Same day we visited Sakkara, impressive Zoser’s Funerary Complex and the Step pyramid. The biggest impression on us was made by the first true pyramid in Dahashur and the somehow strange and therefore magnificent Bent Pyramid.

In Cairo we visited Egyptian Museum, Citadel, Khan el-Khalili (which we visited twice), plenty of beautiful mosques, as well as Coptic Cairo. When we walked off the tourist track, we saw such poverty that we had never seen in our lives before.

Unfortunately because of the touts it was hard to let our guard down. But all in all, after a lot of struggle to like this polluted city, we felt in love with it.

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Even before we could see the pyramids, we were hustled all over the place. Touts tried to sell us camel, donkey or horse rides. It was quite annoying. Maybe because it was early morning and it was a bit foggy, the pyramids were hard to see. But fortunately, after a while, it cleared and we could admire those miraculous monuments. One tout offered us to take picture on his camel and small ride. He repeatedly assured us that he would take the agreed price of 1 USD per person and won’t try to ask for more. But of course, he did… My husband was still sitting high on a camel when I heard: 50 dollars to come down. Knowing my husband very well, I did realize that the tout just made a big mistake. My husband is not the sort of the person who quietly will pay for nothing. So, after long and strong arguments, my darling said that he would call the tourist police if needed. Those were the magical words in all of Egypt. After hearing the tout pleading "please, no police", my husband threw two one-dollar bills on the ground and walked away. So if anyone has any problem, we advise simply to say these magical words.

After wondering around the Great Pyramid for about an hour, we admired the hard work of ancient people.

It is forbidden to climb any of the pyramids. So naturally my darling tried to do just that. Near the smallest pyramid we met a security guard who was responsible for not letting anybody to climb. We were shocked when he asked (of course, for bakshish) if we maybe would like to climb one of the small pyramids near the pyramid of Menkaure. We said "no, thank you". And when he left, my husband went for the Menkaure pyramid. Naturally, after about 10 minutes, other security guards saw what he was doing and politely asked to come down. Well, it was worth a try. After we saw the pyramid of Khafre and as much as we were impressed by all the pyramids and the Sphinx, we couldn’t stop wondering how ancient Egyptians worshipped the magnitude of their dead pharaoh. In polished white limestone and with gold-covered pyramidions (pyramid-shaped capstones) which caught the first rays of the sun, even we probably would believe that it is a work of God and a pharaoh is God…

We were mobbed by the Egyptian schoolchildren because my husband was wearing a Manchester United shirt. Egyptians love football nearly as much as English do and they can watch many of the Premiership games on satellite. Many support different English teams.

The first stop was Saqqara and Zoser’s funerary complex. Unfortunately, in a quite cramped space, we met a French tourist group (on this trip, we understood that we really hate all those big tourist groups), so it was hard to see anything. Actually, I expected more from this complex, but the magnificent step pyramid left on me a lasting impression. For my husband, as it was the first ever built pyramid, it was much more than that.

After a while, we decided to explore Saqqara on four legs instead of two. I didn’t have much choice in choosing my ride as I was terribly afraid of camels and horses didn’t look so safe to my as well. My only option was to hire a donkey. For 50 LE, we hired two camels (on which my two brave men with Arabic head gear looked really cool) and a little donkey. My husband and his brother were comfortable on their camels, but for me to ride even a donkey was the same as for my husband to sit in a plane (believe me, not the prettiest sight). The small donkey looked really sad and fragile, so I felt so big and heavy. After a few minutes of ride, I asked the boy (who was leading the donkey) if I was not too heavy for the donkey. The boy’s answer was "Yes". When I repeated my question, I got the same answer, so I just jumped on the ground and decided to walk. Well, of course I wasn’t too heavy for the donkey and because the boy’s English wasn’t good to say the least, he kept answering "Yes" to all the questions. So after seeing some nice mastabas, we left Saqqara and headed for Dahashur.