Chapter Two: Egypt, Cairo and Luxor (Pen writing)
Our flight was uneventful. Our tour guide helped us grab our bags and fight our way through immigration and security. Thatıs the key word, security here. Youıll see it a lot. We were taken to a mini van and driven to our hotel. Now there is no way that I can describe the traffic. We arrived at six on a Sunday evening, got on the road around 7 and the traffic was insane. Not busy, not peak hour, insane. We watched the locals cross the road, talk about taking your life in your hands. It was interesting to see that many cars were driving without lights! We were only in Cairo for one evening at this stage as we were due to fly to Luxor for our Nile boat trip. Our hotel was lovely, although old fashioned by our standard. Our room was actually a suite and Iım kinda hoping weıll get it back on our return from the lower Nile. We even had a full refrigerator in the room! Our pickup was for 4am, so we didnıt venture out. Reg changed some money and we had a light meal in a café on the hotel premises. Our first Egyptian beer was called Stella and although a bitter, wasnıt too bad. The morning saw us put some bags in for storage and reduce our luggage to one bag for this next trip. Our guide met us with a breakfast box of rolls, fruit and juice for us to eat while we were waiting at the airport. Blissfully there was little traffic on the road, although there still was traffic. We had enough time to stop in front of a palaceı weıd call it a mansion that was designed by a Belgian architect who was contracted by the Egyptian government for work on government buildings but his wife wanted a nice place to stay. She also wanted to constantly face east, so he built the house on a turntable so it would rotate and follow the sun all day. The local sheik was upset that this house was getting all the attention, so he built an enormous palace complex opposite it.
Our check in and flight to Luxor was uneventful, but the day was only just beginning!
Luxor
We landed at Luxor, home of the Valley of the Kings and East bank Temples. Our guides met us and assisted our passage through the usual airport hoopla. I was immediately entranced by the countryside – just whatıd you see in any photo – mud brick buildings, the Nile, donkeys pulling carts – the whole nine yardsı. I was desperately trying to get shots of the donkeys, but the van was going too fast. On our way to our boat, our guide asked us if we wanted to stop off at the driverıs home for a cup of tea as we had plenty of time. What an opportunity! We took them up on their offer and spent the next 40 minutes at a 200-year-old mud brick home sipping Egyptian tea. Itıs not a place Iıd want to live, but as an experience, it was tops. The whole street had Gaxonıs family living in it. Once we finished our tea, we thanked them and headed off for our Nile tour boat.
Our boat was a typical tour boat that sails the Nile. It is a shallow draft of 1.6metres, three decks, and two caterpillar engines. On this ship there were 50 cabins, but others have more than 70. We were on the top floor, so going up to the upper deck to the pool and easy chairs was just an easy walk. Our cabin had its own bathroom and queen size bed, TV and plenty of storage. It was quite nice. Iıd talk about the view from the window but the curtains were mostly drawn shut, either to block the heat or the view from another boat that would often be moored right next to us.
A
quick note about the weather. Both in Dubai and here so far in Egypt the
weather was absolutely lovely. Cool at night and warm during the days. This
made it quite pleasant to stroll around. However, I was very thankful for my
over the glasses wrap around sunnies, as it was quite glary out in the sun. The
sun would be fully set by 5.30 so although the weather was warm, it got dark
very early.
Our travelling companions were a group of 6
Canadians, one bloke from Adelaide, Paul and an Italian couple. Paul would be
teamed up with us, as we were all Aussies. This low number of tourists was
atypical as during the peak season this boat would be packed, but we just
missed peak by two weeks. We had a buffet lunch onboard and then set off for
the Temple at Karnak.
Temple at Karnak (Reg then Pen)
I had a problem from the very start. I had brought a tripod to be able to take steady shots. When I went through the gates they asked for a ticket for the tripod. I thought they were joking! But no, apparently they see the tripod as another person. Had tourist police and the gatekeeper on my tail. Called the guide and he explained to me the situation. Collapsed the tripod and went on with the tour. I was not a happy chappie!
This was the first of many temples we would see. All the temples (ok, most) are located on the East bank to greet the rising sun. The Karnak temples were known as Iput-Isut, the most esteemed of places. The temple complex covers 100 acres and itıs history stretches over 13 centuries.
Karnak is approximately 3 kilometres out of Luxor and if we had the time, we could walk into the centre of Luxor to another temple. This walkway is lined with Sphinxes and was also closer to the shoreline in ancient times so the pharaohs could come up right next to the temple grounds. Immense statues, carvings, pillars, it was wonderful to see.
