May 6, Nile Cruise Day 1

We were woken up early as we were getting into Luxor at 6:30 or so. Another tray of breakfast – not nearly so nice this time! Met promptly by our tour guide Ishmael, for a whirlwind tour of Luxor: up to the Valley of the Kings, where you get to choose 3 tombs to visit. Ishmael recommended Ramses 3, Memeptah, Ramses 4. Many of the other tombs aren’t open, or in our whirlwind tour, take too long to get to – ah well! The tomb complex opens at 6 a.m. – a good time to start since it would be relatively cool then. We were there at 7:30 and when we left 1.5 hours later, there was no “cool” left for the day! You can’t take cameras in at all, so we bought some cards at a tour book from some of the hundred of touts selling everything from scarabs to cotton to who knows what!

Next stop was the Temple of Hatshepsut: again, access is via “trains” from the parking lot – a great way to avoid bus congestion…up into the hills. The Temple is in a wonderful state of preservation, and it was built by possibly the only female pharaoh. It’s difficult to comprehend just how beautifully these temples and burial chambers have survived 3000 years; the carving is crisp and clear, some of the colours survive and many of the tall pillars are still in place giving one a very good impression of what this funery temple was like.

Last proper stop was Karnak Temple – a temple complex larger than any other in the world (apparently). It was really hot by now (39 degrees according to my thermometer!) and we went from one patch of shade to another! However, the colonnades and scenes – of fighting and peace-making and goat-headed sphynixes and all the rest- made it all worthwhile.

Phew! We then picked up the American couple who were indeed joining our trip (but not the Luxor part) and we were all driven down to catch the boat. The boat we chose was a dahabiyya – a replica of a 19^th century sailing boat for the elite. Colin and I have a nice queen bed, with good-sized closet and own bathroom, while Anna has 2 twins. After a quick wash we got underway (sadly not by sail, but being towed by a small “tug” and had lunch. All afternoon to relax and wash clothes, play dominoes and chat to the Americans (from LA) and the other, Austrian couple who either don’t speak English at all or are quite stand-offish! We stopped for the night around 6 (the boats don’t go in the dark), and had dinner at 7:30. Nice and leisurely and to bed (The power isn’t on from midnight to 6 am, so it’s necessary to charge up everything when one can!) No internet access!

Gerry

Find out more about the Valley of the Kings!

Cairo Day 4 – May 5

Leisurely start and check-out, but the hotel allowed us to keep the room so we could have a shower before leaving on the 8:30 p.m. train to Luxor. Off to explore Islamic Cairo, which has old city walls, hundreds of mosques and minarets, enough tourist tack and lovely local markets. We managed to see most of this, including several early mosques and important medrassas (schools). We even managed to find a hammer for Anna: her jewelry prof had told her to buy tools and not metals or stones, so we went in search of metalsmiths. We found plenty of machinists, but no hand-made metalsmiths. Then, when being encouraged to buy some gold jewelry we said we wanted to see it being made. The friendly seller took us around a few allies and we ended up with a man hand-flattening a silver plate. With the use of my phrase book we tried to convey that we wanted to buy his hammer – which he was given by his grandfather, so wouldn’t sell it, but he had some other hammer heads. He ground one down for Anna and made a wooden shaft. They were surprised and delighted to be able to help her out, and what a story she has!

While eating a late lunch a few odd drops of rain hit us and the waiters hurried to bring out an over-sized patio umbrella. The rain had stopped before they had it in place. The neighbouring table took longer and they left before their umbrella was up- leaving the remains of their food to the many “starving” cats!

Back to the hotel for a final time this leg, and the train station taxi at 7 p.m. for a possible hour's ride and to be half an hour early. Actually much more since the traffic wasn't so bad and the train was late. met an American couple waiting for the same train and very possibly the same boat cruise. The train was fine. Dinner was included and soon after starting we were given an airplane-type tray with rice, fish and several pieces of beef (all edible) and some pieces of cake which were less so. Sleep wasn't perfect.

Gerry

Gerry will be giving a multimedia presentation on her trip to Egypt and Jordan in the fall. For details, check our program guide which will be coming out mid-August.

