Gallivanting Grandma

Sunday – February 17, 2019

I looked out from the balcony of the Four Seasons Hotel this morning to see a spectacular cloud formation over the Mediterranean Sea. It had rained at night and the temperature was a cool 48 degrees.

We were in the ancient seaport of Alexandria to explore several historic sites. The city was founded in 332BC by Alexander the Great and remained the capital of Egypt for almost 1,000 years.

Our first stop was the Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa. Unfortunately no photography was allowed inside. The tombs were dug into solid bedrock and had been used as burial chambers from the 2nd to the 4th centuries. The decorations of the tombs were a blend of Egyptian, Greek, and Roman styles.

Driving through Alexandria was a slow process due to very heavy traffic but it gave me a chance to see the city and take photos from our tour bus.

We drove to Pompey’s Pillar to see the ancient monolith which is the only free-standing column in ancient Roman Egypt. It’s located in a small park in a residential neighborhood surrounded by apartment buildings.

The pillar was built in 297AD out of a single piece of red Aswan granite. It measures 67 feet tall with a diameter of almost 9 feet at the base.

Our next stop was the Roman Amphitheater of Alexandria which was built in the 4th century AD during the Roman period of Egyptian history.

Constructed during the 2nd century AD, the amphitheater was a roofed theater which housed musical events and a variety of competitions. It seated about 600 spectators and was recently discovered in 1960 when workers began to clear the land to build a government building.

Afterwards, our group visited the Alexandria National Museum. Again there was no photography so I just took a picture of the outside of the building.  The lovely Italian-style mansion was built in 1926 by a wealthy Egyptian businessman. From 1960 to the 1990s, the villa was used as the United States consulate.

Today the city of Alexandria reflects the political turmoil and poor economic conditions of Egypt over the last few decades. The city looks tired and run-down with poor infrastructure. Viewing the architecture and condition of the buildings, the city appears to have had a rich vibrant past but due to years of neglect and recent migration, it needs a huge infusion of attention and restoration. More photos:

The Mediterranean Sea is beautiful but the “corniche” along the waterfront was well worn.

One of the main reasons I had wanted to visit Alexandria was to see the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. This is a new library which was built to commemorate The Great Library of Alexandria. The ancient library was the largest and most significant library of the ancient world.  Built by Ptolemy II from 285-246BC, it was the “capital of knowledge and learning” at that time.

The current library complex was constructed in 2002 and functions as a modern library as well as a scientific and cultural center. The new library has shelf space for eight million books.

The main reading room contains 220,000 square feet of space on eleven cascading levels. There are also four museums, art galleries, a planetarium, specialized libraries, and a manuscript restoration laboratory.

The model in the photo above shows the building’s exceptional architecture. The glass-panelled roof of the main reading room tilts out toward the sea like a sundial and captures natural light while diverting heat from the intense Egyptian sun.

We explored the public spaces in the library and enjoyed the exhibits and displays:

At the end of the day, our bus drove along the corniche back to the hotel. The sun was setting on the Mediterranean Sea. It had been a very interesting day in Alexandria, Egypt.

Friday – February 15 and Saturday – February 16, 2019

Our Vantage Tour group completed our 7-night cruise down the Nile on the tourist ship, The Mojito.  Friday morning, we said our fond farewells to the crew and staff of the riverboat, took our last looks at the beautiful waterway, and drove to Luxor airport for our flight back to Cairo.

We had been two groups of about 40 adventurers with two Egyptian tour-guides traveling between Cairo and Aswan. Maged and Aladdin proved to be excellent knowledgeable leaders and we learned much about Egyptian culture and history and we enjoyed unforgettable travel experiences.

We flew from Luxor to Cairo and checked into the Renaissance Hotel for one night. Half the group was flying home Saturday while seventeen of us continued to Alexandria.

The most direct route between Cairo and Alexandria is a wide highway along the Nile River Valley which takes about three hours.  Our plan was to stop at the historic site of El Alamein on the way to Alexandria so we took the longer road through the eastern Sahara Desert.

It was a boring 5-hour drive and definitely miss-able. The landscape reminded me of one of my previous trips driving through the Kyzylkum Desert between Bukhara and Khiva, Uzbekistan.  After many hours of looking at sand, and occasionally camels, it was exciting to get a peek of the azure Mediterranean Sea:

El Alamein, which means “the two flags” in Arabic, is a small town located 66 miles west of Alexandria. It is the site of two important World War II battles. We made a stop at the German War Memorial which looks like a medieval sandstone fortress. Inside are the tombs of almost 4000 German servicemen.

