Traveling had shown me that people fascinating about visiting the Great Pyramids of Giza and living the Indiana Jones dream of tomb raiding was no trend; it was true. Many travelers have Egypt on their bucket list and whenever people realize I’m Egyptian on my trips, the kind of comments I receive and the curiosity they shower me with simply flatters me.
As much as I can, I always try to present my homeland in the finest image, whether by shattering stereotypes, showing pictures to other travelers, or telling them all about the adventures (that aren’t related to Ancient Egypt) they could have. Coming from a country with such a rich heritage made me feel proud, and thus, obligated to promote it for tourism. And since not many of you can mesmerize at what it has to offer in real life during these hard times, I figured what I’m about to say might tickle your fancy.
So, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities recently launched a super cool initiative that enables everyone to “Experience Egypt From Home”. Every night, the ministry posts free virtual field trips or guided video tours on its official social media accounts, its website, and on Experience Egypt on Facebook. The tours are usually published at 7 PM (Cairo time – GMT+2).
You can find free virtual field trips to ancient Egyptian sites such as the tomb of Queen Meresankh III, the granddaughter of King Khufu of the Great Pyramid; she was also believed to be the wife of either Khafre or Menkaure. However, the initiative is not limited to showcasing Ancient Egyptian sites only; there are religious sites of all three Abrahamic religions as well. Those include the Ben Ezra Synagogue, the Red Monastery, and the Madrasa and Mosque of Sultan Barquq. Not to mention the Greco-Roman heritage; check out the 360 virtual tour of the Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa in Alexandria.
As for the video tours, so far, you can find three short, guided video tours around Cairo’s iconic Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square. The most intriguing one shows what seems to be the first-ever backpack in history. Yes, the backpack concept dates back to Ancient Egypt!
Aside from that and Google Arts and Culture’s virtual tour the Great Pyramids of Giza, I recently came across a super cool app, that’s created by a couple known for roaming Egypt. As an attempt to help boost tourism, Dalia and Omar created an Instagram account, under the name Around Egypt in 60 Days, documenting their epic journey. Three years later, and after garnering massive attention, they turned it into an app where you can visit over 30 Egyptian sites only using your mobile screen.
Catch up with what you’ve missed and tune in for what’s coming up next, and when the time comes, maybe you’d find yourself booking the first flight to Egypt.
Quarantine-related content you might also like:
- 7 Things You Can Do When You Can’t Travel
- Travel Virtually With These Fun Experiences From Your Couch
Egypt-related content you might also like:
- A First-Timer’s Guide to Nubia, Egypt
- 12 Photos That’ll Make You Add Egypt’s Sinai to Your Bucketlist!
- Here’s Why Egypt’s Mount Sinai Is a Must-Visit!
- Old Cairo Tour: Where All Three Abrahamic Religions Meet
- Not to Miss When in Cairo: The Saladin Citadel
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Nadine is an Egyptian curly-head who decided to quit the norm because it just doesn’t suit her. She ditched her 9-5 as a magazine editor to pursue her dream of becoming a full-time digital nomad and to inspire aspiring travelers to embark on their own solo adventures.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing! This
should help my wonderlust while
staying home!
Hope you enjoy 🙂
I visited Egypt many years ago, I’d love to go back and witness more! thank you for sharing!
Glad you enjoyed your visit! There’s definitely much more to come back for 🙂
Absolutely love this! Great quality virtual
tours. Love that so many tourism boards
are providing things like this to give people
something to do at home and to get people
excited for when they finally can visit.
I’m super proud my country is doing this 🙂 Tourism has always been so essential to Egypt and not because the world can’t enjoy what it has to offer at the moment that they can’t enjoy at all! Fingers crossed this would all be over soon!
Awesome! I’ll be sure to checkout the VR options. The last couple weeks I’ve really been using my
husband’s VR headset to explore since I can’t travel right now.
Oh that sounds like so much fun! Hope you enjoy 🙂
I used to love learning about Egypt during school! Looking forward to being able to visit when the world
reopens!
Hopefully, you’ll be able to visit soon! Meanwhile, enjoy some VR tours 🙂
It’s a dream of mine to visit Egypt one day! It looks so incredible.
I’m pretty sure you’ll love it!