Egypt - Red Sea Diving, Cairo and Beyond - September 2018
(Sit down. Get Comfortable. Evidently, I have a lot to write about this trip. I mean we are only covering 6,000 years of history and nature.)
Our local dive shop, Tri-State Scuba, offered a trip to Egypt in September and since James and I love traveling to new spots and traveling with our dive friends, we signed right up. Beside the Red Sea diving, there was a lot of appeal to the land tours. With James’ background in anthropology and archeology, the history of Egypt was right up his alley. This year at church, I’ve been teaching the adult Sunday school classes covering the Old Testament, so I was excited to experience the locations of some of those stories as well as to see “the cradle of civilization”.
As I’m writing this, we’ve been home for about a week. After any trip, the most popular question is “What was your favorite thing?” For me, the answer is the Egyptian people. We have been fortunate to travel a good bit and to meet people from around the world. For me, the Egyptians are the most welcoming people we have come across. People, old and young, would wave at us as we drove down the street. Meeting on the street or in a shop, they would want to know where we are from, what we thought of the country and where we were visiting next. I was really touched by the Egyptian people.
I asked James this question and his first response was bidets. (Eye Roll) Ok, he does enjoy that aspect of traveling outside the US, but I pressed for a more Egypt specific answer. He said it was the afternoon spent at the Mena House having lunch while overlooking the Great Pyramid. “It was cool [the temperature], I was hydrated, and the view couldn’t be beat.” The picture of the pyramids reflected in the pool was taken at this spot. Ok, that answered, let’s get into the specifics.
We got off to a rocky start when our Delta flight to Detroit was stuck at the gate in Cincinnati for 2 hours before we could take off. Seems there is a rule that if there is lightening within 5 miles of the airport, the ground crews are not allowed out of the terminal. So, despite everyone being boarded, the crew could not come out to remove the jetway and push us pack. This made us miss our Air France Despite even though it was still at the gate when we arrived. Curse that closed door! The gate agent was patience in the face of my frustration and kindly got us booked on a KLM flight to Amsterdam and then Egypt Air on to Cairo. We actually arrived in Cairo within an hour of our original arrival time.
Our fellow Tri-State travelers all met up in Cairo for a night before we began the trip together. We had traveled with most of the folks in this group before, so we knew it this would be a fun easy-going group. (Your travel companions really can make or brake a trip.) The first week of our trip was spent on the Red Sea Aggressor. From Cairo, we took a quick flight to Hurghada and then set out on a 3-hour bus drive down to Port Ghalib.
The drive is on a good highway and it was impressive to see the Red Sea out one window and then see the desert spreading out from the other side window. One thing that struck us was the number of unfinished resorts along the way. The Egyptian economy took a hard hit several years ago and it seems to have taken a toll. In fact, when we pulled into Port Ghalib, which is a $2-billion gated, controlled resort community, it was like a ghost town. There were lots of vacant land and unfinished construction. However, things seem to be picking up as the port frontage area is full of boats and businesses. We spent the first night on the boat in port and there was quite the party at the local bars.
The Red Sea Aggressor is a 120 x 26 foot single-hull boat that accommodates 20 divers. There were 19 of us, so we filled the boat. This was our first cruise on an Aggressor boat. As liveaboards go, the boat was okay, but not great. The diving platform was pretty crammed when everyone was gearing up, even though we were diving in two groups. The staff was friendly and looked after us well. The food however, wasn’t very good. The worst problem is that we had an illness sweep through the group. Of the 19, all but 5 of us were hit with a tough stomach bug. James was out for all but one day of diving. For those of you who know me well, the miracle is that I was one of the 5 and avoided the stomach issues.
The Aggressor offers two itineraries Northern and Southern. We did the Southern/St. John & Daedalus itinerary, which offered sites with extensive reefs and coral gardens. There were lots of coral tunnels and caverns to explore. The Northern itinerary covers more pinnacle diving, so I was glad to be on the Southern route with more reefs and walls.
