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| Becca and I at the Saladin Citadel in Cairo. |
We landed safely to Cairo, and quickly realized the similarities between Cairo and Irbid. But subtract the welcoming friendly atmosphere. Cairo is definitely a tourist city, with everyone wanting money for something. And it is definitely not like Amman. An exception was on the flight to Cairo. I sat next to a lovely Egyptian woman, and we chatted for the duration of the flight. Her son and daughter are about my age, and she told me all about their lives in Egypt. She is more liberal than most Egyptians, but she holds to a lot of Muslim values. It was a lovely flight, and she gave me her number at the end, telling me to call her if I had any problems or at the end to tell her about my visit. She was the most genuine person I met in Cairo. Tourist attractions aren’t exactly the best place to meet locals, except for the poorest citizens hawking their wares. Our guide picked us up at the airport (after a false panic when we couldn’t find our bags and then realized someone had taken them off the belt.) We transferred to the Horizon hotel, which is very new, exceptionally clean, and extremely protected. The guard with the machine gun outside our hotel was very different from the laid back nature of Aphamia hotel.
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| Step Pyramids of Sakkara. |
We were picked up at 9am the next morning, which was very early for me and late for Rebecca. Our hotel provides a breakfast in the morning that only slightly resembles the fresh Arabic breakfast that we’ve grown accustomed to. There is not any hummus but there is an awful attempt at falafel. At least the croissants are delicious. Our tour is private, and we have a tour guide along with a driver. Our tour guide, Mohammed, first took us to the Step Pyramids of Sakkara. They are the first pyramids of Egypt. The first Egyptian statue was found here, and this site was the first to use stone instead of mud brick. We were then taken to a carpet school. Children and young adults from poor families are sent to learn how to become carpet weavers. There were carpets made of silk and two types of wool. All three of us tried weaving, but the students there are much more adept. We were then taken upstairs and given a carpet “show.” Andy wanted to support the school, but Becca and I suspected that the students did not receiving any of the money. He bought a rug and we left the carpet school.
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| Hieroglyphs within the Tombs of the Nobles and High Priests. |
We next went to the Tombs of the Nobles and High Priests. We climbed awkwardly down a weird ladder into the tomb. This tomb had really cool hieroglyphs that the Pyramids of Giza did not. We were then taken to a perfume shop, where we watched a glass bottle blown. We were also given a sales pitch, which felt exactly like kiosks at the Woodfield. The perfumes were pleasant, but we were waiting for Khan Khalili, the bazaar. We declined to buy any and left the store, hoping that this was the last tourist store that we would be taken to.
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| The Great Pyramid of Khufu and the Pyramid of Khafre. |
Then, we went to the most known tourist attractions, the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx. The Great Pyramid of Giza is the only largely intact Wonder of the Ancient World. The pyramid was built for the fourth dynasty Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu. The pyramids were originally covered with a layer of pink limestone to protect from thieves. There is still a bit left on the Pyramid of Khafre. It was really interesting to see the city of Cairo right outside the pyramids. They’re not in the middle of the desert as I originally thought of them. We went on a camel ride behind the pyramids. Camels are taller than I thought, and the way that they amble around made me feel like I was going to tilt off at any second. We also took some pictures that our guide said “would be the ones that we would frame and keep forever.” Yes, they’re cool pictures, but I think there are some better ones.
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| The Great Sphinx of Giza. |
The Sphinx was our next stop. I was surprised that that it was so small. I expected something more grand and imposing. The head of the Sphinx is thought to be of the pharaoh Khafra. We took some more pictures, and avoided the sellers with a simple لا شوكرن. Most were surprised when we said simple words like نام or لا . Apparently in the tourist areas no one learns even simple phrases, so they left us alone. Exhausted from the burning sun, we headed back to our hotel for the night.
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| Looking over Cairo from the Citadel. |
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| Bell tower within the Citadel, a gift from France. |
The next day, we were again picked up at 8am. We headed to the highest point in Cairo, the Saladin Citadel. El Naser Mohamed Ibn Qalawoon was the first mosque in Cairo and was created from items taken from other mosques and churches. Interestingly, some of the pillars inside had crosses on them, because no one realized this when they were building it. It was considered the most beautiful mosque for centuries. Inside the mosque, you must remove your shoes and leave them by the door. If you’re not wearing appropriate clothing, you’re given a large sage green cloak to cover yourself properly. I was surprised by the amount of skin many tourists were showing. We were mainly around other tourists, but we are still in a predominantly Muslim country. It seemed very disrespectful to the culture to traveling around dressed as they were. As hot as it was, Becca and I wore clothes suitable to the environment that we were in, pants or long skirts, shoulders to elbows covered, and a scarf wrapped around our neck.
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| Lights within the Mosque of Mohamed Ali. |
We walked around the Citadel and saw the place where a previous president had destroyed part of the jail he had been held in. The Mosque of Mohamed Ali was next on our list. It is a replica of the Yeni Mosque built in Turkey, which we are going to see in a few days. There were hundreds of lights hanging from the ceiling, creating an ethereal atmosphere. This Ottoman mosque is also the location of Mohamed Ali Pasha’s grave. It was so beautiful.
We went next to Coptic Cairo. The first stop was the Hanging Church. The Hanging Church was built on top of an old Roman fortress. It is the most famous Coptic Orthodox Churches. It was really cool to see the Babylon Fortress right underneath the church. The stained glass inside the church was very pretty. Inside the church, some Egyptian girls tried to get our attention, and then asked if I was Egyptian. They quickly apologized, but I still wonder what they were going to say. Apparently, I can pass for a local as long as I don’t speak. Throughout our time here, many people have thought that I was Egyptian. Interesting. Also, no one believes that we are from England or Canada. Our guide told us not to tell people that we are from America, because people will try to rip us off. The people we tell laugh, and we know that they do not believe us. With our experience in Jordan, Becca and I are pretty good at adjusting the price to fit what is right anyway. We headed to a synagogue in Old Cairo, which is right by the Hanging Church. This synagogue, the Ben Ezra, was sold by the Coptic Church in order to pay taxes. Next, we went to a church where the Holy Family stayed. This church, the Saints Sergius and Bacchus Church was lovely as well.
