Egypt~October, 2008

Fri, 4/18—arrive Cairo 1:25 am—Le Meridien Pyramids

We were met at the airport by Mohammed and treated to the scariest auto ride we have ever experienced. Friday is the start of the Egyptian weekend, so everyone was out at the clubs, partying. There are NO traffic rules in Egypt, and the horn is the one essential piece of driving equipment. We arrived about 3 and went immediately to sleep. Le Méridien Pyramids, nestled between the city and the wilderness, boasts unparalleled views of the majestic, ancient splendor of the Giza Pyramids. Cragg’s driver, Shady, picked us up after breakfast, at about 10:30. We had a wonderful five hours in the Egyptian Museum. The tour books were a great help. We find we do better on our own in museums where we can move at our own pace. The museum is badly in need of a face-lift (they are supposed to be building a new one sometime, somewhere), and the exhibits, for the most part, are poorly marked, but we did manage to find everything we were looking for, including the Royal Mummy Room, King Tut’s treasures, and the excellent jewelry exhibit. We also saw a hoopoe, which I had been searching for. Shady picked us up at 4:30 and drove us to meet Robert and Gail and their friends, Bobby and Becky at the felucca dock. We had a lovely sunset cruise with drinks and snacks, then went to the Fish Market for a “Piraeus-style” dinner. Lots of mezes followed by a hand-picked selection of fish which is cooked before your eyes. Shady took us back to the hotel for a long rest.

Sat., 4/19—Pyramids--Le Meridien Pyramids

Mohammed met us in the lobby and introduced us to our guide, Eman, a tiny little 28-year old “girl” She turned out to be one of the best guides we have ever had anywhere. Visited Giza and got in (only 150 allowed per day) to Cheops pyramid (Great Pyramid). Crawled through a low nearly vertical shaft and saw the slipways for the huge blocks that sealed the passageway. Saw the outside of the Pyramids of Khafre and Manakaure with its Queen’s Pyramids. We could see the Bent Pyramid in the far distance. Finally, we went into the museum of the solar boat, built in place right over top of the site where it was discovered.

We saw the Sphinx with the Pyramid of Khafre. Note all the pigeons on its eyes. The Sphinx has had to be dug out from the desert sand numerous times throughout the centuries. The continually digging out of the Sphinx, is evidenced by the Dream Stelle (a stone engraved with hieroglyphs) in between the paws of the Sphinx. The Dream Stelle tells the story of Thutmosis IV, who fell asleep below the Sphinx and had a dream that the Sphinx told him to dig the monument out of the sand. In return, the Sphinx promised Thutmosis IV, that when he cleared the Sphinx he would become king of Egypt. The Sphinx has since been cleared most recently in 1905.

Then on to Memphis, with lots of statues of Ramses II. Lunched at a newly opened Carvery where we were served (our tour company does not want us to have to go through the buffet line, although I think Jerry would prefer to help himself) mezes and fish.

Saqqara was more than we had anticipated. The Pyramid of Unas at Saqqara, even though the smallest of the Old Kingdom Royal pyramids, is considerably more famous and better known then the king who built it. This is because, for the first time that we know of, the 128 magical spells of the Pyramid Text appear on the walls of its subterranean chambers. It was once called "Beautiful are the (cult) Places of Unas", but today it is little more then a pile of rubble. The Pyramid of Teti was very interesting with more difficult-to-maneuver passageways. Teti was the first king of Dynasty VI and is the owner of the most northerly of the Saqqara pyramids, situated to the north-east of the Step Pyramid complex. Teti's pyramid is currently the only one open to visitors at Saqqara. Its subterranean chambers contain walls inscribed with columns of hieroglyphs, known as the Pyramid Texts and its ceiling is covered with stars.The Step Pyramid of Djoser was great, with its frieze of cobras and its 18th century graffiti. The Tomb of Mereruka had a great statue of the King. Walked to Chisto’s for dinner on a rooftop. The food was just OK, but the view of the Pyramids was great.

