We left Hurghada at 3:30am in order to get back to Cairo early enough to visit the museum before we caught the train to Alexandria.

Firstly though, we visited Old Cairo, where the Hanging Church was located. There were hundreds of mosques and minarets nearby, but this was a Christian church. As Samar said, in Egypt, Christians and Moslems live side by side in apartment blocks, they are not in segregated areas, and both religious groups are free to visit all places of worship.

After that we walked through Khalil Market. Like many places, there are multiple stores selling similar items. We were more interested in the old shopfronts and the beautifully decorated buildings.

Our third stop was the original Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square. It was fantastic, very old and dusty, but filled with so many treasures and artefacts from the various Pharoahs. There were hundreds of people wandering about, so once again photos without unknown tourists‘ legs or arms were hard to come by!

We viewed the mask of Tutankhamen and it was magnificent, but no photos were allowed as we shuffled past. I really loved the small statues and the hall of everyday items which showed games, utensils, spindles and even throwing sticks which resembled the non-returning boomerangs. The Australian Embassy had actually sponsored the upgrades to that room by the way!

The tour was finished, but our guide Samar helped us locate train tickets at Ramses Station, it’s so easy when you know where you’re going!

PS to see the whole photo, tap on it, while I’m putting the post together, only part of the picture shows up! 😁