I could not visit Egypt and not spend a few words mentioning our visit to the pyramids. We visited both the pyramids and the sphinx, both amazing sites to see. To think of what was achieved by the Egyptian empires up to seven thousand years ago is amazing.

The big surprise for me though is how much more enjoyable I have found some of the other ancient sites around Egypt. Visiting the pyramids left me at times feeling a little bit like herded cattle, necessary due to the large number of tourists who frequent the area. Contrast this to some of the temple areas around Aswan, where we were one of only a few small groups visiting the area.

As such we were free to wander through the temple areas, exploring as we wanted. The local tourism police were a great source of information (often in search of a tip), and as such it was much easier to appreciate the area for what is represented.