Andy, Becca, and I were then dropped off at the bazaar of Khan Khalili, which was a crazy market of perfume, scarves, trinkets, and clothes. There was about a four foot walkway between both sides, and it was ridiculously crowded. Amidst the shouts of “hey blondie, I don’t know what you’re looking for, but I have it, and free today,” we managed to acquire some fantastic deals. Becca and I are quite adept at bargaining with people. The men would chase us down the row after we refused their “final” price. We went in the afternoon, but one man gave us our price because he thought it would bring him luck for the day. If you go in the morning, people are more willing to give you a good price because they believe the first sale of the day will bring them luck. It was an interesting experience, but oddly, I didn’t feel uncomfortable in the atmosphere. Even with how crowded it was and people trying to get our attention, I never felt threatened or unsafe. Armed with a few bags of gifts, we headed to the Egyptian Museum.
I was very disappointed that we were not allowed to take pictures within the Egyptian Museum. And then I realized why. The Museum was not temperature controlled and while some items were arranged, others were strewn about haphazardly. Many things were not behind glass or protected. Interestingly, the first floor was all artifacts found for Egypt’s history, and the entire second floor contained only items found in King Tutankhamen’s tomb. His tomb was the only one that was not ravaged by thieves. There were so many items found buried with him. There were thirteen gold plated cases that his sarcophagus was placed in. His Coptic jars were even on display, with dried blood visible within them. One room was temperature controlled, and it contained all of the jewelry that this king was buried with. There were beautiful rings with precious stones, and many necklaces and bracelets. As they were wrapping his body in gauze, they would add jewelry between the layers. Turquoise was a very popular color. Also, I could not believe how much gold was used in the burial. The floor was immense. It was depressing to realize that the rest of Egypt’s history could be contained within a floor. The pillaging by thieves took away a lot of Egypt’s history. Still, it was nice to see what a tomb such as King Tutankhamen’s contained before it was ransacked. Exhausted by a day full of activities, we headed back to the hotel for a short rest.
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| Cairo cityscape from our flooka on the Nile River. |
That night, we decided to go on a flooka (sailboat) ride. At twilight, we stepped onto our private boat for the next few hours and sailed away. Sailing down the Nile was beautiful, and it was wonderful to experience what so many people have done before us. It was rather windy aboard the boat, and that made the impromptu photo shoot a bit more difficult.
On our first day at the hotel, Becca and I spoke a bit of Arabic to the man that carried our bags. He became exceptionally exited, ran off, and returned with an English-Arabic book with useful phrases. Each day after that, he kept asking if we finished the book and wanted to speak more with us. It was a huge book. There is no way we were going to finish (and learn) this entire book in the four days that we were there. However, he was very nice, and we appreciated his effort to help us.
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| On the Stanley Bridge, overlooking Stanley Bay. |
On day three we went on an adventure to Alexandria. It took three hours to get there, but it was a beautiful city. Our first stop was the Catacomb Tombs. The Catacomb Tombs of Kom el Shoqafa is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures here either. We took a winding staircase below ground. In the middle of the stone staircase, was a hollowed out column with little windows carved into them. The body of the dead was lowered through the center column, and the windows were used to help guide it. The third level of the Catacombs was flooded. Daily, Egyptians remove water in the hopes that it will not affect the second level. Unfortunately, the water level is high here, and soon the second floor will be flooded with water as well. We saw carvings in the Catacombs that resembled Egyptian ones, but were markedly different. The important families had a room with carvings and a sarcophagus, but the average families just had a box-like shelf carved into the wall where they could put their cremated family members. Each family had their own slot, and could add or remove to it as they wished. As we walked between rooms, we walked on top of sporadically placed stones with long wooden boards on top of them. The floor beneath them was very wet, showing signs of increased water levels.
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| Pompey's Pillar at the Roman-Greek Monument site. |
The next stop was Pompey’s Pillar. It is the largest monolith ever erected. It is made of granite and is a Roman triumphal column. We also stopped at Montazah Palace and Gardens. This presidential palace was lovely, but did not seem as protected as the White House. There were many lovely flowers and plants in this area.
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| Inside the Alexandria Library. |
Our last stop in Alexandria was the Alexandria Library. It was absolutely gorgeous. Built in 2002, a Norwegian group designed it. It is surrounded by a planetarium and a statue garden. The Bibliotheca was created in the shape of the sun, and has characters from one hundred and twenty scripts carved into the Aswan granite.
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| The outside of the Alexandria Planetarium. |
The planetarium was created as the world, and has a circular shape. Inside the Bibliotheca Alexandria, there are four museums displaying antiquities, manuscripts, the history of former President Sadat, and the history of science. There are also fifteen permanent art exhibitions. The interior of the library is immense, with multi-tiered levels lit by sky lights. The library can hold eight million volumes, but is only at one million. Their website also has the only copy of the Internet Archive, digital replicas of many books.
On our way back to Cairo, our guide stopped and picked us up some hareesa. It was delicious but not quite like Alahandra sweets. The hareesa in Jordan was light and coconut flavored, with honey as a natural sweetener. This hareesa was heavier, richer, and not coconut flavored. It was still a lovely treat, but with unexpected flavor. We could have spent weeks exploring Egypt, hopefully we can make a return trip soon!
