Egypt

Wednesday, July 18—Saturday, July 28: Egypt

Prior to arriving in Cairo, we had made a reservation at Windsor Hotel for a room and for airport pickup. It is always a pleasure to see your name on a placard when arriving in a new and unfamiliar city.

The Windsor Hotel was originally built as a bathhouse for the royal family before serving as a British Officers’ Club between 1882 and 1952. The lounge and rooms have a colonial air and come complete with dark wood English furniture and other authentic touches. The lounge has even been the set for several hollywood movies.

The heart and lifeblood of Egypt remains the Nile River. Because the Nile River runs from the South to the North emptying in the Mediterranean Sea, Upper Egypt refers to the south of Egypt (from Aswan to the delta area of Cairo) and Lower Egypt refers to the delta area itself (Cairo). The earliest human traces in Egypt date back to around 250,000 BC. Upper and Lower Egypt were united around 3100 BC by Narmer (also known as Menes) with Memphis as its capital. The unification is documented on the Narmer Palette, an artifact housed in the Egyptian Museum. Following the unification, the Dynastic Period began and continued for about 3000 years and saw more than 30 royal dynasties rule Egypt. Alexander the Great, who invaded Egypt in 332 BC and founded Alexandria, was the leader of one of the last royal dynasties. The last of this line was Cleopatra VII who kept Egypt independent by allying herself with Julius Caesar, whom she married. After his assassination, she married Marc Anthony and their alliance was a threat to Caesar’s nephew Octavian in Rome. At the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, Cleopatra and Anthony were defeated by Rome and both committed suicide.

After this, Egypt came under many foreign rulers including the Romans-Byzantines, Arabs, Ottomans, and the British. In 1882, British occupation began and did not end until the revolution of 1952. Following the revolution, Gamal Nasser led Egypt until 1970 when he died of a heart attack and was replaced by Anwar Sadat. Sadat was assassinated in 1981 while watching a parade and was replaced by Hosni Mubarak, who has been the leader of Egypt for over 25 years.

As I was still recovering from my stomach bug, I spent the first day in Cairo in bed in the hotel sleeping. We did go out in the evening to stroll around the streets and to get dinner. Despite the stifling heat, nearly all the women wear the hijab (head covering) and have their arms and legs completely covered. I was wearing a T-shirt and pants and felt too exposed, so I quickly bought a long-sleeved tunic in an attempt to blend in a bit more. The few women who do not cover their heads most likely belong to the small community of Coptic Christians that makeup about 10% of the population. Our hotel was near a mosque so we got a front seat to the five-times-daily amplified prayer by the muezzin (mosque official).

Everyday life in Egypt is ruled by baksheesh (or tipping Egyptian style). It is not something reserved for foreigners, but applies equally to Egyptians (although the amount probably goes up 100-500% when they see a tourist). Egyptians have to constantly dole out baksheesh for doing everything from parking their car, to receiving their mail, to being shown to their seat at the cinema. You can virtually get around any rule (posted or otherwise) by paying a little baksheesh. For example, climbing the pyramids at Giza is prohibited, however, the guards will happily turn a blind eye to this if you pay them a little baksheesh. Similarly, photographs are not allowed in the tombs in the Valley of the Kings. Not only will the guards let you take pictures for a little baksheesh, but also they will approach you asking if you want to take pictures (for a small price, of course). The entire economy is based on this system. Typically, it is harmless, although the constant feeling of everyone wanting something from you can be a bit tiring, not to mention the adverse impact this can and is having on the continued viability of Egypt’s treasures like the pyramids and the tombs.

The next day we took a private tour with a guy from our hotel named Samir Fayek. Samir has been giving tours for over 20 years. He really enjoys what he does and takes the hassle out of visiting the pyramids. He took us to see a Mosque and to the Pyramids of Giza, the sole surviving ancient Seven Wonders of the World. We got to climb a minaret of the mosque and get a bird’s eye view of the Northern Cemetery located in the City of the Dead, a reference to the cramped conditions and the fact that people are literally living among the dead.

At the pyramids, we hired 2 camels to make the journey from Giza to the pyramids and back. A guide on horseback, as well as two other guys on foot leading the camels by a rope, accompanied us. They did let us run with the camels and although they are hard to get going, I finally got mine going so fast that my hat flew off my head. Even before starting the ride, John’s camel looked like it had seen better days. By the time we got back to the stable 2 hours later, John’s camel immediately plopped itself under a tree and refused to get up or more one inch more. The condition of many of the animals in Egypt is very sad. Throughout the country, the vast majority of the horses are very, very thin to the point where their hips jut out. From talking to the carriage drivers, I learned that the average life expectancy of a horse in Egypt is only about 5 years, compared with about 25-30 years in the US. One carriage driver thought I was joking when I told him that horses could live to be in their 30s and some even into their 40s.