Cairo – Day 3 May 4

Off to the Giza Pyramids at 7:30 a.m., in an attempt to beat the traffic and the heat (and possibly other tourists). Traffic was very jammed (Giza is a busy suburb of Cairo), the heat didn’t get bad until well into the tour, and the tourists are really staying away from Cairo. As we were leaving around noon, we saw what was possibly cruise-ship tourists arrive (or at least large groups): it would have been very hot for them!

While we didn’t exactly have the pyramids to ourselves, there appeared to be more “touts” than tourists! There was no problem getting tickets to visit the interior of the Khufu Pyramid, only we absolutely weren’t allowed to take cameras inside, so I waited behind with the cameras and bags, while Colin and Anna went ahead, and then we swapped-off. The top burial chamber must have had great acoustics – as the noise generated by 2 parties of 4 was astounding! I tried to get them to be quiet so I could enjoy the quiet, but they just wouldn’t. I waited them out and then enjoyed the silence on my own!

Afterwards we looked at several more partial pyramids and the lovely reconstructed burial boat (all the wooden pieces were found, buried and dismantled, and these were used to reconstruct it – inside a lovely a/c museum! More walking around the plateau – to see the other pyramids and the Sphinx on the way out. At all the pyramids around Cairo we noticed that the cultivated or built-up lands are quite vibrantly green, and then there’s a sharp delineation and the ancient temples are part of the surrounding desert – hard-packed sand or just limestone rocks. The skies are very dusty (or polluted) and although there are a lot of pyramids all around, it’s quite difficult to see anything in the distance.

We rejoined our driver outside the compound and he drove us home for some R&R. Once suitably rested we decided to visit the Coptic part of Cairo – the oldest part, which is surprisingly miles away. We decided to take a cab there since we were somewhat short of time (the museum and churches close at 4), only the cab took over an hour, leaving us just about an hour before everything (including the interesting-looking old stores) closed. We walked around and enjoyed the old Roman walls, and the excellent Coptic Museum, but we sadly missed the shops. Then we decided to try to Metro home: it looked easy – the local station was right there and we could change at Nasser on to a line that runs near our hotel. Train etiquette isn’t quite the same as at home, and only Anna and I were able to push ourselves on to the train, which left without Colin. We stayed on till Nasser and Colin’s quickly caught us up. But we couldn’t see any directions to our line, asked a couple of train officials who didn’t know, and the 3^rd one told us the line was opening in 2012! Then we had to emerge and fight to get a cab (in rush hour!).

Gerry

To find out more about the pyramids, check out these books:

Cairo Day 2 – May 3, 2011

Half a world away we found out our watches were one hour fast, by coming down to breakfast too early, at 6:30 when breakfast only started at 7. The waiter setting everything out was very apologetic that breakfast wasn’t ready – but the coffee was and that’s really all that matters. Yesterday no one had noticed the time difference! Anyway, we were in plenty of time for our driver at real 8 am! Today we explored the southern towns with early pyramids: Saqqara, Dahshur and Memphis.

1^st stop Saqqara: a vast site with a very nice new museum explaining it all (named in honour of the French archeologist who came for a season and stayed for 75 years!). Saqqara has the pre-pyramids, flat mounds (Mastaba) which covered up the tombs beneath them. The mounds have been excavated and there are fantastically well preserved carved scenes and hieroglyphs. We were “adopted” by a persistent “guide” who actually proved quite helpful in showing us the way around (and in allowing us to take photos in the tombs – all very hush-hush!). Saqqara is also where the Step Pyramid – the earliest – is; basically it’s several Mastaba on to of each other, built in 2600 BC. We spent a couple of increasingly hot hours here and then decided on “lunch”. Actually only Colin was hungry, but the cold water was very welcome and reviving. The touristic restaurant played a welcoming “fanfare” as each group entered, which was way too loud; nicer sitting inside and hearing it played for others! Women were making and cooking pita in round ovens – interesting.

After lunch we continued on to Dahshur, and the first ”real” pyramids, the Bent Pyramid (where they had to change the angle at the top to prevent it collapsing) and the Red Pyramid. We were able to climb up to the Red Pyramid’s entrance, only then to go down even more internal steps (crouched over due to the low ceiling height). Inside at the bottom I was overwhelmed (almost literally!) by an overwhelming stench of ammonia – whether due to pee or some more natural phenomena, we couldn’t!!! Not all that exciting inside, except you can see the building structure. Had to wait ages for a very slow-moving and large group to clamber down! Our driver then drove us as close as he could to the Bent pyramid – but it’s in a military zone so you can’t get right there. Far off in the distance we also saw the collapsed pyramid of Meidum.

