[Music] foreign Egypt captures the imaginations of travelers from around the world and for good reason home to perhaps the most impressive ancient civilization on the planet Egypt is full of amazing archaeological sites that most of us have grown up hearing about a it's mysterious with Legends of Pharaoh's curses and questions about how the pyramids could possibly have been built many of its attractions are centrally located along the Nile River Valley which makes it convenient to see them so when we realized that we had a school break with time to fill the decision was an easy
one we headed to Egypt and saw the best that Cairo as one Abu symbol and Luxor have to offer [Music] our first day in Cairo was an overwhelming blur of insane traffic ancient Antiquities and glimpses into Islamic life it could only be described as sensory overload we met our egyptologist and guide Mustafa and started the day at the Egyptian Museum in downtown Cairo [Music] this was a great way to learn about everything we would see over the coming week most impressive of all was the tootin common room which features the famous 22 pound solid gold
funerary mask and other Treasures from his tomb also really enjoyed the mummies from the museum we moved over to Islamic Cairo which is full of mosques tombs and the old walled City [Music] we set out on foot to discover the Khan El kalili Bazaar which has been running for more than a thousand years I could have spent the whole day in the Bazaar in Islamic Cairo alone it was fascinating and full of beautiful Treasures around every corner the metal work in particular was gorgeous [Music] this one before it's recycling here it is running from ancient
Egyptian temples and the Greek Roman columns over there Friday prayers were underway and the streets were buzzing [Applause] [Applause] Minnesota after seeing Islamic Cairo we moved on to Coptic Cairo which is full of historic Christian churches Saint sergius and Bagus church is where Mary fled with Jesus to escape persecution in Judea and the hanging church is built on an old Roman Fortress [Music] thank you [Music] oh yeah and at some point on this day we stopped for lunch and Liam ate an entire roast pigeon with his hands as he's accustomed foreign [Music] and that was
our first time seeing the pyramids it was the end of our first day we were driving out to Giza to check into our hotel we were heading west and looking into the Setting Sun the shadow of the pyramids kept slipping in and out of view until finally they were unmistakable in front of us I think it's one jobs different yes yes I mean you can see yeah that's awesome there's a camel oh this one there it is that's it yeah everybody make sure you get all your things [Music] what made us choose our hotel in
Giza was definitely the rooftop patio [Music] foreign [Music] and the next day of course was all about the pyramids we met up again with Mustafa and headed for the Giza plateau Great Pyramid babe it's a grandson of kills this pyramid is not only one person so it was full of what his treasures but all the treasures gone by the way if you leave the pyramid without any care okay for five years come after five years you'll find quarter or half of the pyramid covered by sand okay I prefer you now to go inside the film
because it's going to be more crowded to enjoy more by yourself okay are you ready yeah foreign [Music] [Music] when you first enter the pyramid you walk along a long flat hallway called the robbers tunnel relatively speaking this is a piece of cake because then you come to a long ramp called the Grand Gallery you need to climb this doubled over for most of the way up because the ceiling is so low and the same tunnel is used to both enter and exit the pyramid so whenever there's oncoming traffic it turns into a game of
chicken you know you're coming up to the king's chamber where the King was buried when the rocks change from Limestone to Red Granite which was mined in Aswan 800 kilometers away it is crazy to think about how the ancient Egyptians did it once you get to the king's chamber you can stand up again it's incredibly hot and stuffy and there's not much left to see because as Mustafa told us the treasures were all stolen by grave robbers a long time ago regardless it's pretty cool to be inside the Great Pyramid foreign [Music] [Music] I guess
the dog didn't get the memo [Music] it's pretty big after seeing the pyramids up close we went to Panorama point which is supposed to give a good view of the pyramids of course there's the Instagram worthy View and then there's reality I think you're right though I did expect this to be much quieter over here this is the place to come if you want to ride a camel although camel rides are offered closer to the pyramids themselves there are many more Cavaliers hustling for a buck at Panorama point we chose not to ride a camel
