An unexpected journey through Egypt's ancient wonders
Seeing the pyramids was never on my bucket list. Nevertheless, I joined a tour organised by my former colleague at the last minute, and spent 11 days exploring what I had only ever seen in books before then.
It was winter in Egypt, but I had packed clothes for spring. The weather was a little 'weird' to me because the air was dry and I felt like the temperature was neither cold nor hot.
Our first historical place was the Citadel of Salah Al-Din (Mohamed Ali Mosque was within the same vicinity). Perched on Mokkatam Hill, the citadel gave us a panoramic view of the city of Cairo.
The citadel was a defensive structure against the crusaders, while the mosque was built of limestones and alabasters.
We had dinner on a boat cruising along the Nile, where some male belly dancers performed for us. It was also my birthday, and the trip organiser had gotten me a cake.
The next day, we went to Giza to see the pyramids as well as the Sphinx. It was so surreal to be in the vicinity of both of these ancient landmarks. The three colossal pyramids were called Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure or the father, son and grandson. These are actually made of limestones.
The Sphinx is the guardian of the pyramids that has the body of a lion and a human head, with its nose broken off.
The National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation houses artefacts from the old Egyptian Museum and 22 royal mummies – 18 kings and four queens – including Ramses 11, Hetshepsut, and Seti. The mummies were transported from the Valley Of The Pharaohs in 2021.
Remember to check out the shop selling papyrus, one of the oldest papers in the world. You can buy papyrus souvenirs from here.
The reader was happy to finally see the pyramids in Egypt. — Photos: JANE LAZAR
We flew to Luxor and boarded a cruise ship to Aswan to visit the temples. The first one was Kanak, the temple of the ancient god, Amun-ra. It was created over 1,000 years ago and has massive columns, obelisks, statues and hieroglyphs.
The Luxor Temple meanwhile was created by Ramses 11. We were here during sunset and the place looked amazing.
The next day, we went to the Valley Of The Kings, the burial place of the pharaohs. We had access to all three of them and there where beautiful engravings on the walls. Only the mummy of Tutankhamun remains in this place as apparently, it 'refuses' to be moved to another place.
I skipped the Mortuary Temple of Hetshepsut and decided to take a break instead, having a mango sorbet and a cup of coffee. It was interesting to see vendors on sail boats selling shawls and throwing them into our windows on our ship.
Later at Esna, we visited another temple called Edfu, but this time we were on a horse and carriage.
I skipped going to the Kom Ombo temple, which is a museum of mummified crocodiles. By now there was just too much information about temples so I gave myself another break, which was nice because I got to observe the locals and tourists.
To visit Abu Simbel, we had to leave our ship at 5am as the drive there took about four hours. The complex was built by Ramses 11 and consists of two temples, one for himself, Amun-Ra and other gods, and the other for his wife, Queen Nefertiti.
The reader (right) at the Catacomb.
Both the temples were moved 200m inland to prevent them being submerged following the construction of the new Aswan Dam, which we later visited.
Before leaving Egypt, we spent some time in Alexandria, Egypt's second largest city bordering the Mediterranean Sea. We checked out the Catacomb, Qaitbay Citadel and the magnificent library, Bibliothecca Alexandrina. The library guide briefed us on the building's structure and other interesting facts. I got to see the first printing machine used in Egypt.
Even though it was last minute, I am glad I made this trip to Egypt.
The views expressed are entirely the writer's own.
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