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-what a contrast it was.
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.
It was so WONDERFUl to be met at the airport by the Emeco men and not having to worry about anything, including getting registered at the hotel. Shadee took us to the Executive Lounge on the 30th floor where we could see the pyramids in the distance and finally connect to email. After a lovely lunch, we walked around the attached mall and especially noticed that most of the shops contained men’s clothing, something peculiar to this culture and probably a good thing as our suitcases are already overflowing. At this writing we are still debating going to the Cairo Film Festival to see “The Last Kiss” with Blythe Danner and Casey Affleck, so we will report in the morning on our decision.
Day Eight – Coptic Cairo
After drinking several glasses of wine in the Executive Lounge at the Grand Hyatt, we both got re-energized and decided to go to the movie after all. We got there in the middle of the movie, anticipating that we would see the beginning during the next screening (what we saw was wonderful.). At the end of the movie we stayed in our seats waiting for the second show to start as we had been told it would start at 9:00. They practically had to drag us out of the theater because we did not believe them when they said we’d been in the last showing. What we finally discovered was that we had been having so much fun in the lounge that we got our times all mixed up, and we had gotten there an hour late! On the way back to our room, we heard exotic flute music on the stairs above us and discovered there was a Moslem wedding party in progress. We watched the joyful celebration as the bride, groom, and all the guests sang and danced to the beat of the music. It was the perfect end to a lovely day.
Two things we have neglected to share so far are our love for Stella, our favorite Egyptian beer, and the absolutely stunning panoramic view of city center Cairo and the Nile River from our 29th floor balcony. We have both stayed in some wonderful hotels all over the world, but this view beats them all!
Today we met Rasha and Shadee at 9:00 for a Coptic Christian tour. This area contains the oldest church, synagogue, and mosque in the world! The term “coptic” was derived from the word “kemet” which described the black silt left when the Nile flooded. That word then became “kept” and finally evolved to “Copt.” The Egyptians who converted to Christianity were deeply persecuted and many were martyred. As a result, all their churches looked like houses on the outside in order to keep them secret. In 641 AD Islam came to Egypt, and at this point, the Christians became free to worship as they pleased. Today most of Egypt is Moslem.
The first Coptic church we visited was St. Sergius which owes its reputation to the belief that the holy family took shelter in a cave on this spot during their flight into Egypt. One of the fascinating things in this church was the continuous cross, a circle with crosses that kept intersecting all the way around, as well as the twelve columns around the altar representing the 12 apostles. Interestingly, only one of these columns was black, representing Judas, of course.
The second place we visited was the Ben Ezra Synagogue. They believe that Moses was found as a baby in the bulrushes by the Pharaoh’s wife on a branch of the Nile River very near there. They are still debating on which Pharaoh it was. Unfortunately, most of the Jews fled Egypt when Israel became a state, so today there are only 2 -3000 Jews in the country. Our next stop was the Coptic Museum which was a beautifully designed building, relatively new to house many of the scrolls and carved capitals from ruins of monasteries and other Christian places of worship. The oldest book in the world can be seen there. Then we saw the Hanging Church, so named because it was built on top of the Watergate of the old Roman fortress of Babylon. In both churches the ceiling was built like Noah’s Ark to signify God saving us.
Knowing we are inveterate shoppers, Rasha took us first to a Papyrus factory where we observed the process of making paper from the papyrus plant and then to a Perfumerie where we experienced a number of different oils. We continue to find wonderful Christmas presents! 😉 I bought Lotus oil and Barb bought Nefertiti.
The highlight of the day was a drive through ”Garbage City”, a place that words cannot adequately describe. In the early 1960’s Nasser required all the garbage collectors to live in one part of the city. Today 47,000 people live here, and 95% of them are Christians. Everywhere you looked there were huge bags and piles of garbage, even spilling over into the entrances to the hovels where people live, many of which had crosses painted on the doors. Children, flies, dogs everywhere, and rundown trucks overflowing with garbage cluttered the one lane narrow streets. One took one’s life in his hands to drive down these roads with horns blowing, people shouting, gangs of men roaming the streets, and smells you could not believe! We certainly would never want to eat anything here, let alone walk on the street, and were glad we had a granola bar in our bag. Our guide mentioned that many of the people here were quite well off, even though they live in the midst of the worst slum conditions we have ever seen. We saw people everywhere sorting through the garbage, dirty children running all over, and the filth was simply overwhelming. You really had to see it to believe it!
