Egypt!

For the record, I am starting this entry at 16:53 on 9 April (one day after we returned).  We'll just see when it actually gets completed and posted to the blog with photos. (turns out it's waaay later, oops)

Here are my main takeaways from the trip:

1) The pyramids are as awesome as I had hoped. 

2) Egyptians have a longer view of time than we do:  Compare your 5 or 10-year plan with a temple complex (Karnak Temple) that took 2000 years to build.  Translates to the ability to have a much longer-term view about the future of your country.  Even if you are not thrilled with the outcome of the Revolution and new president etc, as our guide put it, it's just another Intermediary Period.  (kinda like a dark ages thing they had millennia ago between things like the Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom).

3) I'm REALLY glad we live in Istanbul (as opposed to Cairo).  Even more so now...sad face for Egypt.

4) When you go on a river cruise with a baby, expect to spend time sitting in the dark in your cabin (naptime) while the other passengers are sunning or having happy hour time.  Oh and they'll serve dinner after your baby's bedtime, so expect to tag team dinner.  One of us put Paul to bed while the other shoveled in food, then we swapped.  Most romantic cruise ever.


We left for Egypt in the afternoon on Easter Sunday.  This was out first trip using a tour company, so we had a driver & guide the whole way.  We started in Cairo at the Hilton on Zamalek, which is a swanky island in the middle of the Nile, where many countries have their Embassies or residences.  Our big Cairo surprise was a room upgrade from a regular old room to an amazing 2-bedroom apartment suite.  This meant Paul got his own room, which meant we were able to do something other than sit silently in a dark room after 8pm. (view wasnt bad either)

Day 1: Air quality was poor due to sand in the breeze so we went to the Egyptian Museum (no photos allowed inside of course), but we saw many, many old statues.  The museum is crazy, they have over 100,000 items (big and small) and the place is dusty and cluttered with priceless ancient artifacts.  

Well here's where I stopped back in April. You're going to get photos and a shorter summary so I can get this darn thing posted.

We were able to make this trip during my (Dennis's) spring break.  Since the situation in Egypt was a bit more dicey than in most other places, we decided to get some assistance from Select Egypt Travel, a reputable agency.  Our itinerary included four days in Cairo, a flight from there to Aswan, where we would stay one night before getting on a Nile riverboat, where we stayed for the next three nights as we sailed downriver to Luxor.  The tour company provided a guide and vehicle with driver for our tours around Cairo and Aswan, as well as a guide who stayed on the boat and showed us around the places we stopped along the way.             We saw all the highlights of Cairo: Giza, the Archaeological Museum, Coptic Cairo, some of the large mosques, as well as other pyramid sites at Sakkara and Dashur nearby.  Signs of the revolution and instability were everywhere, including burnt out buildings belonging to Mubarak’s party, piles of burnt cars collected in empty lots with trash, and very heavy barricades on all roads leading to the U.S. Embassy.  It was interesting to hear our guide’s account of the revolution, in which he referred to the uprisings against the police in the first person. .               The trip in Aswan and Luxor focused mainly on ancient sites, including those at Kom Ombo and Edfu on the Nile.  The Aswan High Dam was a telling example of Egypt’s relationship with the Soviet Union, who built it.  The river cruise was comfortable, but made the trip a little more controlled in terms of freedom of travel and cuisine than we are used to.  Plus, it seemed like the only reasonable means to get between Aswan and Luxor, since driving was off limits (per RSO) and being able to get a train ticket was a questionable process for non-Egyptians.  The boat itself was filled only to about 20% capacity, a sign of the revolution’s impact on tourism, Egypt’s second-largest source of income.  Overall, the trip was well worth it, both in terms of being able to visit and learn about so many aspects of ancient Egypt, as well as to observe first-hand the impacts of the Arab Spring and its comparisons to the situation in Turkey.

Coptic Cairo, and on the right, the famous Hanging Church

At the Step Pyramid - the oldest in Egypt.  Totally walked right into this tourist trap too, a minute later I was almost sitting on a donkey and then the dudes were demanding payment.  We should have known better!

The Bent Pyramid.  Started out with very high ambitions, but then the builders realized the couldnt sustain that angle so it had to change.  The Pyramids make you feel really small.

The Great Pyramid!  The biggest of them all.

Oddly, I expected the Sphinx to be larger.  The ripples in the base supposedly come from times when the Nile flooded.

We visited a large mosque complex in Cairo and Paul was a big hit.  Not a lot of babies in backpacks carted around by men.

Looking out into the Islamic part of the city, these were two famous mosques/medreses that I can no longer remember any details about. 

Except that one of them contained this, the place where the Shah of Iran was buried.

View from our hotel window.  Fortunately the second day we were there the dust cleared so we could get this shot.

The Aswan High Dam, looking North (toward which is confusingly called Lower Egypt)

Philae Temple, outside Aswan

A Cartouche. one of many decorating the various temples and sculptures.  It's the hieroglyphic representation of the King's name.

Pretty sure this is Kom Ombo

Paul did enjoy the cruise.

The temple at Edfu. These things are so huge, after awhile it becomes overwhelming.

Temple of Queen Hatshepsut.  It was hot.

Paul racked out in the Dueter.  We kept him hydrated, but he wasn't feeling well at this point in the trip so we didn't stay out too long.

Temple of Karnak in Luxor

At the Luxor Temple, winding down the day

We even made it to Mass at a Franciscan Church

Luxor Temple at night