Egypt, Part II

 Day 4: Temple of Horus, Felucca

Another beautiful day in Egypt and another ancient temple to explore. This time it was the Temple of Horus, the Falcon god, in Edfu. This is the second largest surviving temple in Egypt. One thing our guide showed us here was the ancient Egyptian symbols for numbers, shown below. Start from the right for the smallest denomination, and end at the left with the largest. Think down the line of Roman Numerals. Another neat thing was the stairways leading to the roof. The ascending set spiraled up like a falcon rising on updrafts, and the descending set went straight down like a falcon when it dives. The incredible attention to detail is almost mind-boggling.

I found it very fascinating how the temple structures were similar to the Tabernacle of Moses in some respects. Both had an outer court and an inner court. The tabernacle had an altar, while the temples had either an altar or an offering room of some type, and then both, in a carefully protected spot, a Holy of Holies.  I am curious if God gave instructions to Moses on the building of the tabernacle using words and designs he was already familiar with?

We made the two-hour drive back to Luxor, stopped briefly by the hotel, then headed down to the waterfront for a felucca ride on the Nile. The felucca is a type of sailboat that remains virtually unchanged from the time of ancient Egypt. The ride started around 3, and it was interesting to watch all proceedings. On board with our group was the captain at the tiller, two boys, one maybe 10-12 and another several years older, and our chef and his helper. We were connected with another felucca and towed out behind a motorized boat to get us started on the way.

I love being on the water—there’s something so soothing about it—and I thoroughly enjoyed this experience as well. At some point we were asked when we wanted supper, and I believe Heath told them it was Ramadan, so we would wait. Perhaps this got us a longer ride than we would have otherwise, I’m not sure, but they took it seriously and though we were served hot tea, the food stayed safely out of reach until the sun sank out of sight.

After a lovely meal of rice and chicken with pita bread and hummus, we headed back toward the dock. We hooked up with the motorized boat again and got a tow in toward the dock. The idea was that at a certain spot the felucca would unhook and use the forward motion combined with precision guidance to slip back into its place. Something went wrong with the procedure this time, though. We came gliding in a bit rapidly and glanced off another boat, causing some fast Arabic chatter all around. I’m pretty sure the youngest sailor with us was partly to blame. Perhaps he’d figured out the American tourists were getting a kick out of him and was too busy putting on a show for them. Anyway, there was sudden dropping of sails and I found myself trying to untangle ropes from around my neck at one point. Although the crew didn’t seem particularly impressed, the docking caused a lot of laughter and got a five-star review from all of us.

We walked back to the hotel, which would have been fine except for the dreaded hawkers. As we came up the steps and onto street level, we were accosted almost immediately. There was one guy offering a carriage ride, another guy claiming he worked at our hotel and offering to show us the market place (there was a note in our room at the hotel warning us of just this issue), and a third guy offering… I’m not sure what. All three were standing around yammering about as fast as they could, trying to persuade us they had just what we needed. We eventually managed to start walking. We wanted to go and look at the temple ruins lit up at night, but I for one got little enjoyment out of the sight because there were always more people insisting they had the answer for all the problems we didn’t have for a small tip. It was with a sigh of relief I entered the calm and peaceful Nefertiti.

Most of us spent the rest of the evening on the rooftop again. I did have one startling moment when I got a message from Jane. Apparently, I had managed to lock her in the bedroom because I thought she had already gone out when she was actually just outside on our balcony. Fortunately, the problem was soon rectified, but although I have locked people out before, it was the first time I had ever locked someone in.

 Day 5: Karnak Temple, Dendera Temple, Luxor Temple, Flight to Sharm

 

Maybe you’re beginning to catch on to my earlier comment about mixing up what we saw in which temple. It is a very real possibility, but I’ll do my best here. One thing that made me smile at a few of the temples we visited was the list of rules that included one saying it was prohibited to perform rituals in the temple.

 

We begin our day with a trip to the Karnak Temple, the largest ancient temple in Egypt. Its size comes from the fact that many ancient rulers felt it important to keep adding on to the complex. There were a lot of rooms to wander through. I’m pretty sure we didn’t see everything, but we did see a few things of note. One of these was Hatshepsut’s obelisk. Originally, there were two of them, but only one remains standing today. At 100 feet, it towers above much of the surrounding ruins. It survived only because it contained the names of the gods, and while the pharaohs who came after Hatshepsut tried to wipe out all mention of her, they couldn’t destroy references to the gods, so they came up with another solution. A giant wall was built around the obelisk, hiding it from view. While this was effective, it also had the unintended consequence of preserving this monument for posterity.  