Our final stop was in Memphis (ancient capital, not much remaining) Museum mainly to see the recumbent colossal statue of Ramses II. Stopping at Memphis made us later back into Cairo and we hit ”rush hour” (unless it’s always rush hour here!). But the drive out and back was very interesting: seeing the newer suburbs of Cairo and the countryside with small towns and busy road-side fabrication plants. We also stopped at one of many carpet schools and saw young girls and boys knotting carpets. We were told they get 25 EP per day ($3.75!) and 3% when a rug sells. The girl was 13, the boys looked about 8, but we were told they attended school half-day. Upstairs we looked at their showroom but didn’t have to buy one!

Gerry

Explore Egypt through some great fiction:

Day 1

Calgary-London-Cairo

Uneventful flights – which is probably what you want! 5 hours in Heathrow; enough time to window-shop (is Jean Auel’s latest/last out at home???) and have a “good ole pub lunch”!

As Colin says “Egypt Air makes Air Canada look good!”, but it got us to Cairo safe and sound. The entry visa is purchased at the currency exchange, which we actually managed to work out before we lined up for passport control (unlike several others!). Loads of people “checking” passports, but not terribly seriously (e.g., he flicked mine to the Tanzanian visa, and didn’t open Colin’s at all!). Unfortunately our bags were almost literally last off the plane, so we were kept waiting - but the taxi driver the hotel sent was still waiting for us!!!

Fun and games getting out of the very modern (2 years old|) airport – but the hooting and yelling is very reassuring and “Arabic”! Took maybe an hour from airport to hotel, where indeed they were expecting us and in short order we were unpacking and in bed (by midnight, which was really day 2).

Day 3

Cairo Day 1

We all slept relatively well considering jet lag and general lack of sleep the previous nights. Up around 9 am and down to breakfast, and then took a taxi (“use only white cabs which have a meter”) to the National Museum.

A bit of to-ing and fro-ing before we had bought tickets and stored all the bags/cameras that we couldn’t take in with us…and then – wow! This should be the setting for some sort of “Night in the Museum” movie – hugely over-crowded like good old-fashioned museums (sarcophagi stacked to the ceiling, squeezing by loaded cases, women dusting with wide paint brushes, men telling foreign children who don’t speak English not to touch anything….). Although to begin with we seemed to be moving parallel to a large Brazilian group, they missed out on several rooms and took off without us. While the museum wasn’t empty, it wasn’t bad and I’ve certainly been in many more crowded museums in my time. In fact, the vast majority of visitors were locals. A fancy new museum (mostly celebrating Tutankhamen) is opening in Giza in 2012 and they are already starting to crate things up. Fortunately, all the treasures we were looking for were still there – and what incredible treasurers they were: from the founding of Egypt (4500 years ago with the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt) through mummies to Alexandria and the Romans…the golden rooms of Tutankhamen were of course a highlight, and yielded the best “overheard” of the day (mother with small child to room guard looking at arguably the most famous Egyptian piece, Tutankhamen’s death mask: “what’s that?” The guard looked suitably surprised as he tried to explain to her what it was!!!).

After the comparative cool of the museum it was like walking into a blast furnace as we exited at 2:30 into 35 degree heat. We took shelter in the gardens with some refreshments. Then we walked across Tahrir Sq – noting the burned remains of Mubarek’s former HQ. Apart from that, there really was no sign of anything untoward happening 2 months ago!

Anna and I felt we’d had enough and jumped a (white) cab back to the hotel. Although the hotel had cleverly printed cards in English and Arabic with a name, directions and even a little map, our driver clearly couldn’t read Arabic and didn’t know where we wanted to go…lots of stops to ask the way (and of course we couldn’t remember precisely where the hotel was!) we made it back. Colin meanwhile had his own adventure exploring the railway station and (closed for renovations) railway museum. However, we all met up on our hotel terrace and enjoyed fresh-squeezed lemon juice to rehydrate! Wonderful local restaurant for dinner…and so to bed.

More to come tomorrow!

Gerry

Thinking of travelling to Europe? Check out these great guidebooks from the library!!