Article - advice on what to see at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo
In my capacity as the UK Director of Operations for One World Tours Limited, I am often asked all kinds of travel questions.
A client recently enquired about travelling to Egypt for the first time and wanted my advice on what to see at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Here are my tips….

There are over 120,000 items in the Egyptian Museum, so assuming on a typical holidays in Egypt, you will spend a maximum of 1 day there, here is my suggestion for the must see objects in the museum.

The Cairo Museum or the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities to give it its full name, should definitely be high on the list of anyone who is planning on visiting Cairo. You do have to keep in mind however that if you spent 1 minute looking at each exhibit it would take you approximately nine months to see everything – not really practical (unless you are planning a really long visit !)

The Museum Collection started in 1830 and was created to attempt to help stem the flow of items being stolen or removed out of the country. The current Egyptian Museum itself was opened on November the 15th 1902 and was designed by French architect Marcel Dourgnon.

The range of items is vast and many people assume that the museum holds just “Pharaonic” artefacts whereas in fact it actually holds exhibits dating from Prehistoric Egypt right through to the end of Roman times.

There are 42 rooms on the first floor and 47on the second and they are “generally” in chronological order. The 1st floor has a large atrium with the larger exhibits including a massive pair of statues of Rameses II and Amenhotep III and his wife Tiye. These are actually best viewed from above (from the 2nd floor)

Not surprisingly the most popular exhibits are to be found in the Tutankamun gallery. This amazing collection of items was discovered by Howard Carter in 1922. 3000 items are to be found here including the most famous of all, his “death” mask and other items such as his coffin, throne and various items of jewellery etc.

The famous Rosetta stone is also here in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. This stone is vitally important as it went a long way to helping us understand the ancient Egyptian writings and carvings. The Rosetta stone importantly carries 3 different scripts

The first is hieroglyphic, which was the script used in those times for many important and / or religious documents. The second is demotic which was the traditional daily / common script of Ancient Egypt. The final / third is Greek which was considered to be the language of the rulers of Egypt.

The final must see exhibit has to be the Mummy Room. There is an extra charge to visit here, but it is well worth it. There are up to 27 Mummies on display at anytime and it’s a truly amazing site to see. They are incredibly well preserved and you can even see teeth, hair and finger nails. In my opinion this is the closest contact you can really make to ancient Egypt and the people who would have walked the “dunes” in those ancient times.

In closing, the above are no doubt the most important items you should try and take in, but ultimately visiting the museum and what you get out of it is a state of mind. There is definitely an argument for being guided around the museum and making sure you take in all the best items, but also just consider wandering at your leisure and just take in whatever you find. There is no doubt that whilst some of the items are less popular, they are without doubt no less fascinating.

Stuart Cheese is the UK Director of Operations for One World Tours and, having visited over 110 countries, has a wealth of travel experience. One World Tours / The

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By: Stuart Cheese

As the Director of Operation of One World Tours, I obviously have lots of travel experience and of course some are good and some are bad, so here is my top 5 list of things to watch out for when your are travelling in Egypt

1. Your Hotel is full. This one is a favourite for people arriving at the airport and “apparently” travelling alone, ie not with a tour company. Local tour company reps will ask you which hotel you are staying at and either tell you it’s full or it’s a bad hotel. They do this for one of two reasons. One is to get you to sign up for a full package of accommodation and or tours or they may just offer to transfer you to a hotel of their choice. Chances are the hotel will be fine, their actual reason for doing this is they will be on commission from the hotel for any tourists they can “attract” to the hotel.

2. If you pay in a USD, GBP I’ll give you a better rate. Whilst yes, some local traders “may” offer you a better rate, generally it is just an urban rate and in fact you will likely get scammed on the exchange rate. The truth is Egypt is not a county where locals can buy “restricted items” with foreign currencies, so keep this in mind when you part with non-local currencies.

3. Honestly, it’s just £5 for a horse and carriage ride in Luxor. This one is all about knowing 100% what you are paying for. The reason I gave this example is a local trader will offer you this deal, you will take it and then at the end he may ask for a lot more saying that the £5 you agreed was for; just one person; just for the journey there, not back or EVEN, just for the horse – I kid you not. So no matter what product or service you are looking for, make sure you completely agree on what it does and does not cover.

4. My wife is having a baby today, come in and have a drink with me. This one relates to shops. When walking past a shop, you may well just come across someone and he’ll appear to just chat with you. He may say that his wife is having a baby and would you like to celebrate with a soft drink with him ? You of course accept and find yourself in a small perfume shop having a pepsi or a cup of tea. The long and the short of this story is that (shock) he probably does not have a wife who is having a baby, but you are in a shop and you will be expected to buy some perfume – you have been warned !

5. Stand over there and I’ll take your picture. This is a great one – don’t worry, no one is going to steal your camera. But when you are offered to have your picture taken with “Bedouin” looking gentleman, what will happen is the picture will be taken, but believe it or not, you will now be expected to “pay for the privilege”. Welcome to Baksheesh. This is a tip for just about anything. You do not have to pay this, but you may well get hassled for it until you do, so again, just be a little careful

Although these may be looked as as somewhat negative points, I’ll counter this by saying that Egypt is amazing and if you do get the chance – go in a second, just keep your wits about you for some very “creative” locals !

Stuart Cheese is the UK Director of Operations for One World Tours and, having visited over 110 countries, has a wealth of travel experience. One World Tours / The Holidays in Egypt Specialists

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