Egypt, Ever a Wonder! (Part 9): Cairo's Ancient and Royal Treasures

- April 6-8, 2026, Monday to Wednesday.

- After a journey to ancient Egypt in Luxor, it was finally time for me to go back to Cairo. My dad and I took a one-hour morning flight from Luxor to Cairo via Nile Air. It took no time to reach Cairo, and one Uber ride later, we were back at the Steigenberger Hotel in Tahrir Square.

- One thing I like about our hotel is that it's just across the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Before the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) was opened just last 2025, the iconic pink-colored Egyptian Museum was THE museum to go for all-things Egyptian. The current building has been standing since 1905, although the origins of the the Egyptian Museum go way earlier. Although many of the items have been moved to the GEM, a lot of important artifacts still remain in this museum.

At the museum. For once, I didn't intentionally match with the museum.

I also didn't think that my scarab necklace would match this plaque by the door with the museum's name.

Museum dome.

Oldest known life-sized statue. This is of King Djoser. His pyramid is also the first known colossal pyramid in Egypt.

Museum hall, full of tombs.

Painted Osiride statue (head only) of Hatshepsut.

Sphinx and many other statues.

Possibly Akhenaten or Nefertiti.

Colossus of Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten.

Akhenaten's coffin lid.

Statues of Amenhotep III and his wife Tiye, with their daughter Princess Henuttaneb. These whole block was found in Medinet Habu in Luxor.

Museum's main hall.

The Canopus Decree. This slab is written in three scripts: Egyptian hieroglyphs, Demotic, and Greek. This is one of the decrees written in these three languages. The most famous of its kind is the Rosetta Stone, currently in the British Museum. These slabs were helpful in decoding Egyptian hieroglyphs. 

Close up of the three scripts.

The middle statue is that of Serapis, a unique Greco-Egyptian god based on the worship of Osiris and Apis.

Mummy of Yuya, the father of Queen Tiye, consort of Amenhotep III.

Mummy of Tuya, mother of Queen Tiye.

Other mummies. Real ones too.

Tanis treasures. Tanis is an archaeological site, and once capital of ancient Egypt. It in the northern side of Egypt.

More Tanis treasures.

Since the Rosetta Stone is in the British Museum, the Egyptian Museum only has a photo to honor it.

Talaat Harb Square, a good reminder of Egypt's colonial past. We passed by this on the long way back to the hotel.

- The Egyptian Museum was our only agenda for the day, since we weren't sure if there would be any flight delays to Cairo (there was actually, though just a one-hour delay). I figured we could use the time to rest a bit, especially for my dad who isn't used to fast-paced travel unlike me.

- At some point, Emirates moved me and my dad to the next flight back to Dubai (and subsequently, to Manila). This gave me one extra day in Cairo, since we were moved to the evening flight instead of our original early morning flight. On my last morning, I went to the Abdeen Palace Museum. Built in 1863, it was where the royal family stayed until the 1952 revolution that ultimately removed the Egyptian monarchy. Today, the palace is a museum that shows lots of the royal family's "everyday" things, state gifts, weapons, and more! I don't often see websites or vloggers feature this palace, but I highly suggest visiting it because it provides insight on the Egyptian royalty!

Abdeen Palace Museum.

Royal busts.

Arms gallery.

Muhammad Ali Pasha. He was assigned by the Turkish Ottoman Empire, who controlled Egypt then, to rule over Egypt. 

Coronation sword.

Hall full fo gifts.

Silver museum. It had so much silver - and these are mainly kitchenware and cutlery!

The Arabic words just say Abdeen Palace.

With King Farouq and King Fuad (?).

I like this rounded looking building. This is the Paris Gate, built in honor of the opening of the Suez Canal. This is also where visitors enter the palace grounds.

Look at the fancy Tea Kiosk!!

Inside the Tea Kiosk.

- Of course, my morning wouldn't be complete without one last quick trip to Khan El-Khalili Market just to make sure I had bought everything that I needed to buy. Afterwards I had to rush back to have lunch and check out of the hotel.

- Just before leaving Cairo, I had one last surprise - Cairo Airport has a small museum right after the immigration counter and security checks. I thought I'd check it out since I had so much time to kill before out flight. 

The museum is literally just this small room.

I can't believe that the airport has its own mummy!

Coffin.

Probably Thutmose III (they archaeologists aren't too sure.)

Finally tried McDonadld's in Egypt. It wasn't too different.

This isn't part of the museum anymore but I did see this fancy old piano in the airport!

- Roughly 15 hours after leaving Cairo (including a 3-hour layover in Dubai), we arrived safely in Manila. I couldn't believe how smooth sailing everything went despite geopolitical threats in the Middle East, and the general chaotic atmosphere of Egypt. This trip also marks my first time in Africa, though understandably Egypt's culture isn't what people would often think of as "African"; it's a mix of local Egyptian, Arab, apart from European colonial influences. I guess this mix is what makes Egypt interesting in every corner! May Egypt continue to be a wonder of the world not just for its pyramids, and may it continue making history (the good kind, I hope)!