The oldest pyramid at Giza and the largest one in Egypt is the Great Pyramid of Khufu that dates to 2570 BC. It is constructed of about 2.3 million limestone blocks each weighing about 2.5 tons. Giza is also home to the Pyramid of Khafre, the Pyramid of Menkaure, and the famous Sphinx (half man-half lion).

Half-finished concrete apartment complexes dot the skyline during the drive between downtown Cairo and the pyramids. The steel supports stick out of the tops of the unfinished buildings at all angles giving the area a somewhat slummy and rundown feeling, despite the fact that many of the buildings may be quite new. I was told that the owners can avoid paying property taxes for up to 10 years by leaving the building uncompleted.

The following day we went to the Egyptian Museum. This Museum is literally bursting at the seams with over 120,000 Egyptian artifacts. Many more artifacts remain stored in crates and never reach the display areas due to shortage of space. There are plans to build a new and larger museum, but when this will be started (and completed for that matter) is anyone’s guess.

The highlights of the Museum are the mummies that can be seen up close and personal through glass cabinets and Tutankhamun’s death mask. Everything from sphinxes to canopic jars (containers used to store the preserved innards of a mummified person (or animal)) to sarcophagi (large stone coffins used to house a mummy and its wooden coffins) is on display.

Before returning to the hotel for a rest from the intense heat, we stopped at a traditional Egyptian bakery. I immediately went to the cases brimming with baklava and other gooey, sweet treats. As I was waiting for the treats to be wrapped, I turned to admire the cookies and other sweets in the cases behind me. I was astonished to see not one but several mid-size cockroaches crawling around the inside of these cabinets in full daylight. I tried to get John to notice without being too obvious, but he was oblivious to my looks. After leaving the store, I told John what I had seen. This was the time he chose to tell me that there had been a fried cockroach on the plate of chicken and fries he ordered at one of the “fast-food” places we ate at in Bizerte, Tunisia. Fried cucharacha…..Yum! I fully expected a cockroach to come flying out of the package of sweets when I opened them, but I was pleasantly disappointed. We did eat the sweets and I tried to not think about what may have been crawling over them before I devoured them.

Given my prior fascination and continuing interest in belly dancing, I wanted to see a performance while we were in the home of this ancient dance. In the evening, we boarded a small boat that cruised around the Nile River from Giza and downtown and back for a few hours while watching a belly and Sufi dance show with live musicians. The boat had two floors where one floor was used to seat Egyptians and the other floor was for the tourists. This wasn’t exactly what I was after, but the dancing was entertaining. If I were to do it again, I would splurge and go see one of the famous dancers at one of the five-star hotels. Next time….

We spent our final day in Cairo exploring Coptic Cairo in Old Cairo and the Khan al-Khalili Market in Islamic Cairo. Coptic Cairo is an immaculately clean and rather peaceful section of the city that is home to many churches linked by narrow cobbled streets and alleyways. This area is the site of the early 2^nd century AD Roman fortress named Babylon-in-Egypt. The country’s oldest synagogue dating from the 9^th century, Ben Ezra Synagogue is also located here. Coptic Christians (known as Copts) are recognizable by the small Coptic cross tattooed on the inside of their right wrist. Egyptian Christians broke away from the Orthodox Church of the Eastern (Byzantine) Empire because they did not agree with the Eastern Empire’s description of Christ as both human and divine. Copts believe that Christ is divine and that it is blasphemous to consider him human. Copts in Egypt have often been part of the educated elite and an economically powerful minority.

After visiting Coptic Cairo, we had lunch at a good restaurant near our hotel called Alfy Bey. There, I got to try a dish I had been trying to get my hands on—stuffed pigeon. Our tour guide from the hotel told us that it was his favorite dish and that his mom had made him ten stuffed pigeons on his wedding night. The dish is a roasted pigeon stuffed with rice and raisins. It is quite tasty, although a bit labor intensive to eat.

In the afternoon, we visited Khan al-Khalili, the great bazaar in Islamic Cairo. Here is where I saw a glass chandelier I thought I couldn’t live without. Although I almost walked out of the store while they were wrapping it because I had a bad feeling about the future state of the lamp, I did end up buying the lamp despite my better judgment. We returned to the hotel with our new purchase and I was able to talk the very friendly and accommodating hotel staff at the Windsor Hotel Hoto ship the chandelier for me. We would be returning to the hotel after our Nile River cruise, and I could settle any money owed for shipping the chandelier then. The good part is the lamp arrived in the US in record time; the bad part is it was in a million pieces. Lesson learned.