The most wonderful surprise was coming around the bend into a huge area dynamited into Mokattam Mountain which contained two huge churches, one of which had an outdoor amphitheatre which seats 20,000, and the other built underground. The cliffs outside the church contained amazing bas relief sculptures of Scriptures and scenes from the Bible, all created by a Polish man who is still working there. The inside of the church, called St. Simon, the Shoemaker, had many more sculptures including one of the Virgin Mary on the ceiling which they say was already there, a miracle because no one sculpted it! An older man insisted on taking us on a guided tour, and we were tickled at the pride he had in these places.
We were told that the people wanted to build these churches into the mountain, and the government would not give them permission. However, they began the blasting anyway in 1974, and finally the government relented and other groups, including Mother Teresa, donated money to help create the awesome structure we saw today. Mother Teresa became involved because the people in Garbage City, though believers, had no education in the Christian faith, so she helped raise funds to educate and provide them a place to worship. It was one of the most amazing sights we have seen, even though it is a modern structure and unpublicized in any of our travel books, probably because it is so inaccessible. The most special thing about it was after going through the squalor of Garbage City to then, at the end, find the hope of this beautiful place-an interesting juxtaposition and one that must meaning or purpose to such a pitiful existence!
Day Nine – My Presentation for the American Chamber of Commerce
This was the BIG DAY – the reason I came to Egypt! I got up at 5:30 am, took a cab at 7:00 to the Intercontinental Hotel where the conference was taking place and arrived at 7:30, only to find that no one was there. After waiting about an hour, finally some AmCham staff came and informed me that the presentation was starting at 10:00, not 9:00 as Mohamed had told me. (I could have slept another 1 ½ hours!!!!) It was especially fun walking into the hotel because there was my picture as large as a normal door, advertising the workshop. They had 190 attendees and even had to turn people away the last week because the room was at capacity which thrilled me.
I began by saying “Ahalon” meaning “Welome”in Arabic and then “Ana Bohep Belladic” (phonetic spellings mine!) which means “I love your country.” Of course, that won them over quickly. It was a very mixed group with about 100 different companies represented-about evenly mixed between men and women, some veiled, some with scarves, and some in traditional dress. They loved the stories, the interaction, and my openness with them, and not a single person left from 10:00 to 6:00 which said the most about the success of the program. Mohamed’s staff told me later that I was the “star”, had the highest evaluations of anyone, and the largest number of attendees they had ever had. EgyptAir attended an AmCham session for the very first time just to hear me! He asked me if I would be willing to come back next year, and of course, after this wonderful experience with Egypt, I would be delighted to return.
Afterwards, many of them stayed to thank me, give me a hug or shake my hand. Mohamed said they had never heard such a warm and caring speaker but also one with so many ideas. Unfortunately, he forgot to bring all my books over, so I did not have postcards or books to show them. However, they did have a handout with my contact information, and many of them left cards to get on my mailing list. EgyptAir, Coca-cola, and the National Bank all asked me about coming back and speaking to their employees, so the day was a wonderful success. I finally returned to the room at 7:30, a long, long day, but a blessed one. Barb and I went to the revolving restaurant on the top of the Hyatt to celebrate.
Day Ten – Our flight to Sharm El Sheikh, drive to St. Catherine’s Monastery and Mt. Sinai, our first camel ride, and a night at Wadi ELRaha
Our day got off to not such a good start when we got up at 5:30 and our diver and guide were about 20 minutes late. That meant we could have had breakfast instead of rushing down to meet them! However, we got to the airport in time and the flight went smoothly. We were met at Sharm by Gerigis, our guide here for two days, Mohamed, our driver, and a security guard with a gun which gave us a bit of a start. We noticed much tighter security at this airport than anywhere else in Egypt, and we went through many military checkpoints on our drive north today, even one that was part of the peacekeeping force created by the Camp David agreement.
