Egyptian Monuments and Memories
Images from a Trip to Egypt
By: Mark Favermann - Feb 10, 2009
Since I was a small boy, I had always wanted to see the Great Pyramids and the Sphynx. The trip to Egypt was a spectacular experience. The country is unique in the quality and quantity of its ancient ruins, structures and forms. Present day Egypt is fascinating as well. There is great wealth and staggering poverty. It is a very large country with most of its 82 million population living along the Nile River. Greater Cairo has a population of about 18 million. It is by far the largest Arab world city and the largest city in Africa.
The second largest city is Alexandria that was founded by Alexander the Great around 334 BC. on the Mediterranean. It was the capital of Egypt for almost 1000 years until the Muslim conquest. At one time, it was the home of the gigantic Lighthouse of Alexandria which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the Library of Alexandria, the largest library in the ancient world.
My Egypt trip started while attending a meeting at the "New" Biblioteque Alexandrine, a high tech museum/research/library facility approximately set on the site of the ancient Library of Alexandria. There were afternoon and day excursions to look at the ancient and emerging discoveries of Alexander the Great's city.
Located outside of Cairo is the rich archeological area of Saqqara where continued excavations seem to be discovering tombs and pyramids almost monthly. The Stepped Pyramid is located there. It is 4800 years old and apparently an early study model for the Pyramids at Giza built nearly 1000 years later. Though being encroached upon by the city's density, Giza is also on the outskirts of Cairo. This is where the Pyramids of Cheops, Chephren and Mycerinus are found as well as the Sphynx. There are also smaller pyramids which are the burial places of the pharoahs' queens.
After a few days in Alexandria and Cairo, I boarded a plane for Luxor, the site of the ancient city of Thebes and the Temple of Karnak. After visiting the Temple of Karnak and the nearby Valley of Kings where ancient painted pharoanic tombs are located, I boarded a ship to go down (or rather up) the Nile to visit other ancient temples and ruins. The ship cruise lasted three nights and four days ending in Aswan with its great dam. An English-speaking Egyptian guide, Josef, accompanied me the whole way. This was part of the tour price--very Victorian.
Most of the people that I met were lovely and rather sweet. However, due to rising Muslim fundamentalism, with German and Japanese tourist murders at Queen Hatshepsut's Temple, a few years before, all major sites were guarded by armed police or soldiers. Egyptian drivers do not use their headlights at night. They think that it is impolite to put lights in your eyes.
Egyptian food was quite good, surprisingly good. It is considered the third best in the Middle East after fabulous Moroccan and Lebanese food. I shared a wonderful meal with my meeting group at a restaurant in a working-class neighborhood in Alexandria. The fresh fish was prepared very well, the vegetables were delicious. The meal cost about $10 a person. The exchange rate in Egypt is very good for US dollars.
I took several hundred pictures on my trip, editing them at night. I bought an extra memory stick at the Frankfurt Airport on the flight layover from Boston. I had an adventure in Luxor trying to find a photo shop to burn a CD of pictures so I could free up space on my memory sticks. I took community jitney buses crowded with locals.
My trip to Egypt was perhaps my most memorable trip ever. I saw the Great Pyramids, and befriended The Sphynx.