This morning I tried another Egyptian dish I had never heard of, shakshuka. This dish is like a tomato stew with peppers, onion and spices, topped with a poached egg. It was delicious. I must say the food in Egypt so far has been amazing.

After breakfast we drove to Memphis. Not Elvis' birthplace Memphis, but Egyptian Memphis, which is actually the first capital city of Egypt, founded in 3,300 BC.

There is a kind of open-air museum at Memphis and it is stunning to see statues and monuments that were made over 5,000 years ago just sitting where people can touch them. They look like they haven't weathered at all. This included a 3,500 year-old sphinx made from alabaster that looked like it was made last week.

The most amazing exhibition in Memphis was a statue of Ramesses II, which was found perfectly preserved under the mud, albeit missing his lower legs. This thing was huge and impressive, originally standing 10 metres high. It is hard to conceive that it was made over 3,200 years ago, before the iron age, meaning that it was built entirely using stone tools. The craftmanship is truly incredible, given that most artefacts of this age in other parts of the world consist mainly of pots and crude tools.

After Memphis we drove to the desert to see the stepped pyramid. This journey was amazing, because we drove from the valley of Cairo into the Sahara Desert. You can literally see where the line of green ends and the sand starts. Lidia had to have her photo taken standing in the sands of the Sahara. Those who know her know that she has always had a fascination for this desert, particularly the dryness of it. Apparently, no other metaphor in the English language conveys dryness quite as well as the Sahara.

The stepped pyramid itself was fascinating. It was the first ever pyramid built in Egypt, over 4,500 years ago. You can definitely see that the architects and builders were still in training. There is none of the perfect symmetry the Giza pyramids are famous for.

A true highlight was entering one of the tombs in the area that is famous for being the first recorded hieroglyphs in Egypt, and indeed the first recorded writing anywhere in the world. Truly mind-blowing.

When we arrived back at the hotel we had lunch with our new friends, Hip and Jill. Hip is the founder of the Mind Games franchise, so I was like a gushing groupie talking to him about his wonderful stores and recommendations for games.