By Olivia Bowman

View from the Mena House in Giza. Photo credit: Olivia Bowman.

As the sun sets in Giza and the last of the tourists depart, a lone, brave party of 25, led by two guides, approaches the entrance of a dark, narrow tunnel. Stale humid air greets us as we enter one by one, single file. The stark stones enclose us as we proceed to the unknown. Are there snakes, scorpions, or spiders in that corner? Is that a mummy behind that door? Not knowing what to expect, the brave party ducks and crawls, moving further and further up the steep steps, until we enter the tomb. Like a scene reminiscent of an Indiana Jones movie, we were now inside the Great Pyramid of Giza. And so begins our trip to Egypt.

Over the summer, my family and I decided to take an adventure-filled journey off the beaten path and travel to Egypt. We began our journey with a 10-hour travel day, beginning in Washington, DC, traveling to the capital of Egypt, Cairo. There we would embark on various excursions for two weeks with fellow American travelers, under the guidance of our Egyptian guides Mike Hage and Mostafa Tharwat.

As I left the comfort of the airport’s AC to walk outside at 5 a.m. in Cairo, I knew I had arrived in Egypt. Like opening a hot oven, the heat blasted me in the face as I noticed no cloud in sight. For the next two weeks, I would be experiencing temperatures hovering at 100°F, a UV of 12 every day, and not a single breeze. While eagerly awaiting sand surfing and climbing the first pyramid we encounter, we succumbed to the effects of jet lag. Suffering from upset stomachs, irritability, and exhaustion due to the seven-hour time difference, my family and I took advantage of the hotel’s beds, pool, and restaurants to acclimate to the time, heat, and new foods.

King Tut’s golden funerary mask. Photo credit: Wikimedia user Noahedits.

As we gradually adjusted to the time difference, we soon began to sleep at night instead of the day. However, I found myself unable to sleep, not only due to the excitement but also due to the new sounds of vendors shouting their wares, honking cars on congested streets, and music filled with beating drums, flutes, and wailing music from the party boats on the Nile River. As Tharwat, our Egyptologist, explained, we were in Cairo, “the city that never sleeps.” 

Situated right on the Nile River, our hotel provided views of the expansive river and bustling city, life mingled with views of minarets and mosques. With the Nile River in the background, our tour began with excursions that would blend Old and New Cairo. We visited the Great Mosque of Muhammad Ali, an Ottoman Mosque built between 1830 and 1848. As we took off our shoes to enter, I was struck by the hushed silence inside the mosque and the coolness from the limestone floors compared to the clamoring and steamy city outside the mosque’s walls. We ended our day at the  Egyptian Museum, famous for its King Tut treasures, such as his golden funerary mask. The museum houses over 7,000 years of historical artifacts, and with no air conditioning, the heat and humidity mimicked living in ancient times.  

On day two of the tour, we traveled back to Old Cairo by bus through the narrow streets—streets not originally designed for cars nor buses, by any means—and into the large busy market bazaar of Khan Al-Khalili. Walking through the chaotic and narrow corridors, we heard vendors yelling to get our attention, wanting to sell us different “tourist items” at “tourist prices.” Throughout much of our trip, we ran across many of these similar situations, including kids, probably six or seven years old, walking alongside me and my family, trying to sell us roses, miniature pyramids, and flutes. I learned various tricks to avoid being drawn into buying new items, such as wearing a hat and sunglasses to avoid any eye contact with vendors. 

Later we were treated to a traditional Egyptian lunch at Naguib Mahfouz Restaurant, named after an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize in literature. Traditional Egyptian food included many baskets of bread with an assortment of dips, such as a family favorite, baba ganoush, which is a dip similar to hummus but made from eggplant. We also dined on lentil soup. The soup was not the traditional water-based soup, but rather a creamier and thicker soup with lentils. Now next came the main course, a traditional delicacy in Egypt: pigeon, stuffed with cinnamon rice. My dad, Michael Bowman, described the pigeon as “tasting like dark meat chicken, with flavorful rice.”

The Great Pyramid of Giza and the Great Sphinx of Egypt. Photo credit: Olivia Bowman.

The main attraction of our trip came on day three: the 4,500-year-old Great Pyramid of Giza and the Great Sphinx of Egypt. As the pyramids are located not too far from the city of Giza, I remember laughing with newly formed friends about the contrast of eating at a Pizza Hut among the ancient wonders of the Great Pyramid and under the stare of the Sphinx. As I got closer to the Great Pyramid, towering over 450 feet, and made up of 5.5 million tons of limestone, it was time for us to venture inside the ancient marvel.

