Raques

I went here in Sept. 2007 for a wedding. While I was there, I fell in love with the place. We really only had time to go to the wedding and walk on the beach before we went home. I learned about the migratory birds that visit the island in the fall/early winter and decided to make a trip back to the island to see them. It was amazing! I was so impressed. We saw so much wildlife while we were there. The snow geese were amazing just by the large number of birds that were there. Watching them all take off when scared by an eagle is absolutely breathtaking. Also, we enjoyed looking at the views from the lighthouse. The nature centers are really fantastic. We signed up for a bus tour of the island and it was so worth it!

My husband dragged me through Khan El-Kalili looking for the famous coffee shops there. We did find them them and sat there for quite a while. We had a nice time talking to the people around us while drinking coffee, smoking shisha and having henna done. It was such a fun place to just sit and relax. The shopping was amazing. There was so much too see. I don’t think people should visit Cairo without stopping by Khan El-Khalili.

but at first I was completely frightened. At the airport, we were bombarded by cab drivers who were offering different prices to take us to our hotel in Giza. I don’t speak Arabic, but my husband does. He was really tense, so it made me tense. Once we found a driver, I was terrified by the way people drive. It was nuts! I couldn’t believe the speed, the lane switching, the beeping, and the close calls with pedestrians. I was probably overly tired at the time since I had had a long day. It was past 3am when we arrived in Cairo. We had driven 5 hours early that morning to get to the airport in Tunis, we had flown to Italy where we had taken a train from the airport to the city center and had walked around Rome looking for the colosseum and visting Trevi fountain, then back to the airport to fly to Cairo. The worst part was, when we got to the hotel and they didn’t have our reservations listed! We got a room anyway and got it all sorted out.

After a good night of sleep, I was much calmer and was able to enjoy the sights. We went to Khan El Khalili bazaar and shopped around. We visited the coffee shops, smoked shisha, got a little henna done, and had dinner. It was fascinating in the bazaar. There was so much to take in. We had to be careful crossing roads because of the crazy traffic, but it made everything an adventure.

The people were really friendly. We were hustled, but we knew we were being hustled. Most people were very helpful. The second to the last day we had a Nile Dinner Cruise and it was fantastically romantic. The river was so deep, dark, and mysterious. The food was good and the on-board entertainment was fabulous. There were at least three different dance shows during the cruise. We were picked up and dropped off in a very nice car. The only problem was that I was very, very sick the next day. My husband was fine and we had the same food, so I am not sure what happened. Maybe it was the mango drink I had…Anyway, I would go back. I want to visit the Cairo museum, go up in the tower, and go inside of the pyramids.

Maybe next time…