The Final Day

Monday: December 20, 2010

Where did December go? Today was the final full day of the Egypt Mini Term. It has been a long and exciting day, let alone trip. We visited the Egyptian Museum, which was a fitting way to end the sightseeing on this miniterm. It was the perfect way to end the trip because we got to see lots of artifacts found at temples and tombs. We also visited the Khan el Khalili Bazaar towards the end of the day.

The Egyptian Museum, located in downtown Cairo, is a large museum containing ~120,000 artifacts with many more in the building’s basement storage area. Because there are more artifacts than available space, Egypt is building a new museum in Giza that will be 100 times the size of the current building and will be done in 2012. They are already in the process of moving artifacts to the new site so that they will be ready to open when the time comes. If you spent 3 minutes observing each item in the museum, you would need 6 months to see everything. There were so many people entering the building as our group entered and we were given radios so Zach, our tour guide, could talk to us without having to scream over other groups. Unfortunately, however, we couldn’t take photos in the museum.

The first item we saw when we entered the museum was an artist’s paint pallet. At ~5,000 years old, the stone pallet is the oldest artifact in the building. The two-sided stone has designs carved into it including a design that shows the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt. It also shows the pulling of the hair of the king of northern Egypt, who is an enemy. There are people depicted on the stone with no heads with indicates who the enemy is. Since it is a paint pallet, there is a circular area for paint to be mixed. This artifact was discovered at Abydos, which we visited.

The next item was a replica of the Rosetta Stone which was discovered in Egypt. The original is currently located in the British Museum (who has denied lending it to Egypt for the opening of the new Egyptian Museum in ~2 years). It was translated in 1830, allowing people to understand what hieroglyphics mean.

We then saw the statue of King Djoser, the first life-size statue found in Egypt. It was also the first statue with a mustache and headdress. It was from 2700 BC, making it 4700 years old. He is represented as a dead man and you can tell from the dress that the person has no life in them. The statue is made of limestone and was found in the Step Pyramid area.

Next we saw various limestone statues of servant figures from ~2500 BC. Notice how I said “servants” and not “slaves”? Egyptians who served the king without compensation believed that they would serve the king in the 2nd life. Because the life after death was more important than the 1st life, people were willing to serve so that they would have a good afterlife. The figures showed individuals making flour, cleaning birds, making a jar, and making beer and wine.

Menkaure/Hathor (wikipedia)

The next artifact was a basalt statue of pharaoh Menkaure, goddess Hathor (right) and a goddess. This was found outside of Menkaure’s pyramid (which I saw and entered within the first 3 days). Menkaure was a pharaoh during the fourth century and built the smallest of the three pyramids in Giza.

In the museum we also learned that statues of pharaohs and kings were made in case mummies were lost or stolen by tomb robbers. In some cases, these statues are the only records civilization has about certain people. We also learned that some lower-class citizens made stone heads for themselves and hid them with mummies so that they could move on with the mummies in the 2nd life.

We then walked into another room in the museum where we saw a coffin/ sarcophagus made from alabaster stone that was ~4,650 years old. It was the only one of its kind found and it was not for a mummy—instead it was found with jars for organs in it. While its use and age is known, it is amazing that archeologists don’t know to whom this artifact belongs to.

Scribe (bluffton.edu)

We also saw the Statue of the Scribe, which was of a man writing down information. The man is in a sitting position, concentrating/listening to someone. Scribes, during ancient times, were in a high position in society because not many had the chance to be educated enough to read and write. This 3,200-year-old limestone statue was impressive because of its detail, remaining colors, and eyes made of crystal. He was once wearing a necklace, a sign of nobility, but it was stolen at some point.

King Chephren

The next statue was of King Chephren who built the second pyramid. He was worshipped as a god, however, he was seen as a weak god so another god was added to the statue. Can’t see it in this picture? Believe me. There is a falcon (god of Horus, if I remember) behind the statue’s head and can only be seen from the back. In the same room we saw the statue of Sheikh el-Balad, meaning in Arabic “headman of the village.” This is a wooden statue of Priest Ka-aper from the 5th dynasty. Since the wood is from a sycamore tree, this man must have been important because the wood was imported into Egypt since there are few trees in the country.

