Egypt

As if passing through the Suez Canal wasn't enough (pictures from either side of the canal above) I rode a camel at THE pyramids. Not just the pyramids, but THE pyramids. My experience in Egypt was truly once-in-a-lifetime for me and even though we arrive in Croatia tomorrow, I still am trying to wrap my head around all that I saw there. Yes, I know, I am behind on updating my blog, and will need to spend some time thinking up all I want to share about Turkey, too, but my five days in Egypt refuses to be hastily digested. A two day sail to Turkey after Alexandria and Cairo was not enough time for me to truly reflect on the rich history of Egypt. Throughout my time in Egypt, I was repeatedly reminded of just how good I had it growing up having to learn U.S. history. The poor Egyptian schoolchildren have a far more arduous task of learning their nation’s past. The Egyptians and the Romans before them had been hard at work building cities with vibrant cultural and economic identities, as well as strong government and religious bases; their efforts began long before the pilgrims sailed to Plymouth Rock or the American Indians had to worry about sharing their land. As a result, this blog entry is made more dense than past entries given all of the historical info I’ve included. Don’t worry! It’s good for you to know these things.

My first day in Egypt began with a visit to the ship’s medical clinic—7 AM clinic hours when we are in port. Despite all of my prior best efforts to steer clear of the bubonic plague, I admitted defeat gracefully, was given a nice stack of drugs, and sent on my way. By the way, the ship’s doctor and nurses are some of the greatest women I’ve ever met. Perhaps it is because they are all from Alaska, where it is technically illegal to reside and not be cool (many of us are already scheming about how to finance future visits there for King crab leg feasts.) Due to the plague, I laid low, took some supplemental Vitamin C, finished the rest of the horrid, terrible Deylsum cough medicine (thanks, Mom!) and prepared for my early morning departure to Cairo the following day.

I traveled to Cairo on two air-conditioned bus with 65 Semester at Sea students and Manal, our superdooper guide, who has forgotten more about Egypt than I will ever know about her country. In Egypt, in order to be a guide you must have a college degree in Egyptology and after two days with Manal, I could see why. She told us everything we wanted to know about her country; a small history lesson for you follows: Cairo was founded in about 640 BC and became the capital of Egypt under the Fatimite caliphs. In 1517, the Ottoman Turks captured and ransacked the city. Napoleon-led French forces occupied Cairo between 1798 and 1801, then the British until 1922, when Egypt became an independent kingdom. In 1952, Egypt became a republic. Easy enough, right?

After driving through Al Qahira, Africa’s largest city, we arrived at the oldest Egyptian cemetery, Sakkara. The Step pyramid of King Zoser, masterfully constructed by the legendary Imhotep almost 5,000 years prior, stands here. According to Manal what made this pyramid so incredible was that it wasn’t made with perishable materials as so many of other previously-built tombs (msataba) and temples had been constructed. This tomb wasn’t just an architectural marvel because of its unprecedented structure as a pyramid but because it was made with hewn stone. This pyramid ascends upwards to the heavens in six steps--a height of about 60 meters—a wonderful warm-up for the next day’s journey to the pyramids of Giza.

One of the absolute greatest highlights of Egypt and my entire Semester at Sea experience occurred at our arrival at the National Archaeological Museum in Tahrir Square, where the broadest collection of Egyptian artifacts in the world is housed. I LOVED being in the museum, taking in eleven well-preserved mummies from the Royal Mummies Hall. Pharaohs and queens during their time on Earth, these mummies were meticulously preserved right down to their hair and fingernails. As to not disturb the mummies, talking above a whisper was strictly forbidden. Many of the essential artifacts deemed necessary for the individuals in the afterlife were included in the museum; I would probably include such essentials as Bess the dog, aka Shnoozums, Mikey the horse, frosting, and perhaps a couple of cell phones so I can communicate with all of you in the afterlife.

