Egypt was surreal. Still thinking back on it, it seems like a dream. We loved every minute of it, but at the same time we don't feel the need to return. Three weeks after we returned home, the revolution began. Talk about impeccable timing. We recommend going, although I can't guarantee what your experience would be like now. Turkey, however, we would visit again in a heartbeat. It was really easy compared to Egypt, and I think anyone would have a great time there.
For this trip, we combined Egypt and Turkey by flying on Turkish Airlines from Chicago to Istanbul to Cairo. We were able to have stopovers on both ends of our trip, leaving us plenty of time to explore Istanbul. Turkish Airlines is one of our favorite international carriers. Here is why:
The only downside is that, for us at least, they were late in departing every time. I'll take a little delay, though, given the amenities on board. Honestly, I've had two-hour domestic flights that have been more painful than our 12-hour flight back from Istanbul.
On our last morning in Egypt, I stepped out on our 18th floor balcony at the Intercontinental Semiramis to capture the sounds of traffic. The normal cacophony of honking is pretty mild in this video, but you get the point. You can also see Tahrir Square, the Egyptian Museum, and of course, our view of the Nile.
No hotel experience comes close to the Carter Suite at the Mena House Oberoi. The smaller suite that we reserved was already taken, and they attempted to downgrade us while pretending it was the suite we booked. We were not about to let this slide. When we politely expressed discontent, we were shown to the Carter Suite at no extra charge. Not even a video capture the grandeur of this room. Twenty foot ceilings, a living room, office, dining room, foyer, two bathrooms, a bedroom, and three balconies each with a direct pyramid view. Why is it called the Carter Suite, you ask? Oh yeah, President Carter stayed here while negotiating the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. It doesn’t get better than this.
From the Carter Suite balcony at the Mena House hotel, the sound of the call to prayer echoed across Giza. The sound of this is something that reminds you where you are. I enjoyed hearing it every time, mostly because it's something so culturally distinct. I used an old camera for this, so the picture quality isn't the best--but obviously, it's the sound I'm attempting to capture.
We started planning this trip around Gibraltar. I had wanted to go to Morocco for a long time, and I knew that if we were in Gibraltar, we would simply have to go to Morocco. How could we not? Due to time constraints, this meant we would only be able to visit the northern portion of the country (still no Marrakesh for me), but I so loved Tangier and Asilah! And I would undoubtedly go back to see other parts of Morocco in the future.
The timing of our trip was interesting, because just like our time in Istanbul last summer, it was Ramadan. I feel, though, that this mostly worked out to our advantage. There were very few tourists. Streets in the Medina were relatively empty. No one was smoking. The incessant harassment that we read about didn't happen (we had worse in Cairo and Istanbul). And although we had to wait until after 8 PM to eat dinner, there were plenty of restaurants open during the day for lunch. The only thing we didn't anticipate was that people would stay up all night long doing all of the things they didn't do during daylight. This caused us some sleepless nights, but nothing too serious. Overall, we had a fantastic time, and I wasn't ready to leave.
From Gibraltar, we crossed the border to Spain, took a taxi to Tarifa (55 Euros), caught the 1-hour ferry to Tangier Ville from there, and met our pre-arranged taxi at the port (5 Euros). It was super easy to do.
Looking outward, they say this is the shape of the African continent inverted, even with Madagascar on the lower left! This was free to see, and there were no crowds at all. It was so nice and cool in the cave, and the sound of the water splashing was so relaxing that I could've stayed there awhile.
Each night once the sun set, from each minaret would come the evening call to prayer indicating the day's fast was over.
The difficult part of Tunisia was the research. Everything else was easy. Between the 2011 revolution and three significant attacks in 2015, guidebooks stopped getting updated and travel companies pulled out. Websites were inconsistent. Not enough tourists were going there for us to see a reliable stream of reviews on much of anything. Given that, you might be wondering, was this really the place to go? Yes. Let me explain. For years, I had wanted to visit Tunisia (only in part because of its Star Wars significance). Then the revolution happened, and my plans were postponed. Last year, however, on my birthday, The Guardian ran an article about now being the time to visit Tunis. I took it as a personal directive.
Once we were in Tunisia, it was a breeze. Maybe that's because it was our third visit to North Africa, and we can maneuver our way around a Medina at this point. It also helped that I learned my lesson from our time in Morocco and chose to intensively study French in the months leading up to the trip. Tunis was also very laid back--there was no harassment, no hard touting. I felt safe even at night walking back to our hotel in the Medina. We successfully took public transportation for the first time in the region, and we even walked from Sidi Bou Said to La Marsa. I'm glad we went.
I'm glad we went, too, because at times I felt bad for Tunisia. While visiting the ancient ruins of Carthage, it was starkly evident that tourists have not begun to return to this country. Sites that are ranked as the most popular in the region were empty. Others had only a small handful of visitors. Hopefully that changes soon. Tunisia is worth visiting. The sites were interesting, the food was fantastic, and the people were nice. No one treated us like tourists--everyone was just normal. Plus, from Tunis, you can easily see three very different towns (Carthage, Sidi Bou Said, and La Marsa) all in a day.
This was the most unfortunate part of the trip. I want you to picture the filthiest airplane you can fathom. Tunis Air is worse. We had no choice--it was the only airline that had a direct route from Nice. (We did bookends in Monaco and Nice on this trip.) The flight was only a little over an hour--a puddle jump over the Mediterranean, really. When you start with an informationless six-hour delay, followed by a plane so dirty that I was reluctant to sit in the seat, it makes for a rough start to the experience. Thankfully, the airport ride we had arranged went seamlessly, and getting around the city was easy. Oh and don't worry, it was only a 3-hour delay on the return. Same dirty plane.