Egypt for New Years 2007

The first thing that grabs you as you depart Cairo airport is the absolute crazy driving.  We stayed at the Hiton on the Nile and it was a fine hotel and a great location with the Egyptian Museum right across the street.  We hired a guide to take us around the museum and it was a bit of a waste.  He walked us through so fast we couldn't take it all in and had to go back and see it all again.  I do not recommend hiring one.  There was so much to see, one could easily spend the whole day here.   The following day we went to the pyramids/sphniks.  We were talked into taking a horse and carriage around the pyramids.  This was so not necessary.  They made it sound as if we would have to walk miles to see everything and this is just not the case.  Just after you walk through the gate the pyramids are right in front of you.  Seeing them up close was amazing.   That night we returned to see the light show.  I did not enjoy this at all.  I can't believe how it draged on for so long.   The following day we spent at the markets.  This was great fun and pick up some really nice soulvenirs.

Seven days in Cairo was a bit too much so we decided to head down to Luxor.  This worked out great.  We took the 9pm train and arrived in Luxor at about 6am.  We hired a taxi to drive us around for the whole day.  I can't believe we almost didn't come here.  The Valley of the Kings was just so amazing.  Going down into the tombs was absolutly unreal.  Our driver was our tour guide and took us to some great sites.  He finally droped us off near the train station where we got some dinner and caught the 9pm train back to Ciaro and arrived about 6am.  We kept our hotel while we were gone so we didn't have to lung our luggage around and this worked out great.  When we arrived back at the hotel we grabed some breaky and then hit the showers.  The next day I was able to talk hubby into going to the markets again.  They are quite unique.  On our last day we went to the Step Pyrmids.  A bit of a drive, but worth it.