September 14
WOW - while every day figures to be AMAZING, especially as a former World History teacher who's favorite time period to teach WAS ancient Egypt - certainly the visit to the National Museum, and in particular the King Tut display, and tomorrow's visit to the Pyramids of Giza will almost certainly draw a huge number of photos. Following are the "best" of a full day's worth of 110 shots I took while we visited our two spots today! Typically, if you follow our travel adventures a journal like today would have 10 to 12 photos. But I could "only narrow" to photos for posting to thirty-five :) The day started with a full breakfast buffet provided by Viking through the hotel and then a 8 am meeting of all 75 guests in our group. Kim and I are in "Group A" - a group of 27 - who will always be together with our personal guide Hany through the entire itinerary in Egypt, while Groups "B" and "C" have their own personal guides when ever we venture out. The three guides, of which ours is clearly the "leader of the pack" took us through about a 40 minute overview of how the trip would work and some specifics for today and tomorrow.....much like the "Port Talk" we get each night on board a Viking cruise. At 9 am PROMPTLY - and it was emphasized to us the importance of being prompt because the three buses travel as a caravan with a police escort on each excursion - we pulled away from the hotel heading for the Citadel of Saladin. Did not know that the difference between a fortification and a citadel is that inside a fort you can only stay a short time, while a citadel is completely self-contained and sustained community. Along the 30 minute or so bus ride we got to see much of the city of Cairo.......
Upon arrival at the Citadel of Saladin we put on our "quiet boxes" which allows us to hear our guide from a distance of almost 100 feet and began our adventure. We went through the gates into this over 700 year-old site and carefully climbed the original steps to reach the top level. Hany told us some of the history of the citadel and pointed out some of the various buildings, such as the palace of Mohammed Ali - the king of Egypt who had this constructed. And after another stairway we reached the Mosque of Mohammed Ali.
The mosque is adorned with gleaming silver domes which are made of iron and towering minarets - the photo truly does not do the height and size of the structure justice. The outside is all alabaster and the windows and doors are intricately made gates.
The initial mosque was an open-air area but later they added a covered mosque making it a unique mosque to have both an indoor and outdoor area for worship. The inside of the covered mosque was an amazing site to see, much like the many amazing cathedrals we've seen on our travels through Europe. The dome in the middle has for half domes on it's four sides and the original chandelier (though now the lights are electric rather than the original candle-lit lamps) still dangles below. To the one side was a green door which had a stairway behind where the Iman climbs to the top to deliver the Friday prayers. Once outside the most interesting site was a large "clock-tower." The story goes that at the time, the French King Louie Phillipe knew that the ruler of Egypt was fascinated by watches, so he gave him the "biggest watch" he could think of in the form of a tower. The king was most impressed and he reciprocated the gesture by giving to France one of two Egyptian obelisks from the Luxor which was place in the Place de la Concorde.....ironically, this past July when we were on our "Paris to Normandy" adventure with our good friends Pam & Bob Murray - who SHOULD have been with us on this adventure had not Pam sadly broken her foot leading to their postponement of the trip - we SAW this very obelisk!
We left the enclosed outdoor mosque and had a panoramic view of the city of Cairo which is home to more than 20 million residents. Hany explained to us that Cairo is a very "dusty city" and this is because on the one side is a desert on a plateau and on the other side are mountains, so the city itself sits in a geographical bowl. He said IF we were lucky and it was not too hazy we would not only be able to look out over Cairo but MAYBE we'd see the pyramids of Giza on the horizon.....today was our lucky day as we could see them! Look to the left in the panoramic photo on the horizon where you can clearly see two of the pyramids. Can't tell you how cool this was as we commented with a couple we've met (Valerie & John) that you've seen photos of the pyramids, but THOSE ARE they pyramids! WOW.
We retraced our steps, carefully descending the ancient steps to the buses and headed off to the Egyptian National Museum. Several years ago the government began construction of a massive modern museum but it is still incomplete so we visited the original one which was finished in 1901. Many of the antiquities have been moved to the new facility in anticipation of it's opening but trust me, there were THOUSANDS of artifacts to see, more than we could ever hope to view. Kim and I were very appreciative that unlike some museum excursions where you're turned loose to explore on your own - and in our opinion you really don't know what you should or should not see or what you should or should not be impressed by :) - today our host, Hany gave us a more than two hour guided tour of the highlights of the museum.
You walk through the doors into the lobby and you are immediately greeted by Ramses II. Again the photograph cannot do the colossal size of the pharaoh justice. I have placed a close up view of the base of his statue which has his cartouche to the right and this gives some perspective.
As we began working our way through the museum we went chronologically and the first stop was in front of what's known as the "Narmer Palette." This was created 5,100 years ago by the first king / pharaoh to unite upper and lower Egypt. And what's significant about this artifact - pictured below (front and back) is not only what excellent condition it's in for something this old, but it represents the delineation out of the "pre-history" stage of civilization because now for the first time we evidence of ancient man reading and writing. Next we moved on past the Ramses II statute into a room filled with coffins. The ancient Egyptians would typically have a tomb with three layers of coffins before you'd come to the mummified body. And through the next room we found many "false doors" that had been removed from burial tombs that led to the burial chambers.