The hard corals in the Red Sea are amazing. These don’t have the all the colors of the soft corals, but they make amazing landscapes. The corals were very healthy and didn’t seem to be suffering from the beaching seen in so many other areas. There were mountain corals that were the size of a bus and with their slow rate of growth, they must be hundreds of years old. Along with the corals, we saw plenty of angelfish, parrotfish, wrasses (including a number of large male Napoleons who were quite friendly), huge clams, eels, damselfish, snappers, butterfly, goatfish, and more. The one fish that we saw in huge schools were the little orange and blue-green anthias. These basically look like gold fish and just swarm the corals by the hundreds. I think my two favorites were the little black and white humbug damselfish that duck in and out of the table coral and the Red Sea bannerfish with their black “eyelash” and trailing dorsal fin.
One of my favorite experiences of the dive trip was the opportunity to swim (snorkel, not dive) with a pod of Spinner dolphins at Sataya Reef, also known as Dolphin House. This is a coral lagoon where pods of spinner dolphins spend the morning. I’m pretty sure this was a big draw because just about all of folks who were sick, were able to make this adventure. This is a fast-paced adventure where you load up in the zodiac and head to the lagoon. Once the dolphins are spotted, the driver heads in front of the pod and then you drop into the water. The pod then makes its way around you and once they are gone, you load back in the boat and do it again. The spinner dolphin is a smaller species that is known for their acrobatics. Honestly, the dolphins were not interested in us and weren’t playful with us, but they were gorgeous. Plus, it was the first time that I have heard dolphins sing in the wild. I loved it! Unfortunately, after an hour or so, lots of other day boats showed up and it just got too crowded. So, we headed in for lunch and another dive.
After a week on the boat, it was time for us to become land-lubbers again. Once we got back to Cairo, Abercrombie & Kent served as our tour company. With a few bobbles, they did a great job and we would certainly use and recommend them as a tour organizer. The best thing A&K did was arrange for our travel guide to be Ahmed M. Abul Ella, who is a renowned Egyptologist and author. He has degrees in ancient near east history and in comparative religion. On top of his education, Ahmed (pronounced with a hard h so it sounds almost like Akmed) is a natural story teller and his passion for and honesty about his country, current and ancient, made him the perfect guide.
Our first night back in Cairo, we went to the Light and Sound show at the Great Pyramids. There are at least 118 known pyramids in Egypt, with the Great Pyramids at Giza being the most famous. It is dark when you arrive for the light show, so when the show began and the lights came on the 3 pyramids and the Sphinx, this was our first view of them. I must say, it took my breath away. The Great Pyramid is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still in existence today and a wonder it is. The show does a brief history of the pharaohs who built these pyramids and the rediscover of the Sphinx. I would say this is a must see show and I think having this be your first sighting of these pyramids really made a strong impression.
Our time with Ahmed started the next morning and our schedule with him included the following day trips:
Day 1- Memphis, Sakkara (Saqqara), Giza Pyramids
Day 2- Egyptian Museum and Islamic Cairo (Citadel of Salah Al-Din and Sultan Hassan & Al Rifa’i Monuments)
Day 3- Alexandria
Day 4 - Fayoum, Hawware Pyramid and Meidum (Midoum) Pyramid
Day 5- Old Cairo and Coptic Christian Cairo
Sunday September 16th - Our first day trip began with a trip out to the remains of the city of Memphis, which was founded in 3100 BC by Menes, the Pharaoh who united Upper and Lower Egypt. Memphis became the capital of the Old Kingdom and the heart of Egypt's busy import-export activity, with traders from around the world giving it a cosmopolitan atmosphere. Memphis is now basically a collection of artifacts found in and around the ancient city site.
Next, we moved on to Sakkara, the former necropolis (cemetery) for the ancient Egyptian city of Memphis and the place where the very first pyramids were built as tombs for kings. Instead of the smooth sides featured on other pyramids, the pyramids here feature six steps on the outside, representing the pharaoh's stepladder to heaven. These pyramids remind me of the pyramids and structures in Mexico/Belize. Although I guess for the time line, that should be switched to they remind me of the Egyptian step pyramids. This is the Step Pyramid of King Zoser, the first pyramid ever built and the world's oldest freestanding stone structure.
