OUR EGYPT TRIP – November 30 – December 15
Day One
I was picked up by the limo at 9:30 am Friday after very little sleep the entire week, trying to get ready to leave after being gone until 3:00 am Monday morning. I was hoping I had remembered everything as it is always a challenge to pack for a trip to another country! I was upgraded to first class from Tampa to JFK where I met Barbara Sadek, the Manager of Education for the Society for Human Resource Management, who has become a dear friend since I have been speaking at their national conference since 1997. We had to get to another terminal and then go through security again since we were on Air Egypt-all was very confusing. However, we finally met at the gate with just enough time to spare to get a quick glass of wine, knowing from our reading that most people do not drink in Egypt because of their beliefs in Islam.
We were on the plane nearly 11 hours with dinner and breakfast being served. We did not sleep much so were ready for a nap when we finally arrived at our hotel in Cairo. We had the most wonderful experience with the men from Emeco Travel who met us right after we got off the plane, led us through customs, got our Visas for us, then loaded all our luggage and took us to the hotel. We are definitely being spoiled for traveling alone again!
We decided we wanted to stay the first two nights at a hotel at the airport since we had a 7:00 am flight on the 3rd to Luxor. It was a Movenpick and adequate but not elegant.
After a nap, we met my contact, Mohamed Amin from the American Chamber of Commerce, for a lovely buffet dinner at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. His driver picked us up at 6:30, and we were amazed by the traffic even at that hour of the night. The hotel was absolutely gorgeous, right on the Nile, and we will stay there 5 nights next week. We could see the Sofitel, the Four Seasons, and all the other beautiful hotels all lit up, and we are most excited because it is attached to an exclusive shopping mall! 😉
Day Two – The Egyptian Museum
We met our guide, Russia, and Shadee, our “project manager” from EMECO at 9:00 to go to the Egyptian Museum. The traffic was crazy even on a Sunday which there is a work day-cars cutting into lanes, people walking in front of the cars, yet we were very impressed with the city itself. It is a beautiful city. The contrasts between the ancient (Coptic Cairo and Islamic Cairo) and the modern is intriguing.
Outside the museum were two gardens, one with Papyrus signifying Lower Egypt and another with Lotus Flowers representing Upper Egypt. The first thing we saw inside the museum was the Palette of Narmer from 3100 BC, wearing the crown of Upper Egypt. Then we saw the false Rosetta Stone (the original is in the British Museum).
Russia explained that Upper Egypt is really the southern part because the Nile flows from south to north, the only river in the world to do that. Then, Lower Egypt is really the northern part of the country. The Nile is the longest river in the world and the center of Egyptian civilization.
We saw a life-sized statue of an ancient king, and we were amazed at how tiny the people were then. Russia shared the three main periods of ancient Egyptian history – the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom, and the New Kingdom which began with the 18th Dynasty
. In the older dynasties the kings were depicted as perfect human beings because they were considered representatives of the gods. In later years, the kings were portrayed realistically. In fact one of them had big ears and a big belly, NOT a candidate for our “Hot Men of Egypt” calendar! 😉
The Pharaohs were always represented with a false beard, straight if they were alive and curled if they were dead. Boys under the age of 12 had a side lock of hair which hung down. When they passed puberty, this lock was shaved. Queen Hatshepsut liked to depict herself as a man with this false beard. This reminds us of a current presidential candidate!
Then we saw the Triad of the ancient gods, Amun-Ra, Mut, and Khonsu. One of the most amazing pieces was a statue of a priest made of wood that was nearly perfect, and his eyes appeared so real that you felt he was looking at you! Another statue of a Scribe had bloodshot eyes to show that he did more reading than writing. The detail of the work from thousands of years ago was extraordinary.
It was interesting that Akhenaten, the father of Tutankhamun, was the first one to believe in a single god, and as a result, was considered a heretic. During his reign, he tried to destroy all the atatues of the other gods. What intrigued us most was his focus on family, the first one to depict his wife and children (all daughters) playing together.
