Stranded in Coptic Cairo

After our camel adventure, we went off to the nearest train station to book our train beds for a twelve hour overnighter to Luxor. We were horrified to realize that there were no tickets available -with or without beds- for the next three days. This caused a problem, as our hotel was already booked for the next night in Luxor, and we were flying from the Luxor airport to Turkey in two days.

 

This dilemma led to numerous hours (which overlapped to the next morning) of arguing, arm swinging, prayer and bribery in the filthy third-world train station, in order for us to finally get tickets to our destination. For the full story including all of the intense action, you will have to ask me in person.

Following our triumph in the station, we had a few hours to kill before heading South.

Our driver raced us over to the old Coptic area of Cairo to wander the streets and check out a few old churches.

Camels, and an Ancient Wonder

I never could have been prepared for the immense culture shock upon our arrival to Cairo, with such numerous contrasts between its culture and my own. However, as we roamed the streets and alleys of this intimidating city, what was at first shock quickly transformed into an appreciation for Cairo's unique beauty



Can you do that?

After spending a day regaining our energy (much needed after two sleepless nights in transit), and soaking up the brand new culture, it was time to scratch a few things off the bucket list.

We found a man near the pyramids who rented out his camels to tourists, and spent some time drinking gritty Egyptian coffee in a back room behind arabian curtains, until we had finally haggled the price down to one we could both agree on.

I always imagined that Egypt would have pyramids popping up all over the place, but I soon found out that there are actually three main pyramids, with just a few smaller pyramids scattered throughout the rest of Egypt. The three main pyramids are located here in Giza, each one being built as a tomb for a Pharoah - the first was the largest, his son's was smaller, and his grandson's was smaller yet, as it was spiteful to surpass your father. Each pyramid contains the pharoah and his wife. There are three smaller pyramids beside the tallest pyramid, and they are the tombs for that Pharoah's three extra wives. The grandson pharoah's tomb also has three smaller pyramids beside it - same story.

Riding our camels through the desert for 3 hours in the mid-day sun naturally made us hot, weary, and yearning to relax around some shai (tea) and sheesha in a quite alley cafe. Unfortunately, we didn't get that far.

We never expected the major stress that was waiting for us instead.