Since we missed breakfast, Gergis took us to Shark Bay, a wonderful spot for for diving and snorkeling, for an outdoor breakfast (VERY expensive!) and then we stopped to see the Four Seasons Hotel which was gorgeous and $450 a night! However, very romantic… Gergis is a Christian and a WONDERFUL storyteller and extremely sensitive to our needs, the best guide we have had so far. He lives far away from his family and is only able to go home one week a month. He has a 7 month old daughter named Sarah, and his wife is a teacher. We are thoroughly enjoying him, a very sweet and knowledgable man.
Gergis explained the geography of the Gulf of Aqaba and the various sections of the Sinai Peninsula. The peninsula is bordered on the east by the Gulf of Aqaba and on the west by the Gulf of Suez. It is amazing to think that we are in the exact land where Moses received the Ten Commandments and where the Israelites wandered for forty years before coming into the Promised Land. The area is inhabited by many Bedouins who live in small, very primitive villages, many without running water or electricity. They do not allow their children to intermarry even with Egyptians as they want to keep their race pure. No longer Nomadic, many of them make their living through tourism, leading rides into the desert and up the mountains. We took pictures of some of their children as we wandered through the little village near our hotel today. One anachronism was that in the midst of the simplest shacks (sometimes nearly hovels) with their laundry hanging out the windows and their camels in front, there would often be satellite dishes, I guess a sign of our modern times.
We arrived at our hotel in the early afternoon after a two and a half hour drive through the winding roads of the mountains. Wadi El Raha, the name of the hotel, means “Valley of Rest.” Each “room” is a small house built of stone, much like the desert homes of the Bedouins. It is quaint and unpretentious, a refreshing change, though we have also enjoyed the luxury of the Grand Hyatt! We only have two towels, but we are grateful for two window heaters which we desperately need because it is so cold up here in the mountains. We have decided not to make the 1:00 am climb up the mountain because we just do not have warm enough clothes. Also the last 750 steps made us think twice! 😉
There are three ways to climb the mountain, camel being the preferable way! One way is for serious trekkers and takes 3 ½ hours. Another way takes about 2 ½ hours, and the third involves riding a camel part way and climbing the last very steep 750 steps. Most people do it to see the sunset and others have a 1:00 am wakeup call so they can see the sun rise. Maybe we’ll do it on our next trip…and of course, now we know the proper gear to bring.
The most fun of the day was when we each got to ride a camel, Abdul and King. It was amazingly comfortable, and we decided we could do that even for a couple of hours if we had to. The hardest thing was getting off and on! The young men who own the camels are definitely candidates for our calendar. 😉
Afterwards, we had tea in a little shop near our hotel, and Gergis told us the story of Moses and how he came to this land. It really was a “Cliff’s Notes” version of the Old Testament. Both Barb and I want to spend time reading the Chronological Bible now that we have been in this land of our Fathers. The most interesting thing was that St. Mark was the first one to bring Christianity to Egypt, and because he walked so many miles, he completely wore out his sandals. When he arrived in Egypt, he found a shoemaker named Simon who made him new sandals. During the process, Mark told him about Jesus, and Simon was the first Christian convert, which then made sense to us that the church in Cairo was named “St. Simon, the Shoemaker.” So many Bible stories came together in a whole new way on this trip.
Day Eleven – St. Catherine’s Monastery, Bedouin crafts, Dahab, and our arrival at the Mena House back in Cairo
In the morning we met Gergis and drove to St. Catherine’s Monastery which was founded in 300 AD. It is in a beautiful setting in the mountains. It’s interesting that Moses came twice to this area, once as a teenager when he encountered the burning bush, and then again later when he received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. The monastery was built around Moses’ well, where he met the seven women as recorded in the Bible, and the burning bush, which we could still see today. It felt amazing to be walking exactly where Moses walked thousands of years ago!
The monastery was named after St. Catherine, a young noble woman who became a Christian and was martyred at the age of 18. Her coffin is in the holiest part of the church. In another part of the monastery, there was a small room with a huge pile of skulls of other martyrs. On the wall across were the bones of the deceased monks and bishops of the monastery – a rather creepy place!
The library of St. Catherine’s is second only to the Vatican in the number of ancient texts it contains. We heard the disgusting story of how one of the oldest books ever found, the Sinaistic Codex, was loaned to a German scholar who lied to the monks and sold it to the Russians. The British Museum bought it from the Russians, and to this day, the monks are trying to get it returned to its rightful place in St. Catherine’s.
