cairo
We made it to Cairo and found a hostel but by then it was around 2pm already and we were starving. So, instead of finding a delicious restaurant, we went for fast and easy—KFC right outside of the Egyptian Museum. The museum is huge and packed with things to see, but most items don’t have that much information and there’s really way too much to see in one day, much less one afternoon. We saw the highlights—King Tut’s treasure and the royal mummies. Everything from King Tut’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings was moved to the museum and the treasure (statues, jewelry, chairs, beds, etc) is in very good condition. The mummy room was very cool, there were around 10 mummies of past pharoahs and we could see their faces and hands, their preserved teeth and nails. While in Cairo, we of course saw the pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx and we even climbed up into the great pyramid. We also wondered around Islamic Cairo and market, haggling for some trinkets. The food was delicious, we had some yummy fresh juice and we also tried some traditional Egyptian food: a mix of pasta, lentils and spicy sauce called koshary and this vegetable/egg casserole cooked in a special pot called tagen, for dessert um ali which is like bread/rice pudding, and Aleks even tried the stuffed pigeon. During our day trip to Alexandria, we saw the beautiful Mediterranean, saw the new library and what used to be the lighthouse, and had some special ice cream—soft serve, but a little stretchier. Cairo was great, busy like any big city, but people were very friendly and willing to help us out. The only thing was the air quality was pretty bad, especially in the main downtown area so it was a little rough on the lungs. After Cairo we ventured to Dahab, a dive town on the Sinai peninsula, right by the water.
