I must forwarn you - this post is going to be LONG. I was in Egypt for 2 weeks and took close to 1,000 photos (don't worry, I'm not putting ALL of them up here). only the ones that I think (well, hope) will give you a good sampling of what Egypt is like.
the first stop on our trip was of course to the Great Pyramids at Giza. now I went on this trip back in June, it's now November (I know, I'm a little late), and to be honest I still cannot believe I actually got to see one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. it is still very surreal and I cannot seem to wrap my head around the idea. and not only did I get to look at them, but I also got to climb on them AND crawl inside. I unfortunately do not have any pictures of the inside as they would not allow any cameras. :( seriously, they had a check point before going inside the pyramid to make sure you didn't have a camera. you couldn't even have a cell phone! (since most cell phones these days have the ability to take pictures).
we even went to visit the first pyramid ever built - the Step Pyramid of King Djoser built by Imhotep. Imhotep is argued to be the very first architect, but I had a hard time thinking of him this way because the only time I've ever heard the name Imhotep before was in the movie "The Mummy." and Imhotep was the bad guy in that movie, so I had to keep reminding myself that the real Imhotep was just an architect, not an evil-Pharaoh-killing-obsessed-with-my-girlfriend-bad-guy. anyways, back to the pyramid. so I was about to take a picture of the pyramid when this guy (see picture below) just jumps in my photo. I wasn't too angry because I did get a picture of the pyramid by itself and also this guy just kind of fit with the photo, don't you think? however, I was annoyed that after I took the photo he expected me to tip him! I didn't ask to take a picture of you buddy, you jumped in of your own free will so why would I tip you?!
the rest of this information is going to be out of order because, let's face it, it's been a while and I don't remember. before I get into the rest of the details, I must say that Cairo is one of the most interesting cities I have ever been to. it is such a juxtaposition of extremes that the city becomes absolutely beautiful. and for the first time in my life I was able to truly see what extreme poverty looks like. I must shamefully admit that in all my research of Egypt I only concentrated on the monuments and not the actual country itself. so, it took me by complete surprise that Egypt is as close to a third world country as I have ever been to. (I'm not sure if it actually is a third world country, as I still have not checked.) the city of Cairo is HUGE! almost 20 million people live there (and I thought New York was big)! the roads there are some of the scariest things ever as all traffic signals, signs, etc. are merely suggestions, which of course no one follows. and not only is it cars and trucks, but they also have donkey pulled carts! and then you have the people seriously just darting in and out of traffic.
one of the days we were in Cairo we went to visit the Citadel and saw the Alabaster Mosque of Muhammad Ali. the place was gorgeous and huge. to go into the mosque you had to either take off your shoes or wear these little bootie things over them (think hospital garb). you also had to be covered up quite conservatively. I thought I was (had on a crew neck shirt with sleeves and a skirt that went past my knees), but apparently it was not enough because as soon as I walked into the gates some girl rushed over to me and threw this long cape thing over me. whatever - it's their customs, not mine. though the thing did kind of smell...
another place we visited in the old part of Cairo was what they call the "hanging church." the church itself is pretty spectacular, decoration wise, but what makes it really cool is that they discovered later that the church had actually been built on top of some old fortress walls. they had some sections of the floor of the church cut out and replaced with glass so you could see the walls below.
while we were visiting the church they were in the middle of restoring it. I thought it was pretty cool because you could see all the details of how the restoration process worked. below is a picture of a girl repainting some of the details on an altar piece.
the rest of the afternoon, what was left of it after lunch anyway, was spent at the Khan El-Khalili bazaar. the place was supposed to be humongous, but unfortunately we only had time to stay in the tourist area where they try and sell you all sorts of things you don't need. like sparkly, shiny let's-leave-nothing-to-the-imagination outfits. 99% positive I didn't see a single Egyptian woman my entire trip wearing anything like that.
one of the days we were in Cairo we went to visit the Citadel and saw the Alabaster Mosque of Muhammad Ali. the place was gorgeous and huge. to go into the mosque you had to either take off your shoes or wear these little bootie things over them (think hospital garb). you also had to be covered up quite conservatively. I thought I was (had on a crew neck shirt with sleeves and a skirt that went past my knees), but apparently it was not enough because as soon as I walked into the gates some girl rushed over to me and threw this long cape thing over me. whatever - it's their customs, not mine. though the thing did kind of smell...another place we visited in the old part of Cairo was what they call the "hanging church." the church itself is pretty spectacular, decoration wise, but what makes it really cool is that they discovered later that the church had actually been built on top of some old fortress walls. they had some sections of the floor of the church cut out and replaced with glass so you could see the walls below.while we were visiting the church they were in the middle of restoring it. I thought it was pretty cool because you could see all the details of how the restoration process worked. below is a picture of a girl repainting some of the details on an altar piece.the rest of the afternoon, what was left of it after lunch anyway, was spent at the Khan El-Khalili bazaar. the place was supposed to be humongous, but unfortunately we only had time to stay in the tourist area where they try and sell you all sorts of things you don't need. like sparkly, shiny let's-leave-nothing-to-the-imagination outfits. 99% positive I didn't see a single Egyptian woman my entire trip wearing anything like that.the next stop on the adventure was the city of Aswan. first however, we made a stop at the Egyptian Museum (you were not allowed to take any pictures whatsoever, otherwise I would have included some - those next two below were "borrowed" from the internet). it was not the best organized, nor informative, museum I have ever been to (and I have been to my fair share - trust me). but they had so many cool artifacts that it didn't really matter. my two favorite parts were the collection of King Tutankhamen (I got to stand thisclose to his gold funerary mask) and the mummies.