We took the night train from Cairo to Luxor. The train is outfitted with 2-bed compartments, is air-conditioned, and includes dinner and breakfast delivered to the cabin. We arrived in Luxor in the morning and after a brief wait, were picked up and taken to our hotel. We then set out an a group tour of about 15 people to explore the famous sights of Luxor’s East Bank (Luxor Temple, Temples of Karnak) and West Bank (Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, Colossi of Memnom, Deir al-Bahri (Temples of Hatsheput)).

The Valley of the Kings is the location of many royal burial sites and tombs that are tucked deep within the canyon’s walls. About 62 burial sites have been excavated, although not all of them belonged to pharaohs and not all are open for viewing. The summer months are the low season for tourists, so there were no lines to enter the tombs. The downside to the relatively easy accessibility was the relentless heat that only increased with each step down into a tomb. The Valley of the Queens is home to at least 75 tombs built into the recesses of another canyon. The tombs belonged to queens of the 19^th and 20^th dynasties and other members of the royal families. The carbon dioxide and condensation caused by people breathing inside the tombs (and the taking of prohibited photographs by people paying baksheesh to the guards) is taking a toll on many of the tombs and the hieroglyphics covering their walls. Some of the tombs, including the Tomb of Nefertari, have been closed to the public.

That night at around 1 am, we were picked up from our hotel and taken to the boat, which would be our home for the next 3 days. The boat was a smaller version of a cruise ship and had a top deck with a swimming pool and area for sun bathing, a second level deck with a lounge area and some cabins, and a lower deck for dining. We cruised the Nile for three days stopping at various temples along the way including the Temple of Horus in Edfu and the Temple of Kom Ombo 65 km south of Edfu. We arrived at the Temple of Horus in the early morning so the temperature had not reached its peak. We enjoyed a nice stroll through these ancient ruins. By the time we reached Kom Ombo in the afternoon, the temperature was soaring near 100 degrees F. Our tour of this temple was limited to what we could see from our boat.

The cruise finished in Aswan, where we stayed an additional night at a hotel. Here, we enjoyed a felucca trip to Elephantine Island and Kitchener’s Island. Elephantine Island is home to the Aswan Museum and the ruins of Abu, where one of the many ancient Nilometers can be seen. Nilometers were used to detect the level of the river and indicated if there would be sufficient water for irrigation necessary for a good harvest. The higher the river, the better the harvest and the higher the taxes imposed by the pharaohs.

We also joined another group tour to visit the Temple of Isis at Philae, the Unfinished Obelisk, and the High Dam. Completed in 1971 with funding from the Soviet Union, the High Dam replaced the Aswan Dam. The water collected behind the High Dam because known as Lake Nasser and is the world’s largest artificial lake. Similar to the Three Gorges dam project in China, the High Dam flooded large areas of land previously home to many people and many cultural treasures including temples. Abu Simbel Temple in the south of Egypt was originally located in an area that was covered with water by the High Dam. To save this structure, it was dismantled piece-by-piece and reassembled in its current site near the Sudanese border. Other temples were not so lucky and remain submerged beneath Lake Nasser. Despite these downfalls, the High Dam increased the cultivable land in Egypt by 30% and doubled the country’s power supply.

The guide for the tour in Aswan, named Bishoy Sobhy, was very good and we got along quite well with him. He made the temples and other sites we toured come alive with interesting stories and facts. We made plans to meet up with Bishoy later that evening. Showing up right on time, the three of us walked the streets of Aswan together visiting the market, witnessing an engagement celebration in the streets, going to a barbershop to get John’s hair cut, and visiting a jeweler where I bought a cartouche with my name spelled in hieroglyphics.

The following day we relaxed in Aswan and took the night/sleeper train back to Cairo. We arrived in Cairo in the morning and walked back to the Windsor Hotel from the train station. By the time we arrived at the hotel, I was completely drenched in sweat. The hotel gave us a discount to use a room for the day. It was wonderful to take a shower and a little nap before exploring Cairo one last time before we departed in the evening. We decided to spend our last hours exploring the great bazaar at Khan al-Khalili. We walked around the market awhile and then enjoyed some iced karkadai (hibiscus) tea at the famous Fishawi’s Coffeehouse (where you can also enjoy a sheesha if you desire). Countless people pass by trying to sell everything from watches and sunglasses to a shoeshine. I did succumb when an old woman showed up with stained hands and the necessary accoutrements for a henna tattoo. An Egyptian tour guide who was leading a group of Spanish tourists through Egypt sat to our right. A Saudi Arabian man who worked for Haliburton and was in Egypt for a training seminar sat to our left. He was about to make his first visit to the US—Texas—for work in a few weeks and was excited for the trip.

Throughout our travels in Egypt, it became evident that the Egyptian government was taking the security of its tourists seriously. Armed men and undercover police guard the train stations, the docking areas in Luxor, Edfu, and Aswan, and many of the spots frequented by tourists.