Cairo #4 (Egypt): The New Egyptian Museum & the Sphinx
Last time, I loved my hotel in front of the Sphinx so much that this time, JB found another hotel even closer to the Sphinx for me.
Part 1: Travel Journal
Part 2: Practical Tips
Part 1: Travel Journal
Day 3 (continued)
I know everyone is impressed by the pyramids, but I find them lacking in special energy. On the other hand, the Sphinx impressed me a whole lot, and it has such a presence, such a special energy that I want to get as close to it as possible. Last time, we stayed at the Egypt Pyramids Inn guest house (Booking link), which I highly recommend because it looks the Sphinx right in the eyes. This time, JB found another hotel as close to the Sphinx as possible (Booking link).
We arrived right at sunset. From the hotel terrace, we can see the Sphinx, the pyramids, and the sunset. Gorgeous!! But we also see a bunch of broken walls (which I call “the pile of trash”) that spoil the view a bit, but if we crop out Khufu, we won’t see that trash anymore haha.
From our room, we have a bathtub that overlooks the Sphinx. This window is tinted, so they can’t see us from outside (at least during the day, I’m not sure about in the evening). Across from it, there’s a couch, and I often sit there to watch the Sphinx like it’s a TV. The road you see in the photo is the one that leads from the entrance to the pyramids. Like “real people,” the Sphinx has a side where its face is more harmonious. It’s very beautiful when viewed from the front (from the Egypt Pyramids Inn guest house (Booking link)) or from this hotel (Booking link). Its broken nose means it’s not good-looking from all angles, but only from 2 angles.
To show you how close we are to the Sphinx, look at the other terrace of our hotel. We’re right there!!!
Between the two hotels, I still prefer Egypt Pyramids Inn (Booking link). From my hotel terrace (Booking link), I carefully looked at the hotels in the area, and only this guest house is on the right axis, where the Sphinx looks you in the eyes. Otherwise, you’d have to go to Pizza Hut, but you can’t spend the night there. Or, you could spend one night at one, one night at the other; they’re 10 meters apart.
In the evening, from our room, we can watch the “Sound and Light” show (twice a night, the first at 7:30 PM). Don’t worry about the sound; it makes a hell of a racket, impossible not to hear it. On the other hand, the show is so dated that we’re happy to watch it for free. The show consists of reading a text in a super old voice, and turning the lights of the Sphinx and the pyramids on and off. That’s it. When I think that some tourists do Cairo-Giza just to attend this show ($15 I think). No!!! Everyone just has dinner while watching the show from the hotel terraces.
Unlike the calm at Mena House, here, we hear stray dogs all evening + the two hotel terraces + the tourists in the next room watching a very funny movie apparently (they laugh constantly). The night is short due to noise pollution.
Day 4
Every time we call an Uber, I stress out. Will it come? Will the driver accept the ride? Because again, it’s a short 15-minute ride to the new Egyptian museum. Will there be a scam attempt (price haggling before/during the ride)? JB tells me that the “comfort” category eliminates a large part of the scams because it’s reserved for the best-rated drivers. But even with that, we’ve had attempts to negotiate the price in cash.
To be sure, we go to Pizza Hut to call an Uber, so they’ll find us without a problem. Right across the street is the second entrance to the Giza Plateau. A group of schoolgirls queuing up waves at me. I join them, and then about twenty of them want to shake my hand. I feel like Obama!!! They take photos of me, and I calm the crowd by taking selfies with my own phone. Calm only returns when I cross the street to wait for Uber. It’s Saturday, and Egyptians from all over the country come here; some of them probably have never seen an Asian in their lives. The girls are really, really happy to see me.
Two street vendor kids follow me to the other sidewalk and chat with JB and me. For once, they don’t try to squeeze a few dollars out of us; they just need human interaction. They like us so much that they (sincerely) want to give us a pouch they’re selling. We refuse, of course. After teaching them to say “Hello” in Vietnamese, they teach us a few Arabic phrases in exchange. Without us asking for anything, they spontaneously decide to teach us how to say “no, I don’t have money,” “it’s too expensive,” “no, I don’t need it.” Poor things, I think they get so ignored and yelled at by tourists that sometimes, a sincere conversation with tourists is all they ask for. These kids come to sell here after school, and they have a pretty good level of English. The oldest tells me she dreams of going to Japan (which she knows through manga, of course).
