Why Egypt?

Ever since we were kids we have both wanted to go.  Amy’s fifth grade teacher introduced her to Egypt by making her do a multi-media project.  Pyramids, pharaohs and hieroglyphics were included, of course.  A memorable assignment, albeit difficult,  but it put Egypt firmly on her must see list.  Steve grew up with a picture, proudly displayed in his childhood home, of his Mother on a camel at the pyramids.  Throughout her life she filled his ears on her ‘fabulous and wonderful’ adventures in Egypt and he had to see for himself what the fuss was all about.

           

For this portion of the trip, we reached out for help with the itinerary.  We were exhausted from planning and needed to splurge on a travel agent.  We found one that would create the itinerary we wanted, book the hotels, hire the guides, and coordinate the logistics.  We worked it out so that we had all of the evenings and a couple of days free, but for the rest of the time we were little followers.  It was fabulous.  Usually we don’t like being told where to go and what to do, but for our 14 days in Egypt it was perfect.  Our drivers, guides and hosts not only took care of us but they also ’got real’ with us about current events in Egypt.  With regard to the elections, the corruption, Israel, USA, and the rest of the Middle East we got an earful.  It was hard to pay the travel agent’s bill, but at this stage in the trip, we needed help and it was worth it.

 

We started in Cairo (more in an up-coming post).  Seeing the pyramids up close was intense.  The Great pyramid is mind boggling huge.  It was also a little weird that they were right at the edge of the crazy city of Cairo.  To touch, climb and enter them was quite a thrill.  And to ride a camel near them was even better!  It was all very touristy, but what the heck, we’re not going to be by this way again.  Let’s ride a camel, in Egypt, next to the pyramids!

 

Birds! Finally we were seeing birds!  (There is a disturbing lack of birds along the Mediterranean and we missed the little buggers.)  Being on the Nile meant wildlife.  With binoculars and camera in hand, we spent our time on the top deck of our river cruise boat looking at anything with wings.  Our favorite was the striking, black and white, Pied Kingfisher.  Beautiful!

   

The reason why there is so much known about the ancient Egyptian culture is due to the elaborate tombs that were found.  Their belief in the afterlife and the bounty of objects left in these tombs to provide for their safe journey onward, are a fascinating science and a tourists delight.  We saw the Egyptian Museum which is literally overflowing with and sinking under the weight of this priceless bounty.  The most famous of these finds is that of the boy pharaoh, King Tut.  His entire tomb, all of the contents and each layer of his coffins are on display.  The collection is so large that it took us hours just for this part of the museum.  Over 100 pair of sandals, 4 horse carriages, enough food to feed an army…….you get the idea.  We also went into tons of other tombs in the Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, Noble’s tombs, tombs of people like you and me.  The artwork and settings were stunning, but something didn’t feel right about all this tomb touring.  Weren’t we just as bad as the grave robbers?  Isn’t this desecration of their spirits masked as education?  It was uncomfortable and so interesting.  We thanked each soul as we passed through their tomb.

   

What a tease, the Red Sea.  The water beaconed to us.  The vivid gilled wildlife called to us so they could show off their vibrant spots and stripes.  But no.  It was not meant to be.  A wayward shark had found it’s way to this portion of the Sinai peninsula and was doing what nature told it to do - eat.  The beaches were closed to all water activities, except scuba diving.  We had planned 3 days at the resort community of Sharm El Sheikh along the Red Sea as it is famed for it’s coral and colorful fish.  Timing is everything and our trip landed in the midst of a shark problem.  The shark was biting people (taking arms and legs) and had killed one person.  So we could only long for the water.  Instead we played ping pong, admired the fish from the surface, planned our time in Israel and Africa and enjoyed the resort.  Steve was able to scuba dive and thought the soft corals and masses of fish were as he had heard - fantastic and he highly recommends it.

Egypt is known for all the temples left by the Pharaohs throughout the 3,000 years of their rule.  They are simply awesome.  The size and grandeur of these places of ancient prayer were highlights of the trip.  The amount and variety of gods that were worshipped required many temples to be created.  And, of course, they needed the appropriate and proportional space for animal and human sacrifices!  One of our favorite temples is Abu Simbel.  Dedicated to the pharaoh Ramesses II, it was completely moved in 1964.  This 4-year effort required the cutting, dismantling, and reassembling of all the pieces of the ancient sandstone monument.  It was moved to a higher location because a new dam was built and the waters from the Nile would flood the existing sight.  The temple and location are unbelievable.  Add to that the museum about the salvage effort made it worth the effort to get there (planes, buses, cars). Thank you Egypt for the amazing feat of engineering and archeological preservation.

   

    

Our Egypt goals have been fulfilled.  To get to see bits and pieces of an ancient civilization that we’ve spent most of our lives marveling about is extremely satisfying.  The pharaohs, tombs and temples did not disappoint; many other things did, however, and we will post that next.  As things go, nothing is as perfect as the 5th grader in all of us want them to be.