Ägypten Historische Reise Rundreisen

Ägypten Erfahrungsberichte

• DominicVerreist im April

  4

  So, my friend and I decided to explore Egypt with Ancient Egypt Tours. Our adventure started out a bit differently than we had actually planned, as the airline we chose for the trip to Egypt decided to go on strike. Because of that we actually had to leave for Cairo one day earlier than planned, which meant an additional night at the hotel and an additional day where we needed a tour guide and driver – and all that on very short notice! To quote Salwa of Ancient Egypt Tours, who we communicated with to organize our trip: “No problem whatsoever.” Really nice job! Great service! Kudos for that. We arrived in Cairo, were picked up from the airport by our driver and brought to the AZAL Pyramids G-Hotel in Giza, where we stayed for the next five nights. I can absolutely recommend the hotel, I think it is up to par with Western standards and I also wrote a favorable review for them. One point of improvement, though: The hotel at which we would stay was not really communicated beforehand. We noticed that as soon as we arrived in Egypt and had to fill out a form where we had to put the place where we stayed during our visit. That should be made more transparent by the tour organizer. At the hotel, we met with our tour guide Walied. I have nothing but praise for him. He was always punctual, friendly, respectful and easy to talk to. He knew and explained a lot about the places we visited and their significance in the ancient Egypt world. He told us about rituals and symbols, the meaning of the hieroglyphs, and about gods and pharaohs. And he also always knew how to get us to the front of the queue for many touristic sights ;) He also taught us some Arabic words. Shukran for that! Much love and respect to Walied. Now I want to tell you a little bit about the optional tours that we did. As I said before, we arrived a day earlier and had to find something to do, so we chose a lot of the optional tours. Also, the additional night at the hotel was, of course, also not for free. So, what did we do and what did it cost us? - Additional night at the hotel including breakfast - 75 (for the room) - Visiting the Pharaonic village + Riding quads through the desert - 90 per person - Dinner cruise on the Nile river - 50 per person - Bedouin dinner - 60 per person Now, I left out the currency on purpose, because that point was not so clear to me. I first thought that all these prices are in USD - at least for the room it was communicated as such in the beginning. But we ended up paying in EUR. Again, I think there is room for improvement. It would be helpful to clearly have the prices for the optional activities listed online and communicated beforehand. Maybe also state just the price in Egyptian pounds. That would be much more transparent. Were the optional tours worth it? Overall, yes. The Pharaonic village is, in my eyes, a must-see when you go to Cairo. A small island in the Nile river, with buildings in the design as you would find them in ancient Egypt including actors performing crafts and a tour guide explaining everything. You can also visit some museums there. We enjoyed it, it was great, I can definitely recommend it. Riding quads through the desert: that one I have mixed feelings about. Yes, it was great fun and an adrenalin kick. Awesome stuff! Then, in the middle of the desert, the guy taking us there asked for a tip. Sure, no problem, I enjoyed it and I wanted to give him 200 Egyptian pounds - in my opinion, that’s a good tip, isn’t it? The problem is, he got really annoying and, frankly, aggressive, because I didn’t want to give him more than that. This somehow tainted the experience a bit for us. Sadly, this is a theme that repeated itself a few times in Egypt. It is very important to mention, though, that the blame is really not on Ancient Egypt Tours or our tour guide!! Walied made it very clear to us that he hates these guys trying to rip off and pressure tourists.Therefore, it also doesn’t affect my rating of the package in any way. I just think that this is useful information to future tourists so that they can be prepared for such situations, and I want to be honest about my experience. Another advice: Bring your own Keffiyeh if you own one or already bought one. Otherwise, you will need to buy one for roughly 10 USD. Dinner cruise on the Nile river: Yes, this was awesome! Nice buffet with good food, entertaining performances of singers, belly dancers and a dancing dervish. Alcohol was pretty expensive though. I think I paid about 8 Euros for a beer. Other than that: Full recommendation. Bedouin dinner: Yeah, I have some mixed feelings there. The really awesome part, and I can’t stress enough how much I enjoyed it, was riding camels into the desert at night. Wow! Nothing can beat that! Also, sipping tea while sitting on a carpet in the desert watching the pyramids