One comment. The Sphinx was smaller than I had imagined. But otherwise my expectations were met.
Fifty years ago my father visited Egypt and went to Giza and rode a camel. My son went with me on this trip and my father told him he should ride a camel. We tried to re-create the scene.
Back into Cairo. Cairo had really bad smog. A city of over 20 million people. Big noisy smoggy dirty. But not as dirty as I expected. Actually, pretty clean. No open sewers, no piles of trash, no stench. Quite nice, really. In the evening I met up with an old friend I hadn’t seen in ages. He has lived in Cairo for 40 years and loves it. I have to admit, I’m a bit jealous. If you haven’t been there, I highly recommend it. I think I need to go back sometime…
That morning on our way to Giza, we stopped in a parking lot across from the Pyramids to rendez-vous with a physician. He diligently swabbed all of us and went off to do our Covid tests. This was required for us to re-enter the USA. Later that afternoon I received an email with my official document, photo and all, proclaiming I did not have Covid. That was a relief. On the way out of Egypt, the airlines did check to see I had the document but on returning to the homeland, nobody even mentioned it. All they looked at was my passport.
Indiana Jones in the Valley of the Kings, pyramid shaped mountain in background
It was about a half hour drive from our ship to the Valley of the Kings. We saw agriculture and street scenes along the way.
Our first stop was a photo op at the statues of Amenhotep III and the Collossi of Memnon. These originally guarded the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III. They were damaged by earthquakes in 1200 BC and 27 BC.
Amenhotep III and the Collossi of Memnon
We wound up the hill into the valley where the tombs were hidden. One reason they picked this area was the mountain was naturally shaped like a pyramid as you can see above. Only twelve of the 63 discovered tombs are open to the public at any given time and they alternate as they are worked on and restored. We saw four of them. The whole area was still being actively excavated. Some tombs were in better shape than others. King Tutankhamun’s tomb was the only one that still had a mummy in it and it will be moved soon. It is hard to describe the experience, it was beyond beautiful, so amazing to think how old they are.
I read all the Amelia Peabody books by Egyptologist Barbara Mertz aka Elizabeth Peters, that span the time from 1884-1923. She wrote 20 books based in Egypt mostly about archeologists digging around and solving mysteries. As I read them, I kept trying to imagine what the Valley of the Kings actually looked like back then, or even now. All I could imagine was a vast desert with nothing much else. Well, now I know. Take a look.
Tomb of King Ramses III, first discovered in the 1730’sTomb of King Ramses I, discovered in 1817Tomb of King Tut, discovered 1922Tomb of King Ramses IX, open since antiquity as it has graffiti from Romans and Coptic visitors
On the other side of the mountain, facing Karnak, was the Mortuary Temple of Pharoah Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut’s reign started roughly around 1500 BC and she was on the throne for 22 years. She ruled as a Pharaoh, presenting herself as male, wearing a false beard. She was an important figure. Her mortuary temple was where they prepared her body to be buried in the Valley of the Kings. It was an impressive structure built into the cliffs and directly opposite the Eighth Pylon, her addition to the Karnak site. It had three terraces with shrines to Hathor, Anubis, and Amun.
Ancient GrafittiMorturary Temple of Hatshepsut
Then it was back to the ship for lunch and off to the airport. Return to Cairo.
We docked in Luxor about lunchtime. We were tied to another ship so we had to walk through that one in order to get onto land. We could see in some places the ships were four or five deep. In the afternoon we set out for Karnak on the east bank of the river. In old Egypt, the east side of the river was associated with life as the sun rises in the east. The west side of the river was associated with death as the sun sets in the west. Therefore, generally, temples were built on the east side and tombs were on the west side. In Luxor, the Temples of Karnak and Luxor are on the east side and the Valley of the Kings is on the west side.
Karnak was built about 4,000 years ago. It was a large complex built for the priests and the King, no others were allowed entry. There was a man-made lake in the middle and outside the entrance was a large platform for commoners to gather during festivals. Different kings contributed so it grew over the years. The site was overwhelming, so much to see. The entrance was lined with ram-headed sphinxes. As we entered, the Great Hypostyle Hall was 54,000 square feet with 134 massive columns all beautifully painted. All but 12 columns are 10 meters (33 ft). high with the remaining ones being 21 meters high (69 ft.). The site is considered the largest religious building in the world.
Karnak Temple
From there we headed into town and stopped at a place where they made papyrus paintings. We had a lesson on how papyrus was made and then were free to spend as much money as we wanted. The prices were reasonable so I bought one and framed it when I got home.
Anubis on papyrus
By this time it was getting dark, apparently the best time to see Luxor Temple. The temple was built about 1400 BC and was used mainly for coronations. In about 395 AD, the Romans occupied Egypt and converted the temple into a fortress and later put a Christian chapel inside. In 640 AD a mosque was added and is still used to this day. There were originally two obelisks at its entrance. One is now at the Place de la Concorde in Paris. Our guide kept lamenting how many things had been stolen from Egypt. Recently excavated and open to the public, the Avenue of the Sphinxes ran from Luxor Temple to Karnak.