the ethics are questionable but I would be lying if I said I was upset when I was photobombed by some of the camels and especially the camel stressed out as Santa Claus dogs before leaving the Giza Plateau we paid a visit to the Great Sphinx who has the head of a human Pharaoh in the body of a lion [Music] [Music] please [Music] thank you we left Giza and traveled to Sakara to see our last pyramids of the day Dynasty is the oldest pyramid in ancient Egypt is a pyramid of Kings also okay and as I
told you all look still working look they told you from time to time thank you and outside [Music] [Music] [Music] that's why he changes yeah in the distance yeah but it's cool that's crazy they don't get any air tonight it's a pile of rubble yeah it's so beautiful from outside but from inside it's so beautiful why because of the hieroglyphic yeah everywhere and you're going to see the Cartouche of the king and inside this Cartouche you will find the Rapids [Music] we were all pyramided out it was time to take a break and get something
to eat and we wound up going to this admittedly very tourist oriented restaurant right next to the Sakara complex you're greeted at the entrance by musicians and by now we were beginning to realize that everything in Egypt is about the bakshish or tip that is expected here's Chad digging through his backpack to see if he has any small bills to give and I'm trying not to overtly record the musicians until I know that we'll be able to pay Liam's getting a free dance lesson regardless this is definitely something you wouldn't do if you had just
not had a tour [Music] it was New Year's Eve we have been looking for a way to celebrate New Years but we're told that it's not really recognized in Egypt our hotel was putting on a dinner and dance show to Mark the occasion and with no other options in front of us we bought tickets to the event dinner was great another big spread of grilled meats and assorted sides the dancing was just okay every once in a while a member of the hotel staff would shoot off a firecracker or someone at a neighboring property would
do the same and it did make the night feel a bit more festive [Music] okay what we didn't expect was that at midnight every Rooftop in the area lit a full arsenal of fireworks and there was a huge chaotic unchoreographed show what a way to bring in the New Year [Music] 's insane happy New Year happy New Year Happy New Year thank you that was as crazy as a New Year party we could ask for we got about two or three hours of sleep before getting up for an early morning flight down to the city
of Aswan [Music] we spent our first night there in a Nubian Village outside of the city and on the bank of the Nile River this is a nice peaceful place quite different from Cairo [Music] Nubians are an ethnic group from Southern Egypt and Northern Sudan and they're best known for their brightly colored buildings [Music] [Music] that's right no thank you [Music] everybody everybody knows Canada Dry right you say you're from Canada everybody says Canada Dry [Music] we spend like 10 minutes this is Abdu and he was our egyptologist and guide for our time in southern
Egypt he took us out for an afternoon of sightseeing around as one we saw the Red Granite Quarry where Stone was sourced for many of the ancient Egyptians construction projects this is what we call diorite diorite is that with the Statue yeah the Quarry is still home to The Unfinished Obelisk that cracked as it was being cut out from the Rocks like statues like sarcophagus and all this like we're gonna see in Luxor there it is but this is oh that's the crack right there yeah that's why we lifted unfinished we also paid a visit
to filet Temple which would be the first of many temples we saw on our trip what makes it unique is that it's on an island and you need to take a boat from the filet Marina over to the island this is not the island where the temple was originally built that Island was flooded in the 1960s when the Aswan dam was built and the temple was relocated Stone by Stone to its current location while this sounds like a massive job we would soon learned that actually many of Egypt's ancient sites along the Nile have been
moved from their original spots and although it sounds next to Impossible relocating temples is something the Egyptians are pretty good at filet Temple is dedicated to the Goddess Isis and Abdu tried to give us a crash course in Egyptian history before we started the tour I think we'll check across the Nile to a temple on an island that one's really noisy whoa hey he's like a thin dog but between the jet lag that was hitting us hard the New Year's party that we'd stayed up for and the 6 a.m flight from Cairo to Aswan we