** Check out my other adventures in Egypt here!

Part 1: Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) and Giza Pyramid View Inn (Rooftop Cafe) - here

Part 2: Islamic Cairo - here

Part 3: Pyramids of Giza, Memphis, and Saqqara - here

Part 4: Coptic Cairo - here

Part 5: Luxor - here

Part 6: Aswan - here

Part 7: Abu Simbel - here

Part 8: Dendera and Medinet Habu - here     

Egypt, Ever a Wonder! (Part 8): And Then, There Was Dendera!

- April 5, 2026, Sunday, Easter.

- Ancient Egypt is home to a civilization that reveals more mysteries the more humans understand it. One temple that embodies just that is none other than Dendera Temple in Qena, around an hour north of Luxor. (We booked this day tour at GetYourGuide.)

- Dendera Temple was built in the 4th century BCE and is one of the largest ancient temples in Egypt. It was built during the time of Ptolemy XII until the time of Cleopatra VII (the Cleopatra the whole world knows of). It is dedicated mostly to Hathor, the cow-headed goddess of fertility. 

Dendera.

My tour guide's idea.

Zodiac signs in the sky.

Pillars with the face of Hathor.

Pharaohs giving offerings to gods.

- But more than this, the temple is also known to be a source of great energy. The temple, for instance, shows what people call the "Dendera Light", carvings which appear to depict light bulbs millennia before the year most people knew they were invented. Hence, enthusiasts of the supernatural and aliens have taken an interest in the temple. There are also some people who come to the temple to meditate (which I found out was supposedly not allowed). 

Dendera Light.

Inner shrine for Hathor.

More ceiling carvings.

Hathor's head.

The only temple where I was able to go to the rooftop!

Large pillars with Hathor.

There was an Isis temple at the back.

Inside the Isis temple.

Cleopatra VII and her son Caesarion. They were also the last Ptolemaic pharaohs.

I'm a sphinx!

- Our tour was supposedly a Dendera-Abydos Temple tour. However, our tour guide gave us the option to go to a closer temple, since Abydos was around 2 hours away from Dendera (then 3 hours back to Luxor). While Abydos is an important temple, fortunately, the alternative was one of the other temples that I had wanted to visit as well. Now, we had more time to go around Dendera, and go on a more relaxed pace from there on. (My dad and I were still recovering from our long trip to Abu Simbel the day before, after all.)

- The Medinet Habu was built in 12th century BCE during the time of Ramesses III. It is located near the Valley of the Kings at the West Bank of Luxor. It was a mortuary temple dedicated to himself, as well as to Amun-Ra. What makes this temple more interesting is that the archaeological site that surrounds the temple shows human settlement through different historical periods. This is also one of the temples that also acted as the pharaoh's palace. Speaking of pharaohs' palaces, most of these palaces didn't survive because they were built to last for as far as the pharaoh was alive. However, mortuary temples and burial chambers were built to last forever as death is eternal.

Medinet Habu entrance.


Main temple.

Hieroglyphs.

Bas relief details.

Hypostyle Hall at the back of the temple. This area is in ruins.

Statues of Ramesses III.

 

If you look closely at the bas relief, you'll see Ramesses III on a horse.

I'm standing on there Ramesses III's throne would have been.

The royal toilet. And yes, I'm not joking.

Ruins of various settlements.

Hey there little buddy.

- We had lunch right after our temple visits, and were driven back to our hotel. The drive was quick since we were just at the opposite side of the Nile from our hotel. I spent the early afternoon doing some last minute shopping in El Souk, but had to rush back to the hotel (Hilton Luxor) to hop on a felucca for a one-hour cruise along the Nile (I booked the one we had at the hotel; it was slightly more expensive but at least I didn't have to haggle anymore). The felucca is a traditional boat used in Egypt and nearby countries. I was really really glad I got to do this because there was only one slot left, and all slots left for the rest of the day were already full. Even better, I had the felucca all to myself!!

On a felucca. My boatman, Sharif, is there at the back making sure our boat moves.

My first time to see a wild kingfisher! Sharif pointed it out to me.

This is a tiny island called "Bird Island", and it looks like it's floating along the Nile. Not sure if this is the official name, but that's what Sharif told me. He said it's because there are many kinds of birds on that small island. That's the same kingfisher in the photo above.

It's so hard to take a photo of them. They fly fast!

Pretending to be in charge of the felucca.

View of downtown Luxor (and a bit of the Karnak Temple at the right side.)

Fixing the sails.

I never expected him to go all the way up!!

With another felucca at the back.

Inside the felucca.

- My last day in Luxor was well spent, and over all, Luxor was such an amazing gateway to Upper Egypt. I'm also thankful that there are so many day trip options too, since driving on my own would not have been practical. I learned and immersed myself so much in ancient Egypt during my 5 days in Luxor. At the same time, rural Luxor did make me miss the hustle of urban Cairo!

** Check out my other adventures in Egypt here!

Part 1: Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) and Giza Pyramid View Inn (Rooftop Cafe) - here

Part 2: Islamic Cairo - here

Part 3: Pyramids of Giza, Memphis, and Saqqara - here

Part 4: Coptic Cairo - here

Part 5: Luxor - here

Part 6: Aswan - here

Part 7: Abu Simbel - here

Part 9: Egyptian Museum in Cairo and Abdeen Palace Museum - here