Experiences · thrills and crafts
Egypt by fire, stone, water and sand
Go down inside a pyramid, dive to a wartime wreck and walk a Bedouin trail. Blow glass, carve stone and sit at a loom. Choose an element, then how much nerve you bring. Every experience is arranged around your route, and nothing is promised until it is confirmed.
1 Choose an element
- All four13 experiences
- Fire2 experiencesFurnaces and solder: glass gathered hot, and a lantern made for Ramadan.
- Stone3 experiencesDown inside a pyramid, into a tomb's evidence, and a chisel in calcite.
- Water3 experiencesA war wreck on the seabed, one breath in Dahab, and a first kite.
- Sand and thread5 experiencesDunes and mountain trails, and the looms and needles of the people who live there.
2 How much nerve do you bring?
Anyone who is curious. You sit, watch, try and ask.
Showing 2 of 13 · Show everything
Furnaces and solder: glass gathered hot, and a lantern made for Ramadan.
Glass from the furnace
Broken bottles become a cup in front of you, in one of Cairo's last glassblowing workshops.Recycled Cairo's historic workshops blow their glass from broken glass gathered across the city
Nerve: Curious2–3 hours
Open the layerswhat happens · what it asks · what we confirm
What happens
- Stand at the furnace mouth while a maker gathers molten glass on the end of a pipe.
- Watch a vessel take shape by breath, gravity and a few wooden tools.
- Try the pipe yourself where the maker judges it safe, and choose the colour of a small piece.
- Leave the piece to cool slowly, then collect it or have it sent on.
What it asks of you
Heat and noise more than nerve. You stand close to a furnace in closed shoes and cotton clothes, and you follow the maker's word about where to stand.
Before you go, we confirm
- Which workshop hosts, and whether visitors may blow glass or only watch
- Protective clothing, eye protection and where children may stand
- Whether your piece can cool in time to leave with you, or is sent on
A lantern, cut and soldered
Tin, coloured glass and a soldering iron in the workshops that make Egypt's Ramadan lanterns.All year the workshops make lanterns year-round for a single month, Ramadan
Nerve: Curious2–3 hours
Open the layerswhat happens · what it asks · what we confirm
What happens
- Walk the lantern makers' streets, where the fanous hangs in every size.
- Cut and fold tinplate panels with a maker, then set coloured glass into them.
- Solder the joints and fit the handle, with the maker's help.
- Light it once before you take it home.
What it asks of you
Patience with small sharp edges and a hot iron. Gloves are sensible; no skill is assumed.
Before you go, we confirm
- Which workshop hosts, and in which months it has time for visitors
- Whether you make a whole lantern or a single panel in the time
- How a lantern with glass travels home
How an experience earns a place here
- A story, a skill or accessIf a marketplace already sells it as a ticket and there is nothing more to it, it is not here.
- Licensed people, checked before you goDivers, drivers and guides are confirmed for your date. Every page lists what we confirm first.
- Makers named when they agreeNo host appears here until they have agreed to be named. Every experience is a concept until then, and the page says so.
Ask about an experience
Tell us which ones and where you will be. Concept · on request means we still confirm the host, the date and the terms with you before anything is booked.
Your Egypt, your pace
Request a quote
Tell us your dates and party size. A quote will confirm the itinerary, total price, inclusions and cancellation terms before you decide.
Sending a request does not make a booking or reserve availability.
Photography credits (13)
FischerFotos, CC BY-SA 4.0; Alaazzpov, CC BY-SA 4.0; Olaf Tausch, CC BY 3.0; Zezinho68, CC BY-SA 4.0; David Dennis from Scotts Valley, CA, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0; Wikicomman, CC BY-SA 4.0; Lars Plougmann, CC BY-SA 2.0; Marc Ryckaert, CC BY 3.0; Roland Unger, CC BY-SA 3.0; Mohamed kamal 1984, CC BY-SA 4.0; Ahmed Emad H, CC BY-SA 4.0; PMATAS, CC BY-SA 4.0; Hatem Moushir, CC BY-SA 4.0
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