The highlights of the museum were the Tutankhamen exhibit and the mummy room. One of the things which really bothered us was a young Asian man taking pictures in the King Tut exhibit which was forbidden. We told the guard, but he was able to sneak away into the museum. We were amazed at the quality of many of the mummies, although it was a bit spooky to think that these were real people and all of us were staring at them thousands of years later. In some the fingers and toes were in perfect condition and some even still had hair. Ramses II had unusual copper colored hair derived from ochre and another woman had a pet baboon which was mummified with her. In another room we saw all the mummified animals including a nearly perfect dog, monkeys, cats, crocodiles, and birds.
At lunch we noticed all the men smoking Sheesha, a kind of tobacco that is smoked through a long tube (a water pipe) from a decorated container. We have seen these all over Egypt, and one observation is that only the men go to the coffee houses, something we would definitely change if we lived here!
The end of our day was jewelry shopping for Christmas gifts. We found a place that makes silver cartouches, the symbol for eternal protection, with gold letters in the hieroglyphics of the person’s name. Of course, we spent a lot of money! Both Barbara and I bought gold scarab rings, the symbol of regeneration and new life (we hope a prophecy for us both!)
Day Three – Luxor and Karnak
Today we had to get up at 4:30 am to meet the Emeco folks at 5:30 to go to the airport. It was wonderful to have someone take our bags and help us get our boarding passes as the airport was filled with people and very confusing. There was little security and everyone just waited in one big room. When we got onboard, however, we were very impressed with EgyptAir. The attendants were lovely, and the plane was clean and seemed new. There were even massage buttons on each seat! We were in Business Class for these short flights as there were no seats left in economy by the time we made our reservations. They served a continental breakfast on a one hour flight which never would have happened in the US!
We got a taxi to the Sonesta Hotel in Luxor, and that proved to be another learning experience. A very (we thought) nice man helped us with our bags, told us the price of a taxi into the city, and walked us out to a waiting car. Only then did we discover that he wanted money — $20 Egyptian dollars for “helping” us while our ten minute taxi ride was only $50 E. When we arrived at the hotel, we found that we should go directly to the boat, so we took another taxi and got there about 11:00, unpacked, and were ready for our first lunch at 12:00.
Our boat is the Sonesta St. George, old but adequate and a bit gaudy in the decor. We laughed when we learned that the food and beverage man is named “Mr. Maggott!” We were met with a glass of hibiscus juice and informed that we were being upgraded to the top deck. Our tour guide is Moates, who calls us all “habibi,” meaning “dear one.” He is an Egyptologist and is about 30 years old and is the first of our hot men.
Luxor was delightful! We would both like to come back again and explore this village which seems as if we have stepped right back into Biblical times. It was founded in 1500 BC but was called Thebes, which then was the capital of Egypt. We saw women carrying bundles on their heads, many donkey carts with sugar cane, people riding donkeys, and everyone dressed in galabiyyas (men’s long robes) and turbans.
The first temple we saw was the Luxor Temple. The entrance was flanked by two huge statues of Ramses II, each made out of only one single block of limestone. A road lined with sphinxes, half man and half lion, joined the entrance from Luxor Temple to Karnak, 3 kilometers to the north, though only about 100 remain. The obelisk in front, also made of a single block of granite and was one of a pair. The other resides at the Place de la Concorde in Paris. The French were the first ones to realize the value of these antiquities and were responsible for starting the restoration of many of them.
On one of the walls of drawings there was a man with a HUGE penis, representing the god of fertility. Below him was the lotus flower, and our guide told us that it was more powerful than Viagra. They sure knew how to live well in those ancient days!
Karnak is the largest temple in the world. It was started in the 11th dynasty, but Ramses II who did much of the later building was represented at the entrance in three ways – the scarab for morning (rebirth), a human at noon (real life), and a ram in the evening (symbol of power). It is known for how each of the Pharaohs added to it, trying to show their power, over the years.
The Hypostyle center had 134 columns, the largest ever created. Originally the temple was covered, so one can imagine how dark it must have been with these gigantic columns lined up one by one. The carvings on them were extraordinary, and our guide told us that they erected the column first and THEN did the carving, hundreds of feet in the air. To create some light they built something similar to windows at the very top along the edge. The top of each column was the lotus flower. In other places the column tops were the papyrus bud.
