mooi, maar het belangrijkste is dat jullie genieten. Het is jullie reis. Wat een ervaring zo bij de piramides en de omgang met de plaatselijke bevolking. Elke dag is een groot avontuur. Een goede reis verder. Gr. Ben en Anja