Sun, 4/20—Alexandria--Le Meridien Pyramids

Left shortly after 6:30 am with Eman and the driver for a full day tour which brought ancient Alexandria to life. Drove 2.5 hours to Alexandria. All along the highway the government is encouraging wealthy people to plant and irrigate fields of sugar cane, fruit, olive, wheat and other crops. It was amazing to see the green strips of land with stark desert just beyond.One of my favorite books is Lawrence Durrell’s Alexandria Quartet, so this visit was on my life “bucket list”. Lots of the “new” here, with vibrant streets as well as the things like the horse-drawn carriages I’ve been hoping for.

The Catacombs were even more interesting with Eman as a guide. Down, down the spiral staircase to the tomb area and the triclinium (banqueting hall) for funeral feasts. Pompeii’s Pillar was impressive, a combination of Greek and Egyptian architecture not seen anywhere else. We were very fortunate to see the as yet unopened tomb of the Apis bulls. Also lots of uncategorized pieces, like this scarab.

Lunch at the Atheneum Restaurant---more mezes and fish. The Greco-Roman Theatre was interesting with is Hellenic architecture. Then to the very impressive new library with Horus’s eyes (with eyelashes) for a roof and a pool representing the ocean toped by the domed roof as the sun rising. The outer walls contained parts of all known written languages.Drove back through Alexandria (very busy, but not as bad as Cairo), passing the Sofitel Cecil Hotel where much of the action of the book occurred. Eman treated us to an ice cream. Finally the Citadel and the Montazah Palace and Gardens. Didn’t get back to Cairo till 8 (with only minor delays) and then stopped at a T-shirt shop. Quick soup and salad at the hotel.

Mon, 4/21—Cairo-Luxor

I ate something bad yesterday and spent all night throwing up. We had a 3:30 wakeup call for a 4:30 departure. Mohammed was late, then we got to the airport and sat outside while he took care of another family. I was still sick (once in the airport and once in the plane). We got to the boat at Luxor but couldn’t check in till 11. We are apparently to do the whole trip scheduled for today and tomorrow in one day—Valley of the Kings (I sat on the marble floor of the Visitor’s Center for 2 ½ hours while Jerry and our new guide, Emam, toured in the 100+ degree temperature). Only threw up once. Temple of Hatshepsut (very, very hot). Valley of the Queens (I stayed in the van and heard from our driver who doesn’t speak English about his romance with a French woman he hasn’t seen for five years). Colossi of Memnon--Perhaps the most imposing monument on the West Bank at Luxor are the famous 'Colossi of Memnon'. These massive quartzite (or quartzose sandstone) statues which once flanked the entrance to Amenhotep III's mortuary temple now stand virtually alone in a field at the side of the road to the valley of the kings.Back at the boat, Jerry ate lunch while I slept three hours, then Temple of Luxor and the Sound and Light Show at Karnac. Jerry ate dinner. Slept 12 hours.

Tue, 4/22—Nile

The boat left at 4 am. We have the foremost cabin on the next-to-top deck. It’s considerably larger that the others as it has a small sitting area. The air conditioning is feeble. We stopped after breakfast to sit all day at the lock going upstream. Would have been boring except for Jerry’s haggling with caftan vendors who kept throwing things up on deck. At the end of the day, we had purchased four very nice 100% Egyptian cotton robes. Emam showed us a movie about Aswan and a CD of most of the areas we saw or would see. We ordered a copy of the CD. Our room crew fixed us a surprise in our cabin.