Next, we came back into Giza city for lunch at Le Jardin the restaurant located at Mena House Hotel. The Mena House is a beautiful property that over looks the Great Pyramid. Marriott has bought the property and I see a trip to use some points to stay at this lovely property on our next visit to Egypt.
Finally, we get our daytime visit to the Great Pyramids of Giza site, which includes the three large pyramids and three smaller ones, the Sphinx and a building with the solar boat. These pyramids were built over 4,500 years ago as giant tombs for the mummies of the pharaohs Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure, who were a father, son and grandson. The pyramids are truly monumental in scale, with the largest, Khufu's, constructed from over two million blocks. We learned that the pyramids were not built by slaves but by Egyptian peasants, whose labor in building the pyramids paid their taxes to the Pharaoh, (sounds a bit like slavery) At least the Pharaoh also fed, clothed and housed them in decent conditions.
The Sphinx, with the body of a lion and the face of a man wearing a royal head cloth, sits below the pyramids facing the east to great the sun. The face is most likely based on King Khafre so that he could guard his enormous funerary monument. About a thousand years after the Sphinx was built it was covered in sand until a young prince had a dream in which the Sphinx told him that if he cleared the sand away, he would become Pharaoh. While the Sphinx was smaller than I thought, it really was very powerful to see up close.
Visiting Giza, I was struck by how the city ends in hard lines. You stand on a busy street with shops and the western fixture around the world KFC and Pizza hut. Then there is a small wall and the desert starts and there are the pyramids. It’s not the remote desert site that pictures make it seem. In fact, although often hazy, the background of lots of pyramid photos is the city of Cairo. The site is currently walled but there are lots of entry points and not much structure. The Ministry of Tourism is redoing the whole site. They are building a single-entry point where all buses and visitors will use. They are adding a visitor’s center, which is going to be a great addition as well as suitable parking. The plan is to use electric small buses to take people to the sites. Ahmed is on the committee that is planning the new site, so it was interesting to hear the behind the scenes issues. Bureaucracy is the same all over the world.
One additional benefit of switching to the more closed park is the hope that it will cut down on the hawkers. Speaking of hawkers, I have read a lot of reviews of Egypt where people seem to have had their trips ruined because of the hawkers. I don’t have those feelings. Yes, at the major tourist sites, the hawkers are prevalent. But that is true from Times Square to Balinese temples. In Egypt, I found a no, head shake, and a smile took care of it. They may be “aggressive”, but I never found them to be rude. Also, on a related note, like many cultures, negotiation is the norm in Egypt. Americans are not trained in negotiating and this can be intimidating. I’m sure I pay too much, but I give it a go. Just know what you are willing to spend be willing to walk away. But enjoy the process, learning new cultural skills is one of the joys of traveling.
Monday September 17th - Today we start our focus on Islamic Cairo, which is a part of central Cairo around the old walled city and the Citadel. Historic Islamic Cairo is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which includes hundreds of mosques, tombs, mansions, and fortifications dating from the Islamic era (about 640-740 AD).
Our first visit was to the Citadel of Salah-Al-Din (Saladin). This is a medieval fortress set high on the limestone hills above Cairo. It was built in 1176 to protect the city from the Crusaders. Today, the Citadel complex houses three mosques and three small museums, including the National Military Museum.
We spent time in the Mohammed Ali Mosque where Ahmed talked with us about the 5 pillars of Islam and where Christianity and Islam separate in scriptural history. (With Abraham’s sons Ishmael and Isaac.) We then visited the al-Nasir Muhammad Mosque, which has two amazing minarets that have beautifully carved decorations.
Our next stop of the day was the Egyptian Museum, which covers 7,000 years of history and houses the largest collection of ancient Egyptian art in the world. You would think for a collection that majestic, the museum would be pretty impressive. That would be incorrect. The building is old (117 years old), dark, and hot. The good news is a huge (5 million sq feet), state of the art (costing $1 billion) new museum is being built at by the Giza pyramid grounds. There are “soft openings” scheduled for 2018, so figure it will be fully open by the end of 2019.
