Egypt Part III -- Alexandria

Our Egypt journey ended in Alexandria City.  Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BC.  After he conquered Egypt, he moved the capital of the country to the north coast to be near the sea.  This was our first time to see the Mediterranean Sea and we made sure that we put our feet in it.  The water was much cooler than the Indian Ocean off Kenya but much warmer than the Atlantic Ocean of our homeland Nova Scotia.

We were amazed to discover that much of Ancient Alexandria is buried under the ground.  This amphitheatre is in the process of being excavated.  It was discovered a few years ago by accident when the government wanted to erect a new building.  The ruins seem to be the site of a University.


Recently two mummies were also discovered in Alexandria -- locals believe they are the remains of Cleopatra and Mark Antony.

In 1995 fishermen discovered part of a city under the sea just off the coast.  It is believed that part of Alexandria sank in an earthquake over a thousand years ago.  The earthquake of 1992 shifted it closer to the surface again and it is currently being explored by the Department of Antiquities.  Some statues have been brought to the surface (left) but this undersea city remains intact under the water.  Perhaps it will become a museum for scuba divers!

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The most fun we had was at the new Bibliotheca Alexandrina (Library).  It opened in 2002 and boasts the largest reading room in the world.  The Library has space for 8 million books and one of the newest Internet Archives in the world..  It also has a Planetarium (above) where they show science films (in Arabic).  We enjoyed walking through the collections and stopping to read in the Young Peoples' section.  Most of the books were in Arabic, which reads from right to left.  We were also surprised to see that the books are opposite of ours -- they read from "back to front".

We visited the Pompey`s Pillar, a 25 meter column made of red granite. We strolled through the Muntazah Gardens and stopped to look at the Muntazah Palace where the descendents of King Mohamed Ali lived until 1952.  And we walked through the deep Catacombs of Kom el-Shuqafa.  This mass burial site was probably built in 100AD but was not discovered until 1900 and opened to the public in 1995.  There is a deep spiral staircase leading to 3 underground levels.  The underground ``streets``  are lined with about 400 tombs chiseled into the rock.  We were not allowed to take photos and it is very hard to describe this incredible structure.

As a city, Alexandria is smaller (only 4 million people) and much cleaner than Cairo.  This was a relaxing way to end our trip.  We had a half day touring the highlights but then a full 24 hours of leisure before heading back to Cairo to catch our night flight to Nairobi.  Needless to say we arrived home exhausted.  An amazing trip!

Egypt Part II -- Cruisin' the Nile

 

The second part of our Egypt trip was a 3 night cruise on the Nile.  Some trips sound more exotic than the reality..... but this is not one of them!

We were on a beautiful cruise ship called the Jasmine.   It had a swimming pool, table tennis, amazing buffet meals, and a spectacular sunset!  It is a small cruise ship -- only 56 cabins -- but, despite the busy season, there were only 24 people on our cruise.  Thankfully the other 3 families with us all had children!   

The ship has a very simple bridge -- manual steering and a dashboard less complicated than your car!

We were traveling north on the Nile and thus going with the flow of the river, from South to North.  The Nile is the longest river in the world, beginning in Ethiopia and flowing 6695 km through nine African countries to finally empty into the Mediterranean Sea.   The view from the Nile is unique.  There is no mistaking that Egypt is truly a desert and the only water for irrigating soil is from the Nile.   We were on the blue river, surrounded by green papyrus on the edges and then sand dunes as far as the eye could see.  The towns have grown up close to the river for obvious reasons.

The best thing about cruising on the Nile was being able to live on the ship but take excursions to the shore to see more of Egypt's great history.  We visited many sites along the route between Aswan and Luxor. 

Most spectacular was the Valley of the Kings.  When the Pharoahs got tired of the work involved in building a pyramid, they started to develop a large burial site in Luxor.  There are 62 tombs where Pharoahs were buried (most of the mummies have been removed and are on display in museums around the world).  We visited three tombs -- corridors under ground with several rooms where the mummies were buried along with their treasure.  The walls are decorated with heiroglyphs and paintings but we were not allowed to photograph these tombs.  King Tut is buried in the Valley of the Kings (and his mummy is still on site),

We also visited the mighty Aswan Dam.  Completed in 1970, the dam holds back water in the largest man-made lake in the world, called Lake Nasser (550km X 35km).  It is hard to fathom how much water it controls: 30 trillion gallons of water.  Our tour guide said that if the dam were to break, then Cairo would be under 72 meters of water in a matter of minutes!   The dam provides the entire country with hydroelectric power and allows for regulation of crop irrigation. 

Before the dam was built, several temples would flood each Spring.  The completion of the High Dam submerged these temples year round.  One of these is called the Philae Temple (above).  The temple was underwater for 9 years until an international team cut it apart and reassembled it on higher ground.  

