You’re in DeNile if you think Egypt is just Tombs and Temples

Egypt has more to offer than just exquisite buildings filling your mind with wonder and ancient fantasy. It also has gorgeous scenery, a sort of famous river, an expansive desert, and mouth watering food that is so fresh and garlicked to perfection.

What would you like to do in Egypt? Ride an ATV around the Giza Pyramids and weave in and out of the streets, eat a street vendor falafel that will change the way you think about falafels? How about spending two days in the desert exploring a volcano, collecting crystals that naturally formed against a mountain, and camping out in the middle of nowhere in the white limestone desert? Taking in a hot air balloon ride to see the sights of Luxor, and haggling your way down to shop for the perfect souvenir from your trip in Khan el Khalili are things we did outside of our educational tours that gave us the jolt of adventure we were searching for. Here’s a more in depth look at what you can experience in Egypt when the thought of yet another temple tour makes you want to run into the Red Sea.

ATV desert rides: the fast and the squealing

Hopping on the ATV was so bad ass, I felt like we could take over the world with our big girl bikes. A young Egyptian kid working at the ATV rental place sat perched against Coco’s handles and controlled the bike, weaving in and out of the side streets and dodging horses and people as I attempted to keep up behind them. Eventually, after what seemed like forever, we left the dirty streets lined with trash and dust to the rolling hills of dust and sand right by the pyramids which we had just recently seen.

As I approached one of the hills, I couldn’t see over the edge yet— Coco’s ATV leapt over and disappeared. I hesitated before squeezing the gas to follow. We tumbled down slopes and made sideways turns over the desert landscape, lifting above the crowds and hurdling into the dunes like we were drag racing.

The ATV are really easy to drive; I enjoyed it so much and found that as soon as I let go of my gas trigger, the vehicle would stop relatively immediately. With that control, I was able to feel comfortable zooming up and down the desert. Those things really can go over anything, I thought as we drove over an incline of bumps and rocks, the tires barely grazing the top.

We stopped at the pyramids for our above photo shoot.

The kid then jumped off the ATV, grabbing our phones and taking several rehearsed poses that he taught us. We held each pyramid in the palm of our hands and jumping over the top.

as it is clear here, the winds were quite agitated, making it extremely difficult for us to have an appropriate photo without hair acting a damn fool.

He settled in on the front of my ATV, and all I had to do for the rest of the ride was hang on. I loved being in control of the car but had to admit that it was more fun to just sit back and let this crazy kid take us back.

2. hot air ballooning in luxor

When in Luxor, you must take a sun rise hot air balloon tour. We were picked up straight from our hotel, driven to the river, taken on a boat to the other side, and then gathered around the baskets for a ride that I’ll always remember. We fit about 20 into the basket, and watched as our balloon pilot ignited the balloon with the flame that served as our oomph to get around. If you’ve never ridden in a hot air balloon, the experience is very relaxing and pleasant, not scary in the slightest. I barely noticed as we lifted off the ground. Suddenly there we were above everything, with a view of the West Bank of the Nile monuments, the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut’s temple, and the Luxor Temple below. The sky pastel shades of gold and pink, the palm trees tricking us into thinking we were on an island somewhere, instead of the desert oasis.

The morning ride really got us hyped up for the rest of our day, and we went strolling around the town of Luxor looking for some food.

3. Eating egyptian food non stop, all day long, and living a happy life

There is nothing better than the local culture’s comfort food. For me it’s always been Kraft macaroni and cheese, please, with ketchup if you’ve got it. Either that, or my big girl version of comfort food: a good old fashioned poke bowl with extra edamame. In Egypt, I found the comfort food of a lifetime, and have made it at home already.

koshari

What is Koshari? It is a satisfying medley of different textures of pasta, combined with chick peas, lentils, rice, onions, with a tomato based sauce paired with white vinegar that you mix into your fabulous combination of tasty treats for a little bowl of heaven. Essentially it’s one of those dishes that was created because mom didn’t know what to cook so she just threw a bunch of leftover stuff from the pantry together. The result is a satisfying, hearty meal that won’t make you feel like you need to take a nap afterwards.

Also it’s so cheap. Like, $1 cheap. Really really.

The flavors involved here are cumin, garlic, chili powder, and vinegar, along with the protein of the legumes and the starchy fibers of the pasta and rice- this meal is the perfect combination of foods and spice. Oh my gah you must try Koshari. We ate this at least four times when we were here.

falafal

And then we have Falafel, the tiny little morsel of fava bean crunchiness. The Egyptian falafel uses the fava beans and not the chickpeas like most Middle Eastern countries. This was my first time to try the Egyptian version and it was truly life changing. We stopped by a few times to get them, and they are also as cheap as Koshari and usually even cheaper. Inside a fluffy small pita circle, tomatoes, cucumbers, tahini, and greens cascaded into an intimate embrace with the falafels, and brought my happiness to the next level. We were also extremely hungry from all the walking and historical shenanigans that we devoured them.

al sahaby

This is a restaurant located in Luxor, which I highly recommend. Sitting on the rooftop outside, heat lamps around us warmed us as we feasted. The ingredients were fresh and mouthwatering delicious. Might have been the best meal we’ve had in Egypt. Go!