Wooden Statue (wikipedia)

Afterwards, we went into the room devoted to Queen Hetepheres, a queen during the Old Kingdom. In this room, we saw her bed/headrest, which was made of wood covered in 24k gold. There was silver jewelry as well. Silver was more rare/precious during ancient times than gold and was probably imported from the area now known as Iran. The room also contained a statue of Hetepheres’ son, Khufu. This ivory statue, at a height of 7.5 cm, was the smallest statue found. It was found in Abydos City even though Khufu built the Great Pyramid. This statue, which contains hieroglyphics, is the only statue we have found of this Pharaoh. Additionally, we saw Hetepheres’ organs inside an alabaster box (this is before the time when organs were placed in jars during mummification).

Queen Hetepheres (wikipedia)

Rahotep/Nofret (Wikipedia)

We then saw a magnificent painted limestone statues of Rahotep and his wife Nofret. Rahotep was the high priest of Heliopolis during the Old Kingdom. It is interesting to notice that Rahotep has a mustache and while Nofret is wearing a headdress, you can see her original hair color underneath, which was the fashion at the time. The eyes of the statues are made of crystals.

At this point of the tour, we left the Old Kingdom area of the Museum and entered the Middle Kingdom area. We first learned about Mentuhotep II, a pharaoh during the 11th dynasty and the first pharaoh of the age of the Middle Kingdom. He unified Upper and Lower Egypt for the second time and founded the second capital of Egypt. We saw a sandstone statue with the crown of Lower Egypt and since Egypt was unified, archeologists are still looking for 2 more statues containing the crown of Upper Egypt and containing both crowns.

We then saw some of the 2000 sphinxes that have been found in Egypt. These sphinxes belonged to Amenhotep III (I think, my notes are hard to read) and were 100% lion except their heads. These sphinxes also have the name of Ramses II, who ruled later in history. He stole the sphinxes by adding his name to punish non-Egyptian rulers. By adding his name, he would be confusing the gods who wouldn’t know who to let enter the 2nd life. Ramses was killing the other King’s spirit by changing the names on monuments.

Tutmoses III (wikipedia)

The next statue was out of the ordinary for ancient times and was very interesting. It was a statue of King Tutmoses III, who ruled Egypt for 54 years and created the largest Egyptian empire up to that point. This statue was different because it depicted a royal person on his knees offering a sacrifice. He was offering a sacrifice because he didn’t believe he was a god as previous kings thought.

Did you think that Benz in Germany made the first car? Maybe not. Sure the Egyptians had animal driven, 2-wheeled chariots, but archeologists found a 3,200 year-old toy car, with 4-wheels, that was probably driven by animals.

We then went upstairs and visited the monuments of the most famous Egyptian king, King Tutankhamen. These monuments were discovered by Howard Carter at the Valley of the Kings (who has a controversial history according to Egyptians) in 1922. During his time, King Tut was not seen as important since he really didn’t do much of significance since he died young at ~19 years old, however, he became famous when his tomb was found almost perfectly intact, something never seen before. There were ~3,000 artifacts found in his tomb, many taken by Howard Carter and returned to Egypt by his family. We first saw multiple gold-plated boxes that were originally placed within each other to protect King Tut’s Mummy. We then went into the main exhibit room of King Tut where we saw pieces of gold foil that were on the chest of the mummy, 15 gold rings found on the mummy, bracelets with the eye of Horus, 2 daggers found above the mummy’s abdomen, 5 gold sheets of vultures, 4 mini anthropoid coffins, and the most famous artifact, Tut’s Mask. Without it’s historical value, the 11kg gold mask is worth $2.5 billion. We also saw his 2nd and 3rd coffins (the other one is on the road) and gold military chariots (which were never used for war—since he never went to war).

King Tut (wikipedia)

Afterwards, we saw the oldest birth control in human history (made of linen). There were also linen underwear and gloves found. We saw Tut’s small bed (supported by lion figures), a mattress made of papyrus and covered with gold, a travel bed with hinges for storage that is ~3,340 years old, and an umbrella.

We then went into the Manuscript and writing samples room where we saw a 2,000-year-old political cartoon depicting animals in a “Cat and Mouse/Tom and Jerry” scene. The moral of the cartoon was that people should be careful of the people surrounding and helping them are because they may not be honest and are waiting for the right moment to pounce and attack.

