26 Apr 2019
We scheduled a half-day tour of the Giza Pyramids and the Sphinx. Manar and her driver picked us up from our hotel early. We had to contact her and delay by 15 minutes due to a delay getting breakfast. Manar was easy to get in touch with and had no trouble with the delay. Manar’s personality was refreshing and her presentation was well-planned. We learned much about the history of these amazing sites even on the drive to the Giza pyramids and Sphinx. Following the pyramids, we enjoyed our visit to the papyrus museum. While we soon learned that this is a stop that we would be offered repeatedly, we learned things that were useful when we were lured into a small shop of papyrus paintings near our hotel and the merchants tried to shame us into purchasing paintings on papyrus that they had written our names on without our consent. From our time in the museum, we knew that those names could be easily erased from true papyrus, so if they were legit, they were not out any money. At our daughter’s suggestion of eating Koshari for lunch, Manar took us to lunch at a small restaurant called Zizo where the Koshari dish was authentic and flavorful. We felt that this tour was worth the money spent, and especially that all the tickets, camel ride, and lunch were included in the price of our tour. The only added expenses were tips. Many of our other tours had a lot of added costs when all was said and done. My husband and I are a bit older and felt the half-day tour was just right for us.