Afterwards we went to a little Bedouin hut to see their wares. A local Bedouin woman has set up this shop called Fansina Crafts which employs more then 200 local tribeswomen who handcraft lovely beaded purses. We bought several and would have bought many more if they had taken credit cards, but we were both low on Egyptian cash. The work was breathtaking and could be marketed in any of the fancy department stores in the states for ten times the prices they charged.
Our drive back through the desert was gorgeous – huge mountains, sand dunes, small Bedouin huts and many camels. We could only think of Moses and the Israelites wandering in this desert for 40 years.
We made a quick stop in Dahab to see the beach area and to have a fast lunch. We have especially enjoyed the Egyptian bread, hummous, and Tahini as well as our ritual Stella beers! Barb and I both stuck our feet in the Red Sea, and we could see Saudi Arabia just ten miles across the Gulf of Aquaba. The young girls there were the most obnoxious so far. When Barb gave them a couple of nickels to get them off our backs, their response was that they wanted English money! We saw a sign on the beach that said “No camels or horses” and another building with “Al Capone” in huge letters which made us smile.
Our experience with toilets has been less than happy – there seems to be a shortage of toilet paper throughout Egypt, and never are there any towels and rarely soap. We have learned to be grateful if the toilet flushes!
In one and a half days we flew from Africa to Asia and then the next day from Asia back to Africa-continent to continent in 36 hours! The traffic from the airport to the Mena House where we were staying was abominable, and most of the road was filled with piles of dirt and stones, huge potholes, and often one lane traffic because of the construction. We laughed at the young men selling flashing light Santa hats and the ugliest masks of Santa we had ever seen. We were appalled at the conditions in Giza-the first part of Cairo which we have not enjoyed.
The Mena House, an Oberoy property, however, is gorgeous and our room has a view of the top of the Great Pyramid. It is an old, old hotel, reputed to be one of King Farouk’s palaces, and the woodwork and alabaster floors are exquisite. This hotel is listed in the book as “one of the thousand places to see” in one’s lifetime, and people such as FDR, Winston Churchill, and Chaing Kai-Shek have all stayed here, and it was the site where plans for D-Day were initiated.
Day Twelve – Memphis, Sakara, the Great Pyramids, the Sphinx, and the Sound and Light Show
Our first stop this morning was the ruins of Memphis which was the first capital of Egypt when the North and South were united. There was not much left as most of it was built of mud brick, but of course there is a gigantic statue of Ramses II created from a single block of granite. The work during the time of Ramses was not as detailed – he just wanted a lot of representations of himself, and of course all of them represented him as being perfect! The alabaster sphinx was an interesting use of that expensive material.
Our next stop was the pyramid known as Sakara or the Step Pyramid. Zoser was the pharaoh at the time which was 2700 B.C. This was the first attempt at creating a pyramid shape and was the world’s first stone monument. Previously monuments were made of perishable materials like mud brick. One of the most exciting things for me was in the courtyard there were two huge B’s back to back which the pharaoh had to run around during one of the major festivals. The B’s symbolized the four corners of the earth, and amazingly, they are EXACTLY like my logo! Perhaps I have been destined to travel the four corners of the world, and I am certainly getting very close with having spoken in Antarctica last January.
Our guide shared that over 1/3 of the world’s antiquities reside in Egypt, and only 7 million tourists came to Egypt last year as compared to 24 million who went to Spain. We are going to sing the praises of this extraordinary country to ALL our friends and family!
Afterwards we spent a short time in one of the Carpet Schools founded by the government to teach children how to weave beautiful carpets of cotton, silk, and wool so that they might have a profession. They showed us the process and then we toured the showroom filled with gorgeous rugs and wall hangings. We would have like to have purchased something; however, they were beyond our price range (surprise, surprise! 😉
On our drive to the pyramids, we saw our first red carrots! We loved how artistically the farmers in this area displayed their beautiful produce, showing a real pride in their work.
