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My journey started with an early morning nonstop flight to Cairo from Heathrow. On arrival I was disappointed I thought I had come on an adventure similar to one of my travelling heroes Michael Palin, yet here I was in one of the most modern and clean airports I had visited.

After we had been driving around 20 minutes the adventure began, the noise, the smog and the sheer number of vehicles and people hit me slap bang in the face. Welcome to Cairo. I was overwhelmed by the scenes around me. The colourful street vendors, cars, coaches and minibuses honking their horns, pedestrians taking their life in their hands trying to cross the road, animals pulling carts all mixed in the madness.
The first night I eventually closed my eyes to be woken at 4.30 by the beautiful haunting sound of the call to prayers.

I have always wanted to see the Pyramids and wasn’t disappointed with our visit to Giza; you can’t convey the magnificence of these monuments. On one of my pictures you can see how tiny the coach looks next to the Pyramids. I would suggest a guided tour of the pyramids and the sphinx as it is quite far to walk between the two. The Sphinx is amazing - it really looks as if he/ she is guarding the Pyramids. Included on my full day excursion was a trip to the Egyptian museum, unfortunately cameras are forbidden so I don’t have any pictures to show. We were there three hours and astonished by the antiquities. There were two highlights for me; one being the Tutankhamen exhibition which includes his spectacular golden face mask and the Royal Mummy’s room, and this is at an extra cost to the entrance fee but shouldn’t be missed. The mummies are in glass cases all temperature controlled, it is hard to believe some of these mummies are over 3000 years old, and included in this display is King Ramses II. Tour guides aren’t allowed in the room and you have to speak in no more than a whisper.

Generally the food was very good; I had lovely stuffed vegetables and vine leaves, fresh bread, fragrant rice, lamb and even pigeon. Alcohol isn’t always served in local restaurants, it is readily available in the hotels and tourist restaurants but can be very expensive, and in fact a glass of wine was more than our main meal one evening.

I would certainly recommend Cairo for a city break, as this was a real cultural and historical experience. However I feel three nights is enough so perhaps add on a trip to Luxor or even a Nile Cruise.

My top tip is to book guided excursions - when you have a guide with you there appears to be less hassle; I generally like doing things under my own steam but don’t suggest this in Cairo.