Land of Pharaohs…
Yesterday was a jam-packed day. It started bright and early at 5am. Whew! I haven’t done that in a while. A few of us were escorting passengers on a ship tour and the others were taking a crew tour that was offered. Both tours were fabulous from what I understand. Well, at least I had a good time and the other folks said their tour was fabulous. We ported in the ancient town of Alexandria. A town in Egypt so named after Alexander the Great of Greece. According to our tour guide he especially liked this land. One of the 7 ancient wonders of the world used to be located in the harbor on the Mediterranean Sea. It was a lighthouse that no longer exists. A few earthquakes that happened over the past 3,000 years destroyed it. Also a huge library was shown to us that had been remodeled and rebuilt over the old site. That site is practically 2,000+ years old. The town was asleep when we left that morning. It was still too early for anything to be open. We took our long 3-hour bus ride to Giza where the infamous pyramids are located just outside of Cairo. It was a bit freaky this time around than when I did it 6 years ago. Military escort took us in a large caravan of busses this time. Since we were so close to Saudi Arabia, the port (which relies hugely on the tourism industry) didn’t want anything happening. 
It would destroy their economy if tourists got hurt in their country. We arrived in Giza where the pyramids (one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world) were standing tall. The largest pyramid took the Egyptians 20 years to complete. Stones weigh in range from 8-15 tons a piece. Remarkable. The outside used to be encased with limestone. Most of it had worn away and some of the stones had been removed to build the surrounding complexes. I took in the landscape and the scenery and the various camels roaming about. It was $3 to ride a camel and $1 to get a picture with one. Our tour guide said to pay no more. Well, obviously the guys riding the camels didn’t get that memo because some of the passengers were coming back saying they’d spent $20 on a camel or $15 and so forth and each one varied. Some passengers were even saying that $80-100 was thrown out there. I just took a picture of the camel. No need for me to get up on one. “Watch out, they spit.” The people here are quite pushy for you to spend your money. We drove down to the middle pyramid where we were able to enter one of the tombs. Yes, these huge monuments in the desert are giant tombstones to the great Pharaohs. It was spooky to think about. It was a dark tunnel leading into the catacombs of the pyramid. The space was tight and steep. You had to bend over to go into the tunnel, down a ramp, and up another one, which led into a chamber. The chamber wasn’t that big and housed an empty sarcophagus. The remains had no doubt been excavated and put on display in the museum. So there wasn’t much to see, but how many people do I know can say they’ve been into the heart of the pyramids in Egypt? This is my second visit to the desert land (once before in fall 2000) and my first time INSIDE a pyramid. 
Wow. No pictures were allowed in this sacred burial ground, but I did get some fabulous shots throughout the day. Our next stop was to the sphinx. It was carved out of stone and is a statue that has the head of a human symbolizing wisdom and the body of a lion symbolizing strength. Once again it was amazing because it was so detailed and these people didn’t have electric saws or even the modern hand tools that we have now for stone cutting. They chiseled rock on their know how and what they built from the land. We took in some brief shopping at the bazaar, which was k-razy! Whew are they pushy to get you to buy things. 
Then we headed for our lunch appointment at the Pharaohs restaurant on the Nile. ON the Nile. It was a riverboat that had a fabulous spread of delicious Egyptian cuisine with some Egyptian entertainment. The food was amazing from the hummus to the strange flavors that came out in the meats. The entertainment reminded me of a mixture of Morocco and Turkey with the belly dancers and the whirling dervishes. All the while I kept asking myself if this was really happening. After lunch my friend and I went up on the upper deck to take in the sights as we cruised up and down the Nile River. It was an experience I’ll never forget. Throughout the trip I noticed there were several housing developments that seemed unfinished or in a state of disrepair. One might think they were buildings set for demolition in the US. However, these unfinished brick buildings were those of the Egyptian farmers. They buy a section of the building (Hmm. Sounds like a NYC co-op) and then they build upward piece by piece as they can afford it for their future families. The roofs are left unfinished for that reason and you can see wires from the concrete sticking out of the top. Some are so unfinished or in the middle of construction you could see right through them. There were no roads to these homes, just dirt paths, and they were all very close together. It was strange to see these buildings in the middle of the desert. Our long bus ride once again led us back to the ship where I bought a scroll for a buck. It’s called a papyrus and it’s a piece of Egyptian art painted onto a delicate paper that’s almost like parchment paper. It’ll look nice framed. I’ll soon be in Venice. I’m so excited. I’m going to be worn out after this contract. Whew. This was just one adventure I’m sure I’ll make among many. The cost today was nothing. I have to start doing more things like that one. There’s Paris and London coming up. Also the wonders of Russia, possibly a trip to Moscow, the splendors of the north in the Baltic Sea and I haven’t seen ANY of those ports yet. Wow!
