LexTalk

If Italy is calling me with pasta, wine and creepy underground catacombs, Egypt is calling me for an entirely different reason.

I have questions.

So. Many. Questions.

How did people thousands of years ago build structures so massive that we’re still standing around staring at them today?

What did the ancient Egyptians truly believe happened after death?

What secrets are still buried underneath all that sand?

And, perhaps most importantly…

Are we completely sure aliens weren’t involved?

I’m kidding.

Okay – not really.

Welcome to the other country sitting firmly at the top of my bucket list: Egypt.

I’ve Always Been Fascinated by Ancient Egypt

There’s something about ancient civilizations that makes my imagination go wild.

These weren’t fictional worlds created for movies.

They were real.

People actually stood beside the Nile thousands of years ago. Pharaohs ruled kingdoms. Massive temples were built. Tombs were filled with treasures. Hieroglyphics covered walls with stories that people wouldn’t fully understand again for centuries.

And somehow, pieces of that world are still standing.

That’s incredible to me.

I don’t think I could stand in front of the Great Pyramid of Giza without having one of those moments where everything around me went quiet.

I’d probably just stare at it thinking:

People actually built this.

Not last century.

Not a few hundred years ago.

Thousands of years ago.

My brain has trouble processing that.

And Then There Are the Pyramids…

Obviously, the pyramids would be near the very top of my list.

I’ve seen them in documentaries.

I’ve watched shows about them.

I’ve read theories about them.

But seeing something on television and physically standing beside it are two completely different things.

I want to experience that feeling of being ridiculously tiny next to something that has survived thousands of years of human history.

And naturally, I’d immediately start thinking about every documentary I’ve ever watched.

How did they move everything?

How did they organize something on that scale?

What techniques did they use?

How much knowledge has been lost over thousands of years?

And this is where things start getting fun.

Okay…Let’s Talk About the Aliens

Listen.

Do I actually believe extraterrestrials flew down, built the pyramids and then took off?

Maybe.

But will I happily watch an entire documentary suggesting that possibility?

Absolutely.

Ancient Aliens is exactly the kind of rabbit hole I can disappear into.

Give me strange carvings, unexplained engineering, astronomical alignments, ancient legends and one dramatic narrator asking whether something could possibly have come from another world…

I’m listening.

I love theories.

I love mysteries.

I love hearing something completely outrageous and then thinking, Okay, that’s ridiculous…but wait.

That’s half the fun.

I don’t necessarily need every mystery to have an answer.

Sometimes wondering is the best part.

The Tombs Might Fascinate Me Even More

Of course, my slightly darker interests would eventually take over.

Because we’re talking about a civilization that developed incredibly elaborate rituals surrounding death and the afterlife.

Mummification.

Tombs.

Burial chambers.

Treasures intended for another world.

The Book of the Dead.

Entire belief systems built around what happened after someone took their final breath.

How could I not be fascinated?

I’d want to learn everything.

I’d want to see the tombs in the Valley of the Kings, stare at hieroglyphics carved into walls and hear the stories of the people buried there.

And yes, I would probably be the person quietly wondering whether any of these places are haunted.

You can take me to one of the most historically significant archaeological sites on Earth, and apparently part of my brain will still be going:

But has anyone investigated this place for ghosts?

I am who I am.

I Want to See the Nile

There’s something else about Egypt that captures my imagination, though.

The Nile.

I would love to experience that quieter side of the trip too.

After days of pyramids, temples, tombs and filling my brain with ancient mysteries, I imagine sitting somewhere overlooking the Nile as the sun starts going down.

For thousands of years, people have looked at that same river.

Civilizations grew around it.

People depended on it.

Families lived beside it.

History unfolded along its banks.

And somehow, it’s still flowing.

There’s something almost magical about that.

Egypt Feels Like One Giant Mystery

Maybe that’s why I want to go so badly.

Egypt isn’t just somewhere I want to photograph.

It’s somewhere I want to experience.

I want to stand in places I’ve only seen on television.

I want to hear the history while physically looking at the places where it happened.

I want to walk through temples.

I want to see hieroglyphics.

I want to learn about pharaohs and gods and burial rituals.

I want the beautiful stories.

I want the creepy stories.

I want the mysteries historians have solved.

And I definitely want to hear about the ones they haven’t.

Because those are usually my favorite.

Maybe I’ll Come Home With More Questions Than Answers

Actually, I hope I do.

There’s something wonderful about visiting a place that reminds you just how much history existed before you—and how much we may never completely understand.

Egypt has thousands of years of stories buried beneath its sand.

Some have been uncovered.

Some are still being discovered.

And others may remain mysteries forever.

That’s exactly what draws me to it.

So yes, Italy may have my wine-loving, pasta-eating, catacomb-exploring heart.

But Egypt?

Egypt has the part of my brain that looks at a 4,500-year-old pyramid and immediately says, “Okay…but HOW?”

And I desperately want to go find out.

Or at least come home with several new theories.