Aswan

June 22

Cairo > Aswan

If there's one thing I didn't like about this trip, it's the wake up time. Well, can't blame ém coz they were doing their best to give us all the places to see, so no complaints.

We drove from Le Meridian to the Cairo Airport. I took one last look at the Pyramids and smiled to myself. Today we were off to the city called Aswan. It was a short domestic flight and as always, Thomas Cook agents were ready and this time it was Emad who met us at the Aswan Airport.

We were taken straight to our cruise ship. And suddenly everything was small. Kinda like how Alice felt when she had the cake and grew big. The room, the loo, everything. But of course everything was great, only small.

We left our luggage in our cabin and were on our way to the high dam over Lake Nasser. It is the largest artificial lake in the world. Our guide there was Mortez. Emad had left after dropping us at the cruise and introducing us to Mortez. Mortez could read the cartouge I had around my neck. That felt good.

After the dam, we went to the Philae temple. It was on an island, so we went by boat. I wonder how it would have been if my mom was there, she completely hates the idea of boats.

It was lovely to see the temple from the boat as it looked larger as we approached. This temple was dedicated to Isis. The walls were full of hieroglyphs. It was partly destroyed by ancient Christians calling it a pagan place of worship.

Mortez told us how the Christians had hid here during the Roman attack, how the side were the Nubians used were less destroyed, about Hathor's smiling 7 faces, how the temple was rebuilt two times and moved to the current location...

We went back to the cruise. It was still at the dock, so it was like the floating restaurant in Cairo, only, this time we were in the basement so through the circular windows I could see water above my head. It was a buffet, okay-okay types.

We could rest for the rest of the day. But the mission for the day was to find fresh dates to take home for Amma. Of everything we had in the buffet, nothing was as good as the dates. I've had the fresh dates that we get back in India, but these were different, really juicy and great. But sadly, the crew didn't understand the English word dates so we took one from the buffet table and asked them were we could find dates like these.

They gave an attended Mahmood to accompany me and Appa and we were off to the Aswan market near by. Here too, people magically recognized us as Indians. I seriously don't know how. There were a lot of spices in the stores, a lot of sheesha kept out of different shapes and sizes and you could see small groups of people having a little conversation while slowly exhaling the sweet smoke.

One thing in my to-do list in the cruise ship was to have champagne. That couldn't be done. Dinner was buffet again in the same basement restaurant and after that we went to the upper deck to see the night lights and click some pics.

Sleep came really quick because we had woken up early that day and also because we had to the next day as well.

Cairo, Day 2

June 20

Writing this after a very long gap. I had made it a point to jot down things things I saw and did each day during that week I had in Egypt and to put it all here I guess I grew too lazy. Anyways, here goes.

Second day in Cairo. Enid Blyton breakfast repeat :P.

The Cairo museum is where we spent most our day. That place has thousands of years of history spread across its halls. According to Sam, we could distinguish the artifacts of Egypt by their look- if the statues had a dignified look about them, it belonged to the ancient period. The ones from the middle ages were grim and dark. The modern ones were fair in nature.

There were sarcophaguses of stone and alabaster at every turn and corner. Sam told us a lot that day. About Ka, Ba, Hathor, Horus, Isis and Osiris, false doors, embalming, Hatshepsut, Tutmosis, Ramesis...I could travel back in time through his stories and the things I saw there. Honestly, you'll need more than a day to walk leisurely through here and see all the wonders exhibited.

My younger brother can act like a spoilt brat at times. But in ancient Egypt there was a 19-year-old who could cover himself with gold. Yeah, I'm talking about King Tut alright. There was a whole section dedicated to his belongings. On his body, they found 143 gold objects wrapped in the linen coverings. The gold mask alone weighed 11 kg! His solid gold coffin was placed within 3 other coffins (like those Russian dolls), which in turn was inside 4 concentric rooms. His ornaments weer adorned with carnelian, lapiz lazuli and turquoise.

Then there was an ancient Egyptian ornament section. I'm somebody who hates wearing gold just because of the shiny yellow colour and the boring patterns I've seen. But looks like I could be game for the ancient Egyptian kind. There were really pretty, fashionable ones that I absolutely loved. The earrings were too thick, the holes in your ears have to be really wide to put the ones here on.

Another thing I remember from here is a birthing stool. The ancient Egyptians believed the crouching position was the most healthy one for birthing and had special stools with a hole in the middle for this purpose. Other things that caught my attention were a queen's bed, her metal pillow and her slimy internal organs still preserved. A duplicate of the Rosetta stone.Ancient writings, magic spells, charms....

Then there was the mummy room where we saw 12 mummies resting since about a 1000 years. We could still see the hair and nails.

I seriously cannot sum up everything I saw in there. You have to be there to get how it feels. History all around you, all about you.

The day's lunch included Kobeba and beef kofta.