The El Alamein Battlefield is a haunting desert landscape with somber memorials to commemorate servicemen from many countries who fought and died during the war. The Allied victory at El Alamein led to the German surrender in North Africa in May 1943.

Our next stop was the El Alamein Military Museum which was built in 1956. The museum presented a vivid portrayal of the battles in Egypt during World War II using dioramas, maps, images, and artifacts.

We finally arrived in the city of Alexandria in the late afternoon, had lunch, and checked into the Four Seasons Hotel.

The traffic in Alexandria is very heavy especially along the 22-mile corniche which runs along the Mediterranean.

The Four Seasons was a large complex of apartments, shopping center, restaurants, shops, and a relatively small hotel.

I explored the modern shopping center which was through a guarded door in the lobby:

Along with clothing and shoe stores, electronic shops, and cosmetic outlets, there was a food court with fast-food options, and a Whole-Foods-type organic market:

We had essentially been traveling for two days from Luxor to Cairo to Alexandria and it was nice to arrive on the Mediterranean Sea and have a relaxing evening. Our view from the hotel:

Thursday – February 14, 2019     Happy Valentine’s Day!

We spent a quiet night aboard The Mojito in Luxor – the ancient capital of Thebes – on the east bank of the Nile River. Today we were scheduled to visit the huge Karnak Temple Complex. This is a vast open-air museum which is still undergoing extensive restoration.

What distinguishes Karnak from other ancient Egyptian sites and temples is the length of time it was built and used. Construction began in about 2055BC and continued until about 100AD; from the Egyptian Middle Kingdom into the Ptolemaic period. Therefore, the temple is a hodgepodge of ancient architectural designs.

According to Wikipedia, “Approximately thirty pharaohs contributed to the buildings, enabling it to reach a size, complexity, and diversity not seen elsewhere. Few of the individual features of Karnak are unique, but the size and number of features are overwhelming.”

One highlight of the complex is the Hypostyle Hall, which is an area of 50,000 square feet which contains 134 massive columns.  The diameter of each column is more than ten feet.

The Hypostyle Hall was begun by King Seti I (1313-1292BC) and was completed by his son Rameses II between 1292BC to 1258BC.

There are four main parts of the Karnak Complex and currently only one part is open to the public. The other sections are under continuous restoration.

Parts of the complex look like ancient ruins and other parts resemble a vast construction site. Karnak reminded me of a gigantic 3-dimensional puzzle.

Exit through the gift shops!

After a few hours of wandering around the Karnak Temple Complex, we left and continued to a papyrus workshop.  I wasn’t interested in purchasing an expensive work of art done on papyrus however I was curious how “paper” was made from the plant.

We watched a demonstration and learned the stalk of the papyrus plant is cut into pieces, soaked, pressed, and ‘woven’ into flat sheets.  Paint is then applied to the papyrus ‘paper.’ Amazing….

We returned to The Mojito for lunch and afterwards, a small group joined Maged for a walk around Luxor. Our first stop was El Souk. The traditional market street for local people is an important part of Egyptian culture. I love outdoor markets!!

It was joy to walk down the narrow streets lined with shops offering a huge variety of interesting goods.

It was feast for the eyes!  And sooo much fun!

Back out onto the main street, I saw the Temple of Luxor across busy modern traffic.

I quickly snapped the photo below as a delivery truck passed by loaded with grain and pulled by a mule. I think the picture ‘says it all’ about modern Egypt.  In the background there was a tourist horse & carriage below ads for modern furniture and electronics posted on modern buildings. In the foreground there was a man wearing the traditional galabeya talking on a cellphone next to three school girls wearing backpacks and sneakers.

Our little group continued down the main street along the corniche on the Nile River. We stopped briefly at a wonderful bookstore which sold English-language books and prints.

Nearby was the famous Winter Palace Hotel where the British Egyptologist Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon stayed. In 1922, Carter discovered King Tutankhamen’s intact tomb financed by Lord Carnarvon.

We walked up the stairs which leads to the lobby to look around the public spaces. We were greeted by a man playing beautiful soft music on a reed flute. Perhaps it was the ancient instrument called a ney.

The British mystery writer, Agatha Christie, wrote her famous story – Death on the Nile – while staying at the Winter Palace.

We went out on the terrace overlooking the river to sit and have some refreshments as the sun was reaching down over the west bank.

A few people rode a carriage back to our boat, The Mojito.  I chose to walk along the busy corniche.

It had been another incredible day in Egypt!

Wednesday – February 13, 2019

The Mojito spent the night in Kom Ombo and early the next morning our riverboat cruised northward back toward Luxor.  We were now moving with the current. The day was a little overcast, but it didn’t deter the vendors on the river.