 

Obelisks are so very fascinating to me, partly because of all the theories surrounding how they were quarried, transported, and stood on end. At 323 tons, this beast is no easy thing to move, though many obelisks have been taken away from Egypt or given as gifts to other countries—such as one known as Cleopatra’s Needle, located in New York City’s Central Park.

 

We were also treated to a chance to make a wish. According to legend, walking around a gigantic stature of the dung beetle, or scarab beetle, the god of the morning sun and transformational power, would make a wish come true. Although, according to our guide, this was only possible if you walked “anticlockwise” and made an odd number of circles around the thing.

 

When we were let loose to do some exploring on our own we decided this would be a great place to play laser tag, with different rooms and alleyways and gigantic pillars to hide behind. We measured a medium-sized pillar, and discovered it would take 5 people to reach all the way around it. I think the ones in the picture below are the larger pillars.

 I think this was the only temple where there were massive carvings of horsemen in carriages on the outside wall. Definitely one of my favorite depictions.

 

Up next was a visit to Dendera Temple. This is one of only a few temples in Egypt to bear a likeness of Cleopatra. The artwork here definitely had a more Greco/Roman flare. Like many of the other temples we visited, it was massive. A fun thing at this temple is the crypts. There were three that you could pay to enter, so of course we did. Some of them required simply climbing down a set of stairs and crawling through a small entrance into a narrow chamber full of more intricate reliefs. The idea is that these secret rooms were used for storing sacred items or a stash of wealth, perhaps.

 

The most entertaining crypt to enter was one at a tall set of metal steps. There was a small entrance there—to quote, “If it was much tighter, we would’ve needed to bring out the butter”—that it was a little challenging to get through as there wasn’t really much of a landing. Directly through the hole, there were a couple of steps down. The big question for us girls was head first or feet first? I think there was some experimentation both ways. Inside one of the crypts was the famous image some people claim is evidence of light bulbs and electricity in ancient times. I saw it with my own eyes and can’t figured out who started these wild theories. The “wire” in the light bulb is very obviously a snake, a normal feature in Egyptian sacred art.

 

One thing that is decidedly not normal Egyptian is the zodiac found in a little room on an upper level of the temple. The original, of course, has long since been taken to some other country and displayed in a foreign museum, but there is a copy of it installed here.

 

We managed to squeeze in one more temple before departing from Luxor. That, of course, was the Luxor Temple itself—the very one visible from our hotel roof. There is an avenue of sphinxes that stretches a little over a mile and a half that connects this temple to the Karnak Temple. It really is quite impressive to see, containing 600 sphinxes on each side.

Luxor Temple was interesting and had a few things that stood out—such as the “birth room” which depicts the supposedly divine birth of King Amenhotep III. There are also a few statues of one pharaoh or another who is depicted wearing a smile, quite a different look than most. There is also a statue of King Tut here. Another neat touch is the remnants of some Roman-era paintings that adorn the arched entrance to the temple.

 

In the evening, we took a flight from Luxor to Cairo, then to Sharm El-Sheikh. The last time I looked at the clock it was around 2:00 in the morning and the head had just broken off the shower of our Air B&B type dwelling—before I got a shower.

 

Day 6: The Red Sea, Glass Bottomed Boat, Incredible Seafood

 

As I mentioned earlier, I love the water—pretty much anything to do with water—so having the Red Sea right outside, just a short walk to a cliff from our back patio, then a steep descent down to the tiny beach was amazing.

 

We slept in due to our late night. This was down on our itinerary as a “rest day,” so rest we did. It was around 9:30 or 10:00 before I roused myself. Some of our group had been out scouting food, and after a brief time spent together feeding body and soul, we split up and went our separate ways. Most of us girls went swimming, because how could you not? There was one set of snorkeling gear provided with our accommodations, and we made the most of it. It was my first time to ever actually go snorkeling, and although I had some difficulty figuring out how to keep from inhaling salt water, I loved it. I honestly could have spent pretty much all day in the water and been happy. The only sketchy moment was a face-to-face conversation with a pale purple jellyfish.