Finally, the culmination of our Egypt trip was seeing the Great Pyramids, one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. Even though we had seen them from a distance, we could hardly believe how huge they really are. What should have been a “once in a lifetime ”experience, however, was marred by the obnoxious and aggressive people trying to sell us things, foisting objects into our hands “for free”, and trying to take our pictures. They all had “friends in the US”, and as soon as they heard we were from America, they all hollered “Hi, ho, Silver” which really tickled us since it would mean nothing to the younger generation! Even one of the security guards whom I thought was just being nice grabbed my camera, took a picture of me, and then wanted money. The sad thing was that the only way to get past them was to completely ignore them and drop anything they threw at you on the ground. It made us feel like terrible representatives of the US as well as hardhearted, ungracious people. We really felt bad that we had to respond this way, but we were duly warned ahead of time.
There is no way to describe the wonder of seeing such creations that are 5000 years old and made by man. (Our tour guide said that “there were some stupid people who believe the pyramids were made by aliens!”, a statement that will impact at least one person I know 😉 The pyramid of Cheops is 445 feet high and made of 3 million separate stones, most of which weigh over two tons each. They surmise that a ramp of mud brinks led up to the edge and was raised as the pyramid grew in height. It is built in a perfect square with only 7 inches difference per side equaling a .004 % error. They believe that over 100,000 farmers and paid laborers worked for 40 years to build this wonder. We were talked out of going inside by our tour guide, and we now wish we had not listened to her advice,..but we will do that on our next trip. Beside each of the pyramids were the small pyramids of the Pharaoh’s wives, and surrounding the area were tombs of nobles and important people in the court.
Next to Cheops was the Pyramid of Khafre (Cephren) who was the son of Cheops. He made his pyramid a bit smaller out of respect for his father, but it actually looks higher since it stands on higher ground. Below the pyramid lies the Valley Temple which was used to mummify the king. It contained 23 statues of the king, and housed the Canopic jars containing his organs. The 23 statues represented the 23 organs in the body, and part of the ritual was opening the mouth of the mummy so that that soul could get in and the organs could work one more time in the afterlife. A causeway led from this temple to the Funerary temple closer to the pyramid. At the opening of the Temple was a wishing well, and again both Barb and I made our wishes and threw in some money.
Next to the Valley Temple lies the Sphinx which is half lion to show the power of the pharaoh and half man with the face of Khafre. At the sound and light show, they shared that the sphinx was disfigured by artillery at a much later date, perhaps in the days of Napoleon.
The last pyramid is the Pyramid of Menkaure, much smaller than the other two. Menkaure died before the pyramid was finished, and because the mummy had to be buried after the 70 days of the mummification process, this pyramid was never fully completed as planned. At the end of the afternoon, our guide took us to the top of a ridge where we could see and photograph all three pyramids. Then we came back to the hotel and had a late lunch outside with the pyramids in the background, an unforgettable experience. At night we went to the sound and light show narrated by Omar Sharif, the end of an awesome day.
Day 13 – More presentations and dinner with Mohamed Amin Hemimi and his family
We were able to get a late checkout at the Mena House, so we slept late, had a wonderful breakfast, and then were picked up by the Emeco folks to go back to the Grand Hyatt for our last two nights. That morning Mohamed called and asked if I would come to their offices to do a presentation for their staff at 3:00. I was reluctant to do so as I had put in a 12 hour day for them on Sunday, but the Executive Director was really wanting me to come, so I decided I would have to do it. I was already scheduled to speak to the Emeco staff that evening which meant that my whole day was tied up in driving back and forth and doing the presentations rather than the quiet day we had planned. Barb did not feel well, so she stayed at the hotel.
The presentation at the American Chamber went wonderfully even though I was very tired. I met some lovely people, and Mohamed asked me to come back next year to do their conference, so I am glad I went. However, as always here, everything is on Egyptian time, so instead of being back at my hotel to have some lunch/dinner and to be picked up by the Emeco folks, I had to have them drop me off directly at the hotel where the Emeco meeting was going to be held. This presentation was a bit more difficult as everyone came late, it was mostly men, and because Friday is their day off, I do not think they were terribly happy to have to stay that evening instead of going home. However, the president of the company was delighted to have me, and I think I won them over by the end.
Mohamed asked me to meet him and his family for dinner at 9:30 (which became more like 10:30 before we ate), so it was a long day again. He took me to a ship with several restaurants, and I enjoyed his son, Youself, and his lovely wife.
