Day 16: Cairo, Egypt

Sheraton Cairo Hotel & Casino

7 January 2026

Although today seemed like it would just be a duplicate of our experiences in our first few days in Cairo, we ended up having a great time.

Our bus left at 8.30am for the Grand Egyptian Museum. Once we arrived, the tour guide was happy for us to leave the group, as we'd been there before, and to meet up with them all again at 12.45pm to leave.

As soon as we arrived, we sprinted off to the Tutankhamun Exhibition. There were very few people about and so we got to actually stand in front of the famous mask and gaze at it for a while. They have it roped off and behind a glass case, and you have to stand in line to get to see it. We only saw it from a distance last time, as the queue was pretty long, so we were very pleased to have the chance to look at it properly this time.

It was quite remarkable to think we were gazing at one of the most famous ancient artefacts of all time - and one of the most recognisable - made of 10kg of solid gold and precious jewels.

We had the chance then to wander through the rest of the museum and look at the things we missed last time. There is far too much to see in one (or even two) days so you could quite happily come back many times. 

We spent quite a bit of time in the Solar Boat Gallery - looking at the 140 foot wooden boat they dug up from a pit beside the pyramids and reassembled. Sometimes the photos of how an object was discovered and the restoration process are as interesting as the object itself.

We had lunch at a cafe in the Museum before meeting up with the rest of our tour and getting back on the bus for a visit to the Pyramids.

Again, they were just as impressive as the first time, but the sky was quite hazy, so the photos from our first visit were better. The site was much busier, as we came later in the day, and we didn't have as much time at each spot as on our own tour. We had about 40 minutes at the Great Pyramid (which wouldn't have been enough to visit the burial chamber) and then a 20 minute guided tour of the valley complex and the Sphinx and another 40 minutes on our own. We were really glad we'd visited them all ourselves previously, but it was great to have a last look.

By this time, we were all a bit weary and ready to return to the hotel. On the way back, the guide informed us that we have to be up and packed by 5.15am tomorrow, to catch a flight to Luxor and our river boat. That's going to be an early morning start!

We had an unimpressive dinner at a cafe/restaurant called Botanica on the 25th floor. I ordered a cocktail called 'Bird in a Cage' and the drink came out in a fancy glass in an actual bird cage. Apparently it is the restaurant's signature cocktail and I was prepared to be impressed. I thought the glass was shaped like a bird but, on closer inspection, it turned out to be a fish, for some reason. And it tasted of almost nothing. I was quite disappointed. The food was disappointing too - arancini, Korean fried chicken, lamb cutlets, truffle fries and mushroom tempura. It should have been tasty but was all rather bland. Let's hope the food on board ship is better!