We spent a week in Egypt on a Cruise on the River Nile; we were on board the MS Fleurette. This was an excellent way to explore several parts of Egypt rather than being restricted to just one place. We sailed between Luxor and Aswan and took an optional full day excursion to Cairo by plane. We had a fantastic tour guide, Waleed, and he went out of his way to accommodate us because we are Deaf. He made sure we knew what was what and tried to make sure we were following him when he talked about each place. His efforts made our trip just that bit more enjoyable. We visited plenty of ancient temples, the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens, the High Dam, the Colossi of Memnon, the spectacular great pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx and the Egyptian Museum. We also took a ride on a felucca and braved the bustling Khan-el-Khalili bazaar – well, sort of!
Egypt was interesting. Very different to anywhere we have been; the amount of ancient history found there is just staggering. As a historian, I have always taken interest in historical buildings but it’s just amazing how Egypt can be so different. You travel back in time in European countries for example, and mainly come across castles, cathedrals and ruins, all of which date back to sometime after 1,000 AD. Egypt is nothing like that at all. It’s interesting how its history is so ancient, yet there is very little mention of what happened in the last 1,000 – 1,500 years. Like Britain, most of the famous histories for other countries are after 1,000 AD, but for Egypt, it’s all BC and the very early years of AD.
Apart from the visit to Cairo, one of the trips I enjoyed most was to the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens (the burial ground of famous Kings and Queens). Both places were just fascinating and entering tombs was a pretty surreal experience. The tombs are now empty but are decorated with hieroglyphics in beautiful colours. The tomb of Rameses IV was the first one we entered and it was unbelievable, not what I expected at all. It’s just hard to believe so much effort was made for just one person! It just makes you realise how much respect and importance was placed on the Kings and Queens in those days.
The temples we visited included Karnak, Luxor, Edfu, Kom Ombo and Philae. By the time we finished with Philae Temple, it started to feel they were all the same but they are all unique in their own way and have their own stories to tell. Being in these temples felt like being in an open air museum and just looking at the vast size of them was overwhelming.
Karnak Temple was amazing. It is the largest ancient religious site in the world. It comprises three main temples, built and enlarged over a thirteen hundred year period. It is a superb example of ancient Egyptian architecture depicting life around 1600 BC. Luxor Temple was pretty impressive, but I felt it wasn’t as good as Karnak: it seemed more subtle. I liked how the entrance to this temple was lined with ram sphinxes and like any other temple, the large statutes you’re faced with on entrance is superb. Edfu Temple on the other hand, is probably Egypt’s best preserved temple. After Karnak, it is the largest temple in Egypt and was built by the father of Cleopatra around the 1st Century BC in dedication to the falcon-headed god Horus. The level of preservation is so good that some of the roofs still survive. Apparently this temple was buried under sand for almost 2,000 years, which would help explain how it has been well preserved. We then went to Kom Ombo Temple. This was unusual and probably one I found most interesting. It was completely different to the other temples we saw, but then again, all temples are different in their own way. Kom Ombo Temple was dedicated to two gods – Horus, the falcon-headed god and Sobek, the crocodile-headed god. Its ‘double’ design meant that there were courts, halls, sanctuaries and rooms duplicated for two sets of gods. Among the reliefs on the walls are detailed a set of medical instruments – I’m not sure what the point of this was! One thing I liked about this temple (which probably makes me sound gruesome) is the fact that mummified crocodiles were on display. Last but not least, we have Philae Temple. Like Luxor, nothing really stood out for me apart from the fact that it is situated on an island and you can only get there by boat. Nevertheless, it’s interesting to see.
All temples have Egyptian carvings covering a large proportion of the temple walls, both inside and out. I just marvelled at how long it must have taken to get them so beautifully decorated. Having said that, it’s just unbelievable thinking such large buildings were built over 2,000 – 3,000 years ago. We know they did not possess all the modern day equipment so how the hell did they do it?! This doesn’t just apply to temples, there are the tombs in the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens and you only need to take one look at the Pyramids of Giza and be left astounded. And why is it that only Egypt holds so many ancient buildings and monuments that are still pretty intact considering they’re up to 4,000 years old. It just beggers belief!
