Shannon and I went to Egypt and had an amazing time. We learned a lot, met interesting people and took many, many pictures. There are always more pictures available then those in the blog, please click on any of the images to view pictures from our digital photo albums. There you will find more pictures most of which are captioned.
Traveling Egypt is a once in a lifetime opportunity and was at the top of our list of places to visit while living overseas. Neither of us ever traveled to the Middle East or to any predominately Muslim country before and we were not sure what to expect. Our guide for the tour, Ashraf, explained he expected to show us we were welcome in Egypt and during the trip we would feel comfortable and safe, and find the people friendly and helpful. I would say that he was right.
We planned the trip with our friend Adam from Aci Trezza and his friend Jason who works at the base in Naples. Unfortunately Adam had an emergency at work and could not make it to Egypt (that happens in the Navy). We met Jason for the first time at the airport in Rome and he made for a good traveling buddy for the trip.
We arrived in Cairo and took an arranged car to our hotel in Cairo. It was early evening but we wanted to make the most out of our time so the plan was to get dinner and head out to the pyramids for the light show they put on every night. Our first meal in Egypt was at a restaurant near our hotel and right on the River Nile. I read in my book that pigeon is a common in Egyptian restaurants so I tried it. It came out with the head on it and everything. It tasted like pigeon.
My guide book said that the light show in Giza was a must see. The sphinx and pyramids are lit up with colors and are illuminated differently as the show goes on. The sphinx is the narrator and he explains the origin of the pyramids and walks you through history. The book also says that the lights are what you come to see and the narration is so boring you should see it in Arabic. Instead we saw the Italian show.
We grabbed the last taxi back to our hotel and deciding we were not ready to turn in, headed over to the sheesha bar around the corner. We were the only westerners in the place and we ordered a pipe and each got a tea. Our waiter was a really nice guy who spoke English well and worked with us to get us what we wanted. After a while, the owner of the place asked us if he could sit down and we ended up chatting with him for an hour. He bought us some mango juice which was delicious but so thick it was hard to drink. He also arranged a taxi for us the next day.
Our first day in Egypt we were on our own, we did not have to meet up with our group until 4pm that day so we wanted to make the most of our time before then. We woke up early and walked over to where we to meet our taxi that was arranged the night before. Our driver’s name was Ramadan and he said he would take us anywhere we wanted to go. First we stopped at the Papyrus museum where we learned about the history of papyrus and watched a demonstration on how it is made. We had a guide show us around and explain the meanings in some of the ancient pieces. We also bought some papyrus at their shop.
Next we took the long drive to the pyramids in Saqqara. The Pyramid of Djoser, or the step pyramid, is the oldest pyramid in Egypt. It was built in the 27th century BC by the vizier Imhotep. There were three other pyramids at this site. Next Ramadan took us to the pyramids at Dahshur, there are half a dozen pyramids at this site but it features the Red Pyramid and the Bent Pyramid. We were able to go into two of the pyramids. Also at Dahshur they have other tombs you can go in, which proved more decorated with paintings and hieroglyphs.
Next we went to Memphis. Memphis was the former capital of Egypt but it no longer survives. Instead they have turned the artifacts into an impressive open air museum. There are many interesting things to see but the most impressive is the 33ft tall Colossus of Ramesses II. We ate lunch at a restaurant that greets each customer with a welcoming song and where you eat your kabobs in a shaded garden. The food was good, no pigeon.
The drive to and from Saqqara mostly took us through rural farming areas. It was green but you could see the desert not far away. It was obvious the amount of green was a thin band simply following the Nile. We saw farms growing beans, cotton, rice and fruit. On our drive we saw many animals working. Donkeys and camels were all over the place on the roads, they hauled everything from crops to dirt to people. That day, with all the farms we saw, I only saw one tractor. All of the work we saw in the fields was done with animals. Ramadan dropped us off at our hotel and we paid the 150 Egyptian Pounds we owed.
A note about money; We hired a taxi for eight hours and it cost 150 Egyptian Pounds… that’s $30. That’s $30 split between three people for an eight hour taxi ride. The exchange rate benefited us everywhere in Egypt. Sometimes I would be haggling and haggling with someone and then realize that I spent 10 minutes arguing over $2.
We met up with our group that afternoon. Our guide, Ashraf, studied Egyptology and has a master’s degree. He would be our guide for the whole trip. We purposely took a trip that would have a small group, there were only 11 people. There was our group of three from Italy plus 3 Australians, 2 New Zealanders, 2 English and a woman from Chicago. The New Zealanders and Australians were all making this trip as part of larger trips. There was one woman who was only half way through a four month journey.
Ashraf took us to the bazaar which was a market full of very aggressive merchants. There were many interesting things to see but it was a lot of work to get through. Next we went to see a Sufi dancing show. The show featured Sufis playing drums and instruments and Whirling Dervishes.
The next day we went to the Pyramids at Giza (during the day this time). Giza has the Pyramid of Khufu, or the Great Pyramid, which is the largest pyramid and the only surviving monument of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. At Giza we had the opportunity to go into the Pyramid of Chephren.
We also saw the Solar Boat which was a full size boat that was buried to carry the soul of Chepos to the underworld.
