Custom cartouche necklaces. The most common souvenir in Egypt. You’ll find hotels, your Nile cruise ship, and numerous shops selling these to you. They also take 24-48 hours to make and return. The first step is deciding what it should say. For me my first name is too boring, so I decided to go with initials (yes…I have that many middle names…). After that you’ll choose the cartouche (you’ll see tons of styles), what metal the cartouche and the letters should be. (Its hard to tell but the cartouche is silver, while the letters are gold.) And you can also choose if you want the background “antiqued” (aka filled in with black). And then of course you’ll need a chain. All of these options will up the price. I remember seeing these sold out of kiosks in museums around the world…and the prices are about the same. But there is something about getting your own cartouche in Egypt.

Souvenir Saturday is an every-other week series on the items that represent travel memories.