Delta Pyramids Hotel

Closer to Pyramids

by viddra about Delta Pyramids

This is a 4 - star hotel with rooms over looking the pyramids.

All rooms have A/C, mini fridge, satellite TV and a telephone.

There's a panorama restaurant on the top floor from where you can see the pyramids as well.

There's also a swimming pool on the top floor, a restaurant on the ground floor, where you can have your meals, shops...

Giza

by Kuznetsov_Sergey

Giza is a suburb of Cairo. It is located on the distance of 12 kilometers from the center. To get Giza it is necessary to cross the Nile across one of bridges and appear on the left bank.

The well-known Pyramids have made Giza world renowned. Though I did not know that Giza is the big city enough. We lived in the hotel located in Giza. I could observe Pyramids from my window. It is impossible to come to Egypt and not to have a look at the Pyramids of Giza and the Great Sphinx!

One of the Seven World Miracles involves millions tourists among whom I have appeared in August 2007.
Second photo: Khufu Pyramid.
Third photo: Khafre Pyramid.
Forth photo: Great Sphinx.
Fifth photo: Laser Show.

You may read my Giza VT-page and watch my Pyramids of Giza SLIDE-Show from my WebShot Page.

You may watch my VIDEO-Clips from my personal YouTube channel:
1 min 20 sec Egypt Giza Arrival by train 2007
4 min 25 sec Egypt Giza Arrival by Bus 2007
2 min 42 sec Egypt Giza Delta Pyramids Hotel 2007
5 min 43 sec Egypt Giza Traveling around Plateau by bus 2007
3 min 00 sec Egypt Giza Pyramids 2007
2 min 07 sec Egypt Giza Sphinx 2007
0 min 29 sec Egypt Giza Sphinx Sun 2 Restaurant 2007
2 min 08 sec Egypt Giza Papyrus Shop 2007
4 min 06 sec Egypt Giza Light and Sound Show 2007
1 min 25 sec Egypt Giza Wedding 2007

Cairo and the Pyramids

by cyprusnic

"Arriving in a city of chaos"

This was my latest trip I did and a particular interesting one. My expectations of Cairo (القاهرة) were exceptionally high and different from what the city turned out to be. Due to the time limit we had there, our travel was mostly limited to the main-attractions which normally I try to avoid mostly.

We arrived at Cairo International Airport and had a rental car arranged to be instantly independent. The car rental agent looked terribly overloaded with doing his thing and we ended up almost getting a fine from the police as we blocked the drop-off area for approximately 30 minutes until the guy managed to get the paperwork sorted out. Off we went to find out Hotel in the middle of the night on the other side of town in Gizah. Directions or maps are, let me tell you, totally useless as there are no street signs, traffic lights (which work) or signs which actually tell you something useful. We ended up driving for 1 1/2 hours via, I have no idea where, ended up in the center and managed with stopping and asking 20 times to find the boulevard towards Gizah. The traffic is by far the most chaotic I've ever seen. Cars without lights, a 3-lane road where there are 6 cars next to each other...it's amazing.

The most stunning experience was however, driving on that busy boulevard and suddenly seeing the Pyramids coming out of the haze. They are as you expect them to be. Just amazing! They are big; and I mean really big. And they are just about 1/2 mile next to this busy city.

Soon after, we arrived at out booked hotel, the Delta Pyramids Hotel. All my excitement was gone instantly after seeing the bell-boy and his torn clothes, the dirty lobby and the really, really strange smell in that Hotel. This is something I've learned (many people told me but I didn't want to listen). In a country like Egypt, don't try to be Mr. Smarty-pants to save money. You will regret it. I don't even want to go into details but the bottom line is that we checked out 30 minutes after we arrived and moved to the Le Meridien Pyramids which was terribly expensive but offered at least sheets without brown stains on them which at 3 am was sooo worth it.

Sitting down on my bed, I realized something. Egypt might be a Top-Holiday destination but it's a poor country. I still have that bellboy in my mind. He was really friendly but there I had the first glimps of what live in Cairo is like. I fell asleep on my clean sheets with a lot of plans for the next day.

"The Pyramids"

After a good night rest and a nice breakfast, we decided to walk from the Hotel to the Great Pyramids. This was, as it turned out, a big mistake. One thing I already noticed after 30 minutes outside of the Hotel is that as a non-Egyptian, you are a walking wallet. We walked down that endless road and ended up at the entrance to the Pyramids. As soon as we stepped foot in this tourist area we had a guy on our neck to arrange everything for a really cheap price and so on. And the thing is, they won’t go away. You can be nice, you can be rude. They don't give a crap. So after following us for about 10 minutes, a rich looking family turned up and he was gone. This repeated itself in the entire Holiday and ended up being the reason for not wanting to go anywhere anymore again.

