We arrived in Cairo on a British Airways flight (shockingly a 747 - a big plane for Cairo) late Wednesday evening. We met our tour guide and driver at 10:30am on Thursday morning (Thanksgiving). The agenda for the day was to go to the Egyptian Museum in the morning, visit the oldest mosques in Cairo and then the Christian and Jewish quarter before having a late Thanksgiving lunch/dinner on the Nile River.
The Egyptian Museum was a nice first stop as it introduced us to the history of the Egyptian people and reminded us that it was one of the great civilizations of all time many, many years ago. Here we are out front of the museum.
The museum had 120,000 artifacts which was overwhelming but we worked our way through from the oldest pieces (statues, writing, etc) that were over 4,000 years old. They had special exhibits of mummies. We walked through the royal mummy exhibit which housed old royal kings and queens. Here is one of them.
Amy was a little disturbed by the exhibit, thinking it was a little disrespectful to have these mummies on display in a museum. Not only did they have dozens of people mummies, but also of the royals pets or other animals. We saw one of the largest crocs ever mummified.
The highlight of the museum was the King Tut exhibit which houses thousands of items taken from the tomb of King Tut. We found out from our guide that King Tut, while the most famous Egyptian King, didnt really do much for the people. He was nine years old when he came to be king and he died when we was 18. His celebrity comes more from the discovery of his tomb which was the best and most complete finding of any Egyptian tomb, but it was probably one of the smalled treasure put in any Egyptian king's tomb. That is a remarkable thing because there were floors and floors of jewels and other valuable items so we can only imagine what other king's tombs had. The most famous item in the museum was King Tut's mask which was an impressive piece of craftsmanship.
Next stop was the mosques. But first, our guide and driver took us through a crowded and busy Egyptian market in the car. This was an eye-opener for us. It started out civilized. Nice fruit stand.
Then, there was chaos. People walking all through the streets, cars not staying in lanes, very run down and poverty striken area. We learned that the days we were in town was a special feast so many people came to the market with big pickup trucks to buy their cows and sheep which would then be slaughtered for the feast. The cows must have had a sense they were in for trouble.
The sheeps as well.
This market was very different from Morocco or some of the other markets we visited. Not that comfortable a place for western visitors, even if we were in a car. Amy's face tells it all.
OK, on to the mosques. 85% of Egypt is muslim. As our guide brought us to the gate of the mosques, there was a woman who was collecting entrance fees for the non-muslims (muslims get in free). He handed her enough for two tickets, but she handed him back one of the fees and said something to the guide and pointed at Anthony. The guide said something back and then she said to Anthony "No muslim?", apparently very surprised Anthony wasn't muslim. Add Egyptian to the growing list of things Anthony has been mistaken for in the past year - Pakistani, Indian, spanish, mexican, greek, and Italian (thank god)! Amy has been mistaken for nothing!
After the entrance fiasco, we enjoyed our visit to the mosques.
Something doesnt fit here - a worshiper sitting on the ground of one of the mosques on a laptop.
After the mosques, we headed to the Jewish and Christian quarters. It was a small little standalone community. They had a few churches around the area. We visited one where the Holy family stayed in hiding for a month or two during one of their pilgrimages. Another church was named Hanging Church because it was built high up on rafters.
Our Thanksgiving meal was at an outdoor restaurant on the Nile River. We didnt have turkey but tried all the standard Egyptian fair. It was good.
And, what better way to end our first day but a sunset. Friday was the main attraction - the Pyramids and Sphnix - so we needed our rest!
The next day was an early start (much to Amy's dislike). We met our tour guide at 730am and set out on the 30 minute drive to the Pyramids of Giza. Here is the first glimpse of the Pyramids we had as we approached.
As we walked towards the Pyramids, there were stray dogs all over the place. This one loved Amy as he followed her around - so much so that Amy checked in her bag to make sure she didnt have any food that was attracting the dog to her.
If you look carefully, you can see another stray dog up the Pyramid peaking out his head. Not sure this is what the Egyptians had in mind when they built these massive tombs.
As you walk up to these 4,700 year old Pyramids, you get to appreciate the scale of them. HUGE!
We couldnt get enough of pictures in front of the pyramids
We had the option of walking down corridor into the middle of one of the pyramids to see one of the tombs. Anthony took one look at it and realized that he would have had to basically have been on his knees down a steep passage way. So, why not take a picture in front of it instead....
We drove up to a panoramic view of the 3 pyramids. It was a little hazy but still made for great pictures.
Anthony's famous shot - shouldn't this be in a National Geographic magazine or something?
Next was the famous Sphnix. Again, 4,700 years old and still in pretty good shape.
And, just so the baby knows he has been to Cairo before even being born, we took a few pictures of Amy and her belly
Next stop in this area was a museum housing a Soul Boat. This was apparently in every major King's tomb and was meant to signify to soul of the King's journey to everlasting life. Keep in mind that the wood and everything you see below is about 4,700 years old. They only used ropes to hold it all together (not nails or other objects). Very impressive.
When we were done with the "plateau", we started our drive to Memphis a town on the outskirts of Cairo that had some significant ruins. First we passed a camel.
Next we passed a donkey.
And then finally, a ridiculous and disgusting amount of garbage in the water. This was a problem throughout Cairo. They apparently had no noticeable garbage removal system which is a real shame. It made the entire city and outskirts look like a real dump.
We made our way through the suburbs of Cairo. Along the way, in addition to the garbage we saw people actually slaughtering a cow on the side of the road (with the blood spewing into the street). We also had to contend with illegally made speed bumps that the local villages put in the road so people didnt speed through. Finally, we arrived in Memphis.
A game of hide and seek never gets old.
Next stop was a few miles away, the oldest Pyramid in the world - The Step Pyramid of Sakkara. This pyramid was about 100 years older than the most famous pyramids in giza and, as you can see, was constructed a bit differently (with 6 main levels/steps, hence the name).
On our way out of this area, we had a good view of the contrast between the Sahara desert and the green of the Nile. About 90% of Egypts population lives on only 4% of its land, which all centers around the Nile river (the water from which brings life, grass, trees, etc).
After all this sightseeing, Amy could think of only one thing - getting bundled up in bed and going to sleep.
The Pyramids did not disappoint and clearly were the highlight of this trip, but we were both surprised at how run down Cairo was as a city (the largest city in all of Africa). Not only was there garbage everywhere, but buildings were falling apart, traffic was a mess, animals were all over the place. But, we did get to see one of the man made wonders of the world. More importantly, this was our last trip before moving home so we have two weeks of stationary relaxation!
2 comments:
So, I'm glad I didn't miss much ten years ago! You could have adopted that dog you know. Unfortunately there is a lot of Africa that looks that way.
Sheeps?
Haha, muslim... must have been in the sun too much!
Amy is looking chubby!
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