Our last full day in Egypt was spent in Cairo. This was a VERY long day! We had to wake up at 3am and were picked up at 4am to head for the airport to fly to Cairo. We did not get back on the ship until after 11pm that night. We were totally whacked by the end of it, but it was definitely worth it.
We saw the Great Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx as well as paying a visit to the Egyptian museum and the Khan-el-Khalili bazaar.
Cairo was certainly an experience. Even though we had been to a few places in Egypt by that point, Cairo was just crazy and hectic in comparison. You only need to look at the roads to be totally flabbergasted. Cars were just bumping into each other; it was like the dodgems at a fairground. It is evident they do not take pride in their cars as practically all of them had dents and scratches everywhere. Thinking about us Brits, one scratch warrants a visit to the garage!! I watched one car trying to attempt parallel parking and the driver didn’t even go slow nor checked his mirrors, just waited until he bumped into the car behind him to go forward, then bumping into the car in front prompted him to reverse!!! There was no traffic order, cars were just pulling out from anywhere and everywhere and horns were beeping endlessly – and bear in mind, two Deaf people could hear this from inside a coach, so imagine how ear-splitting this was! All I can say is, this woke us up!! The 3am start had us falling asleep by this point, so witnessing this left us rather wide-eyed! Rob and I hardly spoke to each other at this point, just glanced at each other from time to time shaking our heads! I just wonder if these people actually have a drivers licence!
Another weird thing we noticed about Cairo was the buildings. Even though there were LOTS of building hardly any of them seemed complete. Windows and roofs were missing and the structure just didn’t make sense. Neither of the buildings looked lived in, so we were confused!
As we got further into Cairo on the coach, the pyramids were in full view. I was amazed at how close they are to suburbia. I imagined them to be out in the middle of the desert. I’m sure this would never have been allowed if it was in Britain for example.
I have to say that I was amazed at how little care the Egyptians seemed to take when it came to preserving their history. People were allowed to touch the walls of the temples, lean on them and sit on stones. At Giza, the coaches were allowed to park within metres from the foot of the pyramids. With this being such a major tourist attraction resulting in hundreds of coaches going up there everyday, leaving their engines running for the duration of the visit, you can just imagine how much fumes are being released in the area. It’s a scary thought, but it seems the Egyptians are using their history to make money rather than taking pride in it. I’m sure this is not true for all Egyptians. You only needed to take one look at our enthusiastic tour leader, Waleed, to see how proud he was of his history, but unfortunately, those who seem to be in control of preserving these ancient sites appear to be doing very little. If you think about Stonehenge in Britain, you’re not allowed to park anywhere near it, and you’re not even allowed to touch it.
Anyway, back to Cairo. Once we arrived at the pyramids, it was jaw-dropping. You know it’s big, but trust me, you don’t realise how big until you actually see it with your own eyes. We were stunned by the experience and there are no words to describe it. Photographs we took does not do its size justice. It is incredible to think how the blocks were placed together with such precision and with very little tools. It just makes you realise how skilled the ancient Egyptians were. The Sphinx was pretty cool to look at. I was rather disappointed at how its face has been damaged, but hey, it can’t stay perfect forever.
After lunch we headed for the Museum. This was filled with hundreds and thousands of relics from every period in Egyptian history. The highlights for me were the treasures of Tutankhamun and the mummies room. Rob and I were quite excited about seeing the mummies, which makes us sound rather morbid! I was expecting this to be a horrible and gruesome experience but it really wasn’t that bad. The mummies looked like rotten wood! I wonder how those people would feel knowing that their bodies would be on display for people to stare at 3,000 years later. I think they would have liked it. Thinking about their efforts to ensure they had tombs ready for their deaths, they certainly didn’t want to be forgotten. Right attention seekers they were!