Active mosqueAvenue of SphinxesLuxor Temple and Avenue of Sphinxes
First, a note on masks. Most people I came in contact with were wearing masks. At least indoors. I wore a mask all the time indoors unless I was eating. Outdoors I wore a mask if there were a lot of people around. Many people who were wearing masks, let them slip down below their nose. Does that qualify? Not sure that really does much. Whenever I got on a plane I double masked. I figured it was a small confined space so better safe than sorry.
There were only six people in our tour group which was fantastic. Our guide was a very nice man from Luxor who had a Masters degree in Egyptology. He was knowledgeable and happy to answer all our questions. Plus after doing this for twenty years he was still very enthusiastic about it all. It was interesting to wander around some of the more crowded areas and listen in to other guides. They all picked out different things to highlight and stories to tell.
Our cruise ship was called the MS Tulip. It had four floors and a top deck. The weather was in the 50’s and 60’s and very windy on board so not really pool weather but there was one. My fellow tourists took great advantage of the masseuse on board. There were only about 40-50 of us on board so we got a lot of attention from the staff with a couple of them hovering over us at all meals. One of them said “bon appetite” whenever he took a plate away. The food was abundant and for the most part pretty good. After reading Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie many years ago, I always wanted to float down the Nile. No murder this time…
As a young girl, I had a very colorful history teacher who brought it all to life. He told exciting detailed stories of Alexander the Great, Ramses II, Queen Hatshepsut, and many others. He told us about the great temple that Ramses II built into the mountain at the edge up the Nile River in 1200 BC. After learning about this magnificent temple, I read that the Aswan Dam was going to bury it in water and it upset me because I wanted to go see it. In 1968, an international team of engineers successfully moved the temple 65 meters up and 200 meters back in order to save it. I was still sad not to see the original but excited to go none the less.
On day four of my trip I boarded a flight in the early morning for Abu Simbel, 230 Km southwest of Aswan near the Sudanese border. It was a sunny day and the flight was spectacular. I never imagined the desert to have such interesting terrain. Big black rock dominated with specs of green along the river. As we descended we caught a glimpse of the temple from the air. It took our breath away. This was the highlight of my trip, my dream come true.
View of the Desert
There were two temples at Abu Simbel. They sat next to each other against their artificial mountains. The Temple of King Ramses II was the larger one with statues measuring 20 meters high (66 ft.). Above the statues were twenty-two baboons worshiping the rising sun. Inside there was a main hall and chambers off to the side with a sanctuary at the back. In the sanctuary were four seated figures – Ra-Horakhty (the sun god), King Ramses, Amun Ra (the creator of all things) and Ptah (god of craftsmen and architects).
The temple was built so that on October 22 and February 22, the sun would enter the temple and light up the figures in the sanctuary with the exception of Ptah who was connected with death, the dark. These are said to be the dates of Ramses’ birth and coronation. There is no real evidence that this is true and the dates could have shifted over time but still, an amazing feat.
Temple of King Ramses II
The second temple was built for King Ramses’ wife, Queen Nefertari. Her statues are half the size at 10 meters (33 ft.) high. It is rare in Egypt to see the Queen depicted as the same size as the King so it is clear she was important to him.
View of Lake NasserQueen NefertariTemple of Queen Nefertari
We returned to Aswan in the afternoon and as soon as we boarded our cruise ship, we set sail down river. In Egypt up is down as the river flows north to the Mediterranean. After dark, we stopped at Kom Umbo to visit the joint temple of Sobek (the Crocodile god) and Horus (the Falcon god), and the Crocodile Museum. The temple was built about 350 BC and has been damaged by earthquake, erosion and builders stealing rock to build other things. But on a clear night with a full moon, it was beautiful.
Temple of Sobek and Horus
The next morning we had some time off so we just stayed in bed and watched the river bank as we sailed north to Luxor.
View from our floating room
Our cabin staff were very creative and presented us with towel sculpture whenever we returned to our room.
Enroute Tokyo. I just lost a day in crossing the Intl. Date Line. Maybe someday I can make it up. I doubt that I will get to Nikko to see this shrine on the trip but we have a picture of you there. Hope you got your auto insurance ok.
Over a year ago we were well into the Covid pandemic. Things were starting to look up with the vaccine on the horizon. There was light at the end of the tunnel. I booked a trip to to Egypt for the following year and crossed my fingers. I was due to leave January 9, 2022.
In July, things started to open up and four friends of mine went to Egypt between then and September. Then Omicron hit. I weighed it all and decided to move forward. I would be ready to go but if it got canceled, I would be okay with that, too. I got my visa, my plane tickets, my vaccination docs. About two weeks before I was to go, I started hearing about all the flight cancellations. I was scared my flight would be cancelled or delayed and I would miss my connection in New York. So I decided to leave a day earlier and spend the night, just to be sure. My final itinerary arrived from the tour company. It looked like all systems were go.