Tharwat warned the group about how claustrophobic the passages were inside the pyramid. If we were claustrophobic, this would not be an adventure for us, since we would be basically crawling up steep steps in narrow tunnels while breathing in humid, stale, hot air. As I ventured inside the Great Pyramid, which was only lit up by a few gas lanterns, I began to feel the heat rush to my face, either from excitement or fear. This was only the beginning, as Tharwat proclaimed in Arabic, “Yalla, yalla,” meaning “Let’s go, let’s go.”

As the hallways got narrower and the steps up got steeper, I tried not to fall too far behind the person in front of me, because I didn’t want to be the person to hold up the line trailing behind me. Dripping with sweat, I finally made the 15-minute trek to King Khufu’s Chamber. As I walked inside the small 40-by-20 ft. room, the only thing inside was the singular sarcophagus: a stone coffin. I was amazed at how we were standing on the 50th level of stone inside the pyramid and in even more shock at how big the stones were, weighing around 2.5 tons each. I tried to think about how cramped and airless the room felt as our guides explained how the pyramids were built. Our tour guides suggested that the pyramids were built inside out, beginning at the king’s chamber, due to the gargantuan size of the rocks. As we marveled at the fact that this pyramid has been here for thousands of years, my friends and I began to wonder about various scenarios that could happen. What would happen if a singular stone fell, and we would become stuck in the pyramid, or what if the only light source began to fail, or we ran out of air? Would there be a movie about us? 

The hike down from the king’s chamber was far worse than the hike up. Slowly, we descended down, questioning if it would be better to face forward or backward due to the steep path. We made it to the queen’s chamber, which was even smaller than the king’s chamber. Eventually, we finished crawling out of the dark tunnels into Egypt’s 105° F weather, which, ironically, felt cooler than the temperature inside. 

Abu Simbel. Photo credit: Michael Bowman.

For the next few days, we began a scenic cruise on the M/S Tulip along the Nile River, departing out of Aswan and cruising to Luxor. It’s awe-inspiring to think that the landscape of small towns and temples we passed along on the Nile River was maybe the same view one would see in ancient times. It felt like time stood as we traveled to Upper Egypt along the Nile. We visited various temples, including the Temple of Isis at Philae, which is located on a small island accessible by a small motorboat, honoring the Goddess Isis. We also visited the Karnak Temple and the Luxor Temple, which include the Avenue of the Sphinx, containing almost two miles of sphinxes lined up, connecting the two temples. We also traveled on a quick plane ride to Abu Simbal, a historical site where massive temples were carved out of the mountainside on Lake Nasser, honoring the Pharaoh Ramesses II and his queen Nefertari. We also took a quick felucca boat along the Nile to visit and dine at the famous Cataract Hotel, where the 1978 movie Death on the Nile was filmed. 

King Tut’s tomb. Photo credit: Olivia Bowman.

Next was The Valley of the Kings. The Valley of the Kings contains 63 known tombs of ancient Egyptian royalty and four pharaohs, including King Tut. As the tombs were below ground, we descended into what we thought would be dark tunnels. Instead, the walls were covered with vivid colors of blues, oranges, and reds depicting life in ancient times, which were preserved for thousands of years. The least decorated tomb was King Tut’s. He was not as important a pharaoh as others, like Ramses, but his tomb was the most preserved because his well-hidden tomb was not looted over the centuries.

As our vacation began to wind down, we ended our trip in Sharm El Sheikh, a city on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, technically in the continent of Asia. The beautiful location on the Red Sea is a common vacation spot, due to its proximity to Europe. 

Swimming in the Red Sea. Photo credit: Michael Bowman.

Taking in the beautiful scenery, we soon went on a snorkeling excursion in the Red Sea, with the most beautiful vibrant, colorful coral I have ever seen. As I jumped into the water to join my family and friends, our snorkeling guide stated multiple times not to look down. However, I proceeded to do so, seeing nothing but endless crystal blue water all around me, like “The water you see in movies,” I stated to my friends. As some people got out, I stayed in the water, swimming fast and not looking down, to where the coral reefs would be. After swimming around for almost an hour, it was time to make the daunting trip back to the boat through the endless blue water. Eventually, we made it back to the boat safely and to our resort, where we ended our vacation relaxing and eating amazing seafood on the Red Sea. 

What I had been dreading for the past two weeks was finally here: the two-day-long trip home. Saying goodbye to all my new friends, we departed back to Cairo, where we would spend our 10-hour layover before our 12-hour trip home. After we landed in DC, we drove back home to Richmond, and I got to see the two things I had missed the most: my dog and my bed.

Through the language barrier, boiling hot temperatures, and long travel days, I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to go on such an amazing trip seeing one of the wonders of the world firsthand. Making memories with my family and creating new friendships with girls from across America was just another highlight to the trip.