Monday, November 19, 2007
Questions
The best food we had in Egypt was probably the pita bread. There was also a dessert that I don't know the name of. It was like cream of wheat with a whole bunch of sugar mixed in and baked in a pan. Scott would probably say the Snickers bars.
Tanks at the Embassy
Yes, Reagan, there were people in the tanks with machine guns guarding the border of the American Embassy. I'm not sure but I would think that the guards were from our Army or Marines.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Day 21 Flying home
This morning we woke up, had breakfast and made our way to the airport. We were originally dropped off at the wrong terminal and had to flag down our driver and go to another terminal, which took another 20 minutes or so. I’m very glad he didn’t leave us.
I’m sitting on the plane right now typing up this last blog. We have about 5 more hours of the 11-hour flight. Flight and weather patterns make the return flight home one hour longer. Bummer.
Traveling is not always glamorous but it is always interesting. We have generally had a very good time on this trip. Scott and I were both very interested in the history of Egypt and had done some reading before we got here so we were pretty excited to see the sites and learn more of the history. We did have some logistical problems with our schedule and some of our guides but in the end, everything worked out pretty much the way we wanted. We definitely would have changed a few things if we could go back and start again.
Neither one of us knew much about the country of Jordan but it ended up being a wonderful surprise. We definitely liked the country of Jordan better than Egypt. A lot of that had to do with our driver because he was so friendly and really talked a lot to us about his country, his religion and his government. He is a true ambassador for the country and we wouldn’t hesitate to come back and do a more relaxing vacation in Jordan.
There are a few things that I try to remember when I’m traveling outside the United States. First and foremost, always carry toilet paper and be prepared to squat if necessary. If you find a real toilet, sometimes there isn’t a seat. The second, and equally as important, is to remember that you are in another country. Traditions and customs are different than what you are used to. Do not expect the people to conform to your way of thinking. Part of the travel experience is to go with their flow and do things like they do, even if it’s uncomfortable. Try to learn a few words in their language. Most people around the world speak English but we find that people are much more friendly and helpful when you try to speak their language.
Doing the blogs and taking the videos has been a lot of fun. I really hope you all learned things that you might not have learned from a textbook. We hope to meet you all in December.
I’m sitting on the plane right now typing up this last blog. We have about 5 more hours of the 11-hour flight. Flight and weather patterns make the return flight home one hour longer. Bummer.
Traveling is not always glamorous but it is always interesting. We have generally had a very good time on this trip. Scott and I were both very interested in the history of Egypt and had done some reading before we got here so we were pretty excited to see the sites and learn more of the history. We did have some logistical problems with our schedule and some of our guides but in the end, everything worked out pretty much the way we wanted. We definitely would have changed a few things if we could go back and start again.
Neither one of us knew much about the country of Jordan but it ended up being a wonderful surprise. We definitely liked the country of Jordan better than Egypt. A lot of that had to do with our driver because he was so friendly and really talked a lot to us about his country, his religion and his government. He is a true ambassador for the country and we wouldn’t hesitate to come back and do a more relaxing vacation in Jordan.
There are a few things that I try to remember when I’m traveling outside the United States. First and foremost, always carry toilet paper and be prepared to squat if necessary. If you find a real toilet, sometimes there isn’t a seat. The second, and equally as important, is to remember that you are in another country. Traditions and customs are different than what you are used to. Do not expect the people to conform to your way of thinking. Part of the travel experience is to go with their flow and do things like they do, even if it’s uncomfortable. Try to learn a few words in their language. Most people around the world speak English but we find that people are much more friendly and helpful when you try to speak their language.
Doing the blogs and taking the videos has been a lot of fun. I really hope you all learned things that you might not have learned from a textbook. We hope to meet you all in December.
Day 20 Jerash, Jordan and back to Cairo
We had a lazy morning this morning. We didn’t check out of the hotel until noon and pretty much spent the morning in the hotel room reading and packing. Our driver, Ala’a, picked us up at noon and we started our drive to Jerash. Jerash is the best preserved Roman city in the Middle East. This is the ancient city of Antioch. The Romans took it over in 106 AD. It is a huge site covering about 3 square kilometers that includes a massive central oval shaped forum surrounded by columns, a large temple devoted to Zeus (Jupiter), another large temple complex devoted to Artemis (Diana), Zeus’ daughter, and a more than ½ mile central road with sidewalks lined with columns. There is a large aquaduct and water system which provided water from the nearby river to the central area of town.
The columns that were built were earthquake proofed by putting holes in the bottom section and holes in the top section and then putting a metal piece in the holes to attach the two pieces of the columns. There was an interesting demonstration that someone had set up with a spoon between the column pieces. You can see the spoon moving which shows that the columns are actually moving. Here's the video:
The most impressive part of the city is the theatre. It is the best preserved Roman theatre in the entire world. The acoustics are incredible. We were able to stand in one spot in the middle of the theatre and hear our normal talking voice amplified throughout the entire theatre. They still hold concerts and plays here in July and August of every year.
From Jerash, we started making our way back to Amman and to the airport for our 7:30pm flight to Cairo. On the way, our driver took us to the upper class section of Amman. The houses were very large and some were very ornate. We also drove by the American Embassy. It is a huge complex that seemed to take up about 8 square city blocks. I tried to take a picture but I was quickly reminded that no photos were allowed. There were huge army tanks with armed guards surrounding the complex.
Our flight back to Cairo was pretty uneventful. We did end up eating at Pizza Hut, again, in the airport.
The first time we arrived in Cairo there was a man waiting for us right as we stepped into the terminal from the airplane. However, this time there was no one waiting for us. We were a bit upset but figured we knew what to do and where we were staying so we could probably find our way to the hotel. We got our entry visa (Egypt requires a $15 entry visa for each time you enter and exit the country so we had to have two) and went through the immigration line. We collected our luggage and made our way outside the terminal. At that point, we heard our driver, Josef, yelling my name. We were very relieved to see a familiar face once again.
The drive to our hotel took about an hour because the traffic was pretty bad – even with our speedster driver. We were pretty wiped out when we got to the hotel about 11pm. We had to be up and in the van back to the airport at 7am the next day for our 10:10am flight to JFK. We are almost home!!
The columns that were built were earthquake proofed by putting holes in the bottom section and holes in the top section and then putting a metal piece in the holes to attach the two pieces of the columns. There was an interesting demonstration that someone had set up with a spoon between the column pieces. You can see the spoon moving which shows that the columns are actually moving. Here's the video:
The most impressive part of the city is the theatre. It is the best preserved Roman theatre in the entire world. The acoustics are incredible. We were able to stand in one spot in the middle of the theatre and hear our normal talking voice amplified throughout the entire theatre. They still hold concerts and plays here in July and August of every year.
From Jerash, we started making our way back to Amman and to the airport for our 7:30pm flight to Cairo. On the way, our driver took us to the upper class section of Amman. The houses were very large and some were very ornate. We also drove by the American Embassy. It is a huge complex that seemed to take up about 8 square city blocks. I tried to take a picture but I was quickly reminded that no photos were allowed. There were huge army tanks with armed guards surrounding the complex.
Our flight back to Cairo was pretty uneventful. We did end up eating at Pizza Hut, again, in the airport.
The first time we arrived in Cairo there was a man waiting for us right as we stepped into the terminal from the airplane. However, this time there was no one waiting for us. We were a bit upset but figured we knew what to do and where we were staying so we could probably find our way to the hotel. We got our entry visa (Egypt requires a $15 entry visa for each time you enter and exit the country so we had to have two) and went through the immigration line. We collected our luggage and made our way outside the terminal. At that point, we heard our driver, Josef, yelling my name. We were very relieved to see a familiar face once again.
The drive to our hotel took about an hour because the traffic was pretty bad – even with our speedster driver. We were pretty wiped out when we got to the hotel about 11pm. We had to be up and in the van back to the airport at 7am the next day for our 10:10am flight to JFK. We are almost home!!
Local Customs in the Middle East
We asked our driver about some of the local customs in Jordan and the Middle East. Here are a few that we haven’t discussed with you all yet:
• The Muslim custom is to pray 5 times per day. The local mosques all have speakers that project prayers and readings from the Koran starting at about 4am.
• Almost everyone learns at least one other language during their schooling.
• The Jordanians buy their olives from roadside stands right off of the tree and then can (or jar) them at home with water, lemon, and spices. Our driver bought about 60 kilos of olives last year just for his family of two small daughters. Olives are eaten at every meal in Jordan (including breakfast).
• They also buy items like tomatoes in bulk. They would never just buy 3 tomatoes. They buy a large box full and whatever they don’t use right away goes into the freezer for cooking later.