 

There was a beautiful coral reef just a little way out full of exotic fish, then a tremendous drop off where everything disappeared into a lovely deep blue. But eventually all good things must come to an end, and we had to get out to prepare for our next activity, a glass bottomed boat ride. We climbed back up the path, having snippets of conversation about interesting things, such as what we are tempted to base our self-worth on.

 

The glass-bottomed boat ride did not disappoint, except I thought it was too short. One quick Google search indicates that the Red Sea is in the top 10 snorkeling sites in the world, and its not hard to believe when there are hundreds of beautiful fish and multiple other types of exotic life sliding past under the boat.

 

Upon returning to our residence, the guys went swimming and we girls headed to the nearby market. This was a local/native market for a change, with not a hawker in sight. What blessed relief! Prices were fixed (and low), so we stocked up on a few fruits and snacks. We were not, however, spared from having an interesting encounter. We met, of all things, an American.

 

This American was from New York and he was a rabbi, “at home,” he informed us. I wasn’t aware rabbis could not be rabbis, but whatever. He recognized us as Mennonites and started questioning us down on how we were different than other Mennonite groups. He kept talking about wanting to interview us, but he’d left his phone at wherever he was staying. He had been trying to stop the war, he said, but had been unsuccessful in gaining enough notice with those in high positions. He also informed us he was single and one of the good guys. After several desperate attempts to get us to look up his YouTube channel, he finally departed, shocked that we didn’t know all the Biblical terms and Hebrew words he was referring to—apparently his channel was initials which stand for some term that refers to the wisdom of Solomon or something. Not to be snide, but he did seem rather full of his own wisdom.

 

Supper took place at a restaurant called Ebn Hamido Seafood. This was the impressive meal of the trip. Even I, the ultimate non-foodie, was impressed. Perhaps it was Heath’s comment that they ought to prepare us a feast, but I am here to tell you the meal exceeded every expectation. They brought out food, lots of it, and then brought out more.

 

The array was truly overwhelming. And then, just when you though the table was full, something else would appear. Thanks to Andrew for carefully recording the stunning variety:

 

2 kinds of grilled fish

2 kinds of fried fish

Boiled shrimp in sauce

Mussels

Fried calamari

Stuffed calamari on rice

Shrimp pasta

Broth

Coleslaw

French fries

Tomato and cucumber salad

Beet and apple salad

Marinated tomato wedges

Pickled carrots

Roasted peppers and eggplant

Cheese bread

Pita bread

Peanut dip

Potato dip

Unknown kind of dip

Dates

Water

Two kinds of juice

 

If you are looking this menu over enviously, then you probably are getting an understanding of the impressiveness of the whole spread. If you want to try some of the dishes yourself, I’m happy to inform you this is a chain with a restaurant located in NYC. However, I feel it is only fair to warn you that the price may be higher in the U.S. than in Egypt. Our cost per person averaged out to about $12—not bad for fresh seafood, yes?

 

Day 7: St. Catherines Monastery, Mt. Sinai, Bedouin Restaurant, Flight to Cairo

 

Our 3-hour drive to Mt. Sinai begin rather too early for my liking the next morning. I thought perhaps I could doze on the way, but it quickly became apparent that plan was an impossibility. We were accompanied by our driver, a member of the Tourism Police because we were apparently heading into a dangerous zone, and a faithful guide. And let me impress upon you the extent of his faithfulness. He pointed out every interesting and non-interesting sight along the way. He was gifted with the volume of a foghorn and a relentless monotone.

 

From him, we learned many things. For example, if you mispronounce the word culvert badly enough, you can convince some Americans you are speaking about corvettes. He pointed out numerous buildings that had been built by the government for the Bedouin people, but which they refused to use. One of our favorites was listening to his rambling account of Moses and the burning bush and discovering when Moses threw his rod down before Pharaoh, it turned into a snack.

 

We toured St. Catherine’s Monastery and saw the supposed burning bush of Moses. They claim various clippings have been taken to start new bushes, but none of them will grow. However, it is very interesting how many fossils of the burning bush are for sale around the compound as well. Apparently, the bush is still considered a fire hazard. How else can you explain the fire extinguisher displayed beside it?

 

 At last, the climb up Mt. Sinai commenced. I knew before I ever went that there was a chance I wouldn’t be able to make the climb, and it soon became obvious I had reason to doubt. I staggered a little ways up the trail with eager camel ride offers behind us. There came a point where I was already slowing down enough, I knew I needed to either quit and go back down to wait at the Monastery or hire a camel. There was a small problem with the camel business, though, and that was that they can’t take you all the way to the top of the mountain. I knew my bad knee had bothered me some going in and out of tombs and pyramids, and I had serious doubts if it would hold up going up the final 750 steps to the peek. Not to mention my life-long difficulty with altitude climbs.

