Egypt, better alone than badly accompanied.. An organized tour in the land of Pharaohs

After twenty years of honorable service, I started traveling in 1990, at 18, for the first time I made the choice to participate in an organized trip. I wish I could say that he was convinced by Daniel, but it is not true. The idea was mine, and she has just endorsed the not too convinced.<br />I thought that, unlike usual, the tour could be organized there to spend a little 'less, and earn some' time: we only had a week to get around Egypt, it took a couple of domestic flights, then cruise Nile, the various inputs in archaeological sites, and of course the hotels. In short, the thousand-odd euro we asked the tour operators there appeared a figure much appetite-able, even if for once we should sacrifice our normal range. But we soon realized we would have made a huge mistake.

 

Two days in Cairo

We arrive in <strong>Cairostrong> on Monday night, after an eternal journey, which began at noon and ended after ten hours. Fault of the cloud of volcanic dust and some other delay. Our first night in <strong>Cairostrong> ends soon: a quick dinner at the Holiday Inn and then all to bed, that alarm is tomorrow morning.
And it is still early when we depart, strictly by bus number 19, the one reserved for us, for a first visit to <strong>Cairostrong>. Let's do this the knowledge of our guide Abdul, an Egyptian about 60 years, with fluent Italian and an encyclopedic knowledge of the history of his country. Kind and sympathetic, is the only true value of this type of travel.
In the morning we tend to see the famous Citadel and the mosques, then we move to the Egyptian Museum for a visit river. After lunch at a restaurant in the afternoon give us some 'free time to let us wander around the market of Khan el Khalili. 17 Back to the hotel, where I allow myself a little 'swimming pool before dinner. The next program, at least ours, jumps when Daniel began to feel sick: diarrhea, vomiting and fever will be his faithful companions for about 24 hours and prevent the next day (and after another early rising), to participate in the excursion in Giza, where I enjoy the Pyramids and the Sphinx. In the afternoon we go to Memphis, where there is the huge statue of Ramses II then to Sakkara to see the Step Pyramid.
Our time is running out to <strong>Cairostrong> the next morning you wake up at 5 and partly by air to <strong>Abu Simbelstrong>.

Abu Simbel and Aswan

The flight takes us to the deep south of Egypt, on the border with Sudan, <strong>Abu Simbelstrong> to arrive at 10 am. The visit to the temple of Ramses II (Pharaoh I think it was a bit 'asshole, but stuff to see there's so much left ...) alone is worth the price of the trip. In the early afternoon we share to <strong>Aswanstrong>, where troviama waiting for our ship, the Grand Princess. Rather beautiful, elegant, spacious and clean with a cabin. After a little 'rest we take a small boat that takes us along the Nile, past the Elephantine Island and landed to see a Nubian village. We are on a trip, and we are many, but experience finally seems real. The next morning, strangely without early, we look at the temple of Philae, the <strong>Aswanstrong> dam, then start surfing that takes us back to the north.

The fantastic Nile and Luxor

All of this trip, apart from the archaeological sites, the thing I appreciated most was the landscape offered by the banks of the Nile. The heat was crazy, well above the 40 &176;, and virtually all our 70 fellow passengers chose to remain locked in a room with air conditioning, so I could spend much of the time of sailing placidly on the deck, sitting in the shade , losing myself to observe the extraordinary scene that showed the sides of river. A thin strip of green land, adorned with palms and lush vegetation, interspersed with some small village. How much life on the sides of the Nile: children who were bathing, farmers at work in their fields with buffaloes, women washed clothes. A truly amazing sight.
Our first stop is Kom Ombo, where we stop long enough to visit the temple of Sobek. In the evening we leave the dock and is in Edfu. There, the next morning, another visit to the temples before heading towards <strong>Luxorstrong>, where we arrived after a long voyage. In the evening ritual in the Egyptian style party on board: I could have avoided me, I would, but I could not.
The next morning part of a tour de force: 8 consecutive hours of access to different sites of <strong>Luxorstrong> and its beginning with the alarm clock that wakes you up at 5. We go to Karnak, then in the Valley of the Kings, the Temple of Medinet, to <strong>Luxorstrong> to see the Colossi of Memnon. Everything beautiful even though, without a break, it was not a walk.
In the late afternoon disembark from the ship their luggage and bring them to the hotel, the Sheraton. Let there last night in Egypt, last up early the next morning: We expect the plane to Italy.
It would be useless to explain what this country has to offer, but the travel arrangements we have chosen half proved disastrous. Through no fault of the tour operator, who does his job and does it very well, but because in this way of approaching a foreign country we have not found. Apart from the hint of a school trip (there were about 70, all grown-up, but too often the level of comments, questions, behaviors, was very childlike), this way of moving in a foreign country does not allow you to appreciate and understand almost nothing of the fact that you're dipping. The tour operator is forcing you into an alien world to context, muffled, almost never where you do not respect the reality: even most of the people you interact with speak Italian, it's all organized so that you do not need any money to change currency Local. Of course, even they have the power to eliminate the &quot;hassle&quot; of traveling, the heat and the stench, but most of our traveling companions, if they could, they would have done without even these minimal discomfort. Too many of them have not been able to immerse themselves in any way in the world around them, a little 'ill-will, and probably even a little' because, accustomed to this kind of vacation, are not scheduled for live experiences.
There is, in short, a nice big regret, but the bad luck to Daniel, who was ill when he lost the Pyramids, gives us a juicy assists to plan a new trip to Egypt, who may also include the oases. But this time we will return to the old: backpacker, airline ticket in his pocket and &quot;pedaling.&quot;