Africrew’s annual spring getaway continued in 2010; this year to Egypt. Theresa, Vic, Maria, Jeff, Erin and I spent a few days cruising south along the Nile from Luxor to Aswan, followed by a weekend in Cairo.
 |
| Our room aboard A&K's Sunboat IV |
We departed London late on a Thursday night, thankful that the BA cabin crew strike didn’t disrupt our departure. We arrived in Cairo just after midnight, leaving us about three hours to sleep at the Fairmont Towers before going back to the airport to fly on to Luxor. We flew on a very old, “Petroleum Air Services” plane. By 11am we were onboard Sun Boat IV, operated by Abercrombie and Kent. The boat held about 80 guests. We were then divided into groups of about 15 – we would spend the entire cruise bundled with them. The six of us were paired with a family from Louisiana: Simone and Bill (Mom and Dad), Sydney and Savanna (daughters), Simone’s mother Ms. Suzanne, and her two friends Ms. Tookie and Ms. Jeannie. More to come on them. Our Egyptologist’s name was Osama.
 |
| An older Nile cruiser |
 |
| Entrance to Karnak |
The first day was the longest. We dropped our bags on the boat and got right into a huge tour bus (big enough for 60+) to start touring ruins…Erin’s favorite. Our first sight was to The Temple of Karnak. As with most of the other sights we would visit, this one was 80% covered by sand by the time it was “discovered.” I didn’t know what to expect, but the temple was in pretty good shape…and it was huge. It was a whole complex of buildings, columns, and sand started about 3,500 years ago by Ramses II in the ancient city of Thebes (as the Greeks called it). Each column and most of the walls were covered in carved hieroglyphics. It was also packed with tourists from all over the world. Osama would be disappointed in me for leaving the description at that, but for the sake of time we’ll move on.
 |
| Inside Karnak |
 |
| Hathor's Temple |
After Karnak we visited two huge statues on the side of a road called the Colossi of Memnon before hitting the Valley of the Queens and separately the Valley of the Kings. After a few hundred years of burying pharaohs in pyramids, someone realized that the giant structures screamed “BURIED TREASURE IN HERE” to potential robbers. So they started burying important people in random desert valleys that shoot off from the Nile. The tombs were dug deep into the mountain, the walls and ceilings were carved and painted on all surfaces, and the dead were left with treasure to take them on into the afterlife. 63 tombs have been discovered in the Valley of the Kings, 62 of which were ransacked over the centuries. Only one tomb (that has been discovered to date) had not been cleared of its treasure by the beginning of the 20th century. That tomb belonged to King Tutankhamun (Tut.)His tomb was discovered in 1922 by a Brit named Howard Carter. When upper class Brits steal things it’s called “discovery” or “preservation” rather than robbery. We would later see all the contents of the tomb at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo…very impressive. If you were an Egyptian king, especially a dead one, you and/or your body were well looked after. Not so for the people who actually built these temples and dug these tombs - they received little in return for their efforts. There were still a few things in Tut’s tomb: a giant wooden box, one of his many sarcophagi, and the body of the man himself.
 |
| The girls in front of Hatshepsut |
We ended up visiting three other temples, each of which looked pretty similar (sorry Osama!): outer wall, a big temple in the middle, and walls and ceilings covered entirely in carvings and paintings. Each was dedicated to a different God. One had the face of a cow, one a falcon, etc. One site that looked different from the rest was Al-Deir Al-Bahari Temple, also known as Hatshepsut’s Temple. Hatshepsut was the only female pharaoh and for her they built an art deco masterpiece into the side of a mountain. You’ll see the differences in the pictures right away. The next morning we went to the Temple of Hathor (a lady-god with the cow face...really just cow ears) had lunch on the boat, then finished the day at Luxor Temple. It was an incredible sight lit up at night. That night we were treated to a whirling dervish and belly-dancing show on the boat during dinner. Vic was pulled out of the audience by the belly-dancer and he gave her a run for her money (see video). The six of us stayed up late and paid for it the next morning.
 |
| The Nile from our boat |
The next day we cruised south to Edfu, stopping to see the well-preserved Temple there. This one was built for Horus, the Falcon-headed god of sky, war, and protection. The cooking class on the boat that afternoon was more like a cooking demonstration. Basically, the head chef mixed a bunch of pre-prepared ingredients together to make babaganoush and two other Egyptian dishes who’s names escape me.
 |
| Kom Ombo |
That night we went to Kom Ombo, a double temple built to serve two gods. The North Temple was built for Heroeris, the falcon-headed father of the falcon-god Horus. The South Temple was for Sobek who took the form of a crocadile. In each of these temples, the priests would keep a live animal to act as an embodiment of the god. So in Kom Ombo there was a pool built to keep water for the croc that would have been wandering around the temple. There was also a huge well with a spiral staircase built down in it so the priests could measure the water level each year.High water meant a good harvest, and a good harvest meant good tax revenue for the pharaoh, and good revenue meant the pharaoh could build things for himself, like a temple with a crocodile pool. After Kom Ombo, we went for a short stroll down a shopping street in Aswan. It was full of small shops selling clothing, food, spices, leather goods, tourists tchotch, and tea. Erin decided to wear her shortest skirt of the trip that day which was a hit with the local Muslim population. Most of them wouldn’t make any comments to her, but I was known as “lucky man” during the walk. That’s the problem with being carted around in air-conditioned tour buses and riverboats. It’s easy to forget that you’re an a place with a different dress code.
