Pharaohs and Temples

Egypt, the land of Pharaohs and temples, provided quite a contrast to our stop in the animal kingdom of Tanzania.  We would have a chance to visit some of the oldest archaeological sites in the world in the next couple of days.  We’d also have our taste of one of the countries involved in the Arab Spring.

Our only museum visit of the stop, the Luxor Museum, was small but lovely.  We had it all to ourselves which gave us the freedom to view the beautiful artifacts at our leisure.  To put it in perspective, many of the items we were enjoying are thousands of years old, much older than anything found at Machu  Picchu or Ankgor Wat.  The beauty shown in the carving of the facial features was stunning as were the preservation of the mummies housed here.  It formed a great introduction for this historical visit.

The next day, we started with a visit to the Valley of the Kings, without which we might have never experienced Steve Martin singing in a skirt.  Yes, that’s right, this is the final resting place of the boy king, Tutankhamen. While not very important in the scheme of pharaohs, he’s very important to modern visitors because his tomb was one of the few found still intact.  In fact, we even got to view his mummy.  Other tombs, much more decorated with hieroglyphs, were also available for touring.

A word about our constant companions during our tour around Egypt, the souvenir hawkers.  They were everywhere and everything they were selling was quoted in American dinero, mostly a dollar. At first they were cute if slightly annoying.  By day two, they were the scourge of our merry band of travelers.  In addition to selling wares, photo ops and camel rides were on the bartering menu.  This is one part of Egypt I was glad to leave behind.

Our lunch was on board a felucca, a traditional Egyptian sailing vessel, on the Nile.  One of our guides joined our small group and entertained us with his description of the current political situation.  He was there, in a tent, when Mubarak relinquished control of the country and has pledged to return to the square if the Muslim Brotherhood finds a way to win elections being held later this year.  This is a progressive country that respects women’s rights with no plans to return to their restrictive past.  If all Egyptians are as passionate about their country as this gentleman, they have a bright future ahead of them.   

Our afternoon visit took in the Temple of Karnak (no sightings of Karnak the Magnificent, though).  Everything about this temple is huge, from the pillars to the obelisks.  And not just a few pillars but over a hundred of these magnificent beauties.  I could have spent hours here wondering around the temple, but we still had a big night ahead of us, so back to the hotel we went.

If you’ve read my description of our grand evening in India, then our night on the town in Luxor should not come as a surprise.  Horse drawn carriages whisked us away to the Temple of Luxor, reserved exclusive for our evening’s entertainment.  Brightly costumed waiters bearing torches and drinks met us in the artistically lit temple which we were free to wonder through on our own.  An orchestra provided classical music to enhance the evening.  We retired to our dining tent for our grand dinner which we consumed while viewing this ancient structure.  Thus ended a day in Egypt we won’t soon forget.

No trip to Egypt would be complete without visiting the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx in Giza.  A quick one hour flight found us in the capital city of Cairo, complete with 20 million (that’s right that’s million with an m) people.  We avoided most of the traffic on our journey to the 4000 year old site.  This is one of those places that you have to see to believe.  The scale of the Great Temple, not to mention it’s two slightly smaller buddies, is so big you can’t take it all in at once.  The building blocks weigh tons which makes this one of the ancient (and only remaining) wonders of the world.  The Sphinx is equally impressive sitting just a few hundred yards from the pyramids.  This is definitely bucket list worthy.   

In conclusion, I very much loved this progressive Muslim country with its bright future, engaging citizens and amazing past.  Now on to the final destination of this marvelous expedition, Morocco.