My Personal Amazing Race - Egypt

Tower of Cairo

On Season 5, Leg 5 (original air date: 8/2/2004) of the Amazing Race on CBS, teams travel to to Cairo, Egypt.  Their first stop is the top of the Tower of Cairo.  Next, the teams travel by taxi to the Pyramids of Giza and complete a detour near the base of the pyramids.  The pit stop is in front of the Sphinx.

We visited Egypt in December 2009 while on a 12-day Mediterranean cruise.  Our cruise boat docked in Alexandria, Egypt.  From Alexandria, we took a 3 hour train ride into Cairo.  From Cairo, we took a local Metro train to Giza.  From the train station in Giza, we took a collective taxi (about 5 miles) to the pyramids. (A collective taxi is a van that stops frequently to let customers on and off.) After touring the pyramids, we went back to Cairo and stayed at the Ramses Hilton overnight.  Our 2nd day in Cairo, we visited the Egyptian Museum which houses the King Tut mask.

My Egypt experience was one of the most amazing travel adventures for multiple reasons.  First and foremost, Egyptians are extremely friendly and helpful. On the train ride to Cairo, we met a 1st grade teacher and she told us all about life, love, and marriage in Egypt.  She was engaged to be married herself.  On the train ride back to Alexandria, we met a businessman who taught us how to negotiate for a taxi.  Everywhere we went, normal Egyptians would greet us with, "Welcome to Egypt!"  These people did not work in the tourism industry, nor were they attempting to sell us anything/ask for money.  They genuinely wanted us to feel welcome in Egypt.

Secondly, the pyramids are truly amazing.  They are much larger than I could have ever imagined.

Lastly, I was surprised that we were the only people on our cruise that did not book a guided tour.


Sadly, due to the civil unrest in Egypt, I believe Norwegian Cruise Line has discontinued the Egypt stop on their cruises.  My thoughts and prayers go out to the people of Egypt.