Wed, 4/23—Nile

Good night’s sleep, we went through the lock about 6:30, then a several hour trip along the Nile where people were busy in the “cool” of the morning going about their daily tasks. Rode in a “calache” (horse cart) to Edfu Temple, a great spot built in 230 BC by Ptolemy III. This Greco-Egyptian Temple confirms exactly to Egyptian traditions and is dedicated to Horus (god of protection and son of Osiris), his wife Hathor, and their son, Ihy. The entrance shows the Pharaoh holding the hair of his enemies, with his arm raised to smite them.Beautiful, symmetric place with gorgeous carvings, many of which were chiseled out by early Christians. Then lunch and a nap—the heat is blistering—well over 100. Some river watching and commentary by Emam. Then the Kom Ombo Temple. This ruined, yet imposing, Greco-Roman temple is in a particularly beautiful site overlooking the river. It is totally symmetrical with two entrances, two halls and two sanctuaries, the result of the temple’s dedication to two gods, Horus and Sobek, the local crocodile god It was also a hospital with carvings of physician’s tools and games carved into the “waiting room” floor. Emam treated us to a mint tea in a Bedouin tent. This evening was the Egyptian dress-up party, so I wore my new caftan and looked just like Cleopatra. After dinner, we found Sobek, the crocodile god, in our cabin.

Thu, 4/24—Nile

Began with an early morning visit to the impressive Aswan High Dam and its huge lake, the largest man-made lake in the world, which were created to control the floodwaters of the Nile. Took a motor launch out to the Temple of Philae on the island of Agilika. Philae in Greek or Pilak in ancient Egyptian, meaning 'the end,' defined the southern most limit of Egypt. It was begun by Ptolemy II and completed by the Roman Emperors. The Temple was dedicated to the goddess Isis, the wife of Osiris and mother of Horus. The temple at Philae was nearly lost under water when the high Aswan dam was built in the 1960s. Fortunately the temple was rescued by a joint operation between the Egyptian government and UNESCO. In an engineering feat to rival the ancients the whole island was surrounded with a dam and the inside pumped dry. Then every stone block of the temple complex was labeled and removed later to be assembled, like a giant jigsaw puzzle, on the higher ground of Agilka island. The whole project took ten years and has saved one of Egypt's most beautiful temples from certain destruction. Even the graffiti was preserved. Stopped at the unfinished obelisk in a quarry where thousands of huge pink granite slabs were mined to create pillars and statues all over Egypt. Queen Hatshepsut had hoped to take out the marble and create the largest, tallest obelisk in the world, but the stone developed two cracks and the project had to be abandoned. Emam (who stayed below while we climbed in the sun to the top of the quarry) explained the method of drilling two concentric circles of holes to free the stone from the earth. Finally we visited the very well set up 10-year old Nubian museum. Very nicely done—and air-conditionedOur last treat was to be a felucca ride, but there was no wind (men were actually ROWING the boats), so we substituted a motor boat ride and saw the Old Cascades Hotel where Agatha Christie wrote “Death on the Nile”, a beautiful sunset, and Horus himself sitting on top of a rock in the harbor carved with pictures. onight we have an evening of dancing—belly—and a whirling dervish.

Fri, 4/25—Aswan to Cairo

Smooth transfer to airport for the 1 ½ hour flight back to Cairo. Mohammed picked us up and transferred us to the JW Marriott, a very luxurious, but very far away from things hotel. Shady was waiting to take us into Cairo to meet Hala, the guide recommended by Gail Cragg. Long drive on a fairly new ring road. We met Hala just outside the Coptic walls of the old city. As it is the Coptic Good Friday, we were unable to get into any of the Churches (St. George—Greek Orthodox or St Sergius—where the Holy Family took shelter) because all were having services. But we were able to go to the doors and saw the huge chandeliers of St. George and the beautiful sanctuary Screen and icons of St Mary. It was very nice to see the filled churches and hear some of the services. We spent 1 ½ hours at the Coptic Museum and Hala did a great job of making the artifacts and the carved wooden ceilings come alive. We also visited the Ben Ezra Synagogue which is now a museum. Dinner at the hotel at their “Italian” restaurant.

