Catharsis666

We had the trip of a lifetime in Egypt! After a very long and exhausting flight we were warmly welcomed by our tour organizer Mohammed ElHindy at Cairo airport. The driver and him brought us to our hotel which had a amazing view of the pyramids from our balcony (was not expecting this!). Mohammed had us sit down and relax while he took care of everything for us including the registering at the hotel and our luggage brought to the room. He gave us a cell phone by which we could contact him at any time or use for ourselves if needed. This is a fantastic idea and a very reassuring that we have someone to contact at any time. After a good's night sleep we started our first day visiting the Egyptian museum. What a place! I think we could easily have spent 2 whole days just at the museum, there's just so much to see! We had an egyptologist guide with us the entire day which was basically a living encyclopedia of information, he was so interesting we could have listened to him for hours telling us all about the egyptian history and stories about the artiffacts and the pharaos. After the museum he brought us to a nice buffet restaurant to grab a bite before we started towards the pyramids. The pyramids are absolutely magnificent. It gave me shivers just to be there before them as this has been a dream for me forever. Mohammed had secured tickets for us to go inside the great pyramid. I LOVED the experience of going inside to the upper chamber but this is NOT recommended for claustrophobics! It After the pyramids we visited the sphinx, which I'm sorry to say had no riddles for us! Afterwards our egyptologist guide surprised us by bringing us to a shop where they make essential essences, it smelled so wonderful we couldnt help buying souvenirs :) He then also brought us to a shop where they make papyrus and we got a chance to see how they make it which was also really interesting. The following day, as with every morning, Mohammed greeted us as the hotel lobby after our breakfast. This time we left with him and our driver to go to the Bahariya oasis. We were shown to our room in the lodge and went to visit the town/desert and surrounding areas afterwards. The oasis is so beautiful with all its plam trees everywhere and the lodge had a beautiful garden. Mohammed brought us camel riding in the desert which was quite an experience! We had a lot of fun, lots of laughs, and learned that camels are very stubborn! Our driver allowed us into his house, where we met a group that had just come back from camping in the white desert, so we got a chance to mingle with them as we shared a great meal in a local's house. This was a very special moment in our trip and we got along really well with the other group. The next 2 days we spent with Mohammed and our new driver in the black desert and white desert. We visited rock formations, crystal mountain, sleeping volcano, ect. The scenery is just breathtaking. Our driver and Mohammed took care of setting up camp for us, including tents, fire, eating area etc. They told us to go off an have fun while they took care of everything. We had a delicious meal that included chicken barbecued on the fire...probably the best chicken we ever tasted! The driver turned out to be the most excellent cook :) He was such a nice warmhearted man, we really enjoyed our time with him in the desert. Our last day at the oasis Mohammed brought us to a typical Bedouin hut where we had a bedouin band play for us some traditional music. They were very good musicians, the show was amazing. We ate and danced in the hut and had a really memorable time. On our last day in Cairo, we met up with our Egyptologist who brought us to islamic cairo to visit the Citadel, the many mosques and the bazaar. We had another wonderful day with this man, he is incredibly knowledgeable and interesting. He made us taste sugar cane juice in the bazaar and brought us inside a spice shop which smelled so good. At night we enjoyed a cruise on the Nile. Unfortunately Mohammed could not pick us up that evening but he called us beforehand to let us know that a colleague would bring us to the cruiseship. His colleague was waiting for us on time with a smile when we came down, he was very friendly and sociable and took us to our destination. The dinner cruise had great food, great music and a really great dance show including bellydancing and twiriling dervish. This was the perfect ending to the perfect vacation. Mohammed was waiting for us at the boat's exit when we got out and brought us back to the hotel. Despite how late it was when we got back, and how early we had to get up for the airport the next morning, Mohammed was still there to greet us and take care of everything for us including checking out. We were treated SO wonderfully with the entire Memphis tours team. We were really impressed with how organized everything was and how we didn't have to do anything at all, everything was always done for us. We could just relax and enjour the trip. The guides and drivers were always on time, the food we ate was always delicious, our rooms were clean. Everything was 100% taken care of and they would always make sure we were happy and ask if we needed anyting. Since we came back, of course everyone is asking about our trip, and we've been repeating to everyone who may be interesting in visiting to definately go with Memphis tours. I dont' think I could recommend anyone better. If we do visit again, which we'd love, we will for certain go with Memphis tours again. A big "thank you" to you all for making this trip so amazing for us. We have souvenirs that will last a lifetime :)