 

 So at last I made the decision to turn back. Of course, it would have been neat to say I’d climbed all the way, but I had three hours by myself at the monastery to make peace with the fact that I didn’t. Those three hours, by the way, were spent meditating and half-dozing. There were only two people who came in trying to sell me things. One was very sly and actually accepted no quickly. The other was not quite as subtle, and some higher up person came and chased him out and apologized to me profusely. All was well until they closed the toilets. But thankfully the rest of the party returned (looking quite finished, mostly) and a second toilet option was found.

 

We drove only a short distance to a Bedouin restaurant where everyone flopped gratefully down on the cushions around a low table. We were served a lot of food again, but I didn’t feel like eating. Appetites definitely varied, though, and some pretty nearly cleaned their plates out. I couldn’t find any picture that exactly described out experience, but here is a poor substitute.

 

 The main course, by the way, was a pile of rice with eight of these kababs.

 

We drove straight back to Sharm and straight to the airport where the helpful touring company met us with our bags. Our flight left at 10:35, and we got back to the hotel (Eileen Hotel again, for anyone interested) after midnight.

 

Day 8: Alexandria, Catacombs of Kom el Shoquafa, Serapeum, Qaitbay Citadel, Tram Ride

 

We had another drive from Cairo to Alexandria to tour some things there. The first one we visited was the Catacombs of Kom el Shoquafa. There were a few grand carvings and things, but they believe that many engravings were erased by the damp air. I found the system very interesting that was used to lower caskets into the tomb. There was a chute that led straight down through which the body was lowered, then a low tunnel through which the sarcophagus would have been slid. Next, of course, they would have situated it in one of the niches along the walls. There did seem to be some speculation that perhaps the lower slot was used for the body and the one above it was used for items intended to serve in the after-life. Our guide took us into a back room and turned off the lights. I am such a creature of the light, but I do also love a good dark moment, whether that be humor or otherwise.

 

 One word about the guide—the one we had for the last two days was my favorite by far. He was informative and to the point, not nearly so long-winded as the dear Mt. Sinai fellow, nor so loud. He had a lot of friends that would say hi to him, and he had a fantastic sense of humor. If you’ve ever been around other languages, you know that humor can be hard to translate sometimes into the nuance of a non-native tongue, but this guide did very well.

 

Our next stop was at the Serapeum of Alexandria. I’m going to be open about this one—I’m stealing information off the internet as I type. This site was a Greek temple built by Ptolemy III. There are a number of old ruins there, but it’s difficult to figure out what anything really was as there is no signage or information readily available. One thing that did stand out was Pompey’s Pillar.

 

 

This pillar stands at a little over 88 feet. I don’t know much about it, so apologies all around. One thing that was discovered was a hole in the base that was large enough for a human to enter. The rest of us stood afar off and observed as one little girl peered into said hole and got a bit of a shock to see a living, breathing being staring back at her.

 

Our next destination was the Qaitbay Citadel. This is a beautiful building, completed around 1479 AD—rather new if you compare it to the pyramids. It is built where the Alexandria Lighthouse used to stand. I thought the building rather beautiful with its elegant, cool stone walls. The citadel is three stories high, and we ventured up to the rooftop from which we caught glimpses of the Mediterranean. It was indeed lovely, with the breeze wafting the sea-salt air towards us.

 

After stopping for a quick lunch, we hopped aboard the most darling vintage tram to ride just a little ways down the street. Our actual itinerary called for a stop at the modern Alexandria Library, but enthusiasm wasn’t so high for that, so our guide swiftly made tram arrangements instead.

 

After the tram excursion we piled back into the lovely Magic Carpet van once again and headed back to Cairo. We walked out to find supper again. Pizza this time, by some lovely Google Translate names. How would you like to eat Alexandria, Mixed Jane, and The Leader Is the Problem? They were all good.

 

We stopped on our way back to the hotel to buy some scarves to wear inside the mosque the next day. Our guide had said we could just take down our hair, but that didn’t seem to be a good option, so covering our heads was the next best thing. It is very interesting trying to do business when there is such little English.

