Less than ten days after the fall of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, hundreds of idle tour guides waiting for the return of tourists to the deserted Great Pyramid of Giza held up banners in English, French, German and Russian saying, "Egypt Loves You". At the same time, Egyptian Youth organized a march around Tahrir Square, calling for tourists from around the world to come back to Egypt and witness history in the making.
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 Already as this is written, the Ministry for Tourism has announced, "The hotels of Egypt will be ready to receive the tourists, offering low prices in order to restore demand."
In that spirit, we update an article first published in Romar Traveler in 2002. It is meant to remind you of the words of one man who is recognized as the world's earliest recorded travel writer. Close to 2,500 years ago, Herodotus of Halicarnassus, wrote, "Egypt is the gift of the Nile". This Greek scholar/traveler was fascinated by all details of an Egyptian culture that already was 3,500-years-old in his time. Since then, tourism has poured into this mysterious land, exploring every inch of the verdant and fruitful banks of the world's longest river and the amazing culture that has flourished there to this day.
When the dust settles after the huge political and social changes of 2011 and you are ready to visit eternal Egypt, here are points of interest to explore:
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| Egypt's capital and international gateway is a cosmopolitan city filled with excellent accommodations and all the amenities of a major world center. Lining the Nile in central Cairo are luxury hotels, embassies, government buildings, and palatial private homes. Just a few blocks away from the riverfront, and the city's multi-cultural history becomes evident in its many mosques, Coptic Christian churches, museums, and even a treasured synagogue. The city alone is worth a week's time of exploration. Primarily, for the visitor with limited time, Cairo is the home base for visits to those defining monuments everyone comes to see: the great pyramids and the sphinx. |
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A short drive from central Cairo on the handsome Sharia al-Ahram expressway--first built for the carriage of the French Empress Eugenie--ends in the neighborhood of Giza. Looming over this busy Cairo suburb is the gigantic Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops.) Built around 2,500 BC of more than 2,500,000 limestone blocks, the shear size of this structure, built as the tomb of one man, is mind-boggling. For a price of 20 Egyptian pounds (about $4,) it is possible to climb up to the entrance and down a steep, tunneling ramp into the bowels of the great pyramid to the King's Chamber where it is believed the royal mummy once rested. Now, it is a deathly still and bare chamber except for the stone outer sarcophagus that once cradled the mighty monarch's earthly remains surrounded by his treasures, long since plundered by ancient grave robbers.
Also on the Giza plateau, within walking distance of the Great Pyramid are the smaller but no less imposing pyramids of Khafre (Chephren) and Menkaure (Mycerinus) as well as several much smaller pyramids of the queens of these monarchs, and down a causeway from the Khafre Pyramid, that unmistakable symbol of Egypt, the Great Sphinx. Much repair work is in evidence around this mysterious figure, and he is looking quite good these days, though much remains to be done to repair the ravages of time, air pollution, and too much attention.
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Next to the Great Pyramid is a modern, air-conditioned enclosure that houses one of the pharaoh's two known Solar Boats. Discovered accidentally in 1954 in a pit on the south side of the pyramid, one of the boats was found disassembled in kit form made up of 1,224 separate parts crafted of cedar wood, amazingly well preserved, and all carefully labeled for re-assembly by the pharaoh's attendants in the after-life.
Culminating 20 years of preservation and study by modern archeologists, the 142-foot long ship has been reconstructed in the traditional manner by being stitched together using ropes made of vegetable fibers. It is thought that the solar boat was never actually launched on water. It was to be used symbolically for the pharaoh to accompany the Sun God in his daily voyage across the heavens. An additional entry fee ($4) is required as well as a photo permit (about $2.) |
More to Explore in Cairo:
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The Egyptian Museum, of course, is a must on any visit to Cairo. During the recent demonstrations, a cordon of citizens protected the entrance to the venerable old building from looters. There was some damage and less than a dozen artifacts were lost, but Egypt's priceless patrimony was preserved.
The museum was built in its present form in 1900 by French archeologist August Mariette. It must be said that, as conquerors, the France of Napoleon showed great respect and appreciation of Egypt's ancient culture and was responsible for preserving--and at the same time, removing--much of it. That special relationship between France and Egypt continues. Among the treasures left behind in this museum are the actual mummies of many of Egypt's greatest pharaohs, among them that of Rameses II.
Even though this musty old museum houses more than 120,000 relics and artifact of all aspects of this remarkable civilization, it is best known as the repository of the treasures of Tutankhamun. King Tut's treasures are a world-famous attraction even though historically he was a ruler of lesser importance whose brief reign followed the upheaval in Egyptian history caused by Akenaton and his short-lived iconoclastic expulsion of the gods of Egypt in favor of the one god, Aton.
It just happened that Tutankhamun's tomb escaped ancient tomb robbers, possibly because of his lesser importance. The entrance to his tomb in the Valley of the Kings was concealed for millennia by a huge pile of rubbish accumulated in the excavation of the tomb of a more illustrious pharaoh. In spite of his lesser stature, the magnificence of Tutankhamun's treasures as displayed in the Egyptian Museum give some hint of the almost unimaginable magnificence that must have accompanied one of the really great pharaohs to the afterlife.