Day 14 – Islamic Cairo, Khan el-Kahlili Bazaar, Lunch at Naguib Mahfouz Restaurant, Dinner with Dr. Zeinab and her family
We were picked up at 9:00 by a new guide, Ehab, to see some of the most famous mosques in Cairo. The first one we visited was huge – built inside the 12th century Citadel of Saladin, known as the Crusader’s chivalrous foe. It was known as the Mohamed Ali mosque and was built in the Turkish style. It was interesting that the women had to sit in the second balcony, something we definitely would have tried to change! Although extremely impressive on the outside, it was very plain inside. We then saw one of the oldest mosques which was much more beautiful, and finally Qualawun el-Nasir which contained a “madrasa,” or theological school. There were latticed windows high up in the walls where the students could watch the services to learn to be priests. The high priest of each mosque is known as the Iman.
Each mosque was built around 4 pillars, was surrounded with prayer niches, and the altar always faced Mecca. The center was always a fountain where followers, after taking off their shoes at the entrance to the mosque, had to wash their hands, face, neck, ears, and feet in order to be cleansed to pray. Each mosque also had a high place with a ladder to climb up to it where the mouthin made the call to prayer. This was before microphones, so he had to be heard for a long distance. We also had to take off our shoes in each of the mosques, and it was the one day we both wore sandals instead of socks and sneakers, so our feet were freezing on the bare marble floors! We also worried about what we might “pick up” with filthy carpets that probably had been there for many, many years.
Ebad explained the Five Pillars of Islam: 1. There is no god but Allah; 2. Pray five times a day, facing Mecca; 3. Give alms to the poor; 4. Fast for the month of Ramadan (fast from food, drink ,smoking, and sex from sunup to sundown, after which they can eat and drink until sunup again, a practice to help them identify with the poor); and 5. Make a pilgrimage to Mecca one time in their life if they can afford it.
We were most intrigued by the “City of the Dead,” which our guide told us about. Tombs that looked like small houses as well as mausoleums lined the road for miles and miles. He said Muslims do not believe in embalming or mummifying the bodies, but simply wrap them in a shroud, let the body decompose, and then pile up the bones so more bodies can be added. Each family has a tomb, and often family members must guard or care for the tombs, and many poor people even live in these tombs, so that is the reason for the name, “City of the Dead.” We would have loved to have explored some of this area, but I suspect it was not very safe.
Our next stop was the Kahlili bazaar, an unforgettable experience, even for such seasoned world shoppers as Barb and I! There were tiny stalls lined up for miles on street after street, with filthy dirt paths in the middle. It was mobbed with people, men carrying bundles elbowing their way through the crowds, and vendors everywhere yelling, “How can I take your money?,” “Everything here is free,” or the standard, “Only five pounds! ($1 US). At first we were a bit overwhelmed, but we soon got into the spirit. You always offered half of what they asked, and then bargained for only the amount you really wanted to pay. They would say “No” until you began to walk away, and then they would run after you and say, “OK, OK.” I think only twice did we not get what we wanted at our price.
I had fun buying costumes for each of the children – a Pharaoh’s headdress for Gavin, a galebiyya for Owen, a tiny belly dancing costume for Kinsey, and typical Egyptian gifts for the rest of the family – a sheesha for Randy, beaded head pieces and scarves for the girls, t-shirts with their name in cartouches for everyone, and belly dancing costumes for the girls to share. ( I finally found an Egyptian doll for my collection that night with a new friend who invited me to her home for dinner. I had looked and looked and decided the little Egyptian girls must not play with dolls or else they all have Barbies!) Later we went to a cotton factory and I bought some Egyptian sheets. For lunch we went to a famous Turkish restaurant in the bazaar, a lovely respite in the midst of chaos! That night before packing, we spread out everything we had bought on the whole trip on our beds and took several pictures. We certainly did help the economy of Egypt! 😉
After we returned, Dr.Zeinab, a professor at Cairo university and a well-known lecturer around the world, picked me up (Barb did not feel well), and took me to their private club, the Galeza (?), then to the Hilton where we found my doll, and finally to her home for a lovely Egyptian dinner with her two sons and their families. She has twin granddaughters who are 11 who would like to be penpals with Gavin. I so enjoyed her lovely home and family and the wonderful dinner of Green soup, eggplant, veal, kafta, and stuffed zuchinni. When I asked her what she missed from her visit as a Fullbright scholar to the US, she said toothpaste and Omega oil! Marie-Claire Prisco, an NSA friend, suggested we get acquainted when I visited Egypt, and I know we will stay in touch for many years.