 |
| The enormous temple walls are covered in hieroglyphics |
 |
| Vic preaches on Egyptian night |
 |
| The quarry |
On the boat that night we had Egyptian Night with all the guests dressed in local garb, galabeyas, or whatever else they had picked up from the markets. Jeff picked out a nice brown, full-length number that turned out to be meant for a woman. He wore it well though. I have forgotten to mention that at every attraction, there are a bunch of guys peddling their wares, some more aggressively than others. We all ended up looking just like you might expect...ridiculous. The food, as it had been for all our other meals, was very good. Heaping quantities of tasty middle eastern food were available at every meal. This was a cruise after all.
 |
| At Philae Temple |
The last day on the boat consisted of two main stops. First, we went to a granite quarry where a giant unfinished obelisk remained sticking half-way out of the earth. Supposedly it cracked prior to completion, rendering the giant block useless for the artists. Our second stop was in the middle of the river. The Nile has been damned a few times. The High Dam near Aswan created a lake that would have swallowed up one of the Philae Temple so they moved it to a nearby, higher island. We took a short boat ride to it. It definitely had the best setting of all. Philae is dedicated to Osiris, the god of the dead, always shown in a form fitting white robe, his arms crossed holding a crook and a flail. When painted, his skin is often green or blue signaling rebirth (counterintuitive since he’s the god of death.) For sunset on our last day we took a ride on a felucca (sail boat) on the Nile near Aswan. We left early the next morning to fly back to Cairo.
 |
| Our gang on the felucca |
We arrived at the Semiramis Intercontinental at around noon. Our overly-attentive, yet incompetent travel agent Amin unnecessarily delayed our transfer yet again. We had lunch at Sabaya, the Lebanese restaurant on the second floor. It was a bit formal for the quite bit we hoped to grab, but it was very good. We were the only group in the restaurant so our waiter guided us through the menu. We went for the lamb special which was prepared unlike anything any of us had ever had or would ever order but it was outstanding.
 |
| The bazaar and square at Khan el Khalili Mosque |
It took us about an hour to work out transportation to take us to the Khan el Khalili Bazaar. Driving in Cairo reminded me a little of Marrakesh, but with 15 million more people. Traffic was horrible: no lanes, no lights, no evident rules. The bazaar reminded Erin and me of the Grand Baaar in Istanbul, but it was pretty late in the day so it was relatively calm. We were spotted early on by a merchant who helped us pick our a few gifts, namely a silver cartouche for our niece Lydia. We went into a small jewelry shop and watched them make it in front of our eyes. For dinner that night we ate at a El Kababgy, a (you guessed it) kabab restaurant in the El Gezirah Hotel along the Nile. We were still full from our late lunch, but the table grills and stone-oven-baked pita were very good. We were exhausted from our early start so we wandered back to the hotel for an early night in.
 |
| Ramses II |
Saturday was Pyramids day. We met our guide Salwa a little late after breakfast at the hotel. Amin was there to introduce us to her...very helpful Amin, thank you for coming. In a minibus, we drove around Cairo, starting for the Mit Rahina Museum in the ancient city of Memphis. It was more like an open garden with a few ruinous statues lying about. If we hadn’t already been to six amazing temples along the shores of the Nile we might have been impressed. Alas, the four days we had already spent in upper Egypt had turned us into ruins snobs so after a glance at the (admittedly impressive) giant supine statue of Ramses II we moved along rather quickly. As we drove on, we learned that the bazaar we visited the day before had been attacked by "terrorists" just one month earlier. They threw a bomb from one of the windows about the main square area where we had met each other to catch a taxi.
 |
| Pondering which one to buy |
Next stop, rug shop…wait excuse me, rug ‘school.’ Our driver pulled us in so we could see some child labor in full effect. We watched while some kids tied silk knots until their fingers bled. Ok, that didn’t really happen, but it was weird that they were showing off the child labor. As our host explained, it does provide a good income and some vocational training so it’s not all bad. After seeing the product being made, we were served teas, coffees, and water; anything to get us to buy one of the rugs. Well whatever they put in our tea worked, because we all ended up buying something. Hopefully we love our Nubian design rug from Elsoltan School for Carpe Giza as much in 30 years as we did that day.
 |
| Don't drink from the tap |
Next we drove to the step pyramid for Imhotep in Saqqara. It was the oldest of the major temples and rather than rising in a smooth line, its sides were terraced. Here we also saw the world’s first example of columns used for architectural purposes.The thought of constructing one of these monuments in the heat of the desert is not pleasant. We spent about an hour and a half wandering around with cold water bottles and we were all hot and sweaty by the time we got back into our air-conditioned minibus. Lugging granite blocks around for years on end would have been, well, less enjoyable. But again, Imhotep got his temple and therefore had a nice journey through the afterlife the at least he was happy.