 

Back on the balcony, Jane and I had to satisfy our paper airplane curiosity. We tossed them from 6 floors up, but were disappointed with the results. Mostly they just went straight down. I was thankful later that they hadn’t hit anyone. We watched a guy swallowing and breathing fire down on the street below for tips by one of the restaurants that had tables set up in the streets. Another guy came by later and was doing magic tricks, but we couldn’t see well enough to get the full effect of that one.

 

Day 9: Cairo Citadel, Mosque of Sultan Hassan, Al-Rifa’I Mosque, Synagogue Ben Ezra, Saints Sergius and Bacchus Church, the Last Hurrah

 

So here we are at the last day of our adventures. This was a full day, just like the others. To be honest, my head was so full of all the things we had seen by now I don’t know if I can do any type of explanation justice. To enter the mosques, we got to wear our headscarves and take off our shoes. In one of the mosques, a priest sang a special chant just for us that was impressive. Our guide showed us the correct positions of prayer and told us many more things that I listened to, knowing I’d never remember later. I found out a few details—that Muslims are allowed to have up to four wives, but they must get permission to marry more than one and they must have a good reason. There were many chambers in the mosques to hold the sarcophagus of famous religious figures, but it all seemed so dark and sad in spite of the beautiful and impressive buildings, such as the Cairo Citadel, pictured below.

 

After the Mosques, we went to a tourist market for a bit. I was happy to haggle prices there, until I got to one of the last people I needed to bargain with. If I’d had more time I would have abandoned him and sought out a different vendor, but the guide was waiting outside the booth and I knew I needed to hurry, so I stuck it out. Jane, thankfully, was right outside the door waiting for me. I wanted some of the shawls the women wear, and this vendor took it upon himself to place one on my head while asking if I was single and if I wanted an Egyptian husband and such things. I didn’t get as good a price as I wanted there, but I was ready to just get out. I’m not sure if he thought flirting would help him get the better end of the deal or what. I’d never been hassled that bad by any vendor in any foreign market before.

 

After departing the markets, we went to some churches and synagogues or some such things. One was holding a service, even as we walked in and out touring it. There was a priest dressed somewhat like a pope burning incense and other priests going up to read out of a big book. They were speaking the Coptic language, which is very closely related to what would have been spoken during the ancient Roman occupation of Egypt. It was neat hearing something so near to the voices of the past, but the feeling was suffocating, allergic, and not witnessing to my spirit.

 

Another religious building supposedly sat atop the cave where the Holy Family lived during their escape to Egypt. It also had a beautiful wooden ceiling.

I’m about out of information. If you have questions about anything, you’re welcome to send me a message. That doesn’t mean I’ll know the answer, but I will always be enthused to talk about Egypt.

 

After being dropped off at the hotel, all of us except Heath’s struck out towards the Nile, planning to sit down there and enjoy the scenery. After some interesting escapades that included crossing some super busy streets and something that might be termed breaking and entering, we made do with leaning on the bridge railing and enjoying the sight of the water slipping away downstream.

 

Back at the hotel, we started the process of packing and showering. We gathered for one last dessert time together, took a ceremonious bite of a sandwich, and found a quiet place to have one more devotional moment. Then started the terrible ordeal of saying goodbye.

 

Quite a number of us left on a flight at 1:45 in the morning, to Dallas via Frankfurt. Our good old Magic Carpet picked us up at 10:00 or 10:30, and we headed to the airport.

 

Along the way we kept losing members of our party until it was at last just Jane and I on the six hour drive home after our last flight. That drive was rugged. It was dark and we were tired, but we made it home a little after midnight.

 

And that’s it. The end of one of my favorite adventures of all time. People keep asking me what my favorite thing was. That is absolutely impossible. I might be able to give you a favorite in a certain category—like favorite food, or favorite temple, but there is no way to give one over-arching favorite thing about the whole trip.

 

Unless, of course, you count the people. People are always what make anything. And yes, I still say that, even being the introvert that I am. The Egyptian people and culture were fascinating to watch, and the people I traveled with were each incredible in their own right. It was a lot of fun to watch everyone slide into their little slot in the group and fill a place for the few days we were together.

 

And so this is the end. Egypt is past and gone, but I’ll always cherish it in my heart.

 

And maybe someday, I’ll take another trip, another adventure—maybe you’ll come, too.

 

Because one can always dream.

 

I’ll see you there, in Italy or Ireland or Poland or Germany or Mongolia or Australia. Take your pick, or choose something else. Just let me know the date!