The obelisk near the center is the largest in the world and was made of a single piece of marble. The guide mentioned that there were a number of other obelisks in the world, many of which Barb had seen. Another interesting thing was that the Christians began to use the temple for a while during the height of the Coptic Christian period. They took two statues of Ramses and took them apart to form a huge cross which is still there today. Barbara and I each had our picture taken sitting on the sacrificial altar in the holy of holies chamber-an important message to our children!
One of the fun things was a huge statue of a Scarab on a pedestal. The belief is that if you walk around it three times, your wish will come true. Barb and I walked around it five times, just to be sure! 😉 It was on the banks of the Sacred Lake where priests purified themselves before performing rituals in the temple.
We have been so impressed with the quality of their civilization-how advanced they were in science (we still use many of the instruments they invented today!), the sophistication of the mummification process, their absolutely incredible architecture (it is mind-boggling to think that they created temples of this size without ANY of the equipment we have today), and the artistic abilities, including creating colors that are still brilliant and vivid after thousands of years. We have often wondered what might have happened in our world if Anthony and Cleopatra had defeated Octavian (Augustus Caesar), and the Egyptians would have the ruled the known world. Perhaps instead of war we would be focused on science, architecture, and the arts!
Day Four – Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut’s Temple, and Valley of the Queens
It nearly killed us to get a wake-up call at 4:45 and to leave at 5:45, but as the morning progressed, we realized it was absolutely worth it! We arrived at the Valley of the Kings, which completely surprised us both. All of a sudden in the middle of the desert there were mountains! As we drove near, we saw a number of hot air balloons above the valley, just as the sun was rising – such a lovely sight. We were both deeply touched by the spirit of this place – there are 62 tombs, 11 of which you can visit. Yesterday we spent at the East Bank which housed the temples of the living (the sun rising), and today we are exploring the West Bank, which represented the Afterlife because that was where the sun set.
It is interesting that the Egyptian people developed their very important beliefs about the afterlife by watching the sun rise and set every day, always constant – first life and then death each day. Then that was reinforced as they thought of seeds which germinate and bring life, then the plants die, only to grow once again. Their ideas of the afterlife included believing that the person must go on a journey from this life to the next, and the tombs were to help them have a good life in the hereafter.
Each tomb had false doors so that the soul of the deceased could come and go as it pleased. They also had a Ra and a Ba, exact replicas of themselves so the soul could find them again. All the other paintings in the tombs were general depictions. The journey represented the 12 hours to get to the second life, and these stories of how the gods helped were painted on all the walls of the tombs. It was AMAZING to see the vividness of the colors of these creations, many of which were over 3500 years old. They used natural stones such as ochre, lapis, hematite, mixed with water and egg white. They were the only civilization to be able to produce the blue color.
Mummification developed over many years. They found that by taking out the organs and placing them in sacred jars, the body could be preserved much longer. It is interesting that they did not remove the heart as they believed it was the seat of the soul, and it could be mummified because it was a muscle. After the person died, their heart and the feather of the goddess were weighed. IF the feather were heavier, the person was a good person, but if the heart were heavier, then he was bad and would suffer in the afterlife. The mummification process took 70 days. The tombs of the Pharaohs were started the day they took office, while those of the queens or other nobles were not started until the day they died, and then had to be finished within that 70 days, so many of the tombs in the Valley of the Queens were unfinished. The ones that were were spectacular, however, and amazing to think that they were built in 70 days!
The first tomb we saw was Ramses IX. It is known for the huge sarcophagus in the burial chamber. Grave robbers tired to open it but never could because of the size. We touched it and got into trouble with the muslim guard! This was our first experience with the tombs and we were blown away by the quality of the paintings and color after nearly 3000 years.
The second one was the tomb of Ramses III. It was huge and again covered with pictures depicting the journey to the afterlife and hieroglyphics in still amazingly bright colors. Toward the end of the trip, a muslim man in turban and long caftan, came up to us and began to point out interesting things in the pictures, like a scene with all the heads of the enemies that Ramses had cut off. We were intrigued until he reached in his pocket and jingled money, then held out his hand, expecting us to pay him. We just said, “No money!” and walked away. He took it with a smile. However, outside the tombs was another story. I had wanted to buy a book about the Valley of the Kings, and the “vendor” started with a price of 100 Egyptian pounds ($25 US) and finally I got it for $5…however, the minute the other hawkers around saw that I bought something, I was hounded for the rest of the time there. I had to be rescued by an electrician from Scotland who was on our tour!