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The Citadel and the Mohammed Ali Mosque: |
Since the end of the twelfth century, the Citadel and Great Mosque were the seat of all the rulers of Egypt. The religious fortress, situated on a dominant hilltop overlooking all of Cairo, was built in 1176 by famed Salah al-Din Yussuf Ibn Ayyub, Muslim sultan of Egypt, Syria, Yemen and Palestine, and better known to European Crusaders as their fierce foe, Saladin.
Resonating in today's political climate, it is interesting to note that, as the Britannica puts it, "Salah al-Din's every act was inspired by an intense and unwavering devotion to the idea of jihad," a term that mistakenly has been adopted to mean the equivalent of the Christian Crusade. Today, his fortress is more of a museum that is dominated by the splendid Mosque of Mohammed Ali with its dramatic minarets and alabaster skin. Possibly the best view of all of Cairo can be appreciated from its terraces, with the modern city spread out below and extending to the horizon. |
Christian and Jewish Cairo: |
El Muallaqa, the Hanging Coptic Church is an eye-opening introduction to Christian Cairo. With its origins in the fourth century AD, it is the seat of the Christian minority in Egypt and, though not the original structure, it is nevertheless extremely well preserved. Most interestingly, it is an exclamation point in history. The predominant religion in ancient Egypt went from millennia of worship of its many gods to centuries under Roman influence and Roman gods. At the end of that period, when Roman Emperor Constantine decreed Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire, Egypt followed suit. It was not until Saladin pushed the Crusaders out of the Middle East that Egypt became a predominantly Moslem state. So, it is instructive to note that Egypt was Christian before it turned to Islam. |
| Ben Ezra Synagogue, hidden in the alleyways of old Cairo, is another interesting stop. The oldest synagogue in Egypt, it dates back to the end of the ninth century AD and was restored in the twelfth century by the Rabbi of Jerusalem, Abraham Ben Ezra. Coptic tradition has it that a well outside the synagogue marks the spot where pharaoh's daughter plucked the baby Moses from the reeds and much later in time that the apostles Peter and Mark preached here. |
The Khan El Khalili Bazaar may be a tourist trap, but it also is a place where Cairenes come for special ingredients, fresh produce, and odds and ends not available at the supermarket. It is a warren of alleyways and grubby streets filled with donkey carts, swarming humanity, and strays of all kinds along with endless closet-size stores of every imaginable kind of knick-knacks and temptations for the tourist.
It requires a firm technique to put off the insistent salesmanship of countless hawkers of goods--that is, until you find just the item that interests you. Then, the fine art of haggling comes into play. It's expected, and only an idiot foreigner would pay the asking price. When the process becomes too exhausting, the visitor can stop at one of the many pocket-sized cafes and have a Stella Lager beer or puff away at a Shisha water pipe (a.k.a. Narghila, Hookah, Hubbly Bubbly,) or even have a Coke Lite. |
THE NILE CRUISE:
A half-hour flight from Cairo takes travelers south to Luxor (Thebes,) the capital of the New Kingdom (1550 BC) of Upper Egypt. This busy city is where the actual cruise begins and travelers board their cruise ships. Using the ship as base camp for two days, Egypt's most impressive temples, Luxor and Karnak, the legendary Valley of the Kings and the necropolis where Egypt's most exalted royalty located its no-longer-hidden tombs, the temple of Queen Hatshepsut, and the Colossi of Memnon.
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Luxor and the Valley of Kings:
Together, the Temples of Luxor and Karnak form the largest funerary complex in the world. Peter France in his book "The Rape of Egypt" repeats a telling anecdote that gives an idea of the first impression Luxor/Karnak makes. In 1798 when occupying French troops entered the area and first rounded a bend in the Nile, "...they saw spread out before them the ruins of the cities of Luxor and Karnak, the full panorama of ancient Thebes. In a spontaneous response to this magnificent sight, the entire division halted. Without an order being given, the men formed their ranks and presented arms to the accompaniment of the drums and the bands."
Today, in spite of the incursions of the growing city of Luxor with even a Mickey D"s fast-food outlet across the street from the southern end of the temple, Luxor remains awe-inspiring. Seen on a moonlit night, Luxor is stunning in its majesty. Its monstrous but elegantly capped columns tower over the visitor, and the scale is gigantic. Built by Amehophis III with later additions by Rameses II, the temple is dedicated to the god Amun. The shear monumentality of the massive colonnades is a clear indication of the wealth and technical mastery of the ancient builders who found ways to carve and position incredibly heavy pieces of stone with extraordinary sensitivity.