This would be a good point to pause and answer a question you may have......many of our friends, family and "followers" asked after our Antarctica trip, "Wasn't it SO cold there?" And so with this adventure you may be wondering, "Just HOW HOT is it there in this desert-dominated country?" Well let me tell you - yesterday and today the high was in the low 90's but there is next to no humidity so for us South Floridians, it was down right pleasant. And the reason I mention this here is because the Egyptian National Museum is NOT air conditioned - there are some oscillating fans on the walls, but we were FAR hotter INSIDE than when we were outside in the sun! Next we arrived at the statute of Pharaoh Djoser. He is significant because he was the first pharaoh to have a pyramid built for his tomb. The pyramids were seen not as burial tombs by the pharaohs and their people, but rather as the vehicle which would transport the pharaoh into the afterlife and with him he would bring his people. The people took great pride in building the pyramids for the pharaohs - they were not forced to build them - it was an honor to work on them. And honestly, they lived far better if they were part of the massive work force that built the pyramids. Djoser's pyramid is the "Step Pyramid" and we will be visiting there tomorrow on our excursion to Giza. Note on the close-up the intricacies of the statute. The eyes are missing because tomb robbers dug them out for the jewels and in the process broke off the nose. But the rest of the details are clear. And also note how the ears are depicted - they are pictured in a way that is meant to demonstrate that he is listening to his people.
The next pharaoh we came to was Pharaoh Khafre who built the second pyramid at Giza and the first smooth sided pyramid, unlike the Step Pyramid. Again, note the detail in this thousands-year-old work in stone.....done by hand with primitive tools!
This pharaoh and his wife are also in excellent condition, but what is significant about this couple is the coloring of the skin of these Egyptians. Always the male is depicted with the darker, more tanned skin to show that as the "man of the house" he is working outside providing for his family. And the female is pictured as white/light-skinned to represent the delicacy of the female head of the family. This is so significant because this "coloring" tradition continues throughout Egyptian history, even to TODAY where family portraits are photo-shopped to portray the males of the family - not just the father - as darker and "more manly" with the females photo-shopped to be more light-skinned to show their femininity.
As Hany led us to the next sculpture he pointed out that this pharaoh and his wife & daughter illustrated just how intricate, exquisite and detailed the art is in Egyptian sculptures. In particular, note the female/wife on the left. At first glance you can see her beautiful body and you might initially think she is pictured as nude. But look on the left side near her feet and you can see the bottom of her dress. And if you now look closely you can see that the carvers were able to carve into stone - again with ancient hand tools - the transparency of the dress as you can make out her body features beneath the dress :O
Next up we came to the remains of a portrait/sculpture of Queen Hatshepsut who was one of the few female pharaohs to rule Egypt, and she was one of the most powerful. Note the obvious fake beard - Queen Hatshepsut was NEVER pictured without appearing to be a man - and apparently she never went out into public, as the pharaoh without appearing as a male. We will visit her massive tomb later in the trip when we travel to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings!
And then - the highlight of anyone's visit to the Egyptian National Museum - the King Tutankhamun exhibit. Nearly everyone knows the story of King Tut and how his tomb is the ONLY tomb that's EVER been discovered completely undisturbed. Did you know that when archeologist Howard Carter proposed to his benefactor Lord Carnarvon to explore the Valley of the Kings that it was widely accepted that there were NO MORE tombs to be found? Carter's plan was simple but in retrospect so clever. He was certain from all the historical records that there were more kings who had to be buried here because not all the kings had been found. But where to look? His plan was to grid off the valley and dig all the way down to the bedrock and see if truly there were any more tombs. Four long years and nothing. Lord Carnarvon told Carter he was giving up - Carter pleaded for financing for four more years to finish the task. Carnarvon gave him two. With just days remaining of his final term and nothing to show for it a 12-year-old water boy came upon what appeared to be part of a step - this led to the now-famous set of steps down to King Tutankhamun's tomb.
I believe because of how widely know King Tut is, seeing this exhibit would be a highlight for nearly anyone. But FOR ME personally - having taught World History and having ancient Egypt as a focus of all those classes I always placed an emphasis on the King Tut discovery & story. And I've seen all these artifacts in pictures - going back to the 8th grade when my music director Mrs. Kathleen Nolan had many books on ancient Egypt as she too was fascinated by this time period - and it inspired my fascination with this time. BUT to be there and look at King Tut's coffins and his death mask..... IN PERSON, inches away from my face was just breath taking. As one of the fellow's we've met, Larry said to me - "Mark this has to be so special for you, right?" And I replied that yes, this was truly something I've waited almost my whole life to see in person. Just stunning. Also pictured below are the ceremonial jars where his organs were placed during the mummification process so they would be there for his afterlife. Also one of the two statutes found guarding the burial chamber and his ceremonial throne chair. A close-up of the king and his bride from the back of the chair form the banner above for today's journal.
But we weren't done yet.....down the hall was "a book" written on papyrus. I cannot begin to describe to you the size of this. Maybe two feet tall from top to bottom, but stretched out as it was displayed on the wall, the book - the complete book was a good thirty to forty yards long. Two close-ups of sections of the book frame the second photo of Hany standing alongside the book to give some perspective; and the final photo is a close up of the hieroglyphics.
Of course no visit to ancient Egypt would be complete without seeing mummies! Below are the mummies of the great-grandmother and great-grandfather of King Tut. And a photo of us in front of a "false door" which led into one of the tombs from the Valley of the Kings, with the statute of the pharaoh that was buried there.
We returned to the hotel around 1:30 pm and had the rest of the day to ourselves. This evening for dinner we visited "Saigon" one of the restaurants in our hotel. It had been recommended by Hany and at breakfast our new friends Valerie & John told us they'd had dinner there last night and highly recommended it. We topped off our meal with fried ice cream as the sun set over the Nile River outside the widow. Tomorrow it's an all-day, 8 hour adventure to Giza to visit the pyramids and the Sphinx!
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