Rarely, however, does one think about fresh markets and a taste of local Egyptian culture. It’s there in Hurghada, if only you look hard enough.

You won’t find that local culture on Sheraton Street, an area which many people refer to as a souk when in fact it’s actually a street lined with souvenir shops and touts. Actually, we advise you skip this street altogether.

But if you do wish to catch a little slice of local life to go with your flashy new sunburn (er, tan), ask around for the local vegetable market. And when you arrive at the market, be sure make your way deep into the back sections where tourists rarely venture.

There you’ll find ordinary Egyptians making their way, shopping, playing with their kids and going about their daily lives. And you’ll be rewarded with human interaction and scenes like this.

Panorama: Fresh Market in Hurghada, Egypt

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Disclosure: Our trip to Egypt and the UNWTO conference is being provided by Egyptian Tourism Authority. As always, the opinions expressed here are entirely our own.

Originally posted on the Uncornered Market travel blog. Find beautiful travel photos from around the world. | 11 comments

That’s what you’ll find in the Valley of the Whales (Wadi El-Hitan) in Fayoum, Egypt. More accurately, you’ll find the over 35 million year-old fossilized remains of whales with short legs, appendages marking their evolution from land mammals to sea mammals.

It’s hard to imagine today, but the entire area you see in the panorama below was submerged, covered by the Tethys sea.

Makes you realize that our own human history is only a spec in the vastness of existence.

Panorama: Wadi El-Hitan (Valley of the Whales) – Fayoum, Egypt

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Disclosure: Our trip to Egypt and the UNWTO conference is being provided by Egyptian Tourism Authority. As always, the opinions expressed here are entirely our own.

Originally posted on the Uncornered Market travel blog. Find beautiful travel photos from around the world. | 10 comments

I do. I recall images of Cleopatra, mummies, hieroglyphics, and women with black bobbed hair and men dressed in kilts, all strutting. I remember pyramids that seemed too big to be real, as if aliens must have been the ones to deposit them in the middle of the desert.

And I remember an episode of Asterix and Obelix, a favorite childhood comic book of mine, where Obelix climbs onto the Sphinx, hangs on the nose and breaks it off. In response, all the vendors chip the noses off their ceramic Sphinx replicas to be sure they’d match.

Then I had the chance to see it all – the pyramids and the Sphinx after the nose job — in real life.

Saqqara, The Original Pyramid

Our guide, Maha, told us: “If you want to understand the pyramids, it’s best to begin with the original one: Saqqara.”

Dating back to 2,600 BC, Saqqara was the first pyramid built of its kind and the one from which all the other pyramids followed suit. However, Saqqara was built with steps, which later pyramid architects decided to exclude.

At the time of our visit to Saqqara in late December 2011, we virtually had the place to ourselves.

The Red Pyramid: Going Inside

Outside the neighboring village of Dahshur, not only did we also have the Red Pyramid to ourselves, but we could also actually go inside it.

Now this was cool. As in, “Wow, I feel like Indiana Jones” cool.

From an entry portal about two-thirds up the pyramid we began our descent — crouched down in a sort of crab walk, taking deep squat strides a couple hundred feet into the depths of the pyramid. I tried to imagine what it must have been like for ancient tomb raiders who didn’t have the benefit of wooden steps, handrails and head lamps.

The deeper we went, the heavier and more acrid the air became, as if it were spiked with ammonia gas. Maybe it was something natural from within the confines of those rocks, or maybe a few interlopers decided to leave their mark. Beyond the odor, the first room featured high stepped ceilings. This was the fake burial chamber to confuse thieves. We climbed another set of stairs to arrive at the real burial chamber, one that like so many others had been looted long ago.

Pyramids were no longer just a bunch of enormous blocks mysteriously stacked in mesmerizing geometric mounds. They were, in fact, hollow structures built to keep safe all that the pharaohs needed for their time in heaven.

We couldn’t walk normally for days after plumbing the depths of the Red Pyramid, but we highly recommend it, so long as you are not claustrophobic.

Giza Pyramids

When just about anyone imagines Egyptian pyramids, the image of the Great Pyramids of Giza is the one that usually comes to mind. What surprised me was how close those pyramids were to the modern day city of Cairo.

The first pyramid you see upon arriving at the complex — the Great Pyramid of Khufu – is the biggest and most famous. It also happens to be the place where many of the touts — of the camel riding and cheap souvenir variety – hang out. Like the scene out of Asterix and Obelix, I imagined each of them chiseling off the noses of their Sphinx replicas.

If you grin and bear it beyond the first two pyramids and up the hill, you’ll be rewarded with an iconic overlook and another much better opportunity to ride a camel (about $10 for 15 minutes).

The Great Sphinx

If our experience was any measure, late afternoon makes for a phenomenal time to visit the Great Sphinx. We were spoiled with soft light and a sky filled with feathery clouds. In this big sky context, the Sphinx seemed smaller than I expected, almost dwarfed by the size of the pyramids. But as I spent more time with it I became rather mesmerized by the magnificence and oddness of this ancient figure standing guard.