Next we went to St Mary's church. It was a hanging church, placed above wooden beams on an ancient building. Legend has it that Mary had appeared in this church several times. They also say that  Mary and Joseph hid here while travelling to Bethlehem while King Herod was hunting for baby Jesus.

This church had a lot of interesting symbology.The fish shaped tile, the 13 pillared pulpit...

We also went to a market that day. Full of hustle and bustle, people saying Namaste identifying us as Indians, calling out Amitabh, Shahrukh, Amir. It really is a wonder how they knew we were Indians. Yes we are brown skinned, dark hair, dark eyes, but there are a whole lot of other citizens who look like us, right? Pakistanis, Sri Lankans...

Anyways, we said bye to Sam that day. Had an early sleep too, coz the next day was supposed to start at 3:00 am.

Cairo, Day 1

June 19^th

Alexandria > Cairo

Fresh fruit and fruit juice, grilled tomatoes, cheese, sausages, bacon, French toast, honey, waffles, pancakes, scones, Danish, yoghurt.. Remember the spread Julian, Dick, George and Anne used to have? Breakfast in Radisson Blue reminded me of them. One of the best breakfasts I’ve ever had! I’ve not mentioned the complete list here, coz there were tables and tables of things and I could sample only so much, but you get the idea, right? Anyways, this post isn’t about food, so let’s move on.

After breakfast we checked out of Radisson Blue and we were off to Cairo. 3 hrs road trip. Did I mention that Thareeq stopped a truck loaded with fresh tomatoes so that he could get some for us the day before? Well, he had. It was so nice of him and we enjoyed having it. But we weren’t too keen on having tomatoes after breakfast, but Thareeq stopped a Tomato van and a Grapes van on the way so that we could taste them.

Somewhere in the middle of the journey we stopped at a small motel kind of a place. There was a souvenir shop where everybody went to. Thareeq went straight to a tabled and settled down with a hookah. You don’t see much of alcohol out in the open in this country, but smoke, yes, you see it everywhere.  Of course I couldn’t resist when he offered me, so I had to try :P (It was amazing!)

When we reached Cairo, Sameer a.k.a Sam, our guide for Cairo joined us and he quizzed us a bit about Egypt. He wore a locket with some hieroglyphs that caught my eye. He explained that it was a Cartouche. Pharoes got their name written in oval brackets to protect them, as a symbol of power etc. And if any common man dared to wear one, it was “off with his head!” in those days. I made up my mind to get one for myself.

He first took us to a Papyrus shop. Guess everybody knows that papyrus was the first form of paper ever, made from the papyrus reed. We saw how it was being made. And do you know why the papyrus reed was used? The cross section of the reed’s stem has triangles (Triangles>face of the pyramid>ray of the sun)! There were a lot of replicas of ancient Egyptian paintings here for sale. The judgement day, Tutankamun, Nefertiti, the Egyptian calendar, Horus, Cleopatra, Nut, Isis and Osiris...they even had Christian imagery on Papyrus. These people do know their tourism industry :P

After that was Pyramids. What I reaaally longed to see. Sam kept saying things about it as we neared it, but I was too busy gazing at them to hear much of what he was saying. He got us the tickets and we were walking out in the Egyptian sun towards the Pyramids.

You don’t realize how huge they are until you reach quite close to them. They look as if they are made up of small stones from a distance, but the height of the lowest array of stones is almost up to my shoulder and weigh tonnes. And they are arranged in perfect symmetry with no mortar or cementing, just placed one on top of the other.

There is more about the three great pyramids of Giza. Do you know Orion’s belt? The hunter that appear in the night sky with three stars that form his belt? The three pyramids of Giza and the three stars in Orion’s belt are aligned in a way. The biggest pyramid is of Khufu, the smaller of his son Khafre and the smallest of Menkaure. Khafre made his smaller than his father’s out of respect. So his son menkaure followed suit and built his a little smaller than Khafre’s.

The entrance to a Pyramid is small, narrow, and people with claustrophobia were advised not to enter. Because it is a small narrow tunnel which you have to crouch and climb down by wooden plank steps, walk straight a bit and then do the crouching –climbing thingy up to see the Pharaoh's sarcophagus.  I went in.

This was the tunnel through which the Pharaoh’s body was taken in by the priests and mourners to be placed safely for his afterlife. The small room up had the cold stone sarcophagus. The coffin and mummy were taken elsewhere, you could only see the ancient king’s resting place made for him millenniums before. This room held all his treasures and belongings. This small room was the reason for the gigantic architectural marvels.

How the pyramids were exactly built is something Egyptologists are not too sure of. True, there are theories, of rolling the stones over logs, lifting the stones manually and bizarre ideas of aliens helping them out, but how they could build these colossal structures with each stone that weighs tonnes in an age so ancient and create it so perfectly?