After the Pyramids we went to the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo and saw many famous artifacts. The museum is huge, it is said that if you spend one minute at each exhibit, it will take you nine months to view everything. Treasures from King Tutankhamen’s tomb take up the entire second floor of the building. It was one of the most impressive museums I have ever seen. We ended the day on an overnight train to Aswan.
Aswan is the southern most city in Egypt and it has a mix of Arab and Nubian populations which makes it a little different culturally than Cairo. Our guide arranged for us to have lunch on a boat as we cruised up and down the city on the Nile, after lunch the boat picked up a native guide who told us about many of the landmarks and wildlife in the area. After a time the boat beached on the Eastern bank of the Nile and there was an opportunity to go swimming. Although one does not have many opportunities to swim in the Nile with the Sahara as your beach, I was the only one who went in.
Later we got to ride on Camels. I felt they were easy to ride on and very strong, Shannon didn’t like it as much. We went for a ride around the dunes in the desert for a while on our way to a Nubian Village. The Nubian Village was nice, the natives cooked us some food and after dinner the children came out and attempted to teach the women in our group how to dance their traditional dances.
The next morning we had to meet downstairs at 3:30 am to catch a van down to the Abu Simbel. Security is tight on the way to Abu Simbel because the site is only 25 miles from the Sudanese border and there has been trouble in these areas. As a result we have to travel with an armed guard in our vehicle and in convoy with other tourist transportation. As it turns out an armed guard is a guy who carries a 9mm pistol and sleeps the entire ride. Abu Simbel was definitely one of the highlights for the trip. There are two temples that are very much intact so the insides still have much of the color that was put in when originally constructed.
On the way back to Aswan we stopped at Philae Temple. The complex is located on an island so you have to take a boat out to the site. The temple was one of the most religiously significant of the time and it also has monuments from later periods like the Greek and Romans.
Later in the afternoon Shannon and I rented a Felucca Sailboat to take us to Kitchener Island. The whole island is a botanical garden set up by an English General in the 1890’s.
The next day we didn’t do much. Our trip had us on a Falucca Sailboat all day traveling down the Nile (down is North on the Nile). We took our meals on the boat, read, napped and played cards. At the end of the day we beached the boat I got in a soccer game with some of the native kids on shore. I was really good. We ate dinner and slept on the boat.
The next morning we drove to the Edfu Temple. According to Ashraf, Edfu is the best preserved Temple in Egypt. It seems every surface they could find they decorated with paint and engravings.
For lunch we went to a family’s home in Luxor. They prepared a nice lunch for us and at the end they gave us a tour of their house and there was an opportunity for us to ask any questions about their life.
Next we visited Karnak Temple. We visited many temples in Egypt. Karnak is located right in the middle of Luxor. After the temple we visited the Luxor Museum on our own. The museum is full of many treasures and artifacts from the nearby Valley of the Kings.
The next morning we drove out into the desert and rode some donkeys to the Valley of the Kings. Donkeys are easier to ride than Camels but I don’t think they are as cool, Shannon prefers donkeys.
At the Valley of the Kings we had the opportunity to go into four tombs. Most notably we went into King Tutankhamen’s tomb and saw his chamber and his mummy. As I said, the treasures from the tomb are kept at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and they took up the entire second floor. The tomb wasn’t very big, it’s amazing they could fit everything in there.
After visiting the tombs we headed over to the Temple of Hatshepsut, a temple to a woman Pharaoh of Egypt. It was huge and built into a mountainside. For lunch we ate at the famous Winter Palace Hotel garden. It’s a hotel for rich people but we’re allowed to have lunch there.
That night we took another overnight train up to Cairo.
The next morning our organized trip was completed but we had about a half a day to before our flight so we rented another taxi for the day and saw more sites around Cairo with our new friends. We went to Coptic Cairo and visited some Christian sites. After Jesus was born the Holy Family fled to Egypt for three years. We visited one of the churches that was built over one of their hiding places. We also visited the famous Hanging Church and the Church of St. George.
Next we headed over to the Citadel of Cairo. The Citadel was built by Saladin after the crusades to protect Cairo. It is a huge complex that has a number of famous mosques and now houses a variety of museums. We were able to go in the mosques but we had to take off our shoes. Later that day our taxi took us to the airport.
Egypt was a great trip. As I said everyone was really nice, and not just the people we had transactions with. One time I was in a grocery store and I was asked by a fellow patron where I was from. Learning that I was American I was greeted again with a “Howdy, What’s Up?”
A couple of weeks later Derrick went with us to the flower festival in Noto. Noto in itself is a pretty impressive town. Noto has had notable visitors such as Cicero, Pliny, Dedalus and Hercules was supposed to have been here after completing his seventh task. However in January of 1693, an earthquake destroyed the entire town. As tragic as this event was, the reconstruction project that followed is what has made a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Giuseppe Lanza, a Sicilian aristocrat jumped at the opportunity to build the town from the ground up. His plan was to enlist the help of the greatest architects of the time (Vincenzo Sinatra, Paulo Labisi and Rosario Gagliardi) to create an entirely new city. His vision created a town designed on a grid and done entirely in the Baroque style.
As a person who may not usually be too excited to go to a flower festival I have to admit this was pretty neat. Basically they shut down an entire street and created pictures out of flowers. Many of the pictures have religious or historical meaning, but some of them were created just to be works of art. There were many people there to admire the flowers, but it was worth the wait.