Despite the building not being very nice, the collections really are amazing. Of course, the most well-known collection is that of king Tutankhamun, including his gold mask, the solid gold sarcophagus that held his mummy and his beautiful throne. I’ve seen the pictures and always thought there was really good lighting to get those items, especially the mask, to shine. Well, there wasn’t good lighting and boy that good was like it was lit from inside. The beauty and detailed workmanship were amazing. Other than Tut, I wasn’t a fan of the mummies although they were a hit with others. It just felt too voyeuristic and disrespectful looking at them.
My favorite was the section on Akhenaten, Tut’s father and pharaoh until approximately 1335 BC. The artist style during his rule changed to a more realistic style for people and animals. He tried to change the religion of the nation from polytheistic to monotheist and he moved the capital. Take a break from reading this and go read about Akhenaten. He is a fascinating figure.
After the museum, we went to the Khan El-Khalili Bazaar, which was founded in the 14th century as a watering stop for caravans. It is reputed to be the largest bazaar in the Middle East. I’m not sure if that is true or not but it was a neat bazaar, with a grid of narrow streets lined with workshops and stalls selling all sorts of crafts and goods. It is geared towards tourists and doesn’t have the daily food/home goods booths that the local markets did. We drove by a few of those markets and it was amazing the number sea of umbrella stand shops and crowds of people. Personally, those looked like a nightmare to me.
We started in the bazaar by having lunch at the Naguib Mahfouz Café, which is named after the Nobel-prize-winning Egyptian author. After lunch, we broke up and went out into the market in search of gifts and trinkets. Each store had its salesman out front inviting the passersby in. I’m sure some people are aggravated by this, but I found these guys to be charming. They would call me princess and I would say “no, not a princess, Seth”. Seth being the god of chaos. They would laugh and we would carry on our way. I just really like the Egyptian people.
We finished our day of historic Islamic Cairo at the Mosque of Sultan Hassan. This mosque which was completed in 1363 AD, has grand, soaring architecture and gorgeous decorations. There were these high-ceilinged open rooms facing the courtyard that had these hanging lanterns. I just thought these were the most beautiful things. (Needless to say, I came home with hundreds of lantern pictures.)
Tuesday September 18th - Today was our long day trip up to Alexandria, a 3 hour ride north from Cairo. Alexandria is known as ‘The Pearl of the Mediterranean” and is the second largest city in Egypt. It has a unique ambience and is culturally distinct, with an atmosphere is more ancient Mediterranean than Middle Eastern.
Founded by Alexander the Great in 332BC, Alexandria became the capital of Greco-Roman Egypt. Its status as a beacon of culture was symbolized by the legendary lighthouse – the Pharos. It was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The setting for the stormy relationship between Cleopatra and Mark Antony, Alexandria was also the center of learning in the ancient world. But over the years, its influence declined and by the time Napoleon landed, he found only a sparsely populated fishing village. While little of ancient Alexandria may have survived today, the city has become synonymous with commerce, cosmopolitanism and a distinctly bohemian culture.
We started our day with a visit to the Catacombs of Kom Al-Shuqafa. These tombs are thought to have originally belonged to a single wealthy Roman family that began using it for burials around the 2nd century AD; however, the complex was significantly expanded and it was used though the 4th century AD. It contains a large number of graves, including a mass grave of animal and human remains that is attributed to a mass execution carried out in Alexandria by the Roman Emperor Caracalla in 215 AD. It was a mess of a visit. The bathrooms were under construction. The power was off in the crypt, so folks were using their cell phones as flashlights to make it down the uneven stone steps into complete darkness. I had mistakenly thought going underground, it would at least be cooler. HA! I have never been hotter and sweatier in my life.
Our next stop was the Kom El-Dekka site, which includes the ruins of a Roman amphitheater and residential street from 2nd century AD. It also has on display ruins that were found in and removed from the Mediterranean This amphitheater site was found in 1967 when digging began for a new apartment building. So, the block square area is surrounded on all sides by modern Alexandria. It’s amazing to think what is under those modern building but will most likely remain hidden as folks just live their lives.