• Public displays of affection are looked down upon but it is not uncommon for woman to hold hands with other woman and men to hold hands with other men as a form of friendship.
• Dinner times outside the US usually don’t start until 8pm or later
• The Muslim custom is to pray 5 times per day. The local mosques all have speakers that project prayers and readings from the Koran starting at about 4am.
• Almost everyone learns at least one other language during their schooling.
• The Jordanians buy their olives from roadside stands right off of the tree and then can (or jar) them at home with water, lemon, and spices. Our driver bought about 60 kilos of olives last year just for his family of two small daughters. Olives are eaten at every meal in Jordan (including breakfast).
• They also buy items like tomatoes in bulk. They would never just buy 3 tomatoes. They buy a large box full and whatever they don’t use right away goes into the freezer for cooking later.
• Public displays of affection are looked down upon but it is not uncommon for woman to hold hands with other woman and men to hold hands with other men as a form of friendship.
• Dinner times outside the US usually don’t start until 8pm or later
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Day 19 Shabak Castle and Mt. Nebo
Today we are on our way to Amman, Jordan so that we can tour the city of Jerash and then fly back out to Cairo. The drive to Amman from Petra is about 5 hours. In order to make the drive more interesting, we made a few stops.
The first stop was to Shobak Castle which is about 30 minutes outside of Petra. This is one of a few crusader castles in the area. Please go to the following website for the history: http://www.atlastours.net/jordan/shobak.html.
We had a tour of the castle by a local boy who lives nearby. He is 15 and is in the 10th grade and just started learning English about 6 months ago. We thought his English was pretty good. He was a nice kid and we enjoyed our 30 minute tour. His name is Amjad. There were also some Italian archaelogists there that were excavating the site and trying to rebuild it to look like the original. We only saw one level but in the past it is thought to have had 7 levels. It sits on top of the highest mountain in the area.
The second stop was to the city of Madaba which means the city of mosaics. We stopped at the Greek Orthodox church of St. George. It’s open from 8am-6pm and cost 1 Jordanian Dinar. This church is famous for its mosaics, especially the one on the floor in the middle of the sanctuary which shows the entire holy land including Jerusalem, the Dead Sea and the Jordan River.
After lunch at a local tourist stop, we drove to Mt. Nebo. The church there is open from 8am-7pm and costs ½ Jordanian Dinar to enter. This is the presumed site of Mose’s death and his burial place. It is where God told him he could see the promised land but could not enter. There were some spectacular views across the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea as well as the rooftops of Jerusalem, Jericho and Bethlehem.
After that visit, we drove on to our hotel in Amman. Amman is the capital of Jordan and is very modern. All of the buildings look like they are made out of the same white stone. Almost half of the entire population of Jordan lives in the city of Amman. Seventy percent of the population of Jordan are Palestinian. They live in mostly the northern half of the country and make up nearly 90% of the population of Amman. Our hotel is called the Amman International Hotel.
We have decided that we have had enough babaganoush, hummus and pita bread and are heading to Pizza Hut.
The first stop was to Shobak Castle which is about 30 minutes outside of Petra. This is one of a few crusader castles in the area. Please go to the following website for the history: http://www.atlastours.net/jordan/shobak.html.
We had a tour of the castle by a local boy who lives nearby. He is 15 and is in the 10th grade and just started learning English about 6 months ago. We thought his English was pretty good. He was a nice kid and we enjoyed our 30 minute tour. His name is Amjad. There were also some Italian archaelogists there that were excavating the site and trying to rebuild it to look like the original. We only saw one level but in the past it is thought to have had 7 levels. It sits on top of the highest mountain in the area.
The second stop was to the city of Madaba which means the city of mosaics. We stopped at the Greek Orthodox church of St. George. It’s open from 8am-6pm and cost 1 Jordanian Dinar. This church is famous for its mosaics, especially the one on the floor in the middle of the sanctuary which shows the entire holy land including Jerusalem, the Dead Sea and the Jordan River.
After lunch at a local tourist stop, we drove to Mt. Nebo. The church there is open from 8am-7pm and costs ½ Jordanian Dinar to enter. This is the presumed site of Mose’s death and his burial place. It is where God told him he could see the promised land but could not enter. There were some spectacular views across the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea as well as the rooftops of Jerusalem, Jericho and Bethlehem.
After that visit, we drove on to our hotel in Amman. Amman is the capital of Jordan and is very modern. All of the buildings look like they are made out of the same white stone. Almost half of the entire population of Jordan lives in the city of Amman. Seventy percent of the population of Jordan are Palestinian. They live in mostly the northern half of the country and make up nearly 90% of the population of Amman. Our hotel is called the Amman International Hotel.
We have decided that we have had enough babaganoush, hummus and pita bread and are heading to Pizza Hut.
Day 18 Petra
Today we woke up in our wonderful hotel
and had breakfast at the restaurant. Breakfast continues to be the same thing everywhere we are at. Our wonderful driver, Ala’a, met us at 8:00am to drive us to the site of Petra. He speaks English very well – better than anyone we have had so far. I believe the site opens at 7am and definitely closes at sunset – about 5:30pm.
Petra comes from the Latin word for rock. It is about 80 kilometers south of the Dead Sea. It’s importance as a city was established in the late first century BC through the success of the spice trade. Petra was the principal city of the ancient Nabateae people and was famous for its trade and its hydraulic engineering systems. These systems included water conservation systems and dams that were constructed to divert the flash floods caused by the winter rains. It rains in Jordan mostly in the winter months. I took some video of one of the dams (which has been refurbished). You should also be able to see part of the aquaduct that fed the water from the city (Wadi Musa – meaning Valley of Moses) above.
Petra was basically built in a valley. To enter the city you walk through what seems to be a large crack between two gigantic rocks. It looks like a mountain was cut right down the middle and left a small dirt road. I hope you can get the idea from some of the video. At the end of this “road” you turn the corner into an open area and see the “Treasury”.
It’s important to note that the Nabateans carved their city out of the sandstone. We don’t want to use the word built. The Treasury is a beautiful structure and was said to be used for royal tombs.
As you continue to walk through the mountains, there are tombs all over the sides of the cliffs. The smaller tombs were for the poorer people. Tombs with more decoration and more than one floor were either for the rich or for the royalty. There are a few pictures and videos of some of these tombs. Our guide told us that no bodies have been found in any of the tombs but they are sure they were at least used ceremonially for burials because of some of the writings they found on the walls.
There is a monastery that was later used as a Christian church at the top of one of the mountains. It took about 45 minutes to climb up but the views were fantastic. I did take a few photos and videos.
I don’t think they will do it justice but the monastery is a pretty spectacular site. It was just very weird to be hiking through rocks and then all of a sudden come up on a beautifully carved structure.
The city itself is said to be only about 30 percent excavated. Archeologists think there is still 70 percent of the city still underground. The flash flooding that has occurred throughout the centuries has eroded the wall carvings as well as filled up some of the city with sand and dirt. In fact, archeologists have found a whole other part of the city under the ground in front of the Treasury building. They covered it back up because they haven’t figured out a way to protect it from some of the floods that still occur.
About 106 AD, the Romans, under Emperor Trajan, took over the city and it became part of the Roman province known as Arabia Petraea with its capital being Petra.
Petra’s decline happened when the trade routes changed and when an even more devastating earthquake hit the city in 551 AD. These two things all but brought the city to ruin. With the rise of Islam, Petra became a backwater community. Petra was revealed to the western world in 1812 for the first time since the Crusades when it was re-discovered by the Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt.
Petra’s current fame comes from being a setting for the movie Indiana Jones. It’s an interesting place to visit and nothing like we’ve ever seen before. It took as all day to visit the site.
When our driver met us at 4pm, he took us back to the hotel. We did stop at one point to take a photo from high above Petra. It was an interesting perspective to look down on where we were.
When we got back to the hotel we decided to have a Turkish bath and massage. This is very popular in this area so we thought we’d try it out. We have never done anything like this and didn’t really know what to expect. We have been hiking all day so we thought a massage seemed appropriate. When we went in, a man led us into a changing room where we put on our bathing suits. We entered a steam room for about 10 minutes. It was really hot and steamy. A man came and got Scott and took him for his massage. He came back in about 10 minutes and tried to explain to me what was going to happen. The massage guy was right there ready to take me so basically all I heard from Scott was, “this is like nothing you’ve ever experienced before”. Needless to say, I was a bit nervous.
