Egypt at Last: Farewell to Egypt (and a quick stop in Deutschland)

Return to Cairo on the Nile

We returned to Cairo for the last two days of our trip. To be honest, our heads were spinning trying to absorb all the sights and experiences. But Memphis Tours helped us deal with the overload by booking us on Business Class flights from Luxor to Aswan and upgrading our Cairo hotel rooms to Nile View Suites! Our room had two floor-to-ceiling windows facing the Nile, and the suite was so large, we practically lost each other in it.

Minarets at the Citadel

Islamic Cairo and Khan El Khalili

We visited the Citadel, a high-walled fortress with two famous mosques and lots of history. We were reunited with our good buddy and tour guide Ebrahim for this tour, and he and Frank greeted each other like brothers. The Alabaster Mosque was particularly lovely with a graceful fountain for performing ablutions prior to worship.

Anne & Frank wash up before
entering the mosque

Ebrahim told us if an Arab man touches a foreign woman he has to do his ablutions twice! (I guess Ebrahim was doing lots of double washings leading us around lol). Ebrahim also said Egypt is open to all religions, that religion is a personal thing and no one in Egypt cares what religion a person practices.

Frenetic Khan El Khalili (Cairo shopping district)

Khan El Khalili is the most famous shopping area in Cairo and like most bazaars, it was bizarre -- jam-packed streets lined with all kinds of shops selling shishas (hookah waterpipes), belly dancing outfits, tons of gold jewelry, and small souvenirs for the tourists. The people-watching was phenomenal! And as usual, everybody wanted a selfie with us in it. Frank had a blast yakking it up with the locals!

Woman shopper in Khan El Khalili

What was really surprising is that the vendors didn't hassle us at all. They stayed in their shops waiting for us to approach them. Frank did engage in some serious haggling - and got some great buys on the souvenirs!

Statue of Pharaoh Khafre

Egyptian Museum

The Egyptian Museum is overwhelming with over 100,000 artifacts. The biggest draw is the finds from the tomb of Tutankhamen which are in a special area where photographs are not permitted. Another highlight was the statue of Pharaoh Khafre thought to be the oldest statue of a person in Egypt.

Shopper in Khan El Khalili

Leaving Cairo

We flew from Cairo to Munich for one last night of fun in Frank's favorite city. Our cab driver to the airport was named Osama -- but not Bin Laden as he was quick to point out to us! Really nice guy like all the Egyptians we met. We were stopped by security near the Presidential Palace. It seems President el-Sisi was on the move. As we waited, security guards walked past us carrying all kinds of furniture: tables, chairs etc. Frank finally asked, "Osama, what did they do rob a furniture store?" Osama laughed and explained that security details are not allowed to sit and relax on the job, so whenever el-Sisi drives through, they move all their furniture to the median strip. Now they were bringing it all back. Wouldn't you think el-Sisi would notice the pile of furniture in the center of the road and figure this out?

Baker warms his bread on the hot sidewalks of Cairo

Apparently, pens are a big deal here. Since Frank always has a couple in his shirt pocket, kids see this and constantly ask him for a pen. At the airport, Anne went to throw away a dried-up pen, and a cleaning woman grabbed it out of her hand, tried to write with it on her hand, and then looking very disappointed, threw it in the trash. Anne came back to bring her a pen that worked (the woman wrote on her hand just to be sure), and you would have thought Anne just handed the woman a $100 bill! Pens seem to be at a premium here in Egypt.

If you come to Egypt, you need to remember that you cannot drink their water. You must buy bottled water and keep it handy for everything – drinking of course, brushing teeth, and washing any food items that require a cleaning with water. This can be a nuisance at times, but the rewards of what Egypt offers is worth the hassle.

Snazzy burka

Some last thoughts on Egypt. We are so glad we came here, as it has been a dream destination of ours for years. The sights are some of the best we've ever seen, and the people could not have been more welcoming. Of course, our trip wasn't perfect. We had some stomach upsets (pretty much unavoidable in Egypt), the armed security forces everywhere were a bit daunting, the constant tipping and requests for baksheesh became tiresome although it wasn't as bad as we expected, and Anne had to straighten out our guides a couple of times when they veered from the itinerary.

Defacing of pillars from tourists in the 1800's

Also, it is somewhat disheartening to see some of the damage inflicted on the monuments of these ancient Egyptian structures. But overall, we could not have asked for a better trip. The memories of Egypt will linger for a long, long

time.

At the Augustiner-Keller in Munich

Munich -- Home of the World's Best Beer

To top it all off, we returned to Munich for one final night of German food and beer-drinking. Actually, we were pretty beat, so one beer a piece was all we could handle.

A delightful dish of Augustiner meats

Augustiner, probably our favorite German beer, is served in many different brauhauses around town, but this time we visited Augustiner-Keller with a pretty beer garden. The place had an Oktoberfest vibe and was a great way to end our trip.