Finally, that afternoon we drove to Giza across town. A newish highway shortened the trip across town. What used to take 4 hours now took 45 minutes. Along the way, the poverty of Cairo was in plane sight. Row upon row upon row of unfinished brick buildings housed millions of people in tight quarters. Buildings are only taxed when they are completed so thousands of them sit unfinished with open roofs (only the lower floors are inhabited.)
You would have to be a miserable person not to be impressed by the first sight of the pyramids of Giza. The three main pyramids rise out of the desert, looking polished if aged next to all the crumbling “modern” brick buildings in the surrounding areas.We drove up to a viewing area where Salwa over-eagerly took pictures of us pointing, posing, pretending to touch the tip of them, etc. Though it was Vic’s idea for the six of us to form a human pyramid in front of the monuments. Good one.We had a chance to walk into the main burial chamber of the “Second Pyramid,” the one with the intact limestone cap at the top. It required a 40 meter hunched walk down a steep decline, then incline, but it was worth it. Standing in the heart of a 5,000 year-old Egyptian pyramid was a memorable experience.
 |
View from the hotel. The pyramids were just barely visible,
but not on the hazy day when I took this photo. |
For our last day, five of us visited the Egyptian Museum. Erin stayed at the hotel to try to catch some rays, but the clouds moved in to ruin her fun. Regardless, she would have been bored after about 10 minutes in the museum. Two things were definitely worth seeing, however: the mummified remains of some of the great pharaohs (we had visited many of their temples and tombs in the days preceding) and the collection of artifacts from Tut’s tomb. It was hard to imagine how all this stuff fit into the tomb we had walked into the Valley of the Kings. It’s also hard to imagine how much stuff was stolen from the various tombs over the years. As mentioned earlier, Tut’s was the only one of 63 tombs that was never robbed, whereas all the others were empty by the time they were “discovered.” What if each of them had the same amount of artifacts (or more!) than Tut? Think about it…
 |
| Mosque of Muhammad Ali |
That afternoon we collected Erin, had a terrible lunch in our hotel's lobby cafe, and visited the Citadel of Salah Al-Din atop a rise that overlooks much of Cairo. The Mosque of Muhammad Ali (insert Cassius Clay joke here) sits in the middle of ancient fortress, built to protect the Muslims from the crusading Christians in the 1,100s. The area was surprisingly quiet, but I guess people come to Egypt for pyramids, not citadels and mosques...too bad. On the way back to our hotel, Erin and stopped at Khan el Khalili once more to pick up a few more gifts. This time we got necklaces for Erin and our mothers as well as a King Tut sarcophagus toy for our nephew, Luke.
 |
| Inside Muhammad Ali |
By the time we got back to the hotel, our grands plans to try out another new restaurant had been sidelined by a few bottles of wine. Jeff, Maria, Theresa, and Vic had started without us on the terrace bar overlooking the river. It was probably for the better – after a few more aperetifs and some apple shisha we ended up going back to Sabaya for an ebullient final dinner in Egypt, complete with a violent red wine spill across the table.
Would this be the last voyage for the Africrew? We certainly hope not. Many possible scenarios were discussed about the group’s future. Based on the list of potential destinations discussed, perhaps we will have to rename ourselves South Americrew at some point down the road.
We ended up visiting three other temples, each of which looked pretty similar (sorry Osama!): outer wall, a big temple in the middle, and walls and ceilings covered entirely in carvings and paintings. Each was dedicated to a different God. One had the face of a cow, one a falcon, etc. One site that looked different from the rest was Al-Deir Al-Bahari Temple, also known as Hatshepsut’s Temple. Hatshepsut was the only female pharaoh and for her they built an art deco masterpiece into the side of a mountain. You’ll see the differences in the pictures right away. The next morning we went to the Temple of Hathor (a lady-god with the cow face...really just cow ears) had lunch on the boat, then finished the day at Luxor Temple. It was an incredible sight lit up at night. That night we were treated to a whirling dervish and belly-dancing show on the boat during dinner. Vic was pulled out of the audience by the belly-dancer and he gave her a run for her money (see video). The six of us stayed up late and paid for it the next morning.
You would have to be a miserable person not to be impressed by the first sight of the pyramids of Giza. The three main pyramids rise out of the desert, looking polished if aged next to all the crumbling “modern” brick buildings in the surrounding areas.We drove up to a viewing area where Salwa over-eagerly took pictures of us pointing, posing, pretending to touch the tip of them, etc. Though it was Vic’s idea for the six of us to form a human pyramid in front of the monuments. Good one.We had a chance to walk into the main burial chamber of the “Second Pyramid,” the one with the intact limestone cap at the top. It required a 40 meter hunched walk down a steep decline, then incline, but it was worth it. Standing in the heart of a 5,000 year-old Egyptian pyramid was a memorable experience.