The man was dressed only in a sheet wrapped around his waist. He led me into a room where I had to step up onto a large stone washing area. He had a large metal bucket with soap suds in it. He told me to lie down on my back and he proceeded to rub soap on my arms and legs and neck. It appeared like I was getting a massage and a bath all at the same time. I turned over and he did the same thing to my back and legs. When it was over, I turned around and sat up and he splashed water all over me to get the soap off. He led me back to the steam room where Scott was. After he walked out, Scott and I laughed for about 5 minutes straight. It was just a very strange experience to have someone you don’t know give you a soapy bath.
They wanted us to sit and have tea afterwards but we really just wanted to get the heck out of there. It was smoky in the front room and after the bath, we didn’t want to smell like smoke before dinner.
and had breakfast at the restaurant. Breakfast continues to be the same thing everywhere we are at. Our wonderful driver, Ala’a, met us at 8:00am to drive us to the site of Petra. He speaks English very well – better than anyone we have had so far. I believe the site opens at 7am and definitely closes at sunset – about 5:30pm.
Petra comes from the Latin word for rock. It is about 80 kilometers south of the Dead Sea. It’s importance as a city was established in the late first century BC through the success of the spice trade. Petra was the principal city of the ancient Nabateae people and was famous for its trade and its hydraulic engineering systems. These systems included water conservation systems and dams that were constructed to divert the flash floods caused by the winter rains. It rains in Jordan mostly in the winter months. I took some video of one of the dams (which has been refurbished). You should also be able to see part of the aquaduct that fed the water from the city (Wadi Musa – meaning Valley of Moses) above.
Petra was basically built in a valley. To enter the city you walk through what seems to be a large crack between two gigantic rocks. It looks like a mountain was cut right down the middle and left a small dirt road. I hope you can get the idea from some of the video. At the end of this “road” you turn the corner into an open area and see the “Treasury”.
It’s important to note that the Nabateans carved their city out of the sandstone. We don’t want to use the word built. The Treasury is a beautiful structure and was said to be used for royal tombs.
As you continue to walk through the mountains, there are tombs all over the sides of the cliffs. The smaller tombs were for the poorer people. Tombs with more decoration and more than one floor were either for the rich or for the royalty. There are a few pictures and videos of some of these tombs. Our guide told us that no bodies have been found in any of the tombs but they are sure they were at least used ceremonially for burials because of some of the writings they found on the walls.
There is a monastery that was later used as a Christian church at the top of one of the mountains. It took about 45 minutes to climb up but the views were fantastic. I did take a few photos and videos.
I don’t think they will do it justice but the monastery is a pretty spectacular site. It was just very weird to be hiking through rocks and then all of a sudden come up on a beautifully carved structure.
The city itself is said to be only about 30 percent excavated. Archeologists think there is still 70 percent of the city still underground. The flash flooding that has occurred throughout the centuries has eroded the wall carvings as well as filled up some of the city with sand and dirt. In fact, archeologists have found a whole other part of the city under the ground in front of the Treasury building. They covered it back up because they haven’t figured out a way to protect it from some of the floods that still occur.
About 106 AD, the Romans, under Emperor Trajan, took over the city and it became part of the Roman province known as Arabia Petraea with its capital being Petra.
Petra’s decline happened when the trade routes changed and when an even more devastating earthquake hit the city in 551 AD. These two things all but brought the city to ruin. With the rise of Islam, Petra became a backwater community. Petra was revealed to the western world in 1812 for the first time since the Crusades when it was re-discovered by the Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt.
Petra’s current fame comes from being a setting for the movie Indiana Jones. It’s an interesting place to visit and nothing like we’ve ever seen before. It took as all day to visit the site.
When our driver met us at 4pm, he took us back to the hotel. We did stop at one point to take a photo from high above Petra. It was an interesting perspective to look down on where we were.
When we got back to the hotel we decided to have a Turkish bath and massage. This is very popular in this area so we thought we’d try it out. We have never done anything like this and didn’t really know what to expect. We have been hiking all day so we thought a massage seemed appropriate. When we went in, a man led us into a changing room where we put on our bathing suits. We entered a steam room for about 10 minutes. It was really hot and steamy. A man came and got Scott and took him for his massage. He came back in about 10 minutes and tried to explain to me what was going to happen. The massage guy was right there ready to take me so basically all I heard from Scott was, “this is like nothing you’ve ever experienced before”. Needless to say, I was a bit nervous.
The man was dressed only in a sheet wrapped around his waist. He led me into a room where I had to step up onto a large stone washing area. He had a large metal bucket with soap suds in it. He told me to lie down on my back and he proceeded to rub soap on my arms and legs and neck. It appeared like I was getting a massage and a bath all at the same time. I turned over and he did the same thing to my back and legs. When it was over, I turned around and sat up and he splashed water all over me to get the soap off. He led me back to the steam room where Scott was. After he walked out, Scott and I laughed for about 5 minutes straight. It was just a very strange experience to have someone you don’t know give you a soapy bath.
They wanted us to sit and have tea afterwards but we really just wanted to get the heck out of there. It was smoky in the front room and after the bath, we didn’t want to smell like smoke before dinner.
Day 17 St. Catherine's Monastery and Ferry to Jordan
Day 17 – St. Catherine’s Monastery and Ferry to Jordan
Today we woke up at the hotel near St. Catherine’s Monastery. We had breakfast at the hotel – just your basic American style buffet. I’ve failed to mention, mostly because it probably doesn’t affect 6th graders, that we are not getting any caffeinated coffee in the mornings. It’s been a bit hard to deal with all the travel hassles on no caffeine but we are managing.
The drive to the monastery was about 5 minutes. We had our armed guard, our guide and the representative with us once again. The van is getting a bit crowded. It’s probably a good thing our friends left because we wouldn’t have any room in the van for all of us and our luggage. Once we got to the monastery there was a bit of a hike up a hill. From the bottom, you can’t see the monastery at all. I guess that was the point of building it where they did.
St. Catherine’s is a Greek orthodox monastery located at the foot of Mt. Sinai. It is thought to be the oldest, continuously inhabited Christian Monastery in the world. It was founded in 527 AD by the Roman Byzantine Emperor Justinian. It replaced a chapel that was built by Empress Helena in AD 337 where it was said that God talked to Moses from the Burning Bush. I took a picture of the bush for you all to see.
The monastery was renamed St. Catherine in the 9th or 10th century after monks claimed to have found the intact body of the saint on a nearby mountain. The monastery’s library, which we were able to enter, contains over 3,000 ancient manuscripts and is second in importance only to that of the Vatican library.
Our guide didn’t seem like he knew too much about the monastery so we didn’t stay very long. It was very crowded and difficult to move around once we entered the walls. It also didn’t seem like very much of the monastery was open to the public. There are actual monks living and working there.
Once we left the monastery, we drove about 110 km (one hour) to the ferry in Nuweiba. We thought that our ferry left at 1pm and would take us to Jordan. It’s 3:45pm and we just boarded the boat. Who knows when we will leave or where we will be when it stops? I videoed the inside of the departure area for you all to see.
I thought about videoing the bathroom but decided against it because I’m not real sure of how strong your stomachs might be. This one made the one on the train look sparkling clean.
The ferry boat was 90 minutes. While in the departure area, we met some people from New Zealand. They were traveling through the Middle East for about 3 weeks. They didn’t have any set reservations anywhere. They just planned to find things once they arrived in whatever city was next on their list. That seems way too adventuresome to us but they are young. Their plan was to catch a mini bus into Wadi Musa (near Petra) but that bus left at 2pm so obviously they weren’t making that. We offered to let them share our car – as long as someone actually picked us up.
And, luckily, there was someone there waiting for us in the ferry station. They had taken our passports on the boat in order to get us processed through immigration and our driver had our passports. He collected our new friends’ passports as well and we were off. It took a little less than 2 hours to drive to our hotel. It was a pleasant ride but it was dark so we couldn’t see much. Our driver did point out lights way to our left and said that it was Israel. That was pretty cool.
Unlike Egypt, Jordan is very clean. Our driver was pointing out that the streets weren’t filled with trash and they don’t have a lot of noise pollution with the cars honking and such. They also drive with their lights on at night. What a concept! We are already liking Jordan very much.
Our hotel, Taybet Zaman, is at least 5 stars, maybe more. It was such a relief to enter our room and have a nice bed and a clean bathroom. The hotel started out as a small village and is carved and built out of the mountainside. It makes it a little hard to remember where your room is because of all the switchbacks and stairs but we did find our room and the restaurant. Dinner and breakfast are included so we went into the restaurant about 9 or 9:30 and had a small dinner. So far, so good.