It had been after dark a few days ago when we passed through the locks on the Nile River southbound on our way to Aswan. But today we all watched our boat maneuver through the narrow passageway.

It wasn’t quite the magnificent Panama Canal, but nonetheless, fun to watch The Mojito “squeeze” into the lock. Trucks and donkey carts passed over the bridge above us.

Afterwards, Jeff and I settled into comfortable chairs on the top deck and relaxed and watched the ever-changing shoreline of the Nile.

Sometime in the afternoon, Maged called us to visit “the Bridge” and give our regards to the captain of The Mojito.  He was an older gentleman who had worked his way up the ranks of Nile River boats since his youth.  He had started with rowboats and feluccas, then skippered larger dahabiyas and other motor boats.  He has been piloting and steering large commercial tourist boats for the last 15 years.

It was interesting to see the Bridge and the crew’s ‘bird’s-eye view.’  The captain sat with his legs folded beneath him on a high wooden chair.  As our group entered the Bridge, he smiled but kept his intense gaze on the river.

Tonight, we had a special dinner of duck prepared by the very proud chefs. Pigeon had also been on the menu another night.

The entertainment for the evening was a three-piece musical ensemble playing for a belly dancer and a Whirling Dervish.

The sunset over the west bank of the Nile River tonight was spectacular!

Tuesday – February 12, 2019

Today was our day to sail on a felucca across the Nile to the Botanical Garden on Kitchener’s Island.  The basic structure of the felucca hasn’t changed since the time of the Pharaohs.  They are heavy wooden open-deck boats complete with canvas shelters to block out the searing desert sun.  Made for sailing over shallow waters, feluccas don’t have a stationary keel, instead they have a center plate that can be raised over sandbars or low depths.

There’s no motor on a felucca, so one of the two-man crew members lowers the heavy canvas sail and they sail into the dock.  After the group boarded our felucca, a man on land pushed the bow of the boat out into the river.  The current took the boat downstream a bit while one man untied the heavy hemp ropes.  Then the other man joined him to hoist the heavy sail.  Notice they’re both barefooted:

What a treat!  It was a crystal clear day with a fresh cool breeze.  Perfect for a sail on the Nile.  As the wind filled the sail, one of the men walked aft to steer with the huge tiller.

After sailing for a while, one of the crew took out a drum and began to play and sing Nubian folk songs.  He taught us some words and we all clapped to the beat and joined in the chorus.  Great fun!!

We arrived at El Nabatat Island aka Kitchener’s Island and said goodbye to the crew.  I could have stayed on the felucca all day!  The island was gifted to Lord Kitchener, the British Counsul-General in Egypt, when he served from 1911-1914.

Kitchener transformed the small island into a paradise of exotic plants and trees from tropical places around the world.  What a surprise!  The garden was beautiful!

The island was later used as a government research station. Today, it is the Aswan Botanical Garden and enjoyed by local people and tourists.

It was a lovely peaceful garden with rare trees and many chirping birds.  A market of craftspeople and vendors was set up at the far end of the island.

Below is a photo looking south from the Botanical Garden:

After we walked through the garden, we boarded a Nile River motorboat to cruise around Elephantine Island and explore the shallow parts of the cataract.

Elephantine Island is another island in the Nile River near the city of Aswan.  The island’s name comes from either the shape of the island or from the large boulders along the banks which resemble elephants.

Scenes from the Nile River:

Two teen-age boys paddled up to our motorboat and sang a variety of songs in several languages: English, French,German, Spanish, etc.  Entertaining and very enterprising!

After a while, we returned to the Mojito and relaxed onboard while the crew prepared to cruise north back toward Kom Ombo.

The sun was low in the western sky and we enjoyed the scenery along the river.

Kom Ombo is an agricultural village of approximately 60,000 people and the location of the Ptolemaic Temple of Kom Ombo.  Built between 180 – 47 BC, it is unique because it honors two sets of gods.  The southern half of the temple was dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek and the northern half honors the falcon god Haroeis, also known as Horus.

The Mojito slowly docked along the quay between two other riverboats.  The sun was setting as we climbed the steps up to the Temple of Kom Ombo.

We took as many photos as we could in the warm fading light.  Then joined our group to hear Maged, the tour leader, explain the important features of the temple.

Kom Ombo Temple was an imposing site and the location above the river was superb.  We had another incredible day on the River Nile.  Aswan was a lovely international city with many interesting sights and activities.  The ship had turned around and were cruising north back toward Luxor.  Time was slipping away but we were having an unforgettable adventure!