Back to my travel blog on my African adventures....
I booked an 8 day tour of the "Best of Egypt" with G Adventures, a Canadian touring company. The tour makes its way from Cairo to Aswan and back and focuses on the major Egyptian sites along the path.
The tour includes the following:
- Local Living: Felucca Sail to Nubian Village with Traditional Meal, Aswan
- Local Living: Lunch with a Local Family, Luxor
- Pyramids of Giza and Sphinx entrance and guided tour
- Egyptian Museum entrance and guided tour
- Nubian village visit
- Felucca overnight sailing excursion with support boat
- Karnak and Kom Ombo temples entrance and guided tour
- Temple of Hatshepsut and Valley of the Kings guided visit and donkey ride
- Colossi of Memnon visit
We also visited the Philae Temple, Edfu Temple and I added the Hot Air Balloon ride over Luxor and the Abu Simbel Temple. The full itinerary can be found here: https://www.gadventures.com/trips/best-of-egypt/3693/itinerary/
I flew back from Hurghada to Cairo and the tour company picked me up at the airport. I stayed at the Santana Hotel in Cairo which the tour company booked. The tour is about a 3* hotel accommodation and the rooms are shared, unless the single supplemental is paid. That single supplemental fee can be costly and it irritates me that single travellers have to pay this regardless of the number of stars a hotel is.
Our tour guide, Said Attia, met us at the hotel and gave the group an overview of the trip. Said was the most amazing tour guide. He was very attentive, knowledgeable and had the patience of a saint!
Said took us on a short walking tour through the neighbourhood to have dinner at a local eatery. That definitely gave me a different impression right away about Egypt as I was unsure about the safety of walking the streets as everyone was so worried about me going to Egypt on my own. However, the area that we were in felt very safe and it was a great introduction to the local culture around us. After dinner we stocked up on snacks at a local grocery store and hung out at the hotel getting to know one another in the group.