Our Uber finally arrives, and since part of the road is closed, we take a huge detour to get to the new Egyptian museum (the ride from Giza to the museum costs us 170 EGP with Uber). We give the driver a few dollars as a tip. The new museum is truly impressive; it’s very, very large and well organized. However, my camera doesn’t pass security. Strange, because smartphones also take photos/videos. I see many other tourists reluctantly drop off their Leicas and backpacks, like us, at the “security” room.
What strikes us upon entering the museum is this statue. It doesn’t look that big, but bringing it here was quite a feat. Before, it stood in the middle of the population in a square in Cairo, but it was transported here upright (because its twin, transported long ago lying down, broke its leg, according to our Uber driver). And for that, every time the statue has to pass under a bridge, they dismantle the bridge. 24 hours and a lot, lot of money for this “move”.
Having seen an arrow pointing to “Tutankhamun,” I ask where exactly that room is. The answer: “It’s not open yet, and we don’t know when it will open.” I ask where the mummies of the pharaohs are. The answer: “It’s at the XYZ museum.” In short, this new museum officially opened in November 2024, but it’s still missing a lot of things. So you still have to go to the old museum in Cairo and visit this new one.
I can’t say whether this museum is better stocked, more precious than the other, because I find everything beautiful. The objects are much better showcased, unlike the other museum. The lighting is adapted for each object, and you can see the details much, much better. And it’s very modern, with lots of facilities for disabled people (escalators, braille, elevators). Even I benefit, because I have sore muscles since we explored the inside of the pyramids, and it hurts to go down stairs.
Here, it’s like the Louvre but better because it’s more spacious. The explanations are plentiful in English.
I have a huge crush on this statue; look at the details of the wigs!!! And behind, there are even hieroglyphs in color. It’s way too beautiful!!!
And since there’s more space, you can see the jewelry better.
Visiting everything takes an enormous amount of time; there’s too much to look at, and the museum is huge. I can’t wait to visit the Tutankhamun section when it’s finished. You can also eat on site. There’s also a robot that writes your first name in hieroglyphs for 300 EGP. The on-site restaurants are a bit pricey compared to the Egyptian average (expect 300 EGP per dish), but I’m starving.
Then, it’s a pain to call an Uber from the museum. I don’t know why. Maybe the fare isn’t interesting enough? Or there’s roadwork? Anyway, as usual, we wait a long time and give our driver a few dollars to thank him for accepting the ride and not trying to rip us off.
Too tired, we won’t do anything else that day and go to bed super early because we want to visit the Sphinx right when it opens the next morning.
Day 5
Opening is supposed to be at 7 a.m., but in reality, it’s at 7:30. We wait in front of the entrance facing the Sphinx (which is 5 meters from our hotel) and are among the first to enter the site.
After observing the movement of tourists these past few days, I come to the following conclusions:
(1) The Sphinx is more beautiful in the morning because the sun lights up its face. In the afternoon, it’s backlit.
(2) It’s better, right at the entrance, to head left, go see the Sphinx head-on, then go behind the temple to access a platform to view the Sphinx from the left side, then walk to the Pyramid of Khafre (and the other pyramids), and take the paved road to see the right side of the Sphinx and exit through the same entrance. It’s a bit complicated to explain, but on site and looking at my photos, you’ll understand.
After entering (we bought another ticket online because each ticket is valid for one day), you can either take the paved road to the right or access an area with lots of chairs (left side). Going through the left side, you’ll eventually face the Sphinx, like this. Here, the Sphinx and the Pyramid of Khafre are roughly aligned.
The Sphinx is an iconic mythological figure of ancient Egypt, often depicted as a hybrid creature with a lion’s body and a human head. It symbolizes strength and wisdom, uniting two powerful elements of nature: royalty (represented by the human head) and power (embodied by the lion). The Sphinx is also a symbol of protection, often placed at the entrances of temples or royal tombs, serving to repel evil forces. Among the most famous, the Great Sphinx of Giza, located near the pyramids, embodies the spirit of this mythological creature. It is associated with Pharaoh Khafre, though its exact origin and function remain a subject of debate among scholars.
In Egyptian mythology, the Sphinx is also linked to riddles and intellectual challenges. According to some accounts, the Sphinx posed riddles to travelers, killing those who couldn’t answer correctly. This image has inspired many legends and has transcended eras, influencing both Greek culture and Western literature. In ancient Greece, the Sphinx appears as a malevolent creature, but the riddle it posed—”What animal walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening?”—has remained famous, symbolizing the passage of man through the different stages of life.