The last stop in Cairo was the Khan-el-Khalili bazaar, the capital city for touts! Touts were EVERYWHERE we went but if I talked about each experience as I went along, this post would be twice as long. If you go to Egypt, you must be prepared for these annoying buggers, you simply cannot avoid them. I know I talked about touts in my post about Tenerife but trust me, Tenerife is nothing compared to Egypt! They’re simply in your face all the time. Khan-el-Khalili bazaar consisted of quite a lot of shops but they all seemed empty. Everyone walking through the lanes by the shops were simply trying to get away from the touts. At one point, you could have about four touts in your face screaming “5 POUNDS, 4 POUNDS, 3 POUNDS…BUY TWO FOR 4 POUNDS….” It’s a shame really, this was a great opportunity to do a spot of shopping but they were simply driving everyone away. Even if you entered a shop, you wouldn’t have the chance to have a proper look around because a tout would be in your face trying to sell one particular thing.
The best thing to do is just carry on walking and completely ignore them – until you come across one who is clever enough to engage you in a conversation leaving you wondering how the hell you got roped into it! I’ll just talk about two experiences to give you an idea.
At the pyramids, we got sucked in by two touts. One came up to me putting his scarf around my head and his arm around me, ordering Rob (in a nice way) to take a picture of us as a souvenir! That it was, we were buggered! The next thing we knew, he had the camera off Rob taking several pictures of us two. He then tried getting us on a camel! His son brought the camel to us and got it to sit down. We REFUSED to get on because we had no idea what would happen next. He would probably end up carrying us off somewhere and we wouldn’t be able to get off. Keeping in mind we had to be back on the coach in a few minutes, we simply couldn’t take the risk. By the time we got the camera back and just about finished with him, Rob gave him a tip – you have to give tips for this sort of thisng otherwise you’re backed into a corner! Rob tried to find a twenty pound note (which is about £2) but the smallest he had was a hundred pound note. This guy saw that and insisted we give it to him as he had plenty of change. He even took the change out of his pocket. Once the hundred was in his hand, he tried very hard not to give it back! The conversation between us was something like:
Tout: “That’s LE100 for the photographs and my camel, you need to give me another LE20 for my tip”
Me: “HUH? Your camel? We never even went on it. Plus it’s OUR camera and OUR photos”
Tout: “Yeh, but you got a picture of MY camel”
Me: “Yeeeeh but it’s OUR camera!”
Rob: “You didn’t say anything about paying for the camel”
Tout: “Yeh but you got a picture of my camel so it’s LE100”
Rob: “Give me my change for the LE20 please”
Tout: “No, you haven’t given me enough”
(this was being repeated for a bit)
Rob: “OK, FINE, just give me LE50 back and u keep LE50”
Tout: “Yes but u have to pay for my camel”
Rob: “LOOK, we came here to see the pyramids, not to talk to you, so give me my money back please”
(not sure what happened then, but he gave us the LE50 back)
I have to admit he did seem like a genuinely nice guy (!!!) and we did get some lovely photographs out of it!
One thing we did notice about the touts is that they don’t steal. They try very very hard to keep as much money as they can, but you do end up getting change in the end, even if it wears you out! We witnessed one tout annoying another tourist earlier that week and he was simply refusing to give the tourist his change, he wanted him to have extra souvenirs instead. The tout then ran inside a shop to get more items but the tourist saw this as an opportunity to escape and got back on the bus. In the end, that tout gave the bus driver that tourist’s change and asked him to pass it on.
Another experience at the pyramids was rather similar. A bloke came up to us and started a conversation by saying his mother is from Yorkshire. Yeh right! Because we were British, he gave us free Arabic hats and pyramid statues. After taking pictures of us with the hats on he insisted we pay for what was meant to be free. HA! By that point, Rob wised up about opening his wallet in front of the touts, so he put small change in his pocket. That tout was insisting Rob take his wallet out because the small change simply wasn’t enough. Cheeky! We managed to get away from him by keeping/paying for one hat and shoving the rest of the items in his arms. Once we got back on the coach, we saw the same bloke doing exactly the same thing to another couple. We were rather amused!
Even though these blokes are rather infuriating, it’s all part of the experience. It’s something we can look back on and laugh about. I didn’t get that annoyed with them mainly because I was prepared for it. I have to admit the arguments with them did raise my blood pressure a bit but hey, that’s good for someone with postural hypotension! I was starting to feel dizzy by one point but after an argument, I felt so much better!
If you want to know more stories, then ask me. There’s still so much more to say about Egypt but if I carry on, I’ll send you to sleep – if I haven’t already!
Tags: Africa