What is worth knowing

Food

Egyptian cuisine is definitely not the most exquisite and characterized by the best taste. It is very simple and not very tasty, and if we are not really enthusiasts of exotic food, we better settle for food served in hotel restaurants. It is worth remembering during meals, that in Egypt you never eat with your left hand, because it is considered unclean.

In addition, due to diseases, we should avoid eating fruit with the skin on and always wash them thoroughly, rather, do not eat mayonnaise and ice cream and drink only water originally packed in the bottle or boiled.

As for the alcohol, we won't have much choice, and in the few places with a license to sell alcohol, in hotels and large restaurants we can find mainly Egyptian wine or beer.

Bakshish

Tips during our stay in Egypt, that is, bakshish, we'll probably be handing out left and right at every opportunity. We will leave the largest ones at the hotel, where you should tip the amount of 10-15% service prices, but apart from that, we should reward everyone for each with a bakshish, even the smallest service. Therefore, let's prepare to donate a small amount, usually approx. 1 dollars (although in addition to money, they are also eagerly accepted, e.g.. ballpoint pens or colored markers), both to the taxi driver, service in temples and tombs, the owner of the camel or the master, which we decided to photograph.

Tips are the primary source of livelihood for many inhabitants of the Pharaoh state, and therefore we should not skimp on them, even when someone claims them to be so absurd “service”, such as indicating a convenient place to take a photo or showing the way to the hotel. Only children should not be tipped.

Shopping

Prices in Egypt are very attractive and much lower than in Europe. There are a lot of things here, which are extremely profitable to buy, and they include, among others. products made of silver and gold and colorful exotic costumes. In addition, it is worth getting interested, not only because of the attractive price (which always, but that should always be attempted even more), with various nice decorations, like copper and brass lamps, pitchers or candlesticks, beautiful, colored carpets or mother-of-pearl inlaid caskets.

The stalls also offer a variety of herbs and aromatic oils, painted papyri (Demonstrations of making papyrus cards from plant stems are often organized) and, above all, various typical tourist souvenirs. Scarabs are in the lead among the latter, often produced in the form of small figurines as well as pictures or amulets.

The aforementioned colorful robes are especially popular with women, especially those for belly dancing with countless sparkling sequins, and men can order a traditional one from a tailor, Egyptian ankle-length shirt, which we will get the next day at the latest. You have to watch out for the commonly present stalls from “antiques”, which do not have much to do with real monuments. Maybe it's even better, because if we were caught at the border carrying something, what has over 100 years, we could have had real problems and even go to jail – there is a total ban on anything to be imported or exported from Egypt, what is considered a monument, that is, it has at least these 100 years.

Bargaining

Egyptians like to bargain, it is part of their everyday life. In the bazaars, and often in shops, you just have to haggle. Sometimes it can take quite a long time and the negotiations will often be interrupted by a conversation about home and family, but it is really worth spending some time negotiating, because the prices of most goods can be easily reduced by up to half in this way. Haggling is even a duty, and if we do not, we will disappoint the sellers and we will be the first naive.

In addition, you have to remember, that the people of Egypt are fawning on the so-called. bakshish and if we give too much money when buying something, hoping to give the rest, we may be very surprised. Sellers often consider the change to be bakshish and deliberately do not want to spend it, so it is better to stock up on change to avoid such unpleasant situations.

Prices

Prices in Egypt are comparable to Polish prices. Shops in typical tourist towns are open every day until late at night.

The price of the Shisha depends on its destination, i.e.. for decoration or for smoking.
Decorative can be bought from approx. 20PLN / are packed in appropriate suitcases /.
The price of a smoking shisha can reach 40-80 PLN (0,5m) and hand-richly decorated up to PLN 150.

Indicative prices:

1LE bus ride
A meal at a cheap 10LE restaurant
Upscale restaurant 30LE
A cup of coffee 0.50LE
35piast sandwich
Bottle of water 1, 5 l – 1,5 -2 THE
Coca bottle – coli 1, 5 l 4, 5 – 5 THE
coffee 1,5 The do 2 THE,
mineral water 1.5l – 1,5 The do 3 THE,
fruit juice 0.33l – 2THE,
beer 6 THE,
ice cream 2 THE do 4LE,
hamburger 5 THE,
pizza from 6 THE.
Approximate prices of tickets to the facilities:
Admission to Memphis Museum 14LE
Admission to the Egyptian Museum 20LE
Admission to the Museum of Islamic Art 8LE
Admission to the Cairo Antiquities Museum 20LE
Admission to the Luxor Museum 30LE
Admission to the Mummification Museum 20LE