On our return to the ship we stopped at a papyrus shop where we did some Christmas shopping. We also asked our guide to stop off and get us some soft drink and water from a local shop, which was immensely cheaper than the boat. Walid was really quite nice, as you will find out about later on. By now it was dark. Our next stop was the other end of the 3k walk, the temple of Luxor. It was very artistically lit and was quite striking at night.
You could follow the lit up sphinxes back the way we had come. The ancient Egyptians knew the Luxor temple as Ipet Reseyet the harem of the South. Thatıs due to its dedication to the female gods of the time. It was simply beautiful.
We were then taken to our boat for a buffet dinner, which was quite nice. We were moored overnight as we were off to the Valley of the Kings the next day.
Valley of the Kings (Pen)
This
was a decent time of getting up after our mornings of 3.30 and 4.00am rises. We
had a nice brekkie again, and charged off to the Valley of the Kings. We were
in a very dry desolate part of the desert, totally not my cup of tea. We were
now on the West bank, which is known as the burial side. This is where tombs
and temples were used to honour the Pharaohs, Queens and all the big wigs of
the kingdom. The entire burial site only covers 7.5 acres. I thought we would
be walking for ages, but instead the tombs are hardly 20 metres apart. We
entered Ramses VI, Ramses IX and one other. Some entries were quite steep and I
was thankful of the tourist addition of steps.
No
photography was allowed inside and again, Reg was unable to use his tripod. The
artwork, some still complete with paintwork, was absolutely awesome, and it has
to be noted that it was caved out of solid rock using stone tools. No thank
you. We did not see Tutenkamenıs tomb, as it has been totally relocated to the
Cairo museum where weıll see it later on.
There was a new tomb that had been discovered just 9 months ago. They
were working on it, but at that stage hadnıt identified who was buried there,
although the belief is, it isnıt a pharaoh, but perhaps a physician or
architect. Due to the amount of rubble around, itıs really impossible to
determine just what is still there. (We got home to find a program on the
Discovery channel, which was detailing the 7 sarcophaguses that was found in
that very tomb! There were no bodies inside, but materials for preservation.
Neat)
We rounded the mountain to one of my favourite areas. Weıd been getting references throughout our trip to the female Pharaoh, Queen Hatshepsut, the only female to rule ancient Egypt. Her temple was called Djesser Djesseru the Splendour of Splendours. It was radically different to the other temple designs we had seen. Unfortunately, her stepson, Titmoses III killed her and then eradicated all trace of her from temples, palaces and written text. Fortunately he couldnıt get it all. He did however, interfere with the completion of her temple, but it was still a beautiful work of art.
On our way out, we passed a well, which they had recently uncovered, and another site that the Spanish university was working on. History in the making!
We left the Valley of the Kings to view the Colossi of Memnon. Theyıre 18 metre high statues and are the only remnants of a temple built by Amenhotep II. When Alexander came to Egypt, he rebuilt the statues, which had been destroyed by an earthquake. It was said that the wind blowing through the statues made a moaning noise, the noise of the goddess mother mourning for her lost children. It should be noted that Alexander came to Egypt and didnıt work hard on being the conquering ruler, rather he introduced himself as another god and there are several temples we saw that showed his coronation. It is described by the Egyptians that he didnıt conquer Egypt, Egypt conquered him. Fair call, I think.
Our next stop was to an alabaster factory where we continued our Christmas shopping. This bargaining over here is really really tough as we have no idea as to the true value. If we end up at around the third of the original price I guess weıre doing ok.
Now, this is really interesting, and Iım handing over to Reg to explain about our caravanı.
According to our itinerary we were supposed to go back to the boat and cruise up the Nile to Esna. Instead we went into Luxor and met up with a bunch of other busses and coaches. We were to convoy to Esna under Police escort. No one was able to give a real explanation for this, just that the boats had to leave so they would be in Esna in time to go through the locks, but the times did not add up. Once we had all the convoy together we were on a clear road travelling at speed to Esna. A police car was out front with cars scattered throughout the convoy with occasional sirens. We were flat chat all the way passing through a number of police checkpoints with armed police on the road at regular intervals.
I reckon a fast moving convoy with a police escort makes a harder target than slow moving boats on the Nile! But then again I may just be a little paranoid. We must confess that we were a little disappointed in that we wanted to cruise the Nile, and so far that had happened at night so we didnıt see a thing.