were a little bit delirious and not really ready to take it all in see this one oh yeah add it in the Christian time so like when when was that roughly 3 85 80. okay and they started to get back to the temples that's what the sanctuary or the holy homes of the goddesses you can see her right there protecting her husband and son so he cut it short pointed out a few of the major details and then gave us free time to wander the temple by ourselves foreign and we spent most of that time
playing with the Island's resident cats needless to say it was an early night for all of us [Applause] from Aswan we took a morning commuter flight to Abu symbol 45 minutes away it's too bad that the flight wasn't longer because this was the first time in our lives that we got an upgrade to business class Abu symbol is home to two massive Rock Cut Temple complexes they were built by Ramses II and the smaller of the two temples which we visited first was dedicated to his wife Queen nefertari the drawback to taking the commuter flight
became apparent as we entered the temple at the same time as all of the other passengers who had only flown in for a couple of hours too foreign the Great temple is pretty impressive especially the four giant seeded Ramsay statues that flank the entrance and being a bit larger inside we were able to leave some of the crowds behind and even find our own personal Temple if only for a few minutes [Music] [Music] I imagine if you come here anytime after 11AM when the return flight has left you probably have to place pretty much to
yourself [Music] there are a ton of riverboats sailing the Nile between Aswan and Luxor taking one of these cruises is an efficient way to see the historical sites because they're mostly located on the riverbank we boarded our cruise shipping as one around noon although it wouldn't set sail until late that night [Music] what do you think Liam should dad go full on hippo mode it was a classy little ship with only 66 cap so it never felt crowded the state rooms and public spaces were lovely and the restaurant was excellent [Music] [Music] it's time to
spare before the ship set sail we left one boat for another headed out on a traditional faluca or sailboat for a Sunset Cruise around Aswan [Music] peacefulness of our trip was soon interrupted by some enterprising local kids on a paddle board who had a good gig going serenading Sailors until the back sheesh was handed over let's put it all right and they weren't the only ones with that business model there were lots of kids doing it the ones who hit up the Fuller felucas were no doubt better paid [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the ship left
as one overnight and we woke up to see the sun coming up over the East Bank of the Nile soon we were pulling ashore at komon bong will you take mine too there are lots of cruise ships sailing Up and Down the River and because Port space is limited they often dock two or three deep that meant that we had to cross through the lobby of a neighboring ship in order to reach the shore foreign special is that it's a double Temple it is dedicated to Horus the falcon-headed God and the other side to Sobek
the crocodile so that's the temple right there that's beautiful beaming the mountains of gold who's with us again and this time we were ready for his history lesson my favorite part was all of the references to Cleopatra inside the temple this world belongs to the queen Cleopatra I could go as Cana so each symbol is like a letter yeah it's Cleopatra I told you that we're going to see the image of Cleopatra in here we saw the name now we're seeing the image was her name just right next to her and now this is what
we call the coronation scene [Music] I'm not surprised [Music] there is a crocodile Museum on the temple grounds too and so after our Temple visit we went to see dozens of mummified crocodiles they even have mummified crocodile eggs the ancient Egyptians were serious about this stuff [Music] the Nile used to be like right onto its base essentially right [Music] boys [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you just remember the carriage number nice to meet you too Ferrari our next stop was Ed food the Temple of edfu is one of the few that's not directly on the bank
of the river and so a whole Cavalry of horses and carriages spends each day carding ship passengers back and forth to the temple edu is one of the best preserved temples in Egypt because at one point it was forgotten and buried beneath 12 meters of sand is the second part of the temple this is what we call the Opera no pillars here attendance and this one before cleaning they were just black like this one a big golden statues for the girls of Egypt and they would vote them in the second floor and make them look