After seeing most of the main part of the Museum, a bunch of us decided to pay extra money to enter the Royal Mummies exhibit. With our student cards, it cost us 60 pounds (~10 dollars) to see a bunch of actual mummies. It was worth every dollar and how could I go all the way to Egypt and not see the mummies! Once again, pictures were not allowed. I’m just going to list the mummies I saw below:

• King Seqenenre Taa II—died at ~40 years old—17th Dynasty
• Queen Ahmose-Meritamun
• King Amenhotep I
• King Tutmoses I (they aren’t 100% sure because his arms aren’t crossed over his chest, which is a sign of royalty)
• King Tutmoses II—died at ~30 years old—pharaoh for 14 years
• Queen Hatshepsut (I saw her temple earlier in the trip—had botanical garden)—died between 45/60 years old.
• King Tutmoses III—1.7 m tall—ruled for 55 years—died in 60s
• King Ramses II (saw him everywhere)—ruled for 67 years, still had yellow hair present (yellowed during mummification)—had severe arthritis and dental problems
• King Seti—Son and Successor of Ramses I—pharaoh for 13 years—died at 40 years old
• King Tutmoses IV—died at 30 years old, fingernails were well-kept
• King Amentotep II—died @ 45 years old—tallest New Kingdom pharaoh @ 1.83 m tall—was a warrior/sportsman
• King Merenpten—15th son of Ramses II—died @ 60 years old—had dental problems
• Skeleton of King Atuhenaton (Valley of the Kings)
• Queen Tiye—found in tomb of Amenhotep II at the Valley of the Kings
• King Akhenaten’s Wife/Mother of King Tut
• Queen Nesikhorus
• Queen Muatkare with pet baboon—archeologists originally thought the baboon was a child but x-rays showed a baboon.
• Prince Djedptahiufanks—royal son/priest of god Amun—died young
• King Ramses III—successfully repelled invasion of Egypt—died in 60s—may have been poisoned
• King Ramses IV—king for 6 years—died at 50
• King Ramses V—ruled for less than 5 years—died in early 30s—had smallpox and enlarged scrotum (could have meant he had a hernia)
• King Ramses IX—ruled for 19 years
• Queen Isetankheb—had dental decay
• Queen Nojunt
• Queen Herehaus

After seeing the mummies at the end of our free time in the museum, I bought some stamps at the post office and returned to our group. We traveled through downtown Cairo (there was a lot of traffic—but it was quiet for a Monday) and visited the Khan el Khalili Bazaar, Cairo’s premier bazzar. We had a buffet lunch near the market and then went directly to the market. There were lots of chockee places and jewelry stores. The people weren’t as aggressive as the vendors in Luxor, which was nice. I got some more souvenirs (haggled for the final time in Egypt) and walked around with a bunch of people. We then returned to our hotel in Giza. We then had ~45 minutes to change for our going away party at a nearby restaurant. The party was a nice ending to our trip and we had a buffet meal and cake. We met the people behind the scenes at the tour company who made our trip possible. We also thanked our tour guide Zach profusely—everybody really loved him. Afterwards, we got back on the bus and went back to the hotel to pack for our 11.5-hour trip back to New York.

The end of the trip is here—come back tomorrow for final reflections! Enjoy!

Another Day, Another City: Alexandria

Sunday: December 19, 2010

After a few hours of much needed sleep, we got back on the road and traveled northwest to the second largest city in Egypt, Alexandria. The trip from Cairo to Alexandria took approximately 3 hours. We took one major highway, the Cairo-Alexandria-Matrouh Free Highway/Desert Road, to get to the city on the Mediterranean. It was cool to look out the window at this highway because many sections of it were under reconstruction or widening. Professor Ghaly said that the road is constantly being expanded to accommodate the growing population. In order to do this, many buildings were removed to expand the road’s right-of-way, something that is much harder to do in the United States. The road once went through a desert, but now the route is very developed. Just outside Cairo is an area called the Smart Village, which is designed after Silicon Valley in the United States. Tenants of the Smart Village include Microsoft, Oracle, HP, IBM, and Intel to name a few. It costs less for these American companies to have their Research and Development in Egypt because software engineers are paid less in Egypt than in the United States.