Today we woke up at the hotel near St. Catherine’s Monastery. We had breakfast at the hotel – just your basic American style buffet. I’ve failed to mention, mostly because it probably doesn’t affect 6th graders, that we are not getting any caffeinated coffee in the mornings. It’s been a bit hard to deal with all the travel hassles on no caffeine but we are managing.
The drive to the monastery was about 5 minutes. We had our armed guard, our guide and the representative with us once again. The van is getting a bit crowded. It’s probably a good thing our friends left because we wouldn’t have any room in the van for all of us and our luggage. Once we got to the monastery there was a bit of a hike up a hill. From the bottom, you can’t see the monastery at all. I guess that was the point of building it where they did.
St. Catherine’s is a Greek orthodox monastery located at the foot of Mt. Sinai. It is thought to be the oldest, continuously inhabited Christian Monastery in the world. It was founded in 527 AD by the Roman Byzantine Emperor Justinian. It replaced a chapel that was built by Empress Helena in AD 337 where it was said that God talked to Moses from the Burning Bush. I took a picture of the bush for you all to see.
The monastery was renamed St. Catherine in the 9th or 10th century after monks claimed to have found the intact body of the saint on a nearby mountain. The monastery’s library, which we were able to enter, contains over 3,000 ancient manuscripts and is second in importance only to that of the Vatican library.
Our guide didn’t seem like he knew too much about the monastery so we didn’t stay very long. It was very crowded and difficult to move around once we entered the walls. It also didn’t seem like very much of the monastery was open to the public. There are actual monks living and working there.
Once we left the monastery, we drove about 110 km (one hour) to the ferry in Nuweiba. We thought that our ferry left at 1pm and would take us to Jordan. It’s 3:45pm and we just boarded the boat. Who knows when we will leave or where we will be when it stops? I videoed the inside of the departure area for you all to see.
I thought about videoing the bathroom but decided against it because I’m not real sure of how strong your stomachs might be. This one made the one on the train look sparkling clean.
The ferry boat was 90 minutes. While in the departure area, we met some people from New Zealand. They were traveling through the Middle East for about 3 weeks. They didn’t have any set reservations anywhere. They just planned to find things once they arrived in whatever city was next on their list. That seems way too adventuresome to us but they are young. Their plan was to catch a mini bus into Wadi Musa (near Petra) but that bus left at 2pm so obviously they weren’t making that. We offered to let them share our car – as long as someone actually picked us up.
And, luckily, there was someone there waiting for us in the ferry station. They had taken our passports on the boat in order to get us processed through immigration and our driver had our passports. He collected our new friends’ passports as well and we were off. It took a little less than 2 hours to drive to our hotel. It was a pleasant ride but it was dark so we couldn’t see much. Our driver did point out lights way to our left and said that it was Israel. That was pretty cool.
Unlike Egypt, Jordan is very clean. Our driver was pointing out that the streets weren’t filled with trash and they don’t have a lot of noise pollution with the cars honking and such. They also drive with their lights on at night. What a concept! We are already liking Jordan very much.
Our hotel, Taybet Zaman, is at least 5 stars, maybe more. It was such a relief to enter our room and have a nice bed and a clean bathroom. The hotel started out as a small village and is carved and built out of the mountainside. It makes it a little hard to remember where your room is because of all the switchbacks and stairs but we did find our room and the restaurant. Dinner and breakfast are included so we went into the restaurant about 9 or 9:30 and had a small dinner. So far, so good.
Day 16 Sharm el Sheikh to St. Catherine's and Mount Sinai
Day 16 – Sharm el Sheikh to St. Catherine’s and Mount Sinai
Today we woke up at the resort in Sharm. It was finally a day to sleep in. We were a bit confused on when someone was picking us up for the ride to St. Catherine’s but someone did finally call us to set up a time of 2pm. Check out time was noon so we just put our bags in the storage room and sat by the pool and read our books.
At 2pm, we went to the lobby and were pleasantly surprised that our driver, Josef, from Cairo was there to drive us. Even though he drives really fast, we really enjoyed his company. He doesn’t speak English all that well but he is a very pleasant man. We were also accompanied by 3 other men. One is named Makmut. He is our guide. Another one didn’t introduce himself and we found out later that he is a representative for the tour company. He comes along just to make sure we get across border crossings and get checked in at hotels, etc. The other man was from the tourist police. We didn’t find that out until later. I guess we should have noticed his machine gun.
It was a two-hour drive to our hotel near St. Catherine’s monastery.
During the van ride, Makmut and Scott talked the whole way. He showed us pictures of his kids and his girlfriend. He seems a bit strange but then again, most of this trip could be described as strange. I’m having to remind myself that this is a different country and things are done just a little differently.
The drive was interesting. We basically are driving northwards on the Sinai Peninsula. Sharm is at the southern point of the peninsula. The whole drive was a 2-lane highway surrounded by sand and mountains. I took some video. I hope you can get a sense of what it was like. Basically, there’s not much around.
The hotel “complex” is right in the middle of the sand and mountains. I have a video of the hotel. Originally, we were put in the guides’ quarters. We didn’t realize this until we started walking around. It’s about an acre in size with a reception building, guides’ quarters, a pool and rooms around the pool plus some small shops. Once we saw the rooms around the pool we wanted to move. Our first room had three small beds made out of concrete. It didn’t appear to be very clean. We aren’t travel snobs and certainly don’t stay in 5 star hotels everywhere but we do have at least some standards on where we will stay. This didn’t quite cut it.
Our guide spoke with the man at the reception and he acted like he didn’t have any more rooms available. We sat on the couches and waited for about 5 minutes and were finally given a key to another room. Our new room doesn’t appear to be completely ready for guests but it is much nicer and cleaner. Scott did have to take apart the showerhead and clean it out but we at least have a large double bed and clean towels. And, our room overlooks the pool area with a balcony. It isn’t the resort at Sharm but it is at least passable. We noticed in the lobby that it’s rated 3 stars. I would give it a 1 or 1.5 stars.
I didn’t realize exactly where we were headed this afternoon. Once we stepped out of the van, it felt about 25-30 degrees cooler than what we have been used to. We are actually in the mountains of the Sinai peninsula, near Mt. Sinai. It is 7500 feet high. Mt. Sinai is said to be the place where Moses received the Ten Commandments. It is also said that this is the area where God spoke to Moses from the burning bush.
Tomorrow we will spend our last day in Egypt taking a tour of St. Catherine’s Monastery (Deir Saint Katreen) and then catch a ferry to Jordan.
Today we woke up at the resort in Sharm. It was finally a day to sleep in. We were a bit confused on when someone was picking us up for the ride to St. Catherine’s but someone did finally call us to set up a time of 2pm. Check out time was noon so we just put our bags in the storage room and sat by the pool and read our books.
At 2pm, we went to the lobby and were pleasantly surprised that our driver, Josef, from Cairo was there to drive us. Even though he drives really fast, we really enjoyed his company. He doesn’t speak English all that well but he is a very pleasant man. We were also accompanied by 3 other men. One is named Makmut. He is our guide. Another one didn’t introduce himself and we found out later that he is a representative for the tour company. He comes along just to make sure we get across border crossings and get checked in at hotels, etc. The other man was from the tourist police. We didn’t find that out until later. I guess we should have noticed his machine gun.
It was a two-hour drive to our hotel near St. Catherine’s monastery.
During the van ride, Makmut and Scott talked the whole way. He showed us pictures of his kids and his girlfriend. He seems a bit strange but then again, most of this trip could be described as strange. I’m having to remind myself that this is a different country and things are done just a little differently.
The drive was interesting. We basically are driving northwards on the Sinai Peninsula. Sharm is at the southern point of the peninsula. The whole drive was a 2-lane highway surrounded by sand and mountains. I took some video. I hope you can get a sense of what it was like. Basically, there’s not much around.
The hotel “complex” is right in the middle of the sand and mountains. I have a video of the hotel. Originally, we were put in the guides’ quarters. We didn’t realize this until we started walking around. It’s about an acre in size with a reception building, guides’ quarters, a pool and rooms around the pool plus some small shops. Once we saw the rooms around the pool we wanted to move. Our first room had three small beds made out of concrete. It didn’t appear to be very clean. We aren’t travel snobs and certainly don’t stay in 5 star hotels everywhere but we do have at least some standards on where we will stay. This didn’t quite cut it.
Our guide spoke with the man at the reception and he acted like he didn’t have any more rooms available. We sat on the couches and waited for about 5 minutes and were finally given a key to another room. Our new room doesn’t appear to be completely ready for guests but it is much nicer and cleaner. Scott did have to take apart the showerhead and clean it out but we at least have a large double bed and clean towels. And, our room overlooks the pool area with a balcony. It isn’t the resort at Sharm but it is at least passable. We noticed in the lobby that it’s rated 3 stars. I would give it a 1 or 1.5 stars.
