CAIRO, EGYPT
Okay, so that was just a layover in Kuwait. Nothing much worth stopping for, from what I could see.
Anyway, after that little side-trip, here I am in the land of the Pharoahs, accompanied by my trusty Egyptologist guide Ragab and my hookah-smoking driver Tamer. They picked me up from my hotel early this morning and after a quick Turkish coffee we headed to see the last remaining Wonder of the Ancient World.
I'm talking pyramids, people, and there they were, large as life (and that's big!), only ten minutes or so away in Giza. We started with the most famous, the Great Pyramid of Khufu, which Ragab explained a little about, then I climbed around on it for a few minutes before we walked around to the other big pyramids and some surrounding smaller tombs. One of them you could go inside, which involved climbing backward down a ladder through a narrow shaft at about a 45-degree angle. It was really awkward and kind of claustrophobic in there, but once I made it to the bottom it was cool to see the inside of a real Egyptian tomb. This was one of the few that was found with stuff inside, although like most of the treasures unearthed around here it's all in the Egyptian Museum now for safekeeping, so all I got to see was an empty room.
We then drove a few minutes away to see that other famous icon of Egypt, the Sphinx, which sits beside a small temple with the pyramids behind it. A few pictures there, then another short drive to an overlook with the pyramids in the distance. It would have been a really great picture-taking spot, except for the half-dismantled opera stage for a recent production of Aida that was in the way and kind of ruined the view. I guess there's always PhotoShop....
Our next stop was the ancient capital of Memphis, which like the pyramids was a lot closer to downtown Cairo than I thought it would be. Interestingly, there are houses built right on top of the old city, so it hasn't ever been properly excavated, much to the frustration of archaeologists like Ragab. Some of the finds that have been uncovered, though, are displayed in the Memphis Museum, which we stopped at for a short time. It's a small place with a scattering of weathered statues and sarcophagi outside, but the most impressive pieces are a huge incomplete statue of Ramses II that was found in a nearby lake, and the Alabaster Sphinx, much smaller than the famous one, but more delicately rendered and beautiful.
Our next stop was Sakkara, home of the Step Pyramid of Zoser, built way back in 2700 BC and the precursor to the more famous triangular pyramids. Ragab explained that "Sakkara is my playground," as most of his time as an archaeologist has been spent doing digs here. Consequently, he was able to give me a lot of information about finds in the area, and showed me a nearby tomb with some interesting pictures and inscriptions inside.
Actually, I feel very fortunate to have Ragab for a guide--not only is he a bona fide archaeologist/Egyptologist who really knows his stuff, but he's also apparently well-known by all the guards, museum directors, and site managers, who give him a rock-star welcome wherever we go. On several occasions I think it's gotten us special treatment, as we've gone in some areas that appear to be off-limits to the general public. Hey, I'm not complaining....
On the downside, like my tours in China and India this one also included a couple of obligatory stops at government-run souvenir shops. This time it was a papyrus-art workshop and a carpet-making factory, which I guess were mildly interesting to watch, but of course I wasn't interested in buying anything so it still felt like a waste of everyone's time. I made sure to take advantage of the complimentary beverages, though.
After all that we stopped for lunch at the Sakkara Restaurant, where I had a really awesome meal: A mixed grill of chicken and lamb kebabs, homemade pita bread, roasted eggplant, hummus, and various sauces and pickles. Really tasty. Then it was back to my hotel. Despite all the sights, today's itinerary only went until about 2:30 pm, which left me the rest of the day to hang out and rest up.
Okay, so that was just a layover in Kuwait. Nothing much worth stopping for, from what I could see.
Anyway, after that little side-trip, here I am in the land of the Pharoahs, accompanied by my trusty Egyptologist guide Ragab and my hookah-smoking driver Tamer. They picked me up from my hotel early this morning and after a quick Turkish coffee we headed to see the last remaining Wonder of the Ancient World.
I'm talking pyramids, people, and there they were, large as life (and that's big!), only ten minutes or so away in Giza. We started with the most famous, the Great Pyramid of Khufu, which Ragab explained a little about, then I climbed around on it for a few minutes before we walked around to the other big pyramids and some surrounding smaller tombs. One of them you could go inside, which involved climbing backward down a ladder through a narrow shaft at about a 45-degree angle. It was really awkward and kind of claustrophobic in there, but once I made it to the bottom it was cool to see the inside of a real Egyptian tomb. This was one of the few that was found with stuff inside, although like most of the treasures unearthed around here it's all in the Egyptian Museum now for safekeeping, so all I got to see was an empty room.
We then drove a few minutes away to see that other famous icon of Egypt, the Sphinx, which sits beside a small temple with the pyramids behind it. A few pictures there, then another short drive to an overlook with the pyramids in the distance. It would have been a really great picture-taking spot, except for the half-dismantled opera stage for a recent production of Aida that was in the way and kind of ruined the view. I guess there's always PhotoShop....
Our next stop was the ancient capital of Memphis, which like the pyramids was a lot closer to downtown Cairo than I thought it would be. Interestingly, there are houses built right on top of the old city, so it hasn't ever been properly excavated, much to the frustration of archaeologists like Ragab. Some of the finds that have been uncovered, though, are displayed in the Memphis Museum, which we stopped at for a short time. It's a small place with a scattering of weathered statues and sarcophagi outside, but the most impressive pieces are a huge incomplete statue of Ramses II that was found in a nearby lake, and the Alabaster Sphinx, much smaller than the famous one, but more delicately rendered and beautiful.
Our next stop was Sakkara, home of the Step Pyramid of Zoser, built way back in 2700 BC and the precursor to the more famous triangular pyramids. Ragab explained that "Sakkara is my playground," as most of his time as an archaeologist has been spent doing digs here. Consequently, he was able to give me a lot of information about finds in the area, and showed me a nearby tomb with some interesting pictures and inscriptions inside.
Actually, I feel very fortunate to have Ragab for a guide--not only is he a bona fide archaeologist/Egyptologist who really knows his stuff, but he's also apparently well-known by all the guards, museum directors, and site managers, who give him a rock-star welcome wherever we go. On several occasions I think it's gotten us special treatment, as we've gone in some areas that appear to be off-limits to the general public. Hey, I'm not complaining....
On the downside, like my tours in China and India this one also included a couple of obligatory stops at government-run souvenir shops. This time it was a papyrus-art workshop and a carpet-making factory, which I guess were mildly interesting to watch, but of course I wasn't interested in buying anything so it still felt like a waste of everyone's time. I made sure to take advantage of the complimentary beverages, though.
After all that we stopped for lunch at the Sakkara Restaurant, where I had a really awesome meal: A mixed grill of chicken and lamb kebabs, homemade pita bread, roasted eggplant, hummus, and various sauces and pickles. Really tasty. Then it was back to my hotel. Despite all the sights, today's itinerary only went until about 2:30 pm, which left me the rest of the day to hang out and rest up.
posted by John Kuge at 8:04 PM
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