they had the mummy of King Ramses II (this character had about eight wives and over 100 children and was the pharaoh well into his 90s! busy man) and it seriously looked like he had just died a week ago. there was still hair on his head!
after the museum we finally made it to Aswan. and just in time to watch the sun setting over the Sahara. :)
they had the mummy of King Ramses II (this character had about eight wives and over 100 children and was the pharaoh well into his 90s! busy man) and it seriously looked like he had just died a week ago. there was still hair on his head!after the museum we finally made it to Aswan. and just in time to watch the sun setting over the Sahara. :)
there is not much to do in Aswan itself, but there are pretty cool things around it. our first stop was the Philae Temple. like many of the monuments around that area, it had to be moved because it would have flooded when the new Aswan High Dam was created (which is how Egypt ended up with the giant Lake Nasser). it was pretty exciting because it was the very first Egyptian temple I had been to (I sound spoiled for saying this, but it honestly became old hat by the end of this trip).
after the temple we went to a papyrus factory and the gentleman there demonstrated for us how they make actual papyrus scrolls. we of course then had the chance to look in the shop and buy something for ourselves (it was kind of like at Disney, where after you finish a ride you conveniently have to exit through a gift shop. for every ride).the next day we got up at the crack of dawn - wait, I lied. we got up before dawn because on our bus ride to Abu Simbel we stopped to see the sun rising over the Sahara. I am not really a happy camper that early in the morning, but it did make for cool picture.
Abu Simbel was really neat and semi-sort of strange at the same time. maybe surreal is more of the word I am looking for. there is absolutely nothing there but the two temples (the main one for Ramses II and the second, smaller one for his "favorite" wife Nefertari) and Lake Nasser. it of course would have been a lot better to visit when there was no one around, but fat chance that is ever going to be the case. the temple for Ramses was enormous. and sooooooo many statues of himself (he was a bit of a narcissistic guy), but one thing that I found that I thought was interesting is that people carved their names into the stone with a date - "so-and-so was here" kind of thing. but what made it cool was that the dates next to the names were ones like 1762 and 1887. not really the kind of dates you see on the bathroom walls nowadays huh?
another interesting thing was that this was the first time you were able to see (albeit, just a tiny amount) how colorful these hieroglyphics used to be! check out the illegal photo below (you again were not allowed to take pictures inside, but they allowed you to walk in with your camera here - so I just snapped a couple of shots, minus the flash, while the guard wasn't looking). the best examples of colored hieroglyphics is in the Valley of the Kings - but they won't allow you to bring in a camera nor a cell phone (sneaky buggers - they are up with the times) into any part of the area, not just telling you know right before you walk into the tombs.
don't remember the exact days these next few thigns were done on, but does it really matter? ;) we took a felucca ride one evening up the Nile (yes, up - it flows in the opposite direction, remember?). apparently our captain, Mr. Mustache as they called him, is famous and has been on the cover of magazines. I have yet to find him though... but the Nile is an amazing river. it is much bigger than I expected and the land on either side of it is so fertile! the only place I have been to that can rival the green of the plants along the Nile is in Ireland (and trust me, they do not call that place the Emerald Isle for nothing!).
one morning, again I had to get up before the sun which is something that should totally be illegal on vacation, we took a hot air balloon ride over the city of Luxor (ancient Thebes). I was a little nervous, not going to lie, since this whole motion sickness thing and I do not necessarily get along. but it was great! my first hot air ballon ride and I LOVED it!! we weren't really that high up, but it was really cool to see everything from a bird's eye view. we passed over a few farm homes and everyone had their beds on the roof! apparently with the wind off the Nile, it was a lot cooler to drag your mattress up to the roof and sleep there. I think we woke some people up when we flew over them though, oops.
the last temple we visited on the trip was Luxor Temple. probably also my favorite. mostly because we were there right as the sun set so we got to see the temple all lit up at night. normally these Ancient Egyptians are all about their straight lines and symmetry, but not here. since more than one pharaoh added on to the temple it somehow did not end up perfect (which I still don't really understand, but whatever).
we went back to Cairo for one more day and night before heading back to NYC. and even though it was hotter than hell (literally it got up to 130 one day) most of the trip, I still really did not want to leave. I LOVED Egypt (though if I never eat another eggplant again in my life I would be ok). it was so different than any place I have ever been to and granted it definitely does not have all the comforts of home, I could still appreciate it for what it was. I am not sure when, but I will most certainly be back again for a visit. :o)