I didn’t realize exactly where we were headed this afternoon. Once we stepped out of the van, it felt about 25-30 degrees cooler than what we have been used to. We are actually in the mountains of the Sinai peninsula, near Mt. Sinai. It is 7500 feet high. Mt. Sinai is said to be the place where Moses received the Ten Commandments. It is also said that this is the area where God spoke to Moses from the burning bush.
Tomorrow we will spend our last day in Egypt taking a tour of St. Catherine’s Monastery (Deir Saint Katreen) and then catch a ferry to Jordan.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Nile River - Noel's question & Slideshow
Hi Noel. The Nile River is cold - about 72 degrees. In the northern part of Egypt the river is dirty from the pollution. In the southern part, the Nile river is cleaner. The Egyptians swim in it in the south and also drink it. Remember, the Nile flows south to north so it gets dirtier as it moves north. Based on the results from last week's poll question, many of you remembered that (and it does empty into the Mediterranean Sea). Good job!
I know you have been anxious to see some pictures, so here are a few I've been able to upload so far (move your mouse over the picture for its description):
I know you have been anxious to see some pictures, so here are a few I've been able to upload so far (move your mouse over the picture for its description):
Saturday, November 10, 2007
More questions, thoughts, trash, etc.
I thought I had already told you some of these but I think I forgot to put them on the blog. I asked our guide about sports. They play soccer, they swim, box, and play basketball. They really like Jean Claude Van Damme, Tom Cruise, Jim Carrey, Demi Moore, Sharon Stone and Julia Roberts. One of their favorite movies is Saw 3. They like 50 Cent and Eminem.
No one knows where Cleopatra was buried. They have not found her mummy – if there was a mummy.
The closest we are coming to seeing an oasis is being at this resort right now.
There are probably about 300 houses built on top of probably 900 or so tombs in the Valley of the Kings and it’s surrounding area. The locals who own these houses are probably using some of the tombs as bathrooms. They just don’t understand how important these tombs are to understanding their history. And, once they accept the importance, they realize that this is a way for them to make money. This is also their homes and where they have lived for quite awhile. It’s difficult for them to give that up. I think by the time you all get to visit Egypt, things will look a lot different. More tombs will have been discovered and more structures will be uncovered.
The nose of the Sphinx is just gone. It fell off due to whatever reason and has either not been found yet or has been ground up into small pieces that no one recognizes as the nose.
I had mentioned before that the Egyptians worshipped things that they were afraid of. Mostly these things were animals.
The northern part of Egypt is much dirtier then the southern part. There are more industries and more people in Cairo versus Aswan. Some of the cities are relatively clean but the majority of the places we have been have had trash all in the streets. There are people that clean it up but there don’t seem to be any trashcans available for general use. When we were waiting for the train in Minia, a girl opened a cottage cheese container and just through the lid right on the ground. The train tracks were just filled with soda cans and bottles and some of the kids were kicking empty bottles onto the tracks. The hotel rooms that we have stayed at are definitely not cleaned at the same standard that you would expect in the United States. I had to specifically ask that our room in Luxor be vacuumed because they just don’t do it.
I do feel like people are clean here. The restaurants have been relatively clean. The staff at McDonald’s was actually cleaning the stairway with a rag and bucket. I have brought my anti bacterial cleaner that I carry on my purse but I haven’t used much of it. Most of the public restrooms have running water and soap.
I have been surprised by a few things here. First off is the fact that there aren’t a lot of Americans traveling in Egypt. I know this is because we are scared and we are at war with an Arabic nation. Our boat manager told us that prior to 2001, the Americans were the number one group of tourists. Now they are barely in the top 10.
I have also been surprised by the choice of sodas. Normally when we travel outside of the US, the choices are coke, coca cola lite (diet coke), sprite and fanta orange. I have seen all of those here but I have seen Diet 7up, Pepsi Max, and Coke Zero. In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen Pepsi products anywhere else. There are also a very good selection of personal items like lotions and drugstore items that we buy in the US. Things are also fairly cheap here in Egypt.
I know I’ve talked about the driving but I think I failed to mention that they don’t drive with lights on at night. It makes it very difficult to cross the street! I’m not sure of the reason. They just flash their lights when they pass someone.
All of the children we pass on the street that aren’t with a group ask for money. They just stick their hands out and ask for money.
No one knows where Cleopatra was buried. They have not found her mummy – if there was a mummy.
The closest we are coming to seeing an oasis is being at this resort right now.
There are probably about 300 houses built on top of probably 900 or so tombs in the Valley of the Kings and it’s surrounding area. The locals who own these houses are probably using some of the tombs as bathrooms. They just don’t understand how important these tombs are to understanding their history. And, once they accept the importance, they realize that this is a way for them to make money. This is also their homes and where they have lived for quite awhile. It’s difficult for them to give that up. I think by the time you all get to visit Egypt, things will look a lot different. More tombs will have been discovered and more structures will be uncovered.
The nose of the Sphinx is just gone. It fell off due to whatever reason and has either not been found yet or has been ground up into small pieces that no one recognizes as the nose.
I had mentioned before that the Egyptians worshipped things that they were afraid of. Mostly these things were animals.
The northern part of Egypt is much dirtier then the southern part. There are more industries and more people in Cairo versus Aswan. Some of the cities are relatively clean but the majority of the places we have been have had trash all in the streets. There are people that clean it up but there don’t seem to be any trashcans available for general use. When we were waiting for the train in Minia, a girl opened a cottage cheese container and just through the lid right on the ground. The train tracks were just filled with soda cans and bottles and some of the kids were kicking empty bottles onto the tracks. The hotel rooms that we have stayed at are definitely not cleaned at the same standard that you would expect in the United States. I had to specifically ask that our room in Luxor be vacuumed because they just don’t do it.
I do feel like people are clean here. The restaurants have been relatively clean. The staff at McDonald’s was actually cleaning the stairway with a rag and bucket. I have brought my anti bacterial cleaner that I carry on my purse but I haven’t used much of it. Most of the public restrooms have running water and soap.
I have been surprised by a few things here. First off is the fact that there aren’t a lot of Americans traveling in Egypt. I know this is because we are scared and we are at war with an Arabic nation. Our boat manager told us that prior to 2001, the Americans were the number one group of tourists. Now they are barely in the top 10.
I have also been surprised by the choice of sodas. Normally when we travel outside of the US, the choices are coke, coca cola lite (diet coke), sprite and fanta orange. I have seen all of those here but I have seen Diet 7up, Pepsi Max, and Coke Zero. In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen Pepsi products anywhere else. There are also a very good selection of personal items like lotions and drugstore items that we buy in the US. Things are also fairly cheap here in Egypt.
I know I’ve talked about the driving but I think I failed to mention that they don’t drive with lights on at night. It makes it very difficult to cross the street! I’m not sure of the reason. They just flash their lights when they pass someone.
All of the children we pass on the street that aren’t with a group ask for money. They just stick their hands out and ask for money.
Day 15 Sharm el Sheikh
This morning we took a short flight to Sharm El Sheikh. This is basically a resort town on the coast of Egypt. We are staying at an all-inclusive resort called Sultan Gardens. I believe it is owned by the Holiday Inn. We only get a day here but it sure is nice. There are 4 big pools, a rock wall, a health club, an amphitheater and stage area, 2 or 3 nice restaurants and a nice beach area. I sure wish we were staying here longer. I took a short video from our balcony.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJVCrX_Mh6A
Tomorrow we head to 28 degrees 33’21.57” North, 33 degrees 58’33.28” East.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJVCrX_Mh6A
Tomorrow we head to 28 degrees 33’21.57” North, 33 degrees 58’33.28” East.
Day 14 Return, once again, to the West Bank
This morning, Scott and I decided to return to the West Bank to finish up some of the sites we didn’t see last week. Our first stop was to the Valley of the Kings, mainly to see King Tutankhamen’s tomb and mummy. I feel very happy that we didn’t go into his tomb last week because his mummy would not have been there. Today we got to see the actually mummy in the tomb. It was under a plexiglass cover and only his head and feet were visible. He was dark black, small and shriveled. It was pretty exciting to be one of the first people to see him. We also visited the tomb of Ramses V/VI, Seti II and Tawosret/Sethnakhte. Tawosret’s tomb was being built for her but Sethnakhte took it for his own. The tomb of Ramses V/VI was by far the best tomb we visited. It was very large and the colors and drawings were spectacular. If you get a chance to visit the website of the Theban Mapping Project make sure you look at this one!