Sat, 4/26—Cairo

Busy day in Islamic Cairo. Shady delivered us to Hala at the entrance to Saladin’s Citadel, a spectacular medieval fortress dating from the 12th century, where we explored the mosque and tomb of the Ottoman ruler Mohamed Ali. This mosque is also sometimes referred to as the Alabaster Mosque due to its extensive use of that stone on some of the exterior walls and other surfaces. Sometimes it is popularly known as al-qal'a, meaning citadel, and thus confused with the fortress in which it is located. The mosque, the largest such structure built during the first half of the 19th century, is more impressive at a distance than close up. Muhammad Ali tore down the remains of Mamluk palaces and their dependencies, which were luckily described only a short time before by Napoleon's scholars as the most impressive buildings in Cairo despite their dilapidated condition. Recent excavations demonstrate that, in order to build the mosque on top of the preexisting structures, some ten meters of rubble was filled in. Muhammad Ali, who was more eager to build modern factories than religious foundations, then erected this mosque, where he is buried, as a monument to himself. It is also an imperial mosque which challenged those of Istanbul much in the same way that Muhammad Ali did militarily. The pencil shaped minarets, over eighty meters high, stand on bases only three meters wide. Though the architecture of the mosque is entirely Ottoman, the domes are, relative to their width, higher and less squat than those in Istanbul. Within the mosque are two minbars, or pulpits. The larger one of wood is decorated with gilt ornament, and is original. It is said to be one of the largest in Egypt, incorporating significant gold in its decorations. The smaller one of alabaster was a gift from King Faruq, dating to 1939. The mihrab, or prayer niche, is made of Egyptian marble. It is rather simple, but very beautiful at the same time.

At this time, the Mamluks (Janissaries) were the ruler’s fighting force that had grown very powerful. After Shagarat's demise at the end of the 13th century, the Mamluks ruled Egypt for over two hundred years. Despite the nearly constant conspiracy, murder, and infighting among the Mamluks (during this period over 50 separate sultans ruled Egypt), the Mamluks did make some impressive contributions to the culture, and particularly the architecture, of Egypt. In the end Mamluk bloody power tactics proved their undoing. The Mamluks were destroyed by Mohammed Ali, the last ruler to reside in the Citadel, in 1811. After inviting the Mamluk leaders to a day of food and festivities in the Citadel, Mohammed Ali had his guests escorted through a narrow lane on their way out of the Citadel. Mohammed Ali sealed off both ends of the lane and, with his waiting troops, slaughtered all but one of his 470 dinner guests. Later, he provided a burial place at the Mosque of Suleiman Pasha. On the west wall of the courtyard is an iron clock, presented to Muhammad Ali by the French King Louis Philippe, with a tea salon on the upper level. Its style is a mixture of neo-gothic and oriental elements. It has never worked, and probably never will. The clock, given as a gift in exchange for the obelisk now in the Palace de la Concorde, Paris, somehow does not seem to be out of place, even though by all rights it should be.

Situated at the very back of the Northern Enclosure and far away from the cafes and the main attractions that visitors have come to see, the small Mosque of Suleiman Pasha is often ignored. And what a mistake that is! This Mosque of Suleiman Pasha is a real delight and is one of Cairo's hidden gems. The first Ottoman mosque to be constructed in Egypt, it was built by Suleiman Pasha in 1528. "Pasha" was originally the title given by the Sultan to a governor of a province of the Ottoman Empire. Suleiman Pasha was Governor of Egypt from 1524 to 1534, and he built his mosque to serve the Janissary regiment, the elite corps of Ottoman troops who were garrisoned in the Citadel and who had come to Cairo only eleven years ago when Egypt became a province of the Ottoman Empire. Built in honey-colored stone with a Turkish central dome and a cluster of smaller domes, the mosque has a distinctly Ottoman, pencil-style minaret. It is a lovely example of Ottoman provincial architecture. The interior of the mosque is quiet and still. Recently, lovingly restored by a young local artist, the mosque's interior is an intricate texture of shapes and colors. Deep blues and greens in the arabesque patterns of the ceiling are complemented by golden texts from the holy Qur'an and by beautifully carved woodwork. The dome and upper part of the walls are painted to look like Turkish ceramics, while the lower part of the walls is covered in patterned marble. Outside the prayer hall, there is a small courtyard with a beautifully tiled floor, and across from this there is the tomb of Sidi Saraya, dating from Fatimid times. A guard helped us find the Janissary officers' tombs, which are marked by their official headdress carved in stone.

