Land of ancient civilization

Which country can be called the Land of ancient civilization? It is a country with a long history, great monuments, and artifacts being found underground till now. The country is called Egypt. However, its first name was “Black land” due to the dark soil next to the river Nile. (World History Encyclopedia)

Egypt is not only the land of ancient civilization, but also a country with rich culture, historical sights, beautiful beaches, music, delicious food, and many more. Let’s see my trip to Egypt.

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About Egypt

Egypt is a country in Northeast Africa. It is a country with the most sunny days of the year.

Climate– hot, sunny and dry, with some rainfalls during wintertime. There may be some snow in certain areas. Egypt can be visited anytime during the year, where the hottest months are July and August. Winter from December till March can be cooler and the sea cold.

Capital city– Cairo

Official language– Arabic

Currency– Egyptian pound (EGP)

Religion– Islam 85-95%, Coptic Christians 5-15%

Time Zone– UTC+2

Visa– Depending on nationality, you can obtain a visa upon arrival at the airport or you need to apply online in advance.

Vaccinations– routine vaccines that we received during our childhood, Tetanus and Hepatitis A and B are recommended. The yellow fever vaccine is mandatory if you are coming from a country where yellow fever exists.

 

Which cities you should visit

There are many interesting cities to be visited in Egypt. Depends on whether you would like to relax at the beach or you are interested in sightseeing. For the beach holidays, the best cities are Hurghada, Sharm El Sheikh– this is the best for snorkeling, Marsa Alam, and Dahab. The cities with a long history and lots to see are Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, and Siwa. Locals say that Luxor and Aswan are the most beautiful. Nile cruises are very popular and fascinating.

 

My holiday in Egypt

I personally visited Hurghada and Cairo. In Hurghada, it was our first holiday with our baby girl who was 1.5 years old at that time. We stayed in the Albatros White Beach hotel. It is one of the hotels from the Pickalbatros chain. It was a very beautiful, relaxing, and enjoyable holiday. The hotel is amazing in every aspect and is suitable for people of all ages, especially for families with children.

After spending one week at the beach and pool, we went to Cairo to visit our family. We went by taxi and the journey took us about 6 hours with a few stops. It could be done in 5 hours, but we had a small child, so the driver didn’t drive very fast. The road is very nice and not old.

We spent three weeks with our family there, so I had a chance to eat a lot of traditional foods. The Egyptian cuisine is delicious, especially the sweets, which you can try in the hotels as well. The national food is Kushari-it is rice, pasta, lentils, and fried onion. Another one is Hawawshi-Arabic bread filled with minced beef and onion, then falafel and molokheya- leafy green vegetable cooked and eaten with rice. From the sweets are Baklava, kunafa, katayef, zalabia and many more.

 

What to see in Cairo

Cairo is a big city and can be divided into the old Cairo and the new Cairo. The new Cairo is very modern and clean. Some parts reminded me of Dubai. The old Cairo is very traditional in architecture and not so clean. They are also building a new capital in Cairo, symbolized by its Iconic tower, the tallest tower in Africa and it is going to be a city with new buildings and villas, and international companies.

When I came to Cairo, our family took us to the Egyptian Museum. We could see all the artifacts there, Tutankhamun, mummies, and their sarcophaguses (coffins) were huge. Recently all the artifacts from the Egyptian museum were moved to the Grand Egyptian Museum, which is now the largest archaeological museum in the world. The mummies were moved to the Museum of Egyptian Civilization. Therefore, you will have to visit both museums if you want to see mummies as well.

Besides the museum, we went to the old Cairo Khan al Khalili, where there was a huge souk with a lot of souvenirs. There was so much choice and all of them were so beautiful, especially the statuettes of pyramids, pharaohs, and sphinx and also the jewelry. I really recommend this place for your shopping. Another thing in old Cairo was the Al-Hussain mosque that we went to see.

The last and the most important and surely the best thing to see is the Giza pyramid complex.

 

Surrounded by the Pyramids

I was always wondering to see the Pyramids of Gizaand one day I found myself right among them. It is believed that the Giza pyramids are one of the special places where the energy vortex is active. When you visit this place, you should have a special feeling, peaceful, mental or physical healing or even tickling inside. That time I didn’t know that, but honestly, I felt so good there, so peaceful, that I didn’t want to leave. It made me think how they were able to build such giant monuments from huge stones without the machines and tools that we have these days. We were even able to go inside one of the tombs.

The pyramids of Giza are located just outside of Cairo and are the only one of all 7 wonders of the ancient world still existing. The Pyramids were built for pharaohs as tombs. After their dead bodies were mummified, they put them inside with all of the things that they could need in the afterlife. There are three pyramids, the pyramids of Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure. Also, there is the Great Sphinx.

 

Why you should go on holiday to Egypt?

Egypt is the land of ancient civilization, where everybody can find something entertaining for themselves. Whether you are a beach person, snorkeling, or diving lover, you are fascinated by history or food, or maybe you just like hot places and being surrounded by friendly happy people as Egyptians are, Egypt is the right destination. If you decide to go or not to go and you are interested in anything from Egypt, you can contact me and I will find out directly from the source.