Easter in Egypt

With two weeks of school vacation, we departed on April 12 for another Lang-Newkirk-Dzikowski-Potts adventure: to Egypt! With our five boys intensely focused on their various devices and little else, we took a four-hour flight from Zurich to Hurghada and a van ride to El Gouna, a resort town on the Red Sea.

El Gouna is is built on islands and known for its lagoons. It’s beloved by kite surfers, who appear off the coast the moment the wind picks up, and divers, who come for the well-preserved coral reef.

The Red Sea seems like the Caribbean for the Swiss and Germans. We stayed at the Swiss Movenpick Resort, our first (and likely last) “all inclusive” experience. There’s something about an all-you-can eat buffet that does not sit well in these Covid times and the business model seems to involve providing mass quantities of low-quality food – in this case with a Swiss twist. We love good food, so we ended up taking tuk tuks into town each night to improve our chances.

Dinner with seven boys remain an adventure in itself and I am forever grateful for Whitney’s gracious company.

At restaurants in town we were visited by cats, revered in Egypt (or so we understand). They mostly seemed interested in Bart and Whitney’s eldest son Ben. We ventured into shops and haggled for souvenirs, coming away with Egyptian footballer Mohamed Salah jerseys for at least two boys.

We eventually found our groove at the El Gouna restaurant Zia Amelia, where we were delighted to meet the Italian owner Barbara.

During our days at the resort we immersed ourselves in Egyptian culture: paddle boarding, soccer, tennis, squash, running and volleyball. One of us lay on the beach reading Velvet Was the Night (shout out to my new book club!), Normal People, and The Vanishing Half and enjoying all of them.

We had a wonderful boat trip out to the reef. Xander and Bart tried diving and the rest of us snorkeled. The water was cold, but we saw grouper, sergeant majors, angel or butterfly fish and unidentifiable, iridescent beauties. Without my brother-in-law Steve, I am at a loss to identify many fish.

We were lucky enough to be visited by a pod of dolphins, who seemed as interested in us as we were in them (video below!). We were obviously thrilled.

With boys enjoying strange looking room-service pizzas and a movie, one adult date night occurred. We enjoyed the El Sayyadin Restaurant’s good fish and identified a nice Egyptian white wine, described to us somewhat oddly by its alcohol content (12 percent!).

After a few days on the beach, it was time for further exploration. To Cairo!!

After wrestling our teenagers awake at 3:30 am on Easter Sunday, we took a 6 am flight from Hurghada to Cairo. We arrived before anything opened and toured the city by van, learning a lot from our guide along the way. There are nearly 22 million people in the greater Cairo area and it did not seem like an easy life. We drove by the City of the Dead, a vast cemetery where a good portion of Cairo’s 600,000 homeless people are sheltering, and onto the Qalawun Mosque.

After the Mosque, we drove along the Nile and to the The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities. This place was chock full: an 11 kg gold mask of King Tut that we were not allowed to photograph, grand scale statues of pharaohs and gods, mummies of nearly everything (several people, cats, fish, alligators etc.), tombs, thrones and hieroglyphic scrolls were among the highlights.

We then visited the Papyrus Institute where we learned how papyrus was made, heard some important Egyptian myths and, of course, haggled for art. Xander and Matt picked out a depiction of an ancient Egyptian love story for us to take home.

Then on to the Great Pyramids of Giza! We had always pictured the Pyramids in the middle of the desert and that was probably the case historically. As Cairo has expanded, Giza has become part of greater Cairo. It was a hot day at the Pyramids, with a blustery dessert wind blowing dust into our faces pretty constantly. Because we think in these terms, we felt like we were on Tatooine. The Pyramids are incredible, in the vast size and scale, and it is amazing to contemplate their construction in the 26th century BC. These were the tallest structures in the world for almost 4,000 years.

From the Pyramids, we ventured further into the desert where a group of camels hung out and rides were sold. Cats may like Ben, but camels, which are not particularly nice creatures, apparently like me. Xander’s camel, which was supposed to stay behind mine, kept coming up and nudging me or rubbing against my leg. I had mixed feelings about this.

Then to our last desert stop, the Great Sphinx of Giza. This limestone statue of a reclining sphinx, a mythical creature with the head of a human and the body of a lion, is quite beautiful. And also partially under reconstruction.

We were relieved to get away from the desert wind and the aggressive souvenir hawkers to a late, air conditioned lunch. And then to our last Cairo stop, a perfume factory. We smelled many smells and drank mint tea. We picked up a perfume for Whitney, cologne for Xander and Sandelwood oil for me, which will apparently make my elbows look years younger.

We were relieved to return to the tranquility and fresh air of the Red Sea. The resort gardens and quiet beaches seemed Eden-like after hot, dusty Cairo.

This trip, especially Cairo, was rougher in some respects than many of our travels but we will think about it and talk about it forever.