The third tomb was unfinished because the Pharaoh died unexpectedly. I asked the guide if the king ever saw his own tomb. He said absolutely not, that it was horrible bad luck to go into one’s own tomb. We wished our guide had come in with us to explain many of the drawings, all depicting the journey the king had to take to get to the afterlife. In these pictures, we saw many falcons, scarabs, snakes, jackals (god of the underworld) and pictures of the Nubians who were their enemies. All of them were depicted in a boat, making the journey, surrounded by the help of various gods and goddesses. Also, there were hundreds of servants pictured to take care of them in their new life.
It is interesting that whenever you go to the restroom, you must pay and then they give you a tiny wad of toilet paper. Since I have not had any Egyptian money (they accept US everywhere), I only had single dollars, so it costs me $1 every time I have to go! 😉
We have noticed how few Americans are on this cruise – mostly Europeans and Asians. In our group are some lovely people – a couple from New Zealand who are on sabbatical, a couple from Scotland, both of whom are in positions related to the environment, a couple and daughter from England, the mother in psycho-social work and the daughter getting a degree in business (it was interesting that her focus is “Customer Care,” so we have had some interesting conversations!), another very fun couple from England, and electrician and a will writer (he talks so fast neither Barbara nor I can understand him!), and one older couple from Washington, D.C.
Day Five – Edfu Temple
This was finally our first day to sleep in after far too many early mornings! Breakfast was until 10:30, and Barb and I both woke up about 10:00. We spent the morning working on this journal while cruising, and then I had a massage and facial (interesting experience…). We also discovered WONDERFUL t-shirts that could be customized with a person’s name on an embroidered cartouche, so we did all our Christmas shopping!
This became a rather discouraging day as we did not go out until late afternoon. We were waiting for the ship to be able to go through the locks, and it took finally almost 36 hours of waiting. Only two ships can go through at a time, and each one takes 1 ½ hours. There were dozens of ships waiting, so it was nearly impossible to go anywhere. Finally, they let us off the ship to meet it after it went through the locks. We left for Edfu Temple which, as a result of not being on the other side of the locks, took 1 ½ hours on the bus to reach. By the time we got there, it was too dark to take any pictures which was discouraging although it was interesting to see the temple lighted at night. When we finally left at 8:30, the ship was STILL not through the locks, so we sat in the bus and did not get back for dinner until after 10:30 pm. Everyone was starved and upset because it was such a lack of communication between the guides and ship. However, during our waiting time Barb and I each bought a belly dancing costume at the temple (black for me and turquoise for her), so we had lots of fun and laughs doing that. The vendors were very obnoxious, yet we really wanted our purchase. However, we paid too much and had to leave immediately as every other vendor around saw us as gullible marks!
While waiting on the bus, we had another experience. As I mentioned earlier, the hawkers hound the ship, pulling up in their small boats and yell, “HALLO!” and throw goods on board. Then if people want them, they negotiate and throw the money or the goods back over the rail onto the boat. The same thing happened when the bus was stopped. One man had an Egyptian tablecloth that I liked, so I opened my window and he handed it in for me to look at. He started with $15 US, and I finally got it for $7. Then his buddy had an Egyptian dress that he started at $20 US and finally just as the bus was pulling out, said $1. I handed out the dollar and then he ran as the bus left, leaving me with NO dress! So I learned a valuable lesson-get the merchandise first and then give the money. However, considering it was $1 to go the bathroom, this was a cheap lesson, and I am sure the vendors got a huge laugh out of cheating the rich American!
The temple was amazing – each experience seemed more impressive than the last. This was the second to the largest temple in Egypt and was made up of many small rooms, corridors, and crannies-a great place to play hide and seek. The first room had 32 columns, representing 30 priests, one high priest, and one king. This was open to the general public to bring offerings to the god, Horus. This temple was built to honor his avenging the god, Seth, who murdered his father, Osiris. Outside the temple were two huge statues of Horus, represented as a bird.