We went to the Alexandria National Museum, which is a smaller museum. The collection is divided up by floors, with the basement housing the Pharaonic artefacts, the ground level displaying the Graeco-Roman treasures, and the 1st floor containing relics from Egypt’s Coptic Christian and Islamic heritage, as well as some insight into the valuables left behind by King Farouk’s family before the 1952 revolution. The art was great, but I must say I loved the building where the museum is housed even more. It is an Italianate mansion built in 1926 by one of the wealthiest wood merchants in Alexandria at the time. So, the woodwork is gorgeous. From the 1960s to 1990s, it served as the United States consulate.
Our final stop on our day in Alexandria was one that really spoke to me personally and professionally, the new Bibliotheca Alexandrina. This beautiful modern library was built in honor of the Ancient Library of Alexandria, which was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world. It was the first public governmental library in the world and it is said that it housed over 700,000 items. It functioned as a major center of scholarship from its construction in the 3rd century BC until the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 BC. Alexandria was considered the capital of knowledge and learning, in part because of the library, where many of the most famous thinkers of the ancient world came to study. The design of the new library is the result of architectural design and art contests. My favorite feature is that all of the outside walls are Aswan Granite and are covered with carved inscriptions from over 120 known languages.
Wednesday 9/19 - After a week of diving and several days of touring, I was ready for a down day to just sleep in and hang out by the pool, but with a short time in Egypt, it was back on the bus. The itinerary from A&K said we were going to visit the oasis of Fayoum. I don’t know about you, but I hear oasis and I think pretty little spring in the desert surrounded by a few palm trees and Bedouin tents. Well, image blown….as Fayoum is a city of 350,000 people and is an agricultural center with its citrus fruits, nuts, olives and vegetables. Part of the reason this area is an oasis is the canal irrigation system and there are water wheels in Fayoum that have been around since the 3rd century B.C.
On the way to Fayoum, we went to the Meidum (Midoum). This pyramid just rises up out of the desert. It feels very isolated. This pyramid was built in the 3rd and 4th Dynasties as a seven-stepped pyramid. An eighth step was then added and the whole pyramid was covered with a casing to make the sides smooth. That siding has collapsed around the pyramid base leaving a distinct 3 level appearance. The site also has several mastaba, flat roof tombs of royals. You are able to go into the mastabas and amazingly some of the painted walls remain.
Next, we drove out to Lake Qarun, Egypt's largest salt water lake with a beach that is popular for locals weekend holidays. We had lunch at The Auberge du Lac, a historic lake front which was originally built as a hunting lodge by King Farouk, Egypt's last monarch. It was favored by visiting political figures such as Winston Churchill.
Our final stop of the day was at the Pyramid of Hawara which was built around 1850 B.C. This pyramid was built out of brick stones and then coated by limestone. The Bahr Yusuf Canal (Joseph's Canal) runs just behind the pyramid site. At least that is what the pictures showed. The heat got the better of me and a couple other folks, so I cut out on the tour and went back to the blissfully air-conditioned bus.
Thursday September 20th - This was our last day of touring with Ahmed and A&K. The focus of the day was on Old Cairo and Coptic (Christian) Cairo. Old Cairo refers to a large area located in the south part of the city, on the right bank of the Nile. This area pre-dates the founding of the Fatimid city of Cairo in 969 A.D. There is not much left, but we stopped at the ruins of the Fortress of Babylon in Old Cairo, which was originally built during Roman rule in AD 100 by the Emperor. It is just another reminder of how very very young our country is.
Having spent time learning about Islamic Cairo, we switched our focus to the Christian traditions of Cairo. From the Bible, we get the story of the “Holy Family” came to the area seeking refuge from Herod. Christianity was established in Egypt in 42 AD when St. Mark arrived in Alexandria, becoming the first Patriarch. The religion remained underground during the rule of the Romans. St. Mark and his successors were able to convert a substantial portion of the population, from pagan beliefs to Christianity. Persecution continued under the Romans and then under the Islamic conquerors that came to Egypt around 640 AD. By the 12th century, Christians had become the minority. Because of different views of the nature of Christ, the Coptic Church (now the Egyptian Orthodox Church) separated from the church of the Romans and the Byzantines.
