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i swear, i have travel related ADHD.

my friend invited me along on a tour that departs from cairo and heads up through the red sea to jordan and syria. the egypt part of the tour doesn't include the pyramids, so i'm going to try and fly in a few days earlier so i can see them. but, what else should i go see around cairo that i can do in a day (whether it means i'd be going back into cairo that same day or the next morning)?

i was thinking maybe alexandria. but then i saw some pics and thought.. nahhhh. i'm not really looking for 'modern'. any other suggestions?

Drop by Bhutan

shutup joey!

I agree with Joey

Hi there!
Of course, you also have to see the Egyptian museum in Cairo. It's well worth it.
I personnally loved Luxor, but I don't know about doing it in one day. Maybe a day and a half though... You could leave on the night train and get there in the morning, but I don't know at what time would be the last train to Cairo... And you would be exausted!!! And there's just so much to see in Luxor... But if I had to only choose one, I'd go with the Karnak Temple which is absolutely amazing...
But hey, this ain't a suggestion...
I wouldn't try to cram Luxor in one day! But... I'm just trying to answer your question.
Of course if you can afford to fly domestic, it's a whole new ball game!
Good luck!

You know, I just realized how amazingly odd it is that a tour you are flying into Cairo on doesn't include the Pyramids.

Not so much a day trip, but make sure you do some souvenir shopping at the Khan el-Khalili. I enjoyed walking around there. Cairo old city is awesome.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khan_El-Khalili

quote:

Originally posted by halfnine:
I agree with Joey

wanna take me?

i'm not so interested in staying in cairo, since i think we officially hang out in cairo at the markets and museums and stuff already.

luxor would be an option, if i was able to fly out a day earlier..

any other suggestions?

i guess i could just take it easy the morning i arrive in cairo, then take my time around giza the next day... but thanks for the suggestions! if i find out they don't go specifically to khan el khalili, i'll drop by there. prisa will prob have a shopping list for me.

quote:

wanna take me?

Alexandria? Modern?! Surely you must have been looking at the wrong pictures. They may have an impressive new, modern-day version of the Library of Alexandria, but most of the city center is sort of a falling down version of the old quarters of Nice or Marseilles. Old distinctly colonial French architecture dominates any other style by far, and it's a beautiful place to be in the early morning or the late afternoon, when a more red than yellow sun paints the buildings in deep colours. I went for a day trip, and had a really nice time.

Another trip you can do is to go to see the Suez Canal. Just get on the bus to Port Said or Suez in the morning, and return when you've had enough of this man-made wonder. (It's not that spectacular, of course, but it's worth visiting for its historical significance.) Mind you that if you go anywhere else than to the ends of the canal, be very careful when taking photographs. Soldiers are stationed all the way along the canal, and they are very eager at arresting suspicious-looking foreigners (who are likely to have some bribery funds in their pockets).

Apart from that, you can easily spend days just walking around in Cairo and marvel at the alien sights. (Unless you're an Arab, in which case you can marvel at the many familiar sights on a scale larger than you'll be used to from other places than Cairo.)

I've got some photos from my own expeditions in the area at http://www.pvv.org/~bct/egypt/

Happy trails!

Bjørn

I was in Egypt about 10 years ago and found the stepped pyramids of Saqqara (aka, Sakkara)to be pretty neat. They are just outside of Cairo, but not part of the larger, more famous group of "The Pyramids". Here's a quick Wikipedia link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saqqara

Also, if you can rearrange your trip a bit, Luxor (as mentioned above in previous responses) and Abu Simbel are breath-taking. Enjoy your trip!

I don't know what you mean by "the Pyramids," but if you just mean the Giza set, then I heartily suggest a trip to Saqqara and Dahshur, where they have the Step, Bent, and Red pyramids, along with some smaller ones that didn't survive the test of 47 centuries so well. I don't know your background in pyramids (mastaba -> step -> bent -> red -> great, in short), but this is worth a read: http://www.egyptologyonline.com/pyramids.htm

Personally, I was super disappointed with the Egyptian Museum. If you go there, get a guide or have a guidebook in your hand; NOTHING IS LABELED. It's really unforgiveable.

Leaving Cairo tonight for Dahab, where I'm SUPER excited for some diving!

Enjoy Egypt! I certainly am!

-Jake

imo saqqara is better, more interesting than Gizeh. The trip to saqqara is pretty neat as well.

or simply hire a cab for a day and drive through the gigantic megalopolis Cairo is nowadays...

thanks!

yeah, i think we're doing a loop around giza, saqqara, and.. umm there was one stop near cairo but i can't remember at the moment.

i've also heard that the museum is lame! i think i'm going to opt out of it, though i'm pretty sure my friends will want to go.

Muhammed Ali Mosqu

Khan el Khalili - as long as you get out of the primary tourist zone which is about a 1 block radius of the major square.

Have fun.