The only Covid related requirement for entry was proof of full vaccination. I needed to set up the proof with a QR code on my phone. That was easily done. Getting back into the USA was a little more complicated. But more about that later.
I left my house on a Monday at 4 am to catch a 7 am flight. It was minus 4 degrees F, winter in Minnesota. My plane left on time. The following day I had to check out of my hotel and go to the airport very early. The flight was to leave at 6:30 pm and I was there about noon. There was no place to sit. I found a railing to lean against and finally checked in about 3 pm. I was on my way, double masked and excited.
We arrived in Cairo at about 11:00 am the next day but we didn’t arrive at our hotel until about 3 pm. There was so much red tape. We needed permission to leave the airport, we needed to have a tourist police body guard, etc etc. That evening, after a short bus tour of the city, we went to dinner at Feleyfel for mixed grill and hummus and baba ghanoush and other delights. It had been a long day. The food was good.
The sight seeing began early the next morning with a visit to the Egyptian Museum. It was crowded with Russians who had come over on a day tour from Hurghada on the Red Sea. They go to the seaside resorts to get away from winter cold and do day trips by bus to Cairo and Luxor. The Egyptians have built a new museum near the Pyramids and are in the process of transitioning items out of the Egyptian museum. It was still full of artifacts. They have so much stuff and are still discovering things all the time. The mummies had been moved to the Civilization Museum and so we only saw one or two. King Tut’s mask and other items were in a special room where you could not take photos. Our guide pointed out a few treasures and we wandered around for a while trying to take it all in.
That afternoon we wandered through the open market and then headed to the Citadel. Sultan Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi (Saladin) ordered the construction of a fortress on the Muzattam Hills overlooking Cairo in 1176 AD. It was completed by his successor Sultan Kamel ibn al-Adel in 1207 AD. Monuments were added to the area as well as a large Mosque which dominates the compound. The Mosque of Muhammad Ali Pasha. There are other smaller mosques and museums that can be visited. The day we were there, they were getting the mosque ready for a wedding.
Mosque of Muhammad Ali Pasha
Day three we had to get up at four in the morning to catch and early flight to Aswan. From the airport in Aswan, we boarded a bus and went directly to Aswan Dam and Lake Nasser, one of the largest man-made lakes in the world. Returning down river, we got onto a motorboat and crossed the river to Philae Island to tour the Temple of Isis. The temple was built during Egypt’s Greco-Roman period around 280 BC. It is hard to wrap your head around how old everything is. The obelisks from the front of the temple were taken by British Consul Henry Salt and are now in Dorset, England.
Lake NasserTemple of IsisTemple of Isis
Our next stop was a quarry where an attempt to cut out a very large obelisk from the rock had failed since it had a large crack in it. They would dig out the rock around the shape they wanted to extract and use water to separate it. Yeah, I didn’t fully absorb the engineering angle but apparently it worked. Except for this time, anyway. From there we finally checked into our cruise ship and had some lunch. It was like 2 pm. And it wasn’t over yet.
After lunch we all precariously made our way onto a felucca, a small sailboat. We sailed down river to a Nubian village where we were to take tea with some Nubian villagers. A dirt pathway surrounded by garbage took us up a hill where there was was a large pile of garbage, and on top of the pile were three goats and a cat munching away.
We turned the corner and were led by a man into a house. After climbing high steps we found ourselves in a very pleasant open air room with colorful paintings on the walls. The woman of the house was very welcoming and made tea for us. Our guide told us he had a surprise for us. The man we had seen earlier brought out a large white bucket. Inside the bucket was a baby crocodile. Lovely.
baby crocodile
On our way out of the village we came across a man weaving. He was making beautiful scarves in a room with a loom and shelves of his finished products. He made several sales that day. Interestingly enough we saw a poster of the very weaver at the airport. Apparently he had been recognized for something or other. By the way, there are lots of stray dogs and cats in Egypt. One of my tour companions kept wanting to feed them.
Back on the felucca, we made our way zig zagging back to our cruise ship.
the Felucca
Day four was another early day, we had to catch a flight to Abu Simbel.
This looks sort of like Bangkok, no? But it is a beautiful old building. We have had a lovely time with beautiful weather. We’ll be seeing you before you get this but it can be added to your collection of cards. We’re looking forward to seeing you.
Here we are in the middle of South Dakota at Al’s Oasis Inn watching a Dracula movie on Saturday night – Allie and Val are screaming but it is really a comedy! So far we have seen the Corn Palace and lots of farmland. Astra is traveling well as usual. Tomorrow we will go on to the Badlands for a night and then to the Back Hills. Allie and Val have been saving their allowances and have been to two gift shops already, while Astra and I wait elsewhere. We had a good time at Valleyfair, the amusement park, with Tom and Jenny on Thursday before we left – spent 10 hrs there!
Postcard Buzz 