One thing we didn’t realize is that the viewing area stops the flow of visitors into the Sphinx interior complex around 4:00 P.M., while they promptly kick everyone out at 4:30. So if you’d like to have more time to try and master your perspective photo trickery pose of kissing the Sphinx’s nose, be sure to arrive a bit earlier.

Egyptian Museum

Although it’s not a pyramid, the Egyptian Museum is still worth a visit, at the very least to absorb the contents of Tutankhamen’s tomb. The stash is vast and impressive, complete with the Tutankhamen gold funeral mask that we all know so well.

But what really makes this exhibit amazing is to think that all this was the burial stash of a relatively insignificant, small-fry king who died when he was only 19. I tried to picture what burial tombs must have been like for powerful kings who lived fuller, longer lives. This just about tapped our imaginations.

Egyptian pyramids. I completed a circle, a trip traced from childhood books and fantasy to a visit in today’s reality. And yes, it was cool.

And although I feel like I understand all these icons so much better with a firsthand visit as an adult, the song “Walk Like an Egyptian” echoes in my head, and every time I consider the Sphinx, I think about what Obelix did to its nose.

—–

Slideshow of Egyptian Pyramids Near Cairo

If you don’t have a high-speed connection or want to read the captions, you can view the Egyptian pyramids photo slideshow.

What places did you study or read about as a kid that you were able to visit later on? Were they what you expected?

Disclosure: We were in Egypt in December 2011 to speak at the 4th Annual IOETI Conference in Cairo. Our trip and three-day tour were paid for by the conference organizers. As always, all opinions here are entirely our own.

Originally posted on the Uncornered Market travel blog. Find beautiful travel photos from around the world. | 25 comments

Sit on the carpet in middle for as long as you need. Look up, look around and enjoy the peacefulness of the place.

Panorama: Muhammad Ali Mosque at Saladin Citadel in Cairo, Egypt

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Originally posted on the Uncornered Market travel blog. Find beautiful travel photos from around the world. | 11 comments

We will also present at the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Travel and Media conference. There, we will tie a real-time case study of this Egypt experience together with some of our prior travel experience to demonstrate the value to destinations of digital storytelling and engaging travel bloggers during challenging news cycles.

During our last visit to Egypt in December 2011, outside of another conference where we presented, our focus was Alexandria, Cairo and the pyramids nearby.

For this, our return trip, we’ll head in the direction of the Red Sea to experience something a little different. Here’s just a sample:

• A hike through Wadi Al-Hitan (Valley of the Whales), a UNESCO site outside of Cairo, where we’ll be able to see ancient shark and whale fossils amidst the modern-day desert. Sites like these indicate the sweeping geological changes our world has gone through over time. Climate change has a long history, regardless of the cause.
• Adventure sporting at the Red Sea city of Hurghada. In addition to kite surfing and parasailing, we hope to get a little down and dirty with a quad bike safari. To allow our adrenaline to settle, some much-needed spa time – yes, that incudes Dan, too — will follow.
• A visit to Marsa Alam, a town that sits on the edge of the Arabian Desert and the Red Sea. We’ll enjoy a Red Sea diving outing just before the conference portion of our trip begins.

We will also enjoy these adventures with our colleague and friend, Erica Hargreave of Roamancing and Ahimsa Media. During our last visit to Cairo, we rode camels together, struggled equally to make Egyptian flatbread, and helped fend off Erica’s Egyptian admirers. Like us, Erica embraces the unexpected and is up for spontaneity along the way.

Erica and Audrey at Saqqara Pyramid near Cairo. Love the red boots!

Finally, we look forward to sharing all of this with you in real time on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and this blog.

UNTWO Travel and Media Conference: A Real-Time Digital Storytelling Case Study

In case you are wondering how we’re going to tie our Egyptian adventures into a UNWTO conference presentation, there is a method to the madness.

The most relevant background: an article we published earlier this year which encapsulates our thoughts regarding the perception of travel safety in some select current event flashpoints that we have visited in the last year. The piece is entitled How Travel Beats the Media Fear Machine.

Within the last 14 months, we have visited Iran and have also cooperated with tourism boards in Jordan, Greece, Mexico, and now Egypt. At times, each has faced tourism industry challenges due to travel safety and security concerns related to current events and the resulting media coverage and prevailing public perception that followed.

So when we heard that this year’s UNWTO’s 2nd Travel and Media Conference would focus on the theme of “Partnering with Media during Challenging Times” it struck us as a great fit for the way we view the world, travel through it, engage with it, and report on our experiences in it.

Together with Erica, we will share all of this in a discussion entitled “Real Time Digital Storytelling for Destinations During Challenging News Cycles” on the first day of the UNWTO Travel and Media conference (April 26, 2012).

Get involved!

We also hope you will engage in this digital Egyptian adventure to help demonstrate the power digital storytelling and delivering messages based on personal experience.