We arrived at the ticket counter and found out that (as I already thought) that we did not get there on time to get one of the 100 tickets to the Great Pyramid. One nice lady explained that it virtually impossible to get these tickets. You have people waiting there already for hours before it opens to buy all the tickets for tour operators so unless you like to get up when it's still dark outside, you wont get one. But as it turned out, the 'smaller' Pyramid showed basically everything but more to that later. So we started out battle to the Pyramids. Getting rid of all these Camel/Tour-guide/Taxi people, we managed to get to the Pyramids. The walk from the entrance to the first Pyramid alone takes about 5 minutes. The problem is that this humidity, which is constantly in the air, makes it impossible to walk. We were soaking wet. I am used to temperatures above 40 degrees C for weeks on end but this was really bad. But I say it again. The Pyramids are fascinating. They are so enormous and stunning... I can't find words to describe them so it is really worth the hassle. We managed to get to the smaller Pyramid for which we had a ticket. People came out with a red head, wet t-shirts and a really annoyed look on their faces, which made us a little worried. Anyway, we went inside. This is something which should really not be done if you are a: claustrophobic b: not in good shape c: clever. You have to walk approx. 300 feet down a tiny tunnel (about 3x3 ft) with such humidity that my entire clothes were soaked by the time we reached the bottom. And then comes what we've been waiting for... an empty chamber without anything inside it. Yes, that was as you might realize a little disappointing. And the best part is that you have to squish yourself through that tiny tunnel again to reach the exit. Yeah!

After being outside again, we went down the other side of the hill towards the Sphinx. This is as well a monument not to be missed however, it is a little smaller than one might expect. We had a drink in the cafe next to it. The prices there push Europe in the shadow but we were thirsty and hot; and they knew that. So I was very willing to pay a little more to feel like alive again and enjoyed to view to these majestic monuments.

On the way back we decided to avoid the Camels (my partner almost got run over by one) and walk through the city.

Gizah is very dirty and the people seem to be very poor. Side roads are not paved, cars are generally aged 20 yrs or more and the buildings lack of any sort of beauty. So we walked back to the hotel. Hot, sweaty, and looking forward to shower and spend this afternoon in the Hotel on the pool.

Overall, it was a nice experience and I would recommend everybody who goes to Cairo not to miss this.

"Cairo and more"

In the evening on the first day, we wanted to enjoy a nice dinner and as I am a fan of Hard Rock Cafe, we decided to drive to downtown Cairo and enjoy a nice meal. After 45 minutes of driving and a 5-year shorter life, we arrived at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. This hotel is luxury, as you haven't seen it before. One thing I learned about Arabs is that they do know how to spend and show it. It is situated on the Nile and has a rotating restaurant on the top from which I am sure you have a beautiful view over this great city. However, as we were here for the HRC we didn't get to see that. The HRC is situated on the ground floor of the Grand Hyatt and has a very nice view over the Nile and the Cairo Tower. We had a really good time there and once again, avoided food poisoning.

The next morning we decided to see the center of the city as our trip latest only 3 days. One very bad thing about Cairo is that besides the terrifying traffic it is nearly impossible to find parking. We ended up parking always at Hotels as it is much easier and you are sure you don't have a donkey parked in front of your car when you come back. We went to the Egyptian Museum. This museum could be much nicer than it is, as it seems run without much care. It is filled with people, no A/C or significant windows and therefore already tiring to walk. You definitely need a guide for this museum as there are almost no labels on the items and therefore it turned out to be rather boring. We ended up looking at things we had no idea what they were so we didn't spend as much time there as it probably deserves. The mummy room is an extra EGP 100 which I find a little steep but this was one of the couple of things which I saw tags and explanations.

We went from the Museum straight towards the Cairo Tower in the middle of Cairo (Gezira). This area is by far the most beautiful in Cairo. The streets are clean, the Housed are kept neat and it's such a green part of town; you almost forget you are on the edge of the Dessert. The Cairo Tower is surrounded with a nice park and the views are exceptional. We had lunch there and once the mist cleared a little we managed to get a view of the Pyramids again. I really enjoyed the time there are we walked through the streets and just basically sucked up all the beauty in this oasis.

In the late afternoon, we went to the City Stars Mall in Nouzha as we thought 'hey, Egypt is cheap so let's go shopping'. This might apply to the bazaar but definitely not to this western style mega mall. You can find everything there but for higher prices than probably in Europe.

The evening ended for us back in the Hotel where we had tried the Mexican Restaurant which had nice food and was, very important for me after too much walking' close to my bed.

The last day in Cairo, we went to expose the Bent and Red Pyramid about 30 minutes south of Cairo. These two Pyramids are actually more ‘Egyptian’ than the ones in Gizah and by far less crowded. Driving along a dirty road through Palm Tree forest, we ended up at Dashur village, which had the flair of a refugee village in Congo. So I don't have to point out that we didn't spend more time there than it took us to drive through it. The Red and Bent Pyramid are a little more in the dessert and therefore also a little more special to me. We just sat outside there fore a while and inhaled the open space and the view. The inside of the Red Pyramid (Yes, we did it again!) is more interesting as it consists of 2 chambers and it's far less humid and hot inside which makes the entire experience much more refreshing. However, my excitement was ruined again by two camel-riding police officers which seemed very friendly (I should have known) just to get tips out of us afterwards for watching our rental car (in the middle of the dessert!).

We went to the Airport after that, disappointed and tired. I respect Egypt deeply for it's achievements but I also saw that I am not ready to explore a country with still so many problems just now.