AfricaFirst visit 2019Egypt
Standing next to the pyramids is one of those experiences that rewires your sense of what's possible.
Visited in 2019 and Egypt is overwhelming in the best way. The pyramids at Giza are mind-bending up close — you can't quite process that humans built them thousands of years ago with their hands. Cairo is loud and chaotic and alive, and the Nile Valley feels like the center of everything.
The pyramids at Giza aren't out in the desert like the photos suggest. Cairo pushes right up against them, with taxis, billboards and honking horns, and then the ancient stone rises out of all that noise. I collected every ticket I could: the Giza Plateau, Luxor Temple, the Valley of the Kings. Luxor was 43 degrees and I was sweating through everything, but sailing a felucca on the Nile at sunset fixed that.
After all the temples I went to the Red Sea side to recover. Clear blue water, camels resting on the beach, cushions in a beach camp and a cold Sakara by the sea while the light went pink. The food carried me through the whole trip: falafel, stuffed pitas, grilled chicken plates and endless dips. Egypt is exhausting and hot and sometimes a hustle, and I'd do it again tomorrow.
Egypt Photos
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