On our way to Alexandria, we stopped at a Zoo (it might have been called the “Lion Zoo,” but I can’t remember for sure) on the side of the highway. We saw Lions, ducks, ostriches, dogs, and monkeys. Yes, there were tons of dogs there…and it was pretty sad seeing all those pups in cages (at least they weren’t in Mike Vick-styled cages). There were Dalmatians, black labs, Greyhounds, and St. Bernards—all purebreds. Apparently, dogs aren’t house pets here like they are in the states—either way, many of us felt bad for those pups.

Once we arrived in Alexandria, Professor Ghaly’s hometown, he gave us a bus tour of some interesting sites of the city as we drove to our destination. It was the capital of Egypt for almost 1000 years until 642 AC. We saw Ghaly’s first construction sites and the buildings he supervised the concrete production of (his first love). He also pointed out where his house is. We also were told that archeologists discovered the entrance of Queen Cleopatra’s temple underwater. We passed Alexandria University, which has ~300,000 students on various campuses.
As we drove around Alexandria, it was very noticeable that it is a different type of city when compared to Cairo. The air and streets are cleaner in Alexandria and people follow traffic regulations—similar to Aswan and Luxor. The taxes in Alexandria are much higher than in other areas of Egypt and the real estate prices are also very high. There are high-rises on the shoreline since that is the only way for builders to make a profit. Hurghada and Sharm were also clean and had organized traffic flows but Hurghada is ½ tourist and ½ locals and Sharm is 99% resorts (there are more than 600 of them). The dirtiest areas around Alexandria are the oil refineries that smell like sulfur, but you can’t smell them from the city.

The road that follows the Mediterranean through the city (the Sea Road—46km long) was only 4 lanes wide (2 in each direction) when Professor Ghaly was a kid. Today it spans 8 lanes from reclaimed land from the sea. To protect against erosion, there are interlocking concrete blocks at the shoreline. Dulles (concrete pieces that look like jacks) also protects the shore. Additionally, the Mediterranean is 50 cm higher than it was 50 years ago due to rising sea levels. Many beaches no longer exist or are much smaller than they once were (there are 3 Miami beaches). This is occurring because of the dumping of wastewater and the reclamation of land in addition to global warming.

Our first stop in Alexandria was the Botanical Garden. We walked around the water. While it was a large place, it wasn’t anything like the Aswan Botanical Gardens. We also saw a King’s palace while there. Afterwards, we traveled a few minutes to a Roman Amphitheatre, which was actually not a place of entertainment in its heyday. It was one of ~1000 in Alexandria and is very small. It was cool to stand in the middle of it because when you speak from this spot, your voice gets louder—amazing technology and engineering. Unfortunately, it is the last remaining amphitheatre as ~1000 have been lost to time. There were also many artifacts around the site that were found under water. Apparently people can take scuba trips to artifacts that are still under water. Excavation continues under the sea to find the lost city of Alexandria.

Our second stop was the Kom El-Shuqafa (Mound of Shards) Monuments, an open-air museum and one of the seven wonders of the Middle Ages. We entered “Catacomb” (a Greek word), the Main Tomb. A catacomb is an underground burial area where families would stay with the dead at night so that they were not alone. We went down a deep shaft of 2 levels, ~27 m down, to see the burial rooms. This was an interesting place because it showed a combination of Greek and Egyptian styles. There were traditional Egyptian sun disks and Horus Falcons, historically Egyptian symbols while there were Medusas and Greek Horses, Greek symbols. There were also carvings of Anubis (Egyptian) with Greek military dress. There were also snakes with the head of Anubis. 300 people were buried in this tomb. Additionally, there is an unfinished tomb of an important person, but they don’t know who it was. After leaving the tomb, we saw another tomb, the Tigram Tomb that contained painted diagrams. It wasn’t Tigram’s tomb and is only named after him because the tomb was discovered on Tigram Street.

At this point it was around 3pm and we went for a late lunch at Professor Ghaly’s favorite restaurant. I had chicken and French fries with really good pita bread. It was nice eating with a view of the Mediterranean. Afterwards, we visited the outside of the Citadel of Alexandria, which was also right on the Sea. Across the street, Professor Ghaly took us to his favorite ice cream shop. I got a chocolate and vanilla cone, but it was different than ice cream in the states (I think it was more water-based) and it was very good.