After the Pyramids, we went to a point where the three pyramids could be seen together from a distance. This is where all the songs scenes that involve shots with the pyramids are taken. Then we saw the temple where the mummification was done. It’s a 72 days process. First thirty days is purification and the next forty days is mummification. In the purification part, the body is cleaned, the internal organs are taken out and salts are used to cleanse it. The 4 vital organs according to the ancient Egyptian tradition that are required in the afterlife are the lungs, stomach, intestines and stomach. They are placed in 4 jars. You must’ve seen it in The Mummy, right?

Then the body is embalmed with oil and essences, armed with amulets and other magical trinkets and placed in the coffin. Mourners, musicians, priests and people carry the Pharaohs body into the pyramid and place there all possible things he might need in the afterlife. Sam said that grave robbers opened the graves mainly for food. Gold and treasures were sought after that.

Next we saw the sphinx. Human face and Lion’s body. Khafre’s face to be exact. Like a guardian of the great pyramids. Its nose was smashed by a ruler who wanted to prove that he was powerful than Egyptians.

After taking in all this, we went for lunch. On the Nile! It was a floating restaurant. Food was Egyptian again coz we wanted to try that. Chicken cooked with their special spices, kebabs, meat rolled in grape vine leaves, salads and desserts with dates.

Then we checked in at Le Meridian, Cairo (Yes, I got to stay in there!).  After nice long rest we went back to the Pyramids area again. But this time, we were there for a light and sound show. No walking around. It was presented like the Sphinx telling a story. It talked about Egypt’s history, stories from the past, the pharaohs of the pyramids and the glory of the ancient Egyptian civilization. It was a lovely sight. And there was a cool breeze and it was pleasant to sit out there and watch the show.

Dinner was on a rooftop restaurant. Food was great as usual, not going into details. I could still see the outline of the Pyramids from where I was sitting. I still had one more day in this city, close to the place I’ve longed to see.

Alexandria

Prologue

Is there one thing that you always wanted to do? Something you kind of dreamt of since forever? For me it was Egypt. My folks still find it crazy, but even as a kid that is one place I wanted to visit. 

Now, my School's library is in the new building that connects the Lower school to the Upper school. Back in the ancient times when I used to be a school girl, it used to be right next to the Office room. There, near that window which overlooked Lourdes Cathedral, there was a shelf with an awesome book on Egypt which some of my Egypt crazy friends and I used to read up and be amazed. The glory of the giant pyramids, ancient stories from an age old civilization, the details of the mummification process, names of their multitude of gods- I was under the spell of the Gift of Nile. 

June 18^th, 2014

Cochin -> Mumbai -> Sharjah -> Alexandria. 

It was a really bright and sunny morning when I landed at the Alexandria airport. Not many people would be overjoyed about leaving the air-conditioned airport to face the hot dry weather, but I couldn’t wait. I was finally at Egypt! Think happy, and multiply it by 1000. That’s the kind of feeling I’m talking about.

As soon as we stepped out, we were met by a chirpy, bubbly Shima, who was our guide at Alexandria, and Thareeq , the ever smiling driver. Though we all were tired and sleepy after some 12 hrs of travelling, Shima didn’t give us more than 20 minutes to quickly freshen up and go for the city tour. She was as proud of Alexandria as I was of Thrissur, so it showed when she talked about each place she pointed out.

First stop was lunch and we wanted to try the local cuisine. I forget the place’s name, but what they served was simply wonderful. First was Koshidi- A blend of rice, noodles, and pasta topped with tomato puree, fried onion and chick peas. Then we had Shawarma. Not the fast food types you get on the streets here, the real deal. Beef. Was lip smackingly good.

After lunch we were off to see the Citadel of Alexandria. It was originally the site of Ptolemy’s light house. But after an earth quake destroyed it, they built this citadel there. By the way, a citadel is a fortress on top of a hill. Next stop was the library of Alexandria. Though we were still full from lunch, Shima insisted we try ice cream from one of her favourite stores nearby. And since her favourite flavour was vanilla, I had to get a scoop of that plus what I wanted! But I don’t regret it. It was one of the richest, creamiest Vanilla ice cream scoops I had had.

Still holding ice cream cones in our hands, we reached the library. It was an elliptical dome. Shima, a PhD student talked about how cheap the membership fees was for students and how helpful she found the place, about the types of books and artefacts in the library, about how Alexandria got its name from Alexander the great...There was a sun dial and a planetarium in the premise too.

Then we visited a mosque. I had never been inside one before, so it was something new for me. There was a section for the ladies and another for the men. A Quran recital competition was going on when we entered. The wooden ceiling had beautiful carvings. I saw the side of the mosque facing Mecca.

And now Shima declared that the scheduled places at Alexandria were done, but if we wanted to go anywhere else, she was game to take us. But as rest was inevitable at this point, we headed back to Radisson Blue where a hot shower and a huge bath tub beckoned me. I wanted to be up and about the next day, for 19^th June, 2014 is when I would go see the Pyramids.