It would destroy their economy if tourists got hurt in their country. We arrived in Giza where the pyramids (one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world) were standing tall. The largest pyramid took the Egyptians 20 years to complete. Stones weigh in range from 8-15 tons a piece. Remarkable. The outside used to be encased with limestone. Most of it had worn away and some of the stones had been removed to build the surrounding complexes. I took in the landscape and the scenery and the various camels roaming about. It was $3 to ride a camel and $1 to get a picture with one. Our tour guide said to pay no more. Well, obviously the guys riding the camels didn’t get that memo because some of the passengers were coming back saying they’d spent $20 on a camel or $15 and so forth and each one varied. Some passengers were even saying that $80-100 was thrown out there. I just took a picture of the camel. No need for me to get up on one. “Watch out, they spit.” The people here are quite pushy for you to spend your money. We drove down to the middle pyramid where we were able to enter one of the tombs. Yes, these huge monuments in the desert are giant tombstones to the great Pharaohs. It was spooky to think about. It was a dark tunnel leading into the catacombs of the pyramid. The space was tight and steep. You had to bend over to go into the tunnel, down a ramp, and up another one, which led into a chamber. The chamber wasn’t that big and housed an empty sarcophagus. The remains had no doubt been excavated and put on display in the museum. So there wasn’t much to see, but how many people do I know can say they’ve been into the heart of the pyramids in Egypt? This is my second visit to the desert land (once before in fall 2000) and my first time INSIDE a pyramid. 
Wow. No pictures were allowed in this sacred burial ground, but I did get some fabulous shots throughout the day. Our next stop was to the sphinx. It was carved out of stone and is a statue that has the head of a human symbolizing wisdom and the body of a lion symbolizing strength. Once again it was amazing because it was so detailed and these people didn’t have electric saws or even the modern hand tools that we have now for stone cutting. They chiseled rock on their know how and what they built from the land. We took in some brief shopping at the bazaar, which was k-razy! Whew are they pushy to get you to buy things. 
Then we headed for our lunch appointment at the Pharaohs restaurant on the Nile. ON the Nile. It was a riverboat that had a fabulous spread of delicious Egyptian cuisine with some Egyptian entertainment. The food was amazing from the hummus to the strange flavors that came out in the meats. The entertainment reminded me of a mixture of Morocco and Turkey with the belly dancers and the whirling dervishes. All the while I kept asking myself if this was really happening. After lunch my friend and I went up on the upper deck to take in the sights as we cruised up and down the Nile River. It was an experience I’ll never forget. Throughout the trip I noticed there were several housing developments that seemed unfinished or in a state of disrepair. One might think they were buildings set for demolition in the US. However, these unfinished brick buildings were those of the Egyptian farmers. They buy a section of the building (Hmm. Sounds like a NYC co-op) and then they build upward piece by piece as they can afford it for their future families. The roofs are left unfinished for that reason and you can see wires from the concrete sticking out of the top. Some are so unfinished or in the middle of construction you could see right through them. There were no roads to these homes, just dirt paths, and they were all very close together. It was strange to see these buildings in the middle of the desert. Our long bus ride once again led us back to the ship where I bought a scroll for a buck. It’s called a papyrus and it’s a piece of Egyptian art painted onto a delicate paper that’s almost like parchment paper. It’ll look nice framed. I’ll soon be in Venice. I’m so excited. I’m going to be worn out after this contract. Whew. This was just one adventure I’m sure I’ll make among many. The cost today was nothing. I have to start doing more things like that one. There’s Paris and London coming up. Also the wonders of Russia, possibly a trip to Moscow, the splendors of the north in the Baltic Sea and I haven’t seen ANY of those ports yet. Wow!
posted by Chris | 10:29 AM
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