The highlight of the day was most definitely the Library of Alexandria. Built in 2002, it was constructed in the memory of the ancient library that was lost to time. The library has 11 levels and is very impressive. It is built in a bathtub (like the World Trade Center) because some of the building is built below sea level. The façade of the building is made up of granite stones with letters from 1000 different languages to symbolize the meeting of the various people of the world. It is considered a modern wonder of Egypt. There are multiple libraries and museums within the library. There was an area overlooking the entire library designed for tourists so that we wouldn’t disturb the people studying there. The windows in the main room of the building look like eyes since they don’t let the sun’s rays directly into the room and also have eyelashes to control how much light comes in. There are also many fire curtains to prevent a fire from spreading to other parts of the library. We also went downstairs (below street level) and saw the modern art museum. (SEE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliotheca_Alexandrina for photos).

At around 7pm, we drove back to Cairo and returned to our hotel. Tomorrow, believe it or not, is my final full day in Egypt. We will be going to the Egyptian Museum and a bazaar to finish up the trip.

Mailbag
Little Chief Tunis: During your tour of the military museum, was any mention made by the tour guide that the Israelis were attacked on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year? No. None, just the date was mentioned. Did the guide refer to the conflict as the Ramadan War? No, but that was also going on. Was any post-war context provided, i.e. Camp David Peace Accord entered into by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, and U.S. President Jimmy Carter? Only Sadat was mentioned in this. Any comment on modern-day relations between the two countries or was his explanation of the etiology of the design of the Israeli flag emblematic of current thinking? None.

Traveling Through The Desert Again

Saturday: December 11, 2010

Am I still in Egypt? I’m looking outside my window here in Hurghada in Eastern Egypt and I can’t believe my eyes. Our hotel, the Hurghada Continental Resort, is located directly on the Red Sea…very cool, but not very red. It doesn’t feel like we are in Egypt since it is such a resort/tourist area, but I don’t have a problem with that.

We left the beautiful city of Luxor around 10:30 this morning and got in a bus to drive to Hurghada. It was a 4-hour drive through the desert, but this time we didn’t drive in a caravan as we did for the drive to Abu Simbel. I’m not going to lie, I felt uncomfortable driving through the desert by ourselves, especially when the driver was going a little too fast around the numerous curves in the road for my liking. Either way, we made it to Hurghada around 4:30pm safely and checked into our hotel on the beach. It has everything you could ask for at a resort. After I got settled, I went down to Melanie’s room and we took a walk on the beach. Sure, it is December, but it doesn’t feel like it here in Egypt. Afterwards, there was a buffet dinner at the hotel with a pasta station! Woo! It is going to be nice to relax after a week and a half of continuous sightseeing.

Time to start a book on the beach tomorrow! See ya later!

Luxurious Luxor

Friday: December 10, 2010

Luxor is truly a beautiful place to spend a few days in. It is unlike any other city I have visited thus far in Egypt. Unlike Cairo, there is no smog or intense traffic and unlike Aswan, it feels like a town where I can walk around. Sure, it is a developing tourist attraction, but they are certainly doing a great job making it a clean and enjoyable place to visit.

I have noticed a few things about Luxor (which literally means “the palaces” that I haven’t seen in other places we’ve stayed in Egypt. First off, there is a cleaning crew that works all day and night to keep the sidewalks and streets clean. Crews carry carts with brooms and garbage bags to clean the streets, similar to the Times Square Alliance and 34th Street Coalition crews to keep those areas in New York City clean and safe. Even though most of Egypt has a lot of security (all the temples, tombs, and hotels we’ve visited have metal detectors and x-ray machines at the doors and we’ve had security guys with us wherever we go), I’ve noticed a heavy visible police presence in this city. There are lots of nice sidewalks and I’ve walked a few times between my hotel and the marketplace (as I’ve discussed in the previous entry).