Max is striking a pose at the Philae Temple.  It is a large structure!

We also had the pleasure of being on the cruise for New Year's Eve.  The staff prepared a delicious candle-lit dinner for us.  We wore our Egyptian galabeya.  These are cotton dresses worn by men and women (full length) and made of soft cotton.  They come in a variety of styles and embroideries.  These are not just for dress up -- we saw people walking all over Egypt wearing this comfortable dress.

Egypt Part I -- Cairo

On December 27 we began our trip to Egypt.  This was a lifetime dream for Tim and the rest of us tagged along for fun!  We flew to Cairo after a short and unexpected stopover in Sudan (not an emergency but no one told us we were stopping there....).

Cairo is the capital of Egypt and has a population of 22 million people!  We were surprised by its size, but not its smog.  The traffic is intense -- fast and dangerous.  Our tour company had amazing drivers -- turning three lanes into 5 with only centimeters to spare.  


Despite the busy city all goods are moved around the city by small trucks or donkey carts.  See the HUGE cauliflower on the cart?  Egypt also exports dates and oranges which are delicious!

One of the things we looked forward to was the availability of fast food in Cairo:  Kenya has no McDonalds so we were pumped!  The only disappointment was the sick feeling we had afterward..... Our tour guide made us laugh when she said that KFC in Egypt stands for Kentucky Fried Camel.

December is winter in Cairo and we found it a comfortable 23 degrees.  The local people wore winter coats and wool hats and laughed at us in shorts.  They also laughed at us trying to cross the street to reach the Pizza Hut -- later we found out that there are underground tunnels for crossing the busy streets.  Only the locals make the dash on regular basis!

Cairo was a great place to begin to learn about the history of ancient Egypt and the culture of Islamic Egypt.  Pyramids were used to bury the Pharoah Kings and were a symbol of the religion of the times: that the afterlife could be enjoyed by the pharoah as long as his tomb had all the "stuff" to go with him.  Inside the pyramid the mummy was laid to rest along with countless riches and furniture.  The Step Pyramid (above) was built by King Pharoah Zoser in 2600 BC.  It has the best museum to describe the architecture of the pyramids.  

The boys are standing on the only remaining (Seventh) Wonder of the Ancient World: The Great Pyramid of Giza .  It was very cool!! Built in 2500 BC by King Pharoah Cheops, this is a magnificent piece of work.  It stands 136 meters high (now that the gold top is gone) and has 2.3 million large pieces of limestone. 

There are several pyramids standing together, making the skyline a remarkable sight.  Over a million people come to Cairo every month to see these and Christmas is the busiest season.  However, we had lots of time to take photos, play in the sand, look out at the vast expanse of desert, watch camels roaming, and play a few tricks.  We also marveled that Jesus would have seen these same pyramids when He was brought here as a baby to escape King Herod in Judah.  The pyramids were already old then (2600 years) and now we see them still standing for over 4000 years.  Amazing history.



We learned about a few of the famous Pharoahs, including Ramses II who was most likely the Pharoah that would not let the Israelite people go.  He ruled for 64 years and had a great many statues of himself constructed throughout the city.  This is one of the largest.  It is a full body, now laying down, and it is massive (see how tiny we look).  It is made out of granite and is very beautiful.

The sphinx is on the same site as the Great Pyramid of Giza.  Its purpose is unknown but may have been a guard over the site.  We were surprised to see many sphinx all over the city -- a variety of sizes and stone.


Besides the open air "museums" we visited the more traditional Egyptian Museum in Cairo and viewed the holdings of King Tut's tomb.  We could not take any photos but it was magnificient to say the least!



But alongside the ancient history is a modern city.  We visited a carpet factory and watched real silk being woven into very beautiful (very expensive) floor and wall hangings.  We saw how papyrus plants are made into paper and used today for paintings.  We visited a masonry to watch alabaster being carved into vases.  Egypt is also known for its textiles -- cotton is grown in the southern part of the country and Egyptian cotton sheets are luxurious.  We bought a few souvenirs including the Egyptian tarboosh hats for the boys.

Our memories of Cairo are dominated by these sensations:
1.  The smell of cigarette smoke.  90% of the male population smokes and there are no regulations concerning this.
2.  The sight of most women wearing head coverings.  Egypt is 90% Muslim and the women must only show their face and hands in public.  But they do wear modern clothes, jeans, bright coloured scarves.
3.  The sounds of people being called to prayer five times a day.  From the minarets on each mosque the voice chants and the people lay down their prayer mats on the sidewalks, facing east to Mecca. 
4.  The taste of greasy french fries and an assortment of unusual cheeses.