What you may have guessed to be the most spectacular exhibit in the museum absolutely was. The Tut Ankh Amun collection was breathtaking. Not bad for a king whose short reign of nine years was considered to be of little historical significance. Tut was only nine when he ascended the throne, a time when the children of today would be training for future mixed synchronized swim team competitions (see Sea Olympics entry below for more details). I admit that I had some mild anxiety about the collection since I’ve heard that King Tut is on tour in the Windy City, but as our guide said, “Only small pieces of the collection are in the States now. Propaganda, it is!” (Sorry Betsy and Mark!) We only got to spend two hours in the museum, but I could have spent two days. King Tut’s tomb was discovered in 1922 by an English archaeologist, an earlier find unlikely due to the presence of a much more lavish, and more pillaged tomb of the nearby King Ramses VI. Many contemporary archaeologists believe that 80% of King Tut’s treasures were actually made for his predecessors, but at the time of Tut’s death all of their accoutrements were thrown in with his.
There were 1700 pieces in the Tut galleries alone, including two lifesize statues of him, a wig box, a throne covered in sheet gold, semiprecious stones, numerous golden statues to protect Tut in the afterlife, a clothes collection that would make any fashionista jealous and intricate gold jewelry laden with semi and precious stones. Talk about bling! What I really, really loved was Tut’s astonishing solid gold death mask, which covered the mummy’s head and was set inside a series of three sarcophagi much like a nesting doll. The 11kg mask was an idealized portrait of the young king; similar inlay comprises the 110 kg smallest coffin. The medium sized coffin is made of gilded wood, while the outermost sarcophagi and the mummified Tut remain in Luxor at the Valley of the Kings. The detail, design, vibrancy of the gold and jewels of the two innermost coffins were unlike any artifacts I’ve ever seen. Tut’s sparkle makes Dorothy’s ruby slippers in the Smithsonian look like Payless specials.

After a lovely stay at the Hilton Cairo where God (or was it King Tut??) smiled down on me and secured a single room for me, we rose with our 4:15 AM wake-up call. Perhaps even more impressive than lucking out with an odd number of trip participants and nabbing the single room, was the fact that all of our students rose with the call as well. Nobody wanted to miss the chance to ride camels at sunrise over the pyramids at the Giza Plateau. The last existing Wonder of the Ancient World, the Pyramids of Giza are the world’s oldest tourist attraction, built by generations of families. When Jesus Christ was born the pyramids were already 2500 years old! Since our group was a tour group and only tour groups are allowed in before the pyramids officially open, we were extra lucky to have the opportunity to climb aboard a camel.

Since we had to ride in twos, my friend, Meagan, didn’t have time to think before a camel guide approached us and hoisted us up on his camel. Our camel, whose name was Mickey Mouse, soon joined the pack of other camels, who we later found out went by such names as Cassius Clay, Donald Duck, George Bush (glad we didn’t ride that one), and Michael Jackson. I think the sunrise pyramid pictures speak for themselves. There is NO way I will ever forget riding a camel at the pyramids. Ariane, Nicole, Les, and Kathryn note the good form--heels down, toes up. Equitation over fences on camels at WEF, anyone?



Archaeology tells us that it is most likely that the tens of thousands of men who built the pyramids were organized farmers, supported by the uncovering of a workers’ settlement. How the placement of all of the stones were exact done to the millimeter, I cannot wrap my brain around it! These pyramids were constructed in accordance with the Egyptian belief in the power of the connection between the Earth and the divine; the pharaoh was the conduit for the people’s connection to the gods. The pyramid shape was chosen because it’s similarity in shape to the sun’s rays. Each pyramid had a funerary temple attached to it where people could worship the king long after his death. Originally, all of the pyramids were covered in polished limestone that would have made them shine like the top of the Chrysler building. By now, the limestone has been stripped away.