Day 15 – Our Journey Home
We had to be up at 5:30 this morning for a 6:30 pickup even though our flight was not until 10:10 (I have never had so many early mornings in all my days! 😉 Again, we were so grateful to the Emeco people who handled our bags and guided us through the process. When we arrived at the terminal, the line to go through security was about two blocks long, so now we knew why such an early pickup. A lovely person named Abeer from EgyptAir had been in my session on Sunday, gave me her card, and said to come to her station at First Class when we were checking in as she was in charge of this flight to New York…so we were blessed to go right through the Business class line, get our bags marked “Priority”, she got us the first two seats in the exit row in Coach, and then gave us a pass to the Executive Lounge to wait. She told me that she had told everyone at EgyptAir how wonderful my session was, and she knew they would be having me come back. What a perk it was to have her help!
The flight is 11 ½ hours long to New York, and we just heard it was 5 degrees there. If it is the same as the last time, we will have to go outside the terminal and take a train to another terminal for our connecting flights…and neither of us has even a coat. We just had breakfast on the plane and have been tickled throughout this trip about how much the Egyptians love their sweets. Every breakfast has had rice pudding as a part of it-actually the best part of the meal!
Summary – Our Reactions/ Insights
We both feel that this was the trip of a lifetime and would highly recommend it to all our American friends, especially since this was the beginning of our civilization. We did not feel any animosity and were surprised by the friendliness of the people. People seemed very eager to help us and all welcomed us to Egypt. All that we had read about “not standing out” and being inconspicuous was for naught. We were also impressed with how peaceful and loving the Islam religion is – it was almost as if they were ashamed of what has been done in the name of Islam. We were also surprised at the number of women who wore traditional dress, especially the scarf, yet there was no stigma for those of us who were bare-headed.
Everyone seemed to smoke, and that and the terrible traffic and pollution bothered both Barb and me. We would NEVER want to drive here! There are no stop lights, so it is “every man for himself!” Although the Egyptian wine has been referred to as “Chateau Migraine,” we found a brand called “Obelisk” which was really quite nice. One of the perks from the American Chamber of Commerce was getting us a pass to the Executive Lounge at the Hyatt, so we enjoyed having wine and snacks there each night as well as free internet. (Internet connection in all the other hotels was terribly expensive –$20 US for a half hour, so I only connected at the Hyatt the couple of days we stayed there where it was free.)
We were told that Tourism was the number one form of income for Egypt, the Suez Canal provides the second highest income, and the third was oil. Because of the emphasis on Tourism, we found that many of the guides were well-educated Egyptologists, and most of them spoke several languages.
One caution for other visitors is that EVERYONE expects a tip. We spent probably $200 – $300 in tips, and when we got to the airport this morning, we thought we had exactly enough money left for our last tip, but a man grabbed the cart with our bags on them and pushed it to the next line. All we had to give him was 1 pound (about 25 cents US), our very last bit of Egyptian cash ( Barb was completely out of US money and I had only $40 hidden away in my emergency pocket of my wallet..so we cut it close but loved every minute of it! 😉
Our deepest thanks goes to Mara, a new client and friend who runs a convention of travel people every year. As my payment for speaking at their conference next February, she helped plan and arrange our trip, and we couldn’t have asked for a more wonderful experience. We saw so many different parts of Egypt, and now have a whole new appreciation for this wonderful country, thanks to Mara.
For our next trip 😉
We would not take the Nile cruise but would like to stay a couple of days in Luxor at the Winter Palace, one of King Farouk’s palaces that is now a hotel.
We would like to stay a couple of days in Aswan at the Old Cataract Hotel, the sight of Agatha Christie’s novel, “Death on the Nile.”
We would go to Abu Simbel.
We would like to see Alexandria.
We would go into the Great Pyramid.
We would not go to the Sound and Light show!
We would do a Bedouin night in the desert to see an oasis and the White Desert and spend more time in the Sinai, especially Nuweiba.
We would climb Mount Sinai to see the sun set.
We would do a couple of days at one of the resorts in Sharm el Sheik to snorkel.