Ibn Tubin Mosque (where we climbed the minaret for a great view of mosques and satellite dishes). The Ibn Tulun Mosque was completed in 879 AD on Mount Yashkur in a settlement named al-Qata'i by the founder of Egypt's Tulunid Dynasty (868-905 AD), Ahmad ibn Tulun. Al-Qata'i was about two kilometers from the old community of Fustat. He was born in Baghdad, the son of a Turkish slave of Mongol origin owned by the Caliph, al-Ma'mun. He would later rise to become governor of Egypt after his stepfather, who died in 870, was awarded that position. The Ibn Tulun mosque reflects all the characteristic features of Abbasid art within the realm of architecture, and was obviously influenced, particularly with regards to the minaret, the great rectangular piers with engaged corner columns, the decorative motif and other features by the famous Samarra mosque in present day Iraq. This minaret, with its only remaining original element being the square base, communicates with the mosque by way of a passage. Its second story is cylindrical which is in tern surmounted by later Mamluk restorations in stone. The original minaret was built of brick. This is Cairo's only minaret with a spiraling external staircase and the overall structure is unique in Egypt.

Next we visited the Sultan Hassan Mosque which we had first seen from the Citadel. It was a school, or madrasa, but for the first time in Cairo, the madrasa had also the status of a congregational mosque for Friday sermons. It is considered to be Cairo's finest example of early Mamluk architecture. This mosque is also considered one of the largest, not only in Cairo but in the whole Islamic world. It is a massive structure measuring some 150 meters long and 36 meters high. Its tallest minaret is 68 meters tall. It was meant to house some four hundred students. Work was begun on the Mosque in 1356, funded by rather dark resources, money from the estates of people who died in the Black Death that struck Cairo in 1348. It was not a very popular policy amongst the people of the time, and is one of the reasons that Sultan Hassan gained a reputation for being greedy. About five years into its construction, one of the minarets collapsed killing more than three hundred people. This was thought to be a bad omen and to make matters worse, in 1361, Sultan Hassan was murdered, two years before the mosque was actually completed in 1363. Once again, he was attacked by the other Mamluk elite. He escaped from the Citadel and hid someplace in Cairo. He was later discovered and imprisoned, never to be seen again. The mosque was almost complete by that time, and was later finished by one of his functionaries. The Mausoleum, with its 21 square meter dome, is located behind the Qibla Iwan, which is unusual in Cairo. Only two other mosques are configured similarly. Usually, if the mausoleum is attached to the quibla wall, it is set to one side so that worshipers do not pray toward the founder's bomb. This is the largest mausoleum in Cairo. It was intended as the tomb of Sultan Hassan but instead it contains the bodies of two of his sons, named Al Shehab Ahamd and Ishmael. Sultan Hassan was not buried here because his body was never recovered.

The Wikala of al-Ghouri and Al-Ghouri were very interesting. Built in 1504, this was formerly used as a merchant's hotel. It is one of the best preserved examples of a wikala (market), being one of only 20 that still remain in the city. The exterior is particularly impressive with its imposing wooden door, small windows and mashrabiya panels. Nowadays, it functions as a theater, concert hall and artists' co-operative. We bought some baby clothes for Shady’s new daughter at an outdoor market. Had a light meal at the hotel and packed for the last time.

Sun, 4/27—Cairo to London (10:30 am for 6 hour 10 min EgyptAIr flight(MS777)—arrive LHR 1:35 pm, Terminal #3)—London to Newark (4:00 pm flight Virgin 001 7 hours 40 min arrive EWR 6:40 pm).

Herb was there to meet us and we were home. Didn’t even go upstairs, but fell right in bed.