The next room had a roof and 18 columns, so only 18 priests could enter. The next room had 12 columns, so it was restricted to 12 priests. The inner chamber contained the golden barque (now in the Louvre) which was used to carry the statue of Horus out of the temple in procession for festivals. It also contained the altar and only the high priest and the king could enter.
One of the side rooms was the laboratory where they made medicines and perfumes. In this room was a cartouche with Cleopatra’s name. We’ve been disappointed that there is almost nothing about Cleopatra since we have both been reading “The Memoirs of Cleopatra” by Margaret George. Most of what she has written seems to be more fiction than reality!
Toward the end of the evening a man took us down some steps in a side corridor to show us a secret passage where one could see the Nile River. Perhaps the priests used this for purification or maybe even as an escape route. The guide mentioned that when the Christians were being persecuted, they often hid in these temples and defaced many of the carvings as well as burning the ceiling of the temple in one section.
One of the dishes at our late night dinner was Kofta, a sort of ground sausage that looks exactly like dog poop. I took a picture for Gavin! Another favorite is Om Ali, a DELICIOUS pudding made with coconut, cream, hazels nuts, and spices. We have been impressed by the food so far and no one we know has gotten sick, although we have been careful and have missed our salads!
Day Six-Kom Ombo Temple, the unfinished Obelisk, Aswan Dam, Philae Temple, and a felucca ride
Today was another very early day, especially after our forced late night last night. However, the walk to the temple felt good, and it was another amazing sight. This temple was completely buried in sand yett is the most well-preserved of all the temples. It is the only one dedicated to two gods, Horus the elder (the falcon god) and Sobeck, the crocodile god of fertility. It was rebuilt twice, in 1400 BC and again by the Greeks in about 184 BC. Each of the columns had different tops which was a part of the Greek architecture.
The temple is famous for the mummified crocodiles, and the guide shared that the bites of scorpions and snakes could be cured by the crocodile skin and also the fat was used as a fertility remedy and even functioned like Viagra! One of the carvings was of women using the birthing chair and included all the medical instruments they created, many of which we are still using today such as forceps, injections,and dental pliers. We have been awed by the quality of their medical knowledge so many thousands of years ago. In some ways the medical profession seems to have not made a lot of progress.
There was a deep well called the Nile-ometer which measured the water level. During the Pharaonic times, the people brought offerings, but interestingly, the Greeks changed that to taxes. The amount of these offerings or taxes was required depending on the water level-if it was high and there were more crops, more was expected. If low, taxes were less.
It was also interesting to see the carvings representing the calendar which consisted of three seasons – drought, planting and harvest, and these changed every year. The year was divided into 4 months each, with each week having 10 days, totaling 360. The extra 5 days were used for festivals, so it is amazing that their calendar consisted of the same number of days as our current one.
To be continued….
Day Seven – Flight from Aswan to Cairo
We had another early morning – up at 6:00, taxi at 7:00. However, we are learning that “Egyptian time” is not quite the same as real time! Our taxi was an experience – the passenger door on one side would not open and Barb had to hold onto the seat on her side because the door on that side would not close. The seat was so narrow that even I had to sit sideways, and though ramshackle, the inside of the cab was all covered with a matching navy and gold middle eastern pattern.
The security at the airport was amazing, probably because of the recent terrorist attacks as well as the critical importance of the dam to this whole country. At the first stop about half a mile away, the driver had to relinquish two different IDs and then pay a small tax to enter. At the next checkpoint, he had to give up another form of ID, all to be picked up on his departure. When we got to the terminal, we were met by men in blue and yellow uniforms who nearly fought over taking our bags. We tipped them. Then when the bags were inside the airport building, another crew took over until we got through security, and we had to tip them. After that another man took the bags to the check-in station and he wanted a tip, and finally, the man who put the tags on the bags asked for another tip – all in all, it cost us $10 in singles to get our bags on the plane (we hope!) Working here must be a plumb job! We laughed at the signs at security. Some of the prohibited items listed were “spears, spiral devices for removing corks from bottles, instruments for killing cattle, and shot guns”-not exactly comforting for foreign travelers! We also have noticed that you do not have to take off shoes, take computers out, or show pouches of liquids. We have both been really bothered by the smoke everywhere – a good thing to remember for future is to ask if there are non-smoking cruises.