Sahlab

This is an Egyptian drink made with cornstarch that tastes like vanilla with hints of cinnamon and and coconut. The server recommended it and I tried it out. It’s served hot, and is very thick and filling. Definitely recommend this drink, although I could barely finish it because it was so filling. A sweet treat that is best for people who enjoy eating their drinks.

vegetarians welcome!

My travel companion was a vegan and had searched for the options available to her before we arrived. Luckily, we were able to find tons of things that she could eat. Most of the restaurants we went to were vegetarian friendly and it was easy to find non dairy foods like falafel and koshari. She stayed away from the gyros obviously but most of the veggie dishes weren’t made with milk and they used a lot of oil and garlic instead. Babaganoush and Hummus are naturally vegan as well. There really isn’t a struggle involved eating meat free.

4. nile river felucca sunset

For about $25 US you can rent a private Felucca boat and travel along the Nile river during sunset. It’s a gorgeous way to pass the time, and the whole ride I was thinking “Oh holy shit I’m on the Nile river.” In fact, the whole week I kept reminding myself that I was actually in Egypt, that this time last year I would never have expected someone to come with me here. Egypt is still a very dangerous place in a lot of people’s imaginations, but I found it quite lovely and friendly. If you’re foreign looking (99% of Egyptians are in fact Egyptian), you’ll attract a lot of curious stares and requests for pictures together, a minor side effect of being a rare specimen in a homogenous culture.

Some travelers opt to take a river cruise from city to city, like Aswan to Luxor for example which would take at least two days. The sunset sail was enough to satisfy our desire to be on the water, however, a great end to a day of sightseeing.

5. desert princesses peeing in the sand : camping in the white desert.

The white desert is a four and a half hour drive outside of Cairo, the desert that you didn’t know you needed. Our tour took us through the black desert, the crystal mountain, and finally the white desert to sandboard and pitch up a tent for some gorgeous night star watching and home cooked food.

You’ll stop at this restaurant first for lunch before continuing to the never-ending sand forest. It was so nice and we ate delicious home cooked food here, mostly veggies like cucumbers, tomatoes, a bean dish, eggplants, and the loveliest pita bread.

I also met the love of my life. His name is Akhmed and he’s six. He’s got a face that is born to be a heartbreaker. I desperately wanted to take him with us, but unfortunately his father had other plans for his son.

Our guide, Mohammad, has been taking people into the desert for over 10 years and has the system down. As we rode along with him in his jeep, tumbling over hills and sandy terrain, I wondered out loud “How in the world do you remember where you are gong?”

This was at least three hours of steady driving through the desert dunes without any signs or pathways or roads at all. Somehow he managed to find all three locations effortlessly, something that for the directionally insane (me) was an otherworldly experience. I imagined that he knew every rock, every limestone formation, every curve of the sand hills, and could notice when they changed over time. He was the desert, he knew every particle like Snow White knew the animals in the forest. All we saw before us was white, white, and more white. Then we arrived at the black desert, which is …. black. The sand is formed from volcanoes, which I did not realize could form in a desert.

The landscape here was so cool— we climbed up one of the volcanoes and took everything in. Who would have thought that Egypt could provide us such different amazing experiences, from the insanity of Cairo to the silence of the desert, such a distinct contrast.

Pressing onward, we drove even further into the desert to see another point of interest, Crystal Mountain. This mountain is actually a literal mountain with crystals formed into it. Walking across the land we were delighted to find crystals everywhere, rectangular and jagged beauties just waiting for us to collect and hide away in our suitcases for later. Our guide was perfectly fine with us squirreling away a handful or two as souvenirs, and we were sure to ask permission first.

The sun was ready to set and Mohammad urged us back into the jeep so that we could finally reach the ultimate destination: the white desert.

Sandboarding is something that I never considered… it wasn’t on my bucket list because I didn’t really know it existed as a thing that people do. Coco took the board first, and went spinning down the hill. I watched and saw how far down the hill went, a slow gulp retreating down my throat. I have never been the type to just… jump into things. I usually put my toes in first, ask people how cold the water is, and then slowly walk in, until my body gets used to the temperature. But Egyptian me wanted to just do it!

Sitting on the board, feet against the front, Mohammad pushed me down the sandy hill and I let out a huge scream. It was so much fun, not scary in the slightest. If you are feeling antsy from not being able to workout all week like I was, a great plan is to just walk up the hill over and over again… it was a sandy stair climber and my ass was killing me at the top.

The sun set, a symphony of golden oranges, and we continued to the campsite.

The best thing about being a flight attendant is the network of friends across the country and globe. I know cabin crew people in every state, and some countries in Europe… we manage to “get” each other and our insane lives, and think nothing of hopping on a flight to Egypt and planning a trip for a week. While there, Mido introduced us to two flight attendants Dorothy and Boko, a brother sister dynamic duo who joined us on our camping adventure. We hung out by the campfire as Mohammad cooked us more Egyptian food to drool over and devour, and stared into the sky looking at all the stars bleeding into each other. Nothing around us for miles and miles, it was peaceful and exquisite, something I recommend everyone traveling to Egypt try and do.