On the way out of the Valley of the Kings, we drove by the house that Howard Carter lived in while he was excavating the tomb of King Tutankhamen. I took a picture of it for you to see.
After the Valley of the Kings, we moved on to Medinat Habu. This mortuary temple was built by Ramses III to celebrate his victories over the Nubians, Libyans, and Syrians. The previous 4 rulers could not defend Egypt from these enemies. Also, during the 20th dynasty, the people of Thebes (Luxor) lived inside the Temple while they were under attack. We could see how the entire structure was surrounded by mud bricks. This temple isn’t visited much by tourists. I’m not sure why. When the Christians came to Egypt, this was one of the temples they took over. Because they thought some of the wall writings were paganistic, they plastered over them. This plaster actually helped preserve the walls so this temple is in remarkable shape. Ramses III also had the foresight to carve his cartouches and some of the writings very deep into the walls so that they would be difficult to rub or scratch out.
We had lunch back at the hotel (pizzas) and had to say goodbye to our friends, John and Leslie. They couldn’t stay longer with us and are now on their way back home. We will be lonely without them.
Before dinner, we went to the Mummification Museum. They don’t allow pictures either. It was a very small museum and they had a few human mummies as well as a crocodile mummy, a duck mummy and cat mummies.
After the museum, we went back to the hotel to shower and then had a nice dinner in a restaurant on the Nile River.
On the way out of the Valley of the Kings, we drove by the house that Howard Carter lived in while he was excavating the tomb of King Tutankhamen. I took a picture of it for you to see.
After the Valley of the Kings, we moved on to Medinat Habu. This mortuary temple was built by Ramses III to celebrate his victories over the Nubians, Libyans, and Syrians. The previous 4 rulers could not defend Egypt from these enemies. Also, during the 20th dynasty, the people of Thebes (Luxor) lived inside the Temple while they were under attack. We could see how the entire structure was surrounded by mud bricks. This temple isn’t visited much by tourists. I’m not sure why. When the Christians came to Egypt, this was one of the temples they took over. Because they thought some of the wall writings were paganistic, they plastered over them. This plaster actually helped preserve the walls so this temple is in remarkable shape. Ramses III also had the foresight to carve his cartouches and some of the writings very deep into the walls so that they would be difficult to rub or scratch out.
We had lunch back at the hotel (pizzas) and had to say goodbye to our friends, John and Leslie. They couldn’t stay longer with us and are now on their way back home. We will be lonely without them.
Before dinner, we went to the Mummification Museum. They don’t allow pictures either. It was a very small museum and they had a few human mummies as well as a crocodile mummy, a duck mummy and cat mummies.
After the museum, we went back to the hotel to shower and then had a nice dinner in a restaurant on the Nile River.
Day 13 Luxor Museum
This morning we flew from Aswan back to Luxor. We are staying again at the Mercure Hotel. As soon as we got back to the hotel from the airport we all decided to visit the Luxor Museum. I mentioned in a prior blog that the Luxor Museum is probably the best place I’ve been so far in Egypt. It was very clean and the displays were set up so that you could actually touch the statues and carvings. There were a few mummies in the museum as well as items they had found in some of the tombs, including King Tut. We couldn’t take our cameras inside.
After the museum, we ate lunch at the hotel and hung out at the pool and in our room until dinner. It was a pretty lazy afternoon.
After the museum, we ate lunch at the hotel and hung out at the pool and in our room until dinner. It was a pretty lazy afternoon.
Friday, November 9, 2007
More questions answered
Carlos – There is no opening to enter the Sphinx. It is a solid structure.
Chase – There will be many more videos of sand. The videos we posted were taken mostly in Cairo where there isn’t a lot of sand. Just wait until you see the videos from Amarna and the Valley of the Kings. There is a new picture uploaded from one of our first days when we visited Amarna - go to the Tel Amarna and Akhenaten Blog link and scroll toward the middle of the page.
Kayla – The curse of King Tut is based on the fact that a lot of people that were associated with the discovery of the tomb died close together. We think it was just a coincidence. Scott says the real curse of Egypt is that if you drink the water, you’ll be in the bathroom for the rest of your vacation.
Reagan – King Tut’s mummy is pretty ugly but we didn’t think we were going to throw up. He is black and shriveled. It was very interesting to see him. The mummy is in the tomb under a plexiglass cover.
Quentin – The animals are pretty much the same here in Egypt. Except that we don’t really use donkeys to cart things around!
Kathryn – We have stayed at many hotels. One in Cairo, one in Luxor, 4 nights on the boat, one in Aswan and one in Minya. We will be staying at one in Sharm El Sheikh and a few more in Jordan. It’s hard to not be able to unpack our suitcases.
Mrs. Parisi – We can come to Indy anytime. The pollution is really bad here in Cairo. There are no rules on emissions on the cars and people just throw trash on the ground.
Sami – I don’t know the exact mileage from Egypt to Indiana. Can you look on Google maps and find out? You can also use this site to calculate distance between two locations.
Walter – Yes, there were non-Egyptian rulers. The Ptolemys were Greek. There were also some Lybians, Nubians, Babylonians, and Heksos that ruled.
Maxwell – I’ll try to send a page from our guide book with the list of dynasties and kings within each one. There are too many to write down right now.
Joe – The cars look just the same as they do in America except there are no SUVs.
Jake M. – We have learned some Arabic. Our first guides in Cairo taught us to say “you are good” and “you are bad”. They also taught us how to say "good morning," "yes" and "no" and "thank you." One night in our hotel, a worker came in to fix our door. When he got it working, I said “enta zeft”. I thought that meant, “you are good”. I was wrong. It meant, “you are bad”. I didn’t understand why he hung his head and left the room. I realized later my mistake. Too much knowledge is sometimes a bad thing!
Kramer – My husband really wanted to go to Egypt and I just go along for the ride. I’m learning new things just like you guys.
Emma – Yes, I miss my home. I mostly miss ice cubes!
Mrs. Parisi – You go to Rome and Greece!
Sammy – I described what people wore in a previous blog. I think one of the Random Thought ones.
Garrett – I actually bought you all a few bags of candy last week in Cairo but I’ve eaten it all! Maybe I’ll find some more.
Lexie – The kings and queens were at the highest level and then their advisors, scribes and vizers were next. The priests also were very high on the “food chain”. The farmers would be at the bottom.
Lauren - I don’t know what the Lord of Abydos Mystery is. Can you tell me? We have noticed that sometimes the gods and the kings take on different characteristics depending on what story is being told on the temple walls.
Capri – I have never eaten baba ghanoush before. It was very good! Plus, I like the word itself.
Conner H. – Some of the tombs are very hot. Some have fans set up inside to cool them off. Most of the temples don’t have ceilings so they are cool in the shade. Standing in the direct sunlight it feels like 100 degrees!
Carin – I did find out that the children in the larger cities do have play stations and game boys. It is just the farming kids that don’t have much in the smaller towns.
Jack S. – The government just wants to make sure we are safe. That is why they check for bombs.
Kevin – We have not seen any real, live scarabs in Egypt; however, we did see some dung beetles in Tanzania last February. We have some pictures of them rolling balls of dung.
Mitch – I think the most powerful king was Ramses II because he was such a good fighter and ruled for 67 years. Scott thinks Tuthmosis III was the best king because he was considered the best warrior king. Akhenaten was pretty powerful as well even though he didn’t rule very long. He changed everything about how Egypt did things. It didn’t stay that way but he was definitely ahead of his time.
Matt – They play soccer, basketball, and they swim. They do mostly everything we do except baseball and football.
Jack C. - Did Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs regurgitate their food over and over again? I don’t understand this question. There is nothing that we have learned about regurgitating food.
Lucas – We do get special treatment as tourists in the fact that we get escorted places. People are always trying to talk to us and sell us things.
Patrick – Tourism is very important to Egypt. Because it is a mostly Muslim country, the government wants to make sure that Americans feel safe with all the terrorism going around the Arabic Nations.
Ethan – Atum is the main, first god and created himself.
Jordyn – We have seen cows, bulls, donkeys, cats and dogs. Catfish and Perch are in the Nile River.
Chase – There will be many more videos of sand. The videos we posted were taken mostly in Cairo where there isn’t a lot of sand. Just wait until you see the videos from Amarna and the Valley of the Kings. There is a new picture uploaded from one of our first days when we visited Amarna - go to the Tel Amarna and Akhenaten Blog link and scroll toward the middle of the page.
Kayla – The curse of King Tut is based on the fact that a lot of people that were associated with the discovery of the tomb died close together. We think it was just a coincidence. Scott says the real curse of Egypt is that if you drink the water, you’ll be in the bathroom for the rest of your vacation.
