Pyramids and Cairo

Today was another long day – 13 hours, six of them riding in the bus. We had a very good guide and again travelled with an armed guard and in a convoy.

We docked at the port of Alexandria (on the Mediterranean Sea). This port is HUGE. I believe it took 45 minutes just to exit the port. The port and adjacent wetlands is a huge delta formed by the two branches of the Nile River.

There wasn’t much to see on our journey to Cairo and the pyramids, just lots of desert. There were small settlements and business along the main road but nothing substantial. There seemed to be a mosque every 10 feet. Upon entering the outskirts of Cairo and Giza (where the pyramids are located), there is a massive effort to reclaim the desert and build suburbs. They seem to be running out of places for the population of 85 million to live. So much sand…

Our first stop took us to the pyramids. The day was perfect, bright blue sky and pleasant temperatures. We saw the two main pyramids although there are 118 total (not all are located here). There were also some baby size pyramids for the children. They are made from limestone and sandstone, and the Giza pyramids comprise an area of 13 acres. It is an enormous pile of rocks that has been there for 4,000 years. Pollution and erosion have taken their toll, but the government has been restoring and preserving them. I wandered around taking pictures and Michael decided to enter the largest of the pyramids that was open to the public. He climbed down stairs and had to walk hunched over as the ceiling height was only about four feet. He was thrilled to experience the pyramids. Me, I was duly impressed but not overwhelmed.

Next stop was the giant Sphinx, half man half lion. Poor thing had its nose shot off by some pissed off Frenchies playing target practice using a cannon almost 200 years ago (so the rumor goes; if it is not true, I like this explanation anyway). This is also being restored. Now, this I liked. If you line up just right, the Sphinx becomes super imposed on one of the big pyramids, and that is a cool sight. I will try and get some pictures of this posted.

We had lunch at the very fine Mena Hotel that is located at the base of the pyramids. It was very elegant and we had a nice buffet lunch. We stopped at a papyrus store and were treated to a demonstration on how the first paper was, and still is, made. It is made from the papyrus plant, which is a cousin to the sugar cane. After peeling the outer bark off (which was used to make sandals and baskets), the core is sliced and soaked in water until the sugar leaches out and causes it to become gluey. The strips are then laid out and left to dry. Voila, you have paper. After the paper is made, an artist then paints on it. We saw some very beautiful works of art. We then had the obligatory jewelry store stop and I did buy a very beautiful cartouche (pendant with my name spelled out in hieroglyphic).

Our guide gave us so much information and history that my eyeballs were swimming back into my head. I took notes, but there was just too much to process. So here is what I found interesting. An Egyptian tour guide is professional, full-time occupation and requires a college degree in Egyptology. Egyptians do not consider themselves Arabs as they are a separate race descended from the pharaohs, and even though Egypt is part of Africa, they don’t consider themselves African either. A little elitist maybe? Both men and women live at home with their parents until they marry. There is a lot of western influence such as fast food chains, the media, clothing and electronics. There is a lot of unemployment so the government has created “make work” jobs such as ticket punchers at the entrance to the tourist sites. The Arabic word for desert is Sahara.

Cairo was like New York City – densely populated, crowded, and noisy – but was definitely second world. People had laundry hanging from windows and balconies, and the buildings were very old and looked like they were covered with a few inches of grime.  Horns honked continuously as there is so much traffic and no traffic lanes to speak of. Each driver for him/herself. It doesn’t pay to have a new car here as accidents happen quite frequently. Our bus driver was a real cowboy, weaving in and out of traffic and passing on the right or the left. It didn’t matter as long as he could go fast. I was glad to be riding in a big bus.

There were these decrepit white mini vans driving around with the side doors open and it took me a few minutes to figure out that they were taxis. People were packed like sardines and would jump on and off from the middle of the street while the vehicle was still moving. I even saw people standing on the back bumper of the taxi. The public buses weren’t much better with people hanging out of the door.

Our final stop was at the Egyptian Museum.  Again, we were not allowed to take cameras in.  It housed all of King Tut’s riches from his burial tomb, and for a nobody, he sure did have a lot of wonderful stuff. Gold and jeweled everything, pots and vessels (used to hold his organs after he was mummified), chariots, jewelry, and of course the sarcophagus. I could write a whole paper on the mummification and burial process, but that would take too long. Suffice to say, it was quite an interesting process and in modern times, scientists have not been able to duplicate the results. The museum also held statues and goodies from other tombs. The best part of the museum was the mummy room, which mercifully was air conditioned, and contained about 15 mummies. These corpses were 4,000 years old! Ramses II actually had hair on his head. We saw King Tut’s mummy in Luxor.

One final note: OSHA would never allow visitors to the sites we have been to. There are no handrails, stairs are not marked and difficult to see, no railings to protect you from falling over the side of the cliff, potholes, ankle twisting ruts … it sure was a fascinating day.