In ancient times, the Luxor temple was connected to the equally impressive Karnak temple by an avenue of ram-headed sphinxes, each with the figure of a mummified Rameses cradled between its paws. The avenue is still under archaeological excavation, so today the best way to get from one temple to the other is on the main road in one of the many carriages that literally fight for attention in this city of 100,000. Succeeding pharaohs over a span of 1,300 years added to the temple structures--all to the greater glory of the god Amun--and to the priesthood that profited from the god's prominence. |
Valley of the Kings:
Still based on board your Nile cruiser, next in order is a visit to the Valley of the Kings. It is a short ride from the docks in an air-conditioned van and includes crossing the Nile on a modern bridge to the West bank and past the Ramesseum, a monument to Rameses II, the great builder. Tourist buses converge on the parking area leading to the tombs, and scores of Disneyesque mini-trains carry hordes of visitors the several hundred yards into the site of those tombs that are open for inspection.
Of the 62 tombs uncovered, perhaps the biggest and finest is that of Seti I. Steep ramps bring the visitor to chambers whose walls are covered with exquisite relief paintings of all the preparations necessary to insure that the pharaoh's after-life will include all the necessities and pleasures he enjoyed in life. The original colors of many are still amazingly intact. For ancient Egyptians, access to the after-world was not a simple matter and involved countless magic spells and discourses with the gods of the underworld. Clearly, the deceased had better have the right answers when quizzed by Anubis, the jackal-headed god of the dead.
The small tomb of Tutankhamun is open for inspection but, in spite of the stiff admission fee, the numbers of visitors allowed are limited in order to reduce the damage human exhalations and humidity bring into the tomb. All of the king's treasures are in the Cairo Museum, but this tomb has the distinction among all the others discovered so far of being the only one to have the mummy of the pharaoh still in residence.
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The Colossi of Memnon & Queen Hatshepsut's Mortuary:
The Colossi of Memnon was a tourist attraction in Graeco-Roman times. The two giant and time-worn statues of Amenophis III had a mystical connotation for those ancient tourists who thought they were statues of Ethiopian King Memnon who figured in Greek mythology during the Trojan Wars. During those days, the wind blowing through the statue made it hum in mysterious ways. Now, after attempts at restoration, the statues are silent--but still imposing. |
Queen Hatshepsut's terraced mortuary temple is dramatically different from all the others. From a distance, it has the clean and formal lines of contemporary architecture, its many terraces spreading in stark horizontal layers across the foothill of the beige sandstone mountain that frames it.
Inside, there are reliefs commemorating this remarkable and powerful woman's expedition to Punt (Somalia) and all the rare and wonderful animals and riches she brought back. Another area tells of the "divine birth" of the Queen who justified her ascension to the traditional male bastion of pharaoh-hood by claiming direct descent from the god Amun-Ra, no less. To underscore her right to rule, she is often depicted in statuary and reliefs wearing the royal beard. |
| Edfu, the next port of call, is where one of the best-preserved temples in Egypt is located. Dedicated to Horus, the hawk-headed god, this temple is a recent addition, built a mere 2,000 years ago during the Graeco-Roman period. Covering almost every surface, the temple's reliefs are considered some of the best in all of Egypt. |
| Kom Ombo is the next stop, and it is the unique double temple, dedicated to not one but two gods: Horus, the hawk and Sobek, the crocodile god. Sobek represented the four elemental gods (Ra of fire, Shu of air, Geb of earth, and Osiris of water) and also the might of pharaoh. The temple is literally split down the middle with two entrances side-by-side and duplicate holy-of-holies where the deities resided, each in his own sanctuary. Dating to the Ptolemaic period, under Roman influences, it is interesting to note the reliefs pictured on the walls of the temple representing Roman emperors in the garb of Egyptian pharaohs making offerings to Egyptian gods. |
Aswan:
After an overnight docked at Kom Ombo, the cruise continues to Aswan. If you are suffering from temple-fatigue at this point, you will enjoy this beautiful little city, located on Egypt's ancient southern border with Nubia. Best known as the site of the controversial Aswan High Dam, the city was known long before construction of the dam as a restful place, far from the big-city pressures and congestion of Cairo and blessed with a healthful climate and widely favored by turn-of-the century travelers as an excellent winter resort.
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A favorite watering hole was the elegant Old Cataract Hotel, still in service and still very elegant. Nothing will make you feel quite like a pampered nineteenth-century tourist more than taking tea or having a cool sorbet on the broad, high-ceilinged terrace of this magnificent old hotel while gazing down across the Nile to the lush gardens of Elephantine Island and its Nubian village. In more recent times, this hotel was immortalized by Agatha Christie in her novel, "Death on the Nile," and the film and several television versions that have been based on her book.
Aswan is generally the end point of most Nile cruises and the end of this visit to the old Egypt. One can say with confidence that the immense political changes that happened in 2011 will in no way affect the ancient panorama of this remarkable civilization that its people are eager to share with visitors to their country. |
TOURISM AFTER THE REVOLUTION:
CLICK HERE For contributing editor Linda Quinet's post-revolution impressions of taking a Nile Cruise late in March of 2011, the year of Egypt's re-birth.
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PHOTO CREDITS:Rod Lopez-Fabrega, Mary Ashcraft and Wikipedia Commons as attributed. Cairo Demonstrators in Title Pic: Wikimedia Commons/Sherif9282 |
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