The first church we visited was the Saints Sergius and Bacchus Church. The church was built in the 4th century over the place that Mary, Joseph and the infant Jesus rested on their journey in Egypt. It is believed that Joseph worked on building the fortress. It was amazing to see the area where tradition says the holy family lived.
Next, we visited the Hanging Church which is called that because it was built above the walls of the Roman Fortress of Babylon. This is probably the most famous Coptic Christian church in Cairo. The art in the church is really incredible.
Our next stop was the Coptic Museum. It displays a wonderful collection of sculpture dating from Pre-Christian times up to the fifth Century, as well as bone carvings, frescoes, icons relics, and colorful textiles. This was my favorite museum of the trip and my favorite collection was the manuscripts collection. Most of the manuscripts are not open to the public, but what they did have was awesome. They have the oldest known book of the Psalms of David, plus they have some of the manuscripts of Nag Hammadi on display.
Our final stop was the one that had the strongest effect on me. The Synagogue of Ben Ezra started as a Coptic church but was sold to the Jews in 880 AD so the Copts could pay their taxes to the Muslim rulers of the time. Tradition says that the area at the back of the temple is the place where baby Moses was found. It is now a museum not an active synagogue. This place is close to our guide Ahmed’s heart. While he was in school getting his ancient history/comparative religion degrees, he was hired as an intern and put in charge of the entire genizah (library of 300,000 abandoned documents containing the name of God covering over 1000 years) of the Ben Ezra Synagogue.
The thing that touched me so deeply was when Ahmed told us about the decline of the Egyptian Jews. There were about 80,000 Jews in the 1920’s. Two weeks before our visit was Yom Kippur and there were only 6 members of the only active synagogue left in Cairo. My heart broke at how a culture and religion was being wiped out be religious persecution.
For our final lunch we headed up to Al Azhar Park, which is a beautiful public park on the hill in the heart of Islamic Cairo. The park is 75 acres and was full of families and people enjoying the shady areas. There are 3 restaurants within the park and we ate at the Citadel View Studio Misr. As the name implies, we were treated to a final view of historic Cairo, including the Citadel of Salah-Al-Din.
After lunch we headed back to the lovely Fairmont Nile City hotel where we spent the last week. If you are in Cairo, I highly recommend this property with its stunning Nile views and wonderful staff. Since we got home, I have found myself longing to take a bath in the huge tub we had in our room where you could soak and look out over the Nile. The time to go had come. Little did we know, with the Air France flights, we would ave an extra day in this beautiful city.
A note on the safety of traveling in Egypt. There has been some political unrest/terrorism in Egypt the last few years. Honestly, this didn’t have any impact on our desire to go to Egypt. Our general theory is that every place can be dangerous you just need to be aware and make good decisions. So, we wouldn’t go to the Sinai Peninsula, but Cairo and the Red Sea diving, no problem. As far as general crime against tourists, Cairo is pretty safe. You have to look out for pick-pockets, but that is true of any city. The Ministry of Tourism has a tourist police force. On our bus, we always traveled with an armed officer. At every tourist site we went to, there was some sort of check point with metal detectors staffed with these police officers. At some of the more remote spots, we had local police officers follow the bus. Even in busy Alexandria, we had a police truck, stop traffic so our bus could make a U-turn. Truth be told, this is one of those issues Ahmed talked about. In the face of protecting tourism, this is an answer. It provides an outward sign of safety, provides jobs and makes tourist feel “safe”. However, it probably isn’t the best managed option as it doesn’t address the underlying problems. All that said, never did we feel unsafe driving or walking around Cairo or the other places we visited, including the times James and I went out on our own.
So, to wrap things up, if you get the chance visit Egypt! It is a beautiful country with an amazing, complicated history. In addition, you will find a warm and welcoming people. Just don’t try to get there or back on Air France.
