Egypt at a Glance
As we
approach Egypt from the south, the ground takes on a reddish hue. Sand dunes
are prominent to the west stretching into Libya. The waddies, dry washes,
appear to be claws searching, trying to dig into the sifting sand for water.
Everything is barren, not a sign of life.
Then I
detect a scar-like shadow on the western horizon. As the plane dips downward we
are transfixed, as the shadow becomes the ancient waterway of the Nile. On
either bank verdant strips of farmland embraces its provender. Villages built
of dried mud-bricks pass beneath us. Bulrushes overlay the roofs for cooling.
Water buffalo wallow in the shallows. Long rows of date palms stretch at right
angles to the river. Their draping orange colored fruits appear like spangle
costumes of slender belly dancers. Men and boys wade up to their knees in the
rice paddies. Occasionally we see tall graceful minarets where mullahs call
their faithful to prayer.
We are
driven to the Hilton where the lobby is filled with wealthy sheiks, corporate
heads, power brokers, heads of state all mingling and conferring. Suitcases and
valises are stacked shoulder high around the concierge’s desk. In the morning
the lobby is crammed with tour directors who gather their flocks and shoo them
into their respective busses amid the babble of a dozen or more different
languages.
The great
pyramids, a legacy for all mankind, arise in a sea of commercialism. Camel
drivers, donkey drivers, hackney drivers, taxi drivers, bus drivers spew
passengers by the dozens or try to wedge them back into their machines. We are
approached, hasseled, hustled, and tugged, by a battery of peddlers. Shouting,
extolling, pleading and begging the shrill litany of selling surrounds us.
“Ride my sweetest of all camels, even my mother-in-law rides it,” a wily
entrepreneur proclaims.
We journey
to the Museum of Cairo and see the ultimate artifact of artifacts, the golden
death mask of King Tutankhamen and sarcophagus, two of the latter actually, and
other finery which seems unbelievable. A golden ox head, exquisite sculptures
all in gold, the life-size King as a hunter trimmed with gold. I move about the
treasures with wonder and think back to those eons of time when this boy king
was alive. With such golden finery as we see here, we wonder what the tomb of
Ramses first and second would have contained if grave robbers had not looted
their tomb.
But the
inconvenience and jostling is instantly forgotten, even forgiven when we walk
around an out-cropping of the cliff face and see the colossal statuary chiseled
out of rock. Rameses is portrayed with his consorts and other family figures in
an awesome facade. UNICEF engineers saved these absolutely priceless stone
effigies from the dammed up waters of Lake Nasser. The deities, 60 to 70 feet
high, chiseled from the face of the cliff were sectioned apart and removed in
what has to be the world’s heaviest and biggest jigsaw puzzle ever conceived.
Saved because of man’s concern for his past, it is not only highlighted by the
stone effigies but is also a monument to what man can achieve both in the
original conception almost 4000 years ago and to his sensitivity for history’s
value in the present century. It is without doubt one of the most inspiring
sights in Egypt.
We board
the Queen Nabila, our cruise ship for our seven-day journey down the Nile
toward Cairo. Philea, our first stop, is a later temple of Hellenistic design,
more lithe-like in structure than the heavier Egyptian buildings adjacent to
it. Beautifully proportioned, it was also rescued by UNICEF engineers and
rebuilt upon a higher island. Later we visit the Kom Ombo Ptolemaic temple.
Huge columns reaching 60 feet with solid stone lintels 6 x 4 feet and perhaps
20 feet long soar above us. In wonderment we cannot grasp the enormity of all
these structures. Glyphs carved into the granite and limestone stand out today
as it did when the last stonemason left his work.
Later we
visit the temple of Queen Hatshepsut. From a distance it appears to be a modern
motif of an old temple. It’s amazing to see a building built in 1300BC look so
contemporary. We enter the Queen’s tomb. Vibrant with color, the paint could
have been applied just a few days ago. Unfortunately no pictures are allowed.
On the way
to the Valley of the Kings we drive by a small village. Many of the building
walls are covered with artwork, especially if the owners have been to Mecca..
Their Hegira is illustrated with bright hues. The lion is featured prominently.
We arrive at King Tutankhamun tomb where absolutely no photographs can be
taken. We descend the same flight of steps that Howard Carter and the Earl of
Carnarvon took in Oct. 1922 and discovered the only Egyptian king found with all
his grave goods intact. We are only allowed to see the one chamber where the
outer sarcophagus is enclosed in its granite tomb. Somehow, we seem so mortal
to be in the presence of a man who has been dead for 3600 years and who yet
seems so contemporary. Later we walk through Ramses 5 and 6; tombs, all elaborately covered with
descriptive artwork. In the inner sanctuary a scuffle occurs when a tourist
takes a photo. He is hauled out and the camera confiscated. He is still arguing
with police at the entrance when we leave.