was really cool. Stargazing, let’s be honest, is not really possible so close to the city, with smog, dust and sand in the air clouding the view. But, honestly, I think the dinner part could be improved. Hey, the food was fine! We had chicken, lamb, rice, vegetables in a spicy sauce, hummus and bread. You would just need to swap the bright floodlight for some torches. Then you can maybe also get rid of the noisy generator powering said floodlight and play some traditional music instead. I'd also have liked a fork and a knife in addition to the spoon that I got for the meal. What I'm saying is: The food is great, but the atmosphere, presentation and setting could be improved. Still, I am happy to have had this experience and I am thankful for it. The camel ride alone makes this optional tour absolutely worth it. Now, about the tours included in the package: Saqqara is great! I listened with great interest to Walied telling us about the ancient rituals that pharaohs performed there. We explored the inside of some pyramids. Magical! Memphis is also cool, the main attraction being the large statue of Ramses II. Here it shows how important it is to have a knowledgeable guide with you. If you went there alone, you would say “Okay, looks cool, let’s go somewhere else.” after a few minutes. But a great guide, like Walied, will tell you so much more about what it actually is that you are seeing there and this will just enrich your visit so much. The same is true for the Giza pyramids and the Sphinx and it is especially true for the museum visit! We also visited Saladin’s citadel, the alabaster mosque as well as churches and a synagogue in Old Cairo. Our guide always had a good story and a lot of knowledge to share about these places and we always felt safe with him. Also, many thanks to our driver, who patiently brought us safely through the Cairo traffic each day. Shukran! The last day in Alexandria was also cool. We visited Pompey’s pillar, the catacombs, the citadel where the ancient lighthouse once stood and the library, guided by Marwa. We also enjoyed this day trip a lot. Now, I have to mention, there are stops in between at various stores where you can shop, and I kinda view this with mixed feelings. Let me start with saying that I clearly remember our guide telling us something along the lines of: ”Take a look, see if it’s interesting for you. Don’t feel pressured to buy anything but if you see something you like, of course, go ahead.” All the shops were interesting and of course, we bought something in all of the stores. And I don’t really regret buying what I bought - as far as I can tell, we bought good quality stuff. I just think we might have paid too much but I also just really suck at haggling. I mention this just as information for future travelers to inform yourself about the prices before you go to the stores, that’s all. It also doesn’t influence my rating of the tour, because on the one hand visiting these stores and watching the process of e.g. how papyrus is made or carpets are weaved is very interesting and I would gladly recommend future tourists to have a look. On the other hand, I can’t really blame the tour organizer for my inability to get a good deal. Heck, I can’t even really blame the merchants. I think at some point they pitied me for my lack of negotiation skills and just gave us some additional stuff on top for free. The stops were: papyrus shop, perfume shop, carpet shop, a jeweler, a shop for spices and one for clothes made out of Egyptian cotton. Inform yourself before you go about prices, get ready to haggle and you can take home some very unique souvenirs! So, to sum it up, let’s start with the things I think can be improved and I would also advise future travelers to clarify these topics with the company before the start of the tour: - Clarify the cost (and currency!) of optional tours beforehand. State it somewhere on the internet and make that information transparent. - Inform travelers earlier about the hotel they will stay in. We actually need to know this and will be asked about this when we enter the country! - Clarify beforehand the means of communication when in Egypt. That surely saves some stress. I was contacted by Salwa via WhatsApp, which is okay for me. But I also know several people who don’t use WhatsApp and I’m not sure how they would have communicated with the company then. In conclusion, it was a really intense and exciting trip to Cairo. We enjoyed our time with our guides and our drivers a lot and we always felt safe with them. The hotel was great, the activities were fun, enlightening and they broadened our horizon. Adding an additional night at the beginning was uncomplicated. Thank you for that, Salwa! And to our guides and drivers: Shukran!

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  5

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  5

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