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.