Luxor also has an interesting and unique land use policy that it seems to be adhering to. While there are many old homes and businesses in the city, the government is taking significant amounts of property to restore the city to look and feel as it did during ancient times. During ancient times, an avenue of sphinxes connected Luxor Temple in downtown Luxor and Karnack Temple, a five-minute drive from downtown. Archeologists have found these sphinxes and the government is restoring the avenue. This has meant uprooting many homes and businesses (including a 5-star hotel) in the middle of the city. Additionally, during ancient times the Nile could be seen from the two temples, which is also going to be restored by taking houses and businesses that block the view of the Nile. Once completed, Luxor is going to look like it did during ancient times with the more modern areas away from the Nile. If I find more information about this, I’ll strongly consider writing my final paper on this topic.

Anyway, I digress. Today we visited the previously mentioned Luxor and Karnack Temples. The first stop was Karnack Temple, the largest temple in Egypt. “Kar” means “Spirit” or “House” and “Nack” means “Goose,” which makes sense because Amun-Re was represented by Geese. This temple is unique because not only is it the largest, its construction spanned ~2,000 years as many kings and pharaohs continued to add sections to the temple throughout the years. Because of the on-going construction, there are lots of places where one could enter during ancient times, though there is only one true entrance. There have been ~100,000 monuments found under the sand at this site alone and 90% of the stones are sandstones that traveled ~80km from the south to Luxor City. This temple is also interesting as it contains a sacred lake that could have been used for mummification, for crocodiles, or most likely for the geese around the temple. The sphinxes at this temple are different because they are ram-headed here. The temple was destroyed over the years for a variety of reasons including flooding, a change in religion, and politics. It can be seen in this temple that Ramses III was a great builder and is a storyteller about the wars he presided over. We also danced around a beetle on a pedestal (check out Melanie’s blog for more on that, because I don’t remember what the beetle is exactly called). It is supposed to give you luck, wealth, happiness, and fertility if you go around it 7 times. We then saw the biggest Hieroglyphics in Egypt and sure enough they were huge! I gotta get a picture up here at some point.

Our next stop was down the former and future avenue of the sphinxes, Luxor Temple. This temple was significantly smaller but was also built by many kings. It was built for King Ramses II. Interestingly, the entire site was covered by sand during the modern days of excavation. A historical mosque that was on top of the temple before it was discovered still exists today. There was also an early temple that was at this site before buildings were built on top of them. During ancient times, the temple was much bigger. He also gave us a gift for the group in the hotel. There is also a portion of the temple built by Alexander the Great.

After spending time in Luxor Temple, we went to a buffet lunch on the bank of the Nile River. I ate some garlic bread, pasta, and ice cream since who knows what my stomach will do next. We then went to the hotel after lunch. Interestingly, our hotel in Luxor is hosting a World Human Trafficing conference made up of adults and youths all around the world. We couldn’t get out of the bus in front of our hotel because there were private and security cars outside since the Governor of Luxor and the President’s wife were attending the conference inside the hotel.

Once we got into the hotel, I went 2 minutes down the road to the Internet café (4:20pm). I expected a sketch place with dusty computers, but this was in the lobby of the hotel next door. It was totally worth the 20 pounds for an hour as I caught up on my blog entries. As soon as my hour at the café ended, I dropped my computer off and hopped on our tour bus to return to Karnack Temple for the light show. The show was pretty cool as we got to move around the temple at night and was much much better than the show at the Giza Pyramids. After the light show, which lasted about an hour, a bunch of us asked Professor Ghaly to be dropped off in the market area, which I did. I was going to buy some things, but I didn’t have the energy to haggle tonight and tried to get through the market without a vendor from last night recognizing me (sounds like a bad high school reunion, haha). After successfully getting through the market, a few of us splurged on dinner—McDonalds. I can’t say I’ve had McD’s in a while, but it felt like I was back on Route 1 in New York. I got the Happy Meal (6 Chicken Nuggets, a Medium Coke, and Fries) for 15 pounds…not a bad deal. Don’t worry! I also got a toy!

Today marked the end of the major touring sites in Egypt. Wow, that was fast. Tonight is the last night in Luxor City and we head out at 10am for a 4-hour bus ride to Hurghada. Apparently we will get to relax most of the rest of the trip!

The days are long, but the work is great. I’m tired and I’m hungry, but I’m having an awesome time! Enjoy the entries! Comment! I’ll answer anything! Talk to you soon!