Mohammad told us that there was a fox around the campgrounds, responsible for peeing in peoples’ shoes if they mistakenly left them outside their tents. In the middle of the night, when I had to use the makeshift “bathroom” aka hole in the sand somewhere as private as possible, I opened up the tent’s door while trying not to wake up Coco. The first thing I saw was the striking brilliance of the stars shining all around me, the silence of the dry, cold air, and the furriness of the little fox rustling by the car looking for food. I’ve always wanted to keep a fox as a pet, but the potential for this cute little foxy guy to bite me was in my mind more probable than possible. I zipped the tent back up immediately, hoping there weren’t any other desert friends Mohammad had failed to mention.

The morning after looked something like…

After leisurely stretching out and eating a quick breakfast, the safari continued to see some interesting landmarks that weren’t as visible during the dark ride to the campsite. Introducing, Rabbit Rock, and Chicken and Mushroom Rock:

As you may have noticed, things here are very literal. We also stopped by another Mushroom Rock on our way back to the restaurant.

And who doesn’t have time for a nice jumping photo?

I adore camping and this experience was exceptional to the kind of woodsy camping I was always used to growing up in the Appalachian mountain foothills. Egyptian desert camping is a different and stunning alternative.

6. Egyptian museum: ah the history!

The last day of our tour was spent touring around Cairo. First a visit to the Egyptian Museum, which was a collection of mummies, artifacts from tombs, statues, and hieroglyphic carvings from thousands of years ago. Here are a few snapshots of what to expect.

My takeaway from the museum? The King Tut room was very cool to see in person, and I loved the animal mummy section the most. It was a perfect way to end our trip— in our guide Mido’s words “we will be going going going in the first part of the week, and then the last day will be a very smoothie day.”

7. old cairo and khan el khalili

Cairo is a mess. I’d never live here. It’s very chaotic and the traffic makes traffic in LA look positively easy going. Our last day was filled with going back and forth from the middle of the city to our hotel in Giza, back and forth. I would have brought everything to stay out in the city all day if I’d known how long the traffic would take. Take a lot of water with you and dress for the entire day…

Muslim Cairo was very beautiful. We saw the first Mosque ever in Egypt, and was able to take a quick walk around. I enjoyed learning about Islam in college, and hope that in the future we can learn that Islam and Christianity are quite similar. Islam teaches about equality and that all people are the same under Allah, and I love that message a lot. Mido told us that the ritualistic prayer at the same time allows everyone no matter their income or family background to pray and bow together. It’s a humble way to live and there’s something so appealing about the constant reminder to connect oneself to a greater force that is bigger than one’s ego and individual petty problems.

I didn’t grow up representing or identifying with religion as an institution, and still have no intention of doing so; I feel like that gives me a freedom to look at each religion without a context of right or wrong. To me, they are all just trying to answer the questions that all humans need to answer. How do I know what is right, how do I know I am not alone? How do I function in society with a healthy attitude and have hope that there is meaning to this chaotic world? In my opinion, whatever helps you become a good person and your best self, it’s worth it— whether your religion is Islam, Christianity, Equinox classes, or brunches on Sunday morning.

After touring the mosque, we went back to the hotel and changed, rested, regrouped, drank some more Turkish coffee… and went to the infamous market Khan el Khalili. Mido insisted that we try visiting the market later in the evening, when the locals would be out and about shopping. He was concerned that if we went earlier it would be too crowded with tourists, which we had explicitly said we did not want to experience. “We don’t like tourists, even though we technically are tourists… we aren’t those sort of tourists,” was the motto of the week.

Let me preface by saying we were given one and a half hours to explore the market, thinking naively that would be enough time before we had to go to the airport to catch our flight back to FCO (Rome).

That was so delusional. If you go to this incredible market, please give yourselves at least three hours. You need one hour to walk around, another hour to shop for the best deals, and another hour to sit in an outdoor cafe while smoking hookah and people watching.

Things to find here: Everything.

Things we purchased: one of these beautiful lamps, and spices. I wanted a mirror, but wouldn’t be able to transport it home with me. They also sell oils, perfumes, jewelry, your standard knick knacks, Turkish coffee makers, scarves, hats, fabrics, etc. Just explore and wander and bargain your ass off.

The vendors are very nice, but annoying at first. They are respectful if you just say “No thank you,” five times in a row to make your point. Sometimes I travel and visit market vendors who are very aggressive and rude, but I did not find this to be the case here.

The market is old, starting in the 1300s old. Just walking around is enough to inspire a moment. I am glad we got a chance to see the market, even if at the last minute we were rushing to meet our guide back at the car so we would make our flight home!

Egypt, you are priceless. I would like to come back soon. Next time I’ll be bringing my snorkeling mask to enjoy the beautiful waters of the Red Sea, and walk along the city of Alexandria to see the ruins we missed on this excursion.

Happy Flying and keep those Pharaoh curses at bay!

xoxoxox

Walk Like An Egyptian: Part II : Adventure Time!