What’s a packaged tour without those “forced” visits to stores selling only the “best” products of the places you are visiting. Our trip to Egypt in November is no exception notwithstanding that it is a religious pilgrimage.
The Sacred Papyrus
In our roughly 1.5 days in Cairo we visited a store selling all-natural and alcohol-free fragrances from essential oils (emphasis on “all-natural” and “alcohol-free”), another store selling Egyptian-themed paintings on authentic Papyrus canvas (emphasis on “authentic”), and the Cairo Tourist Night Market.
Fragrances from Essential Oils
But we also managed to tour the jam-packed Cairo Museum and to celebrate mass in a small but beautiful catholic chapel maintained by the Franciscans.
A Franciscan Chapel in Cairo
Always the gullible tourists that we were we ended up spending about US$1,200 on fragrances and papyrus paintings. We were among the poorer members of our tour contingent, mind you. Some of our companions spent upwards of $2,000 during our short stay in Egypt.
Cairo Museum
Of course a true tourist’s shopping won’t be complete without ref magnets, key chains, paperweights, and t-shirts, so we managed to find and bought some of those, too.
Cairo Tourist Night Market