If you are curious about Egypt, or you have memories and content from a previous trip to Egypt that you’d like to share or highlight, we invite you to:

• Follow the hashtag #WeVisitEgypt on your social media networks. We will continually update Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram (@uncornered_market) throughout the journey. Please retweet or share what you find engaging and fun.
• Ask us questions and interact with us through our social media networks. You can find us on @UMarket and you can find Erica at @Roamancing.
• If you’ve been to Egypt, or you’re there now, please share your own photos, video and blog posts from Egypt using the #WeVisitEgypt hashtag. Not only will we do our best to retweet and highlight your content, but the Egyptian Tourism Authority (ETA) may also do the same.

However you decide to take part, we thank you for being part of our #WeVisitEgypt adventure!

Welcome aboard!

—

Disclosure: Our trip to Egypt and the UNWTO conference is being provided by Egyptian Tourism Authority. As always, the opinions expressed here are entirely our own.

Originally posted on the Uncornered Market travel blog. Find beautiful travel photos from around the world. | 27 comments

No tourists, no vendors, no camel drivers trying to pull us onto their decorated beasts for a photo op. It was delightfully quiet, almost eerily so. Only our small group. For visitors like us, it was one of the benefits of visiting last month when tourist numbers in Egypt had dropped off almost 85% from year before.

In silence and open space, we were able to take it in and appreciate all that the Red Pyramid had to offer inside — worth the crab-walk all the way down a steep stairwell — and out.

Open the panorama below to see for yourself.

(If you look closely, you’ll see the “bent” pyramid in the distance. Someone didn’t do too well in geometry class 4,000 years ago.)

Panorama: Red Pyramid of Dahshur, Egypt

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Originally posted on the Uncornered Market travel blog. Find beautiful travel photos from around the world. | 6 comments

And rather than heading down the main street, I found the loneliest alleyway to take me in a different direction. I ended up in a vein of street markets that wasn’t so lonely after all.

A lot of chatter, even more movement. Catching a moment for this shot where time seemed to slow down and space seemed to open, I found an intersection of overflowing vegetable stands, vendors barking out the latest prices, buyers working for the best deals. I was given bread and fruit, dragged into bakeries to learn the pita making process. Market-goers almost lined up to pose for photos. They were excited to have visitors and even more surprising, they were excited to learn that I was American.

I couldn’t have planned a more perfect travel hour. My only wish was that I had more time.

Panorama: Bustling Street Market in Old Alexandria

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Originally posted on the Uncornered Market travel blog. Find beautiful travel photos from around the world. | 14 comments

One of the highlights of Coptic Cairo: The Hanging Church, suspended above firm ground on palm tree trunks connecting two ancient Roman fortress towers. Although the church has been renovated and rebuilt throughout the centuries to its current form, the original structure dates all the way back to the 3rd century.

Open the 360-degree panorama below and try to imagine the light from prayer candles and the scent of aging wood. Be sure to look up at the roof — in the shape of an inverted Noah’s Ark, spilling over to walls covered with more than 100 original icons whose ages span more than 1,000 years from the 8th to 18th centuries.

An old place. A beautiful place.

Panorama: Inside the Hanging Church in Coptic Cairo

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Originally posted on the Uncornered Market travel blog. Find beautiful travel photos from around the world. | 7 comments

You guys are the Perception Busters.

– A comment on our Facebook page in response to our arrival in Cairo earlier this week. And a label we’re happy to embrace.

Egyptian man on the streets of Alexandria, Egypt.

If you’ve been following us on Facebook or Twitter recently, you’re probably aware that we’ve been in Egypt this past week.

Egypt? But isn’t it unsafe now?

When we shared with our friends and readers that we were headed to Egypt, we could understand their fear. After all, recent news has been full to overflowing with images — protesters and demonstrations, violence and crackdowns — pouring in from Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Based on that newsreel alone, you might be inclined to think that all of Cairo — and perhaps the whole of Egypt — is under attack and up in flames.

We’d like to offer an alternative story, straight from our experience on the streets, straight from the people we met during our first days in Egypt. We offer this not to refute the violence that has ensued on Tahrir Square, but to suggest that it’s not the only thing happening in Egypt right now, that life carries on for many in rather ordinary ways, and that visitors like us are genuinely welcomed with curiosity and warmth.

So while some people imagine we might be dodging bullets, we’re actually dodging people approaching us and giving us rounds of freshly-made bread on the street.

The Egyptians we met weren’t only warm, they were downright kind. They also wanted to ensure we were safe. “Egypt is safe for you. Just stay away from Tahrir Square,” some would say in response to our visit. But they’d finish with “Welcome to Egypt. Have a nice time.” And these weren’t people anywhere near the tourist sites, but people we happened to meet in the old town of Alexandria.

Here are just a few of their faces.

An Egyptian man takes a hookah (water pipe) break at an Alexandria cafe.

Vegetable vendor with smiling eyes on the streets near Alexandria’s catacombs.

Egyptian boy on a family flat bread run.

Friendly banter with this Egyptian man in old Alexandria.

Originally posted on the Uncornered Market travel blog. Find beautiful travel photos from around the world. | 17 comments