Reagan – King Tut’s mummy is pretty ugly but we didn’t think we were going to throw up. He is black and shriveled. It was very interesting to see him. The mummy is in the tomb under a plexiglass cover.
Quentin – The animals are pretty much the same here in Egypt. Except that we don’t really use donkeys to cart things around!
Kathryn – We have stayed at many hotels. One in Cairo, one in Luxor, 4 nights on the boat, one in Aswan and one in Minya. We will be staying at one in Sharm El Sheikh and a few more in Jordan. It’s hard to not be able to unpack our suitcases.
Mrs. Parisi – We can come to Indy anytime. The pollution is really bad here in Cairo. There are no rules on emissions on the cars and people just throw trash on the ground.
Sami – I don’t know the exact mileage from Egypt to Indiana. Can you look on Google maps and find out? You can also use this site to calculate distance between two locations.
Walter – Yes, there were non-Egyptian rulers. The Ptolemys were Greek. There were also some Lybians, Nubians, Babylonians, and Heksos that ruled.
Maxwell – I’ll try to send a page from our guide book with the list of dynasties and kings within each one. There are too many to write down right now.
Joe – The cars look just the same as they do in America except there are no SUVs.
Jake M. – We have learned some Arabic. Our first guides in Cairo taught us to say “you are good” and “you are bad”. They also taught us how to say "good morning," "yes" and "no" and "thank you." One night in our hotel, a worker came in to fix our door. When he got it working, I said “enta zeft”. I thought that meant, “you are good”. I was wrong. It meant, “you are bad”. I didn’t understand why he hung his head and left the room. I realized later my mistake. Too much knowledge is sometimes a bad thing!
Kramer – My husband really wanted to go to Egypt and I just go along for the ride. I’m learning new things just like you guys.
Emma – Yes, I miss my home. I mostly miss ice cubes!
Mrs. Parisi – You go to Rome and Greece!
Sammy – I described what people wore in a previous blog. I think one of the Random Thought ones.
Garrett – I actually bought you all a few bags of candy last week in Cairo but I’ve eaten it all! Maybe I’ll find some more.
Lexie – The kings and queens were at the highest level and then their advisors, scribes and vizers were next. The priests also were very high on the “food chain”. The farmers would be at the bottom.
Lauren - I don’t know what the Lord of Abydos Mystery is. Can you tell me? We have noticed that sometimes the gods and the kings take on different characteristics depending on what story is being told on the temple walls.
Capri – I have never eaten baba ghanoush before. It was very good! Plus, I like the word itself.
Conner H. – Some of the tombs are very hot. Some have fans set up inside to cool them off. Most of the temples don’t have ceilings so they are cool in the shade. Standing in the direct sunlight it feels like 100 degrees!
Carin – I did find out that the children in the larger cities do have play stations and game boys. It is just the farming kids that don’t have much in the smaller towns.
Jack S. – The government just wants to make sure we are safe. That is why they check for bombs.
Kevin – We have not seen any real, live scarabs in Egypt; however, we did see some dung beetles in Tanzania last February. We have some pictures of them rolling balls of dung.
Mitch – I think the most powerful king was Ramses II because he was such a good fighter and ruled for 67 years. Scott thinks Tuthmosis III was the best king because he was considered the best warrior king. Akhenaten was pretty powerful as well even though he didn’t rule very long. He changed everything about how Egypt did things. It didn’t stay that way but he was definitely ahead of his time.
Matt – They play soccer, basketball, and they swim. They do mostly everything we do except baseball and football.
Jack C. - Did Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs regurgitate their food over and over again? I don’t understand this question. There is nothing that we have learned about regurgitating food.
Lucas – We do get special treatment as tourists in the fact that we get escorted places. People are always trying to talk to us and sell us things.
Patrick – Tourism is very important to Egypt. Because it is a mostly Muslim country, the government wants to make sure that Americans feel safe with all the terrorism going around the Arabic Nations.
Ethan – Atum is the main, first god and created himself.
Jordyn – We have seen cows, bulls, donkeys, cats and dogs. Catfish and Perch are in the Nile River.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Day 13 - Aswan back to Luxor, Sobek, Luxor Museum and Questions
Day 13 – Aswan back to Luxor
Today was basically a travel day from Aswan back to Luxor. We, once again, got up early and went to the airport for a very short 30 minute flight back to Luxor. Once we got to Luxor, we walked about 5 minutes down the main street (called the Corniche) to the Luxor Museum. I talk about it down below when I answered Brian’s questions. We had lunch (cheese pizza) in the hotel by the pool and hung out by the pool and in our rooms until dinnertime. We ate dinner down on the Nile in a restaurant overlooking all of the Nile River cruise boats. It’s been a nice, relaxing day (except for getting up so early). Tomorrow we go to the Valley of the Kings again to see King Tut’s tomb. We are curious to find out whether his mummy is still in the tomb. We will let you know Friday morning when we talk.
Here are some answer’s to some of your latest questions from the blogs.
Luke – It is hot, sunny and very dry in Egypt. There is under 4 inches of rain per year and only falls in January in the North Coast and around Cairo. It’s generally hotter as you move more south (additional information and current Cairo weather).
Alex – Yes, the Egyptians mummified animals. Look at one of the first blogs that references “Arrival Day” or “Day 1” or “Day 2”. We saw a lot of animal mummies in the Egyptian museum. There was also the mummified crocodile at Kom Ombo Temple.
Do you ever see pictures or see on tv that Prince Charles, William and Harry are hunting? Many royal persons enjoy hunting for sport. This is probably what King Tut was doing. I’m sure that his servants cleaned the animals he hunted and they also probably did all the cooking.
Arden – We are going back to the West Bank and the Valley of the Kings to visit King Tut’s tomb. As you remember, all of the items from the tomb were found intact and are now on display at the Egyptian Museum.
Just like Greek and Roman mythology, I’m sure there are many Egyptian myths. The one’s I’m familiar with are the most famous one about Isis and Osiris and Set. I’ve explained that one in a previous blog. The other one I know about is the myth of Sobek, the crocodile god. I should have explained this when we went to Kom Ombo since that is the temple devoted to Sobek. Here’s my explanation of the myth: The temple of Kom Ombo is right on the Nile River. At that time, there were many crocodiles living in the Nile. The Egyptians of the Middle Kingdom (11th – 14th dynasty, 2055bc – 1650bc) were very frightened of the crocodile so they decided to make the crocodile a god and they named him Sobek. On the walls of tombs and in statues, Sobek has the body of a man and the head of a crocodile. The myth says that Sobek and Horus were living together at Kom Ombo. The people that worshipped Horus were in charge of farming and harvesting. Sobek’s people were in charge of irrigation of the farms. Sobek got greedy and wanted Horus out of Kom Ombo. Because Sobek’s people couldn’t farm, they eventually followed Horus and left Kom Ombo. To get his people back, Sobek finally relented and allowed both himself and Horus to rule as Gods at Kom Ombo.
I’m also bringing back a booklet on all of the gods of Egypt for your classroom. There are a lot of them and this booklet describes each one.
Cruising down the Nile was really relaxing. I’ve taken a video of what the landscape looks like. There are many farmers with their cows and donkeys. Most of the landscape is green because of the water but in the background, all you can see is brown dirt and sand. We did have a few stops along the way. It was just a nice way to get from Luxor to Aswan. The people on the boat were very nice to us. They have invited us back on the boat tonight for a belly dancing show even though we are staying at another hotel.
Brian – As of today, I think the Luxor Museum has been my favorite place. We couldn’t bring our cameras inside so I don’t have anything to show you all but it is definitely the best museum in all of Egypt. It isn’t very big but all the displays are well marked and well displayed. Most of the items in the museum are statues and they have them set up so that you can walk all the way around each one and actually touch them. They also show the making of papyrus and some of the drawings of the architects of the tombs and temple walls. I thought that was fascinating.
Ana – Most ancient Egyptians died of some sort of infection. There were no antibiotics back then so if you had a simple cut and didn’t get it cleaned properly, it could turn in to a huge infection and you could die. Most ancient people didn’t live very long and I would guess that most didn’t live past their 30s or 40s.
The Great Sphinx, carved out of the surrounding limestone bedrock, is 57 meters (185 feet) long, 6 m (20 ft) wide, and has a height of 20 m (65 ft) - making it the largest single-stone statue in the world.
The ancient Egyptians ate stone ground bread, fish and vegetables they could grow from their farms. Fish was the only meat products they had. The only animals they had were used for work, not food. Tuthmosis III was the first pharaoh to bring chickens to Egypt.
