Egypt Summary
Geographical:
We flew into Egypt from Argentina via Brazil and Spain. From here we made our way down to Aswan by train and did a short side trip to Abu Simbel. We took a felucca from Aswan northwards to Kom Ombo. From here it was a two hour taxi ride to Edfu and then another two hours to Luxor. From Luxor, we took a very long overnight bus to Dahab where we did some scuba diving. From Dahab, we took a bus to Nuweiba and then the ferry over to Jordan. On returning from Jordan, we travelled via Israel to get back to Nuweiba. From here we took a bus and taxi to get to St. Katherine’s. Lastly, we took a bus from St. Katherine’s to get back to Cairo from where we flew to London.
The weather was HOT!! It is definitely not recommended to visit Egypt in the summer months. It was too hot to do anything but lay in the air-conditioned hotel room, because you just do not have the energy to brave the heat outside. Therefore we attempted to do our sightseeing either early morning or early evening.
Egyptian Favourites:
- The felucca trip - the river breeze was delightfully cool
- The Karnak Temple at sunrise
- The Pyramids of Giza
- Smoking a sheesha on the street as the rest of Egypt passes by
- The diving in the Red Sea
- Just when we thought the Egyptian people were the unfriendliest people ever, someone would help us with something out of the blue to remind us that not all Egyptians are bad.
The ‘Not so Cools’:
- The heat!!!
- The incredible rudeness of Egyptian men
- The scamming
- The dirt
- The poverty
Overall:
I would list Egypt as our least favourite country on this trip. But it really have some great sights. If I could do this trip over again, I would go to Egypt again, but definitely not in the summertime.