Then, you can get a bit closer… but you can’t go straight ahead anymore because only tourists with a special permit can go up to the Dream Stele, between the Sphinx’s paws.
The Dream Stele, also called the Stele of Revelation, is a granite monument located between the paws of the Great Sphinx of Giza. It was erected during the reign of Pharaoh Thutmose IV (around 1400 BC) and tells of a prophetic dream that supposedly marked the fate of the young prince before his ascension to the throne. According to the text carved on the stele, while he was still just a prince, Thutmose IV fell asleep in the shadow of the Sphinx. In his dream, the Sphinx, identified as the embodiment of the sun god Harmakhis (Horus of the Horizon), spoke to him. He asked him to clear the sand that almost completely buried him, promising in return to help him become pharaoh. This account is not only a divine justification for Thutmose IV’s reign, but also proof of the symbolic and religious ties between the Sphinx and Egyptian royalty. The stele also describes the efforts made by the young pharaoh to restore and preserve the Sphinx.
Only then do you enter the temple from the left side, and after walking through this small labyrinth, you reach a platform from which you can observe the Sphinx. I saw it from my hotel terrace, from my room… but up close, its energy is even stronger, and frankly, I love it!! In my opinion, it’s the only place that still retains an incredible energy on the Giza Plateau. The star of this place is the Sphinx, not the pyramids. Its structure resembles other small sphinxes you see in Luxor or in museums, but its size!!! You have to be there to realize how GIGANTIC it is!!
Then you need to follow the exit sign and walk alongside the Sphinx to get to the pyramids. The Pyramid of Khafre is still as beautiful as ever, with its summit distinguishing it from that of Khufu.
Then we take the paved road (with other camels, cars, and horses) and now we observe the Sphinx from the other side (the side where it looks best). From here, you can clearly see the Dream Stele. At one point, there’s an employee cleaning, and you can see that he doesn’t come up to the height of the Sphinx’s paw. On this side, its body looks more damaged than on the other. But there are also plenty of stones and shapes around it (rectangular structures here and there).
In short, I love the Sphinx so much that we spend a whole morning just visiting it. And after the visit, we still admire it from the hotel terraces 😀
Because as you can see, from the road right near the Sphinx, you can see our room and our hotel (Booking link) 😀
JB encourages me to go to the souvenir vendor to exchange money for coins. Last time, I managed to get 2 coins of 1 EGP featuring the mask of Tutankhamun; I gave one away and lost the other. This time, the vendor gave me 5 coins of 1 EGP, and when I asked, he also gave me a 50-piastre coin featuring Cleopatra. We gave him 15 EGP in exchange (that’s all the cash we have left); it’s not much, but at least he doesn’t lose on the exchange. He seems highly amused. I’ll just keep one 1 EGP coin; I’ll give the others away on Instagram or the blog, stay tuned!!
With that, we take the taxi booked by our hotel to get to the airport (we’re fed up with the stress caused by Uber); we pay a bit more ($25 instead of $12), but at least we’re worry-free. Well… maybe not that much, because we told the hotel we were leaving from CAIRO airport, but the driver was briefed to take us to the other airport (there are two), luckily we confirmed the airport name before leaving. Egypt really tires me out! It’s never relaxed. We stress over every trip; one small oversight, and you pay 20 times the usual price. In places where we can’t get around on our own, there’s always extra stress because even apps like Uber don’t protect you from scams. At least having enough dollars in small bills was a good idea, because you can tip anyone at any time. I’m sad to leave the Sphinx, but I’m also relieved to go. For the next 20 days, we’ll have our own car
Part 2: Practical Tips
- Hotels:
- either Egypt Pyramids Inn (room with Sphinx view) (Booking link) you can see the photos here
- or our hotel The Gate Hotel Front Pyramids Sphinx (caution: there’s another hotel with a similar name, you need to pick the right one (Booking link) – room with bathtub facing the Sphinx or the room with private terrace
- You can buy entrance tickets in advance on the official website:
- for the pyramids and the sphinx: https://egymonuments.com/locations/tickets/Pyramids 700 EGP per person
- for the new Egyptian museum (Grand Egyptian Museum): https://egymonuments.com/locations/details/gem 350 EGP per person