The Grand Pyramid of Khufu is the largest pyramid in Egypt and the oldest in Giza, standing 146m high (reduced by 9 m after 46 centuries) and completed in 2570 BC. About 2.3 million limestone blocks, each weighing 2.5 tons, were used to build the pyramid and all of them, ALL OF THEM, were precisely positioned.

The quarry for the limestone was not located particularly close by so how they got these 2.5 tons blocks there is unfathomable to me. Scaling the pyramids, though a popular tourist adventure for centuries is no longer allowed. A Semester at Sea student was actually killed doing this forbidden activity years ago.

The pyramid I actually went into initially seems larger than Khufu’s pyramid, but at 136 m, only appears that way because it is on higher ground and its tip is coated in limestone. The pyramid is not hollow inside as I expected, but, in fact, were largely solid stone. No cathedral ceilings here! A small entrance tunneled down to the burial chamber where Khufu’s sarcophagus still rests. In the distance, outside the pyramid were three smaller pyramids known as the Queen’s Pyramids, the tomb of King Khufu’s wives and sisters.

In addition to visiting the Citadel of Salah al-Din,

where we visited the Alabaster Mosque of Mohamed Ali, the founder of modern Egypt, seeing the Sphinx was another highlight of the my trip/life. This feline man was labeled a sphinx by the ancient Greeks because of its physical resemblance to a mythical winged monster with a female head and lion’s body. Think of this creature as Batman’s The Riddler, killing anybody unable to answer his riddles.

Constructed from the rock found near the Pyramid of Khafre, it is believed that the Sphinx was actually constructed during King Khafre’s reign. Somehow between the 11th and 15th centuries, his nose was hammered off, although there are stories that Napoleon was responsible for the deed. The Sphinx’s head is noticeably disproportionate to the rest of his body, prompting the offering of an infinite number of explanations through the generations.

Part of his fallen beard was pillaged by British visitors and is now on display in London’s British museum. While the Sphinx is actually being eaten away from the inside (pollution? Rising ground water?) and some recent restoration efforts have only further contributed to the damage, I found it most remarkable to be visiting such a recognizable figure. I loved seeing him in the flesh.

The final highlight (and there were many others: traveling down the world’s widest river, the Nile, on a river cruise boat; shopping at the Khan El Khalili Bazaar, open for business since the 14th century; attending the ‘Son et Lumiere,’ a sound and light show projected in the evening sky onto the Pyramids and the Sphinx; visiting the Catacombs of Kom El-Shuqafa, a spectacular three-level funerary complex dating back to the 2nd century BC; walking the perimeter of the summer residence palace of the late ex-king Farouk, overlooking Mediterranean) was visiting Bibliotheca Alexandria during our last day in port. Alexandria is the largest port in the Arab Republic of Egypt, founded by Alexander the Great in 332 BCE. This city enjoys the legacy that comes with all of the responsibility and privilege afforded to the ancient world’s cultural, intellectual, and economic Mecca. For all you Latin scholars (Bueller? Bueller? Stacy? Connie? You know who you are!), this is the scene of the dramatic interaction between Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, Mark Anthony, and Octavia. Bibliotheca Alexandria, built on the same grounds where the famous Library of Alexandria, established by Ptolemy in 288 BC, was located was intended to be one of the most architecturally magnificent structures of the modern world.


The library was opened after seven years of construction in 2002 and has eleven different levels. While not the world’s largest collection of books (555,555 are contained within) it is a truly magnificent architectural design, including unbelievably refined computer search engines and one of only two printing presses in the world that can reproduce an entire book in 20 minutes—the world’s fastest press. This is a bibliophile’s idea of heaven, for sure!

I was just about to sit down and finish my dissertation, when our taxi beeped and we had to head back to the ship. Our driver, who spoke limited English, asked us “where from?” and when Paul and I said, “America,” he replied, “George Bush no good” (insert thumbs down gesture).” “Americans good” (insert thumbs up gesture). No doubt, I’ll be back to Egypt. Who’s coming with me?

Happy Birthday, Bestest Slap!!! I hope your birthday is great!