In the
evening we dock at Karnak. The captain turns the Queen Nabila about to face the
current then warps it into position and brings it alongside the other boats
which are already docked, three deep. The gangway doors are in the middle of
the ship. To exit, we must enter each cruise ship until we pass through the
last one and go down the gangplank to shore. It seems strange to go through
three ships before landing but it would take a waterfront 5 miles long to dock every
cruise ship individually. The cruise ships are moored together by crossing
hawsers and securing them onto the capstans.
The chef
has prepared another masterful buffet. Magnificently cut roasts, chicken, duck,
legs of lamb, vegetables, pastries, jells, condiments, breads constitute a
gourmet’s heaven. In the evening we attend a costume party. I dress as a
wealthy Egyptian complete with a gabilia while Roberta dresses as Cleopatra.
The chef takes a picture of us and swears we are the best-looking Americans
turned Egyptian he has ever seen.
Karnak and
the connecting Luxor temples are the largest complex of ruins along the Nile.
There are 134 columns at least 10 to 12 feet in diameter, which hold stone
lintels that are so immense they are difficult to imagine how humans could lift
them. The Temple of Luxor is connected to Karnak by a line of sphinxes
stretching for about half a mile. Possibly they flanked a causeway to
facilitate ferrying granite blocks, which were quarried about 100 miles south
of the temple complex. In the evening we attend the light show. Spotlights are
thrown upward upon the huge temple pillars. It is an eerie and beautiful sight.
As the legend of the Egyptian kings is told we feel small indeed listening to
these ancient tales under the immense canopy of stone and sky.
From Cairo
we motor to Alexandria. In some areas the desert is being reclaimed by
reforestations with drought resistant plants, shrubs and pines. Rows and rows
lead away from the highway into the desert. Near the city center we descend into
the catacombs, which were discovered around 1900 when a donkey fell into a hole
and thus revealed the site. They are remarkable. Hollowed out of solid
limestone the tombs are more than just oblong cavities. There is a banquet room
where families would come to celebrate death and anniversaries of death. One
room is fashioned into a temple with pillars and friezes carved out of the
solid limestone. There are rows and rows of crypts and sarocaphagus, which must
weigh tons. These stone coffins were lowered down a main circular shaft and
then pushed into the right level, three in all, where the dead is interred.
At the
Grecko-Roman Museum some of the world’s finest sculpture can be seen of Mark
Anthony, Ceaser Agustus, Trajan, Aphrodite and Cherub. Beautiful though
indistinct mosaics, glassware, pottery and a courtyard filled with sculpture
are a part of the museum. Pompeii’s column amid sphinxes and a portion of the
famous library, which burned when Alexandria was destroyed are all a part of
this seaside city.
Along the
beach the Cornisch Drive at 10:30 pm resembles Central Ave in Phoenix. It’s
cruise time folks! Around the Boulevard they go, honking and revving up their
engines. It’s the grand prix of Alexandria in slow motion. Even a low rider
painted yellow
with black fenders slides by. Disco music, Arabic style and the beat drifts
into our window, mixed with a constant chorus of children’s voices. Women
wearing the veil and other family members sit on the benches facing the street
and drink tea and coffee in the sidewalk cafes all taking in the cool
Mediterranean breeze.
We ask to go to El Alamein battlefield site and cemeteries, English, German and Italian. The battle was a turning point of the African campaign of WW11, English General Bernard Montgomery bested German General Ronmiel, The Desert Fox, in an eleven-day battle. Rommel’s supply lines were so thin and decimated that he finally had to give up and retreat. This ended Hitler’s ambition to conquer the British in Africa.
The
traffic in Cairo is horrendous, not so much in the amount of cars but in the
creative dodging, twisting, honking and skillful lane changing with disregard
for traffic signals. The first premise, the pedestrian does not have the
right-of-way. The second premise, run him down if you can. If the first driver
misses the next driver seems to have the obligation to do it. Virtually all
cars have creases, gouges and scrapings on their sides. But this is Cairo. Even
though it is 4 am, and there are not many cars on the street, we go through
four red lights on our way to the airport and all the corners on two wheels. It
was the beginning of another day in the city life of Cairo.
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