at the town so people in the town one day look at the Statue of the god and see him looking at them they would think that he's watching and protecting them in here it's like watching a movie you're gonna be seeing so many different images for Horus trying to catch or kill the godson and Sith is running and Boris is tracing so we keep going this way [Music] okay thank you thank you as the sun went down on our second night on board the ship we sailed into the Esna locks and encountered the most resilient
salespeople of our entire trip hello where are you from Hawaii from let's back up and set the stage Egyptian Hawkers are ruthless they will jump in your path to grab your attention no thank you they will follow you if they think they can make the sale they will be ready to pounce as you're getting out of your vehicle and they won't let up until you've completed your visit and essentially shut the door in their face Jackie queen king no thank you okay 25 20 okay but all of that peeled in comparison to the tenacity of
the Esna lock vendors who actually rode their dinghy into the lock with us and tried to make sales by launching their Wares up onto the top deck of the ship their third Dash is getting him just to toss it down to the next level I don't think they made any sales to anyone on board or a cruise but it sure wasn't for lack of trying the West Bank of Luxor being where the sun sets is dedicated to the afterlife and it's where the ancient Egyptians buried their dead we made a quick stop to see the
Colossus of memnin before continuing on to the Valley of the Kings boobs hidden in the mountain right there we have many of them everywhere the whole area surrounded with mountains thank you [Music] one looks like a permit yeah Egyptians back in the uh to licked this specific area to hide the tombs inside thinking that that mountain would give them petition and Resurrection right after grave robbers looted the tombs in the Great Pyramids the ancient Egyptians moved their burials to the Valley of the Kings in an effort to keep them hidden [Music] more than 60 tombs
were created over a span of 500 years including the tomb of King Tut [Music] or [Music] on a daily basis eight Tunes are open to the public your entrance ticket allows you to visit Three uh [Music] every tomb is different inside with some being especially colorful or impressive for their artwork and others being notable because of their size circles [Music] on our visit we saw the tunes of Ramses 4 marempda and Ramsey six they are all very cool [Music] after seeing the Valley of the Kings we also paid a visit to the mortuary Temple of
hatshepsi which was built for the queen who became a pharaoh the same picture though it's different pictures right I actually got headshot suit simple I got the statues we moved over to the East Bank of the Nile where the city of Luxor is and we went to Karnak it's not a human head this is an absolutely massive Temple complex built over a substantial period of time which allowed it to achieve a unique level of complexity this is super cool this is my favorite Temple for sure yeah I always thought this was saved it for a
lot thank you for bringing it here babe appreciate it huge though it is huge isn't it I think this is another reason why you should do it as you want to Luxor and not a Luxor to ask box if you saw this first thing you saw the others it wouldn't be nearly as impressive [Music] I think it's super cool there's so many of them they're cleaning the fillers in here by removing the dust and the salt cups he's like nicely fed leave it to Mallory to always find the temple cats [Music] we said goodbye to
Abdu and struck out on our own in Luxor we bought a Papyrus painting at an old book shop and found a local McDonald's we've been hoping to try and make Arabia while in Egypt but didn't realize that Egypt is one of the only Arab countries where it's not offered still it was probably the most scenic McDonald's that we'd ever been to [Music] you like this [Applause] [Music] we had checked into the Winter Palace Hotel when we left our cruise ship the grounds are spectacular and we started to wind down our trip with some chill time
in the gardens and at the pool we did have to run out to pick up some food and we found an amazing little Falafel stand right around the corner from our hotel falafels were 25 cents each and it might have been the best food of the whole trip sorry guys [Music] we wrap things up by going to see the last Temple of our trip Luxor Temple which is lit up for visitors at night without a guide we didn't get the educational part of the experience but that was okay we were pretty tapped out with all
the temples we'd seen over the past 10 days and it was nice to just wander at her own pace and enjoy the atmosphere oh my God what she fella died okay if I hold my hands I can't believe that you would have survived the curse of the Pharaohs and all the rest of it and you almost died from tripping [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music]
