This morning we met Ahmed Helmy who is to be our guide during our tour of Egypt. Ahmed is a lovely young guy, who with his degree in Egyptology and perfect English, is extremely well qualified to take us on our tour. He's the sort of guy you immediately warm to and his openness in telling us that we can ask him absolutely anything is refreshing.
Today we left the hotel at 8.15 for a full day of sightseeing. The first stop was the pyramids which were only about 10 minutes from our hotel. They are right in the suburbs of Cairo. We first saw the largest pyramid of Cheops. BTW we have been learning quite a bit about Egyptian history from our guide Ahmed but don’t expect me to relate any of this accurately in this blog.
Straight out of the van we stand in front of the Great Pyramid of Cheops
It was an amazing experience to be at the pyramids. For most of us we’ve learned about them in history and seen documentaries about them on TV all of our lives. So to actually see them in real life is unreal. We walked all the way around the Grand Pyramid skirting past the many vendors and then re-joined our guide and driver for the drive to a lookout viewpoint where we could see the three pyramids. Then we drove to the smallest pyramid where we had the chance to go in. No cameras were allowed so I can only describe what it was like inside. We walked down a steep ramp to the interior. There were several open chambers at the bottom of this ramp. The farthest one was the burial chamber and I imagine the one before it was for items to be taken into the afterlife by the deceased. Being inside the pyramid was like being in an Indiana Jones movie. It was an experience of a lifetime.
Jade & Jarrah in front of the 3 Pyramids
We’re actually very lucky to be visiting Egypt at this time because this is normally the tourist high season with the largest crowds. Instead, because of the Egyptian revolution, hardly anyone is here. We can take our time with everything and see everything clearly without having to jostle crowds.
After visiting the pyramid we again joined Ahmed and drove to the Sphinx. The Sphinx is in a hole where it’s been excavated. It’s not on the surface as you might expect. It is also quite damaged. We can only view it from above but it is nonetheless a wonderful structure.
The Sphinx
The 4 of us taken in front of the Sphinx by an American family
From the Sphinx we left the pyramids area and drove to some nearby shops where we had a lunch of pita bread stuffed with either beef or chicken and onions with a yogurt sauce. I’ve forgotten the name of this Egyptian food but it was delicious and only 5 Egyptian pounds each as well! In revising this blog I've recalled it is called a Shawarma--sort of a type of Arab fast food!
Our next and final stop for the day was the Egyptian Museum on the other side of the Nile in the main part of Cairo. Ahmed took us through and described some of the artifacts to us. There was so much there that it isn’t possible to read the tags for all the exhibits and take it all in. The highlights were visiting Tutenkhamen’s room of artifacts. Included there was his golden death mask—which didn’t travel with the exhibit we saw in Australia. I noticed that one of his 4 canoptic jars which were in his image done in a white alabaster, was missing and I remembered seeing this in Australia. We saw so many things of his—funeral pallets with the 4 corners shaped like lionesses, another with hippopotamuses and another with spotted cows. I wish I could put up some photos of these items but cameras were not allowed in the museum. Finally we visited the Mummy Room with 18 mummies all on display in separate glass cases. Most of the mummies were partly exposed—most with heads, hands and partial feet uncovered. Several still had hair on their heads. They were all quite dessicated—dried out—of course and most of their skin had turned black but to think that they were thousands of years old was incredible.
Now we are back at the hotel resting until we go to our overnight train at 7pm. We are watching men’s gymnastics on TV—Jade is in heaven! It is the World Championships which were held in Tokyo in October. If only we could understand the Arabic commentary!
No comments:
Post a Comment