IF YOU GO:
I booked my Egypt trip through Audley Travel in Boston (855-838-8300, http://ift.tt/1DJrbE3). The package included hotels with breakfast, guides and drivers, domestic flights, most admission fees and cultural activities, such as the cooking class. A seven-day trip starts at $2,500 per person double.
WHERE TO STAY:
- Le Riad Hotel de Charme
114 Muiz Li Din Allah St., Cairo
011-20-2-2787-6074
www.leriadhotel.com
Boutique hotel in the old Islamic quarter with 17 Egyptian-history-themed suites with private balconies and exotic decor. From $120.
- Sofitel Winter Palace
Corniche el Nile St., Luxor
800-763-4835
www.sofitel.com
Five-star luxury hotel built in 1886 features opulent gardens and pool, stately bar, restaurants and ideal location by the Nile River, Luxor Temple and commercial district. From $250.
- Sofitel Legend Old Cataract Aswan
Abtal El Tahrir St., Aswan
800-763-4835
www.sofitel.com
Stunning property set in a 19th-century Victorian palace, with Nile views, pool, gardens, dining on the veranda, fitness center and spa. From $310.
WHERE TO EAT:
- Sofra Restaurant & Cafe
90 Mohamed Farid St., Luxor
011-20-95-235-9752
www.sofra.com.eg
Casual and cozy restaurant serves Best of Egypt dishes, such as stuffed pigeon and the lentils-and-rice dish koushry. Main dishes from about $2.50.
- Naguib Mahfouz Cafe
5 al-Badestan Ln., Khan al-Khalili, Cairo
011-20-2-2590-3788
Elevated traditional cuisine served in a serene setting amid the hectic market. Entrees from about $12.
WHAT TO DO:
- The House of Cooking
29 Ezz el Din Taha St., Nasr City
011-20-100-680-0621
http://ift.tt/1mpg5KX
Cooking classes led by very entertaining and knowledgeable mom-and-daughter chefs. Various cuisines offered. The “I Love Egypt” three-course class costs $65.
- The Great Temple of Ramses II
Abu Simbel
The next sunrise event takes place on Oct. 22. Book early — and go early!
INFORMATION:
www.egypt.travel
“Welcome to Cairo.”
“Happy New Year!”
“Happy Valentine’s Day!”
“Welcome to Alaska!”
Egypt was delighted to see me. So overjoyed, in fact, that Egyptians couldn’t contain themselves. They shouted greetings (some comprehensible, others befuddling) wherever I walked: along pinched lanes in the old Islamic quarter, inside pharaonic temples and tombs, in a Nubian village in Aswan, on the sandy shores of the Red Sea. The pleasantries came from policemen on horseback, vendors pushing heavy carts of peanuts and men smoking shisha in outdoor cafes, their salutations released in plumes of scented smoke.
“Welcome, welcome, welcome!”
Thank you, it’s a been a while. About four years, by most people’s count.
The calendar pages started curling on Jan. 25, 2011, the start of Egypt’s Arab Spring revolution, which resulted in the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak. The following June, elections ushered in Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi. About a year later he, too, was gone. Next up: Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The former head of the armed services will celebrate his first year as president in June.
“We will go for it and see what happens,” said Mohamed, my Cairo guide. “But we are happy with this man. With so many problems around, we need a man like this.”
The years of political tumult upended the country and spooked millions of international travelers. Tourism, which reached record-high levels in 2010 with 14.7 million visitors, tumbled weeks later. Cruise ships eliminated Egyptian ports of call. Tour operators diverted clients to other points on the map. Western governments warned their citizens to avoid travel there.
Since Sisi’s rise, travelers have struggled to form a precise picture of Egypt, especially as troubles bubble up in nearby lands.
“Tourism is our religion, our food. We need it, our families need it,” a Cairo papyrus seller said. “The impression you have of Egypt is more important than buying.”
From Washington, I polled several experts on this topic, including an international risk-management analyst, a specialist in Egyptian travel and the country’s minister of tourism. They all told me that the country was safe and stable. Calm had been restored. It was time for Americans to return.
So this American did.
Places to avoid
The winds of travel regularly blow in the same direction, from north to south, or Lower to Upper Egypt. The majority of tourists follow the Nile’s blue streak from Cairo to Luxor to Aswan, then back up.
I was not going to break from tradition, though I did want to put my own independent stamp on my mid-February trip. Instead of flying or driving to Luxor, I planned to take the overnight train.
My agent at Audley Travel flicked away my fancies with her guardian-angel wings. Brigitte quashed the train idea, because the tracks cut through some dangerous territory between the two cities. She also informed me that my guides had clear instructions to avoid any demonstrations. However, she did grant me my third request, as long as I stayed in a resort town along the Red Sea coast.
Overall, I had a long leash with few restrictions. I could freely walk around the cities and towns alone (following street-smarts protocol, of course) and dress liberally (but not a la Kardashian).
The halo of optimism is expanding. In addition to steadying the country, Sisi has resumed projects started by Mubarak and developed new ones. Plans include building the Alexandria Underwater Museum, renovating the Grand Egyptian Museum at Giza, extending the Nile cruise trail to Alexandria and constructing more than 2,100 miles of roads. Tourism officials also hinted at reopening Nefertari’s tomb in Luxor, which closed in 2003 to protect its fragile interior.
The pyramid field at Dashur, about 25 miles south of Cairo, has been around since 2600 B.C. Pharaoh Sneferu was a pyramid perfectionist who tinkered with the design and materials of his afterlife crib. The Old Kingdom ruler is credited with creating the innovative triangular shape that inspired the scene-stealing monuments at Giza.
The Giza antiquities, including the Sphinx, attract droves of tourists. At the 242-foot-tall Red Pyramid, though, I could count the people on three fingers. I passed Thumb, Index and Pinkie on the way up the north face. A man draped in cotton garments guarded the entryway and asked whether I planned to take pictures. I peered into the narrow gloom, felt the squeeze of claustrophobia and declined.
In I go
The descent resembled a mine shaft with cleaner air. I crouched down low, taking wobbly baby giraffe steps into the deep stillness. I arrived in a large tomb chamber with a soaring corbelled ceiling. The burial space aligns with the North Star, a fast lane to the heavens. While we mere mortals have to navigate the dizzying stairs, the pharaoh-god took the divine route out.
My Luxor guide said that during the golden age of tourism (6,000 people per day in 2010), folks often waited up to five hours to enter the three tombs at the Valley of the Kings. My record thumb-twiddling stretch: fewer than five minutes to see the tar-colored King Tut mummy. The longest queue: the Mummy Exhibit at Cairo’s Egyptian Museum.
“It’s busy, busy, busy,” my guide, Abdel, said before noon. “This line will remain with us till 3 or 4 o’clock.”
Though I skipped the exhibit, I did enjoy some mummy-and-me time elsewhere. There was me and the mummy fetus in the tomb of Amun-Hir-Khopshef, the princely son of Ramses III. Me and the mummified reptiles in the Crocodile Museum at the Temple of Kom Ombo. And me and the mummified pita that I excavated from the depths of my bag at the end of the trip.