after a 3 hr flight from Athens we made our way to Cairo, Egypt. We hadn't heard anything from the hostel that we booked about navigating our way downtown to this city of 22 million people. After some last minute research we found out that a cab ride should cost around 50 egyptian pounds...but being the non-natives we are we could not get anything lower than 60 pounds. So we jumped into what looked like a taxi from England except it seemed it hadn't had an interior cleaning since 1964. It was obvious that we didn't communicate well with our driver cuz we were dropped off about 2-3 blocks away from our hostel. This was probably one of the more grottier hostels we seen in a while. Daryll had to put the beatdown on a massive roach we had in our room. It was huge, about the size two half dollar coins. Roaches aside our host Isham really made us feel welcome.
When we arrived we realized that we had no book guides, pamplets of any kind so we decided to book a cobbled-together package tour from our hostel that would wisk us through major sites in all of 6 days. So we figured out our itinerary, paid in cash, and walked along the Nile in Cairo for that first evening. Wow...the historical and magical Nile that we remembered from our history books looked like shit. It is a very large flowing river but stinks to high heaven and the pollution was terrible. I couldn't even count the amount of plastic bottles, tires, plastic bags....among other debris we saw floating through it.
Day two started with us trolling the sites of the great pyramids of Giza. As we should have known....no guide is complete without them trying to take us to local handicraft artists. After seeing how papayrus paper is made....we told our driver not to take us to anymore. We then arrived at the Giza pyramids and Sphinx to see hawkers trying to sell us donkey and camel rides around all of the sites for unbelievable prices....we neglected....repeatedly and walked it ourselves. There are 2 main pyramids and the Sphinx that every visitor must see. These tombs are incredibly enormous and can bee seen for miles (on a clear, non hazy day). For extra money one can also go inside one of the pyramids...but from what we've heard there isn't much to look at. None of the items that used to be in the tombs are there anymore and I believe paintings that once lined the walls have all faded.
After being at the Giza Pyramids we made our way over to look at the step pyramids of Mit-Rahina as well as we saw the museum of Imhotep & Saqqara where we saw a massive statue of Rames.
That night we caught a train to that dropped us in Aswan in the morning where we got picked up by our host at the Nobanil (or Nubanil) hostel. After resting a little and getting something to eat we jumped in van that took us to see the High Dam. This dam is something that Egyptians are extremly proud of. It seems that about 15% of Egypt is powered with the energy obtained from it. Although it was great to know Egypts main power source....looking at it was really nothing special.
Next stop was the Philae Temple. Philae Temple was one those ruins that was moved since the building of the dam in 70's. The temple is quite impressive with images and hyroglyphics all over the walls. Many of those images are typical of many temples with the pharoah presenting gifts to gods. Those gifts include fruit, plants, food, wine....etc. Interestingly enough....there are coptic symbols inscribed in some of the walls when it was "converted" into a church when christians took it over some time around the 7th Century.
Day four we got up very early, around 4 am to get a van that would take us a few hours to see the ruins of Abu Simbel. Abu Simbel is another temple that was moved to higher ground so that the placement of the High Dam would not damage it. This ruin sort of reminds me of Mt. Rushmore in the states...in the sense that it is images chisiled into the side of a mountain. Abu Simbel actually consists of two rock formations, one dedicated to Rames II and the other to his wife, Nefertari. When you walk inside these temples you can see paintings on the walls as well as more hieroglyphics. Its quite dramatic looking at these temples from the outside....they're extremely massive. Once inside the temples (which is essentially a cave inside of a mountain), you can still see some paintings on the walls from over 3200 years ago.
That afternoon we took a felluca (boat) trip around Aswan. I believe it would have been nicer had we been on one with more people. Instead we were together with just the driver of the falluca.
That evening we took a train to Luxor which was about 3 hrs away. A different host picked us up right from the train station and dropped us off at the Lotus Hotel. This was probably the cleanest and swankiest place we stayed during our whole trip in Egypt. No roach stomping here. We really began to feel like royalty....getting picked up and transported to hotels. It was great.
Day five we visted both the East & West Bank of Luxor. We started on the West Bank and saw Hatchepsout Temple, Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Workers. Its interesting that we landed in Egypt during Spring time....cuz it was incredibly hot. Everyone (including our guide) was running to cover in the shade. The sun was brutal!!! We asked our guide what happens in the summer time. She responded by saying that she does not work in the summer time. Its just unbearable in summer and its considered to be their low season. Well the West Bank had usrunning for shade any place we could find it. After having lunch, the blistering sun tapered off in the late afternoon. That's when we headed to the East Bank which consisted of us seeing Luxor Temple and Karnak Temple. I believe that this was probably our favorite of all places we saw in Egypt. The sheer size and magnitude of both temples plus knowing that they are over 3500 years old makes your jaw drop. That night we got on a night train to send us back to Cairo.
Day six in Cairo was spent chilling out a little and going through the Egyptian Museum. This museum actually has all of the contents of what was found inside of Tutankhamuns tomb. Although Tutankhamun was only pharoah for 3 years (age 16 to 19) you can imagine, he didn't have time to get to be very popular. Because of such a short term as pharaoh....he was almost unknown to a certain extent. The reason why he is so popular now is because ALL of the contents of his tomb were left untouched and they were "discovered" in 1922. The jewelry and vastness to the amount of gold that was used in his tomb are incredible. The contents of his tomb take up a sizeble portion of the contents of the whole museum. The amount of gold draped over the mummy, to the gold draped around each of the 7 or 8 coffins that the body rested in. Each coffin was placed inside of a larger coffin with more intricate inscriptions....etc. It was mind boggling seeing all the gold....and don't forget he was considered an unknown pharoah. One can only imagine what Rames II tomb must have looked like had it remainded intact.
Day seven was spent traveling around Cairo on our own. Jumping in taxis to see the two main sides of the old city. The Coptic Quater and the Muslim Quarter. The Coptic Quater consisted of a maze of streets with old buildings, churches, a cemetary, even an old jewish section. The Muslim side consisted of compound on it with the Citadel, the Mohammed Ali Mosque, the al-Azhar Mosque, and the Naval Museum....etc.
All in all the ruins of Egypt are amazing, what is a little disturbing is how much of the history has been erased. Current Egyptians are not the original Egyptians and many of them including tour guides have no idea of this. Maybe our questions and about ruins would have been handled with more in depth knowledge from an Egyptologist rather from a tour guide who can recall dates and times like a recorded robot. We didn't see much of how people live in Egypt so it may be interesting to go back and stay with a native person and get a different perspective. It may also be interesting to visit the south to see where and how the decendants of Nubians live....even til this day.
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