We have only seen cobras on the walls of the Temples.
There are 112 pyramids in Egypt.
Yes, kids go to school just like they do in the US except their week is Sunday through Thursday because Friday is a holy day.
We like Egypt but definitely would not want to live here. We are very used to the United States and it takes awhile to get used to different things. For example, if the train station in the US says the train will leave at 3pm, it does. Here, it might leave at 4:15pm and no one thinks anything about it. Also, the food isn’t as good as it is at home. Scott could not live without his Carolina barbeque. We also don’t like soccer that much so we would miss watching the Colts and the Tarheels.
There are definitely a lot of Temples and Pyramids still around from Ancient Egypt. Archeologists and Egyptologists are discovering more and more things everyday.
The last time we were in McDonald’s I noticed someone eating a McArabic. Pita bread is very big here as well as kabobs. The McArabic is a pita sandwich with either chicken or Kofta (a popular Middle Eastern dish consisting of ground beef/lamb mixed with spices and onions).
Today was basically a travel day from Aswan back to Luxor. We, once again, got up early and went to the airport for a very short 30 minute flight back to Luxor. Once we got to Luxor, we walked about 5 minutes down the main street (called the Corniche) to the Luxor Museum. I talk about it down below when I answered Brian’s questions. We had lunch (cheese pizza) in the hotel by the pool and hung out by the pool and in our rooms until dinnertime. We ate dinner down on the Nile in a restaurant overlooking all of the Nile River cruise boats. It’s been a nice, relaxing day (except for getting up so early). Tomorrow we go to the Valley of the Kings again to see King Tut’s tomb. We are curious to find out whether his mummy is still in the tomb. We will let you know Friday morning when we talk.
Here are some answer’s to some of your latest questions from the blogs.
Luke – It is hot, sunny and very dry in Egypt. There is under 4 inches of rain per year and only falls in January in the North Coast and around Cairo. It’s generally hotter as you move more south (additional information and current Cairo weather).
Alex – Yes, the Egyptians mummified animals. Look at one of the first blogs that references “Arrival Day” or “Day 1” or “Day 2”. We saw a lot of animal mummies in the Egyptian museum. There was also the mummified crocodile at Kom Ombo Temple.
Do you ever see pictures or see on tv that Prince Charles, William and Harry are hunting? Many royal persons enjoy hunting for sport. This is probably what King Tut was doing. I’m sure that his servants cleaned the animals he hunted and they also probably did all the cooking.
Arden – We are going back to the West Bank and the Valley of the Kings to visit King Tut’s tomb. As you remember, all of the items from the tomb were found intact and are now on display at the Egyptian Museum.
Just like Greek and Roman mythology, I’m sure there are many Egyptian myths. The one’s I’m familiar with are the most famous one about Isis and Osiris and Set. I’ve explained that one in a previous blog. The other one I know about is the myth of Sobek, the crocodile god. I should have explained this when we went to Kom Ombo since that is the temple devoted to Sobek. Here’s my explanation of the myth: The temple of Kom Ombo is right on the Nile River. At that time, there were many crocodiles living in the Nile. The Egyptians of the Middle Kingdom (11th – 14th dynasty, 2055bc – 1650bc) were very frightened of the crocodile so they decided to make the crocodile a god and they named him Sobek. On the walls of tombs and in statues, Sobek has the body of a man and the head of a crocodile. The myth says that Sobek and Horus were living together at Kom Ombo. The people that worshipped Horus were in charge of farming and harvesting. Sobek’s people were in charge of irrigation of the farms. Sobek got greedy and wanted Horus out of Kom Ombo. Because Sobek’s people couldn’t farm, they eventually followed Horus and left Kom Ombo. To get his people back, Sobek finally relented and allowed both himself and Horus to rule as Gods at Kom Ombo.
I’m also bringing back a booklet on all of the gods of Egypt for your classroom. There are a lot of them and this booklet describes each one.
Cruising down the Nile was really relaxing. I’ve taken a video of what the landscape looks like. There are many farmers with their cows and donkeys. Most of the landscape is green because of the water but in the background, all you can see is brown dirt and sand. We did have a few stops along the way. It was just a nice way to get from Luxor to Aswan. The people on the boat were very nice to us. They have invited us back on the boat tonight for a belly dancing show even though we are staying at another hotel.
Brian – As of today, I think the Luxor Museum has been my favorite place. We couldn’t bring our cameras inside so I don’t have anything to show you all but it is definitely the best museum in all of Egypt. It isn’t very big but all the displays are well marked and well displayed. Most of the items in the museum are statues and they have them set up so that you can walk all the way around each one and actually touch them. They also show the making of papyrus and some of the drawings of the architects of the tombs and temple walls. I thought that was fascinating.
Ana – Most ancient Egyptians died of some sort of infection. There were no antibiotics back then so if you had a simple cut and didn’t get it cleaned properly, it could turn in to a huge infection and you could die. Most ancient people didn’t live very long and I would guess that most didn’t live past their 30s or 40s.
The Great Sphinx, carved out of the surrounding limestone bedrock, is 57 meters (185 feet) long, 6 m (20 ft) wide, and has a height of 20 m (65 ft) - making it the largest single-stone statue in the world.
The ancient Egyptians ate stone ground bread, fish and vegetables they could grow from their farms. Fish was the only meat products they had. The only animals they had were used for work, not food. Tuthmosis III was the first pharaoh to bring chickens to Egypt.
We have only seen cobras on the walls of the Temples.
There are 112 pyramids in Egypt.
Yes, kids go to school just like they do in the US except their week is Sunday through Thursday because Friday is a holy day.
We like Egypt but definitely would not want to live here. We are very used to the United States and it takes awhile to get used to different things. For example, if the train station in the US says the train will leave at 3pm, it does. Here, it might leave at 4:15pm and no one thinks anything about it. Also, the food isn’t as good as it is at home. Scott could not live without his Carolina barbeque. We also don’t like soccer that much so we would miss watching the Colts and the Tarheels.
There are definitely a lot of Temples and Pyramids still around from Ancient Egypt. Archeologists and Egyptologists are discovering more and more things everyday.
The last time we were in McDonald’s I noticed someone eating a McArabic. Pita bread is very big here as well as kabobs. The McArabic is a pita sandwich with either chicken or Kofta (a popular Middle Eastern dish consisting of ground beef/lamb mixed with spices and onions).
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Sorry about today
Hello class. Sorry about today. I was so excited to talk with you guys and then the internet connection went dead. I've sent an e-mail to Mrs. Parisi and maybe we can try again on Friday. I'd really like to know what you guys are liking best about our trip. Can you post some things on the blog? If I can't get anymore of the videos loaded while we are on the trip, I will definitely do them from my house so you can watch them all.
Talk with you soon! Hopefully.
Talk with you soon! Hopefully.
Answers to more of your questions II
Here are the answers to your latest questions from the blogs:
Lindsey - There were 6 woman pharoahs in Egypt. Nitocris in the 6th dynasty, Sobekneferu in the 12th, Hatshepsut in the 18th, Smenkhkare (some have even suggested this was another name for Akhenaten's wife, Nefertiti) in the 18th, Twosret in the 19th and Cleopatra VII in the final Ptolemaic dynasty. Hatshepsut is really the only woman that ruled when Egypt was prosperous.
Mitch - Egyptologist used to think that King Tut was murdered by Ay but recent evidence shows this not to be the case. It is now thought that he died from an infection from a hunting accident - you can read more in this National Geographic article from 10/23/07.
Brian - Yes, we really like seeing all of these places on the West Bank. We are actually planning on going back in the next few days to see more of the tombs that we didn't get to go in. I hope you can visit www.kv5.com and see the same things we are seeing. It's really interesting because these tombs are beautifully decorated and very large. The ancient Egyptians didn't have bulldozers like we have now so it must have taken them a very long time to dig these tombs out.
Alex - Egyptians thought the heart was the brain because they could feel it beating. They could feel love and other emotions with their heart. It seemed to them to be the seat of all of their emotions and thoughts.
Jack - It took us 3 hours to drive to Abydos from Luxor. Two hours from Abydos to Dendera and one hour back to our hotel in Luxor.
Carlyle Lynn - Yes, we are having fun but traveling in these kinds of countries is difficult. The language hasn't been that much of a problem for us because most everyone speaks a little English. Also, most of the signs in the larger cities are written in English and Arabic. Not knowing what's in the food is a bit hard plus not being able to drink the water and eat the fresh fruit and vegetables starts to get a bit hard after awhile. Start saving your money now. You can definitely go to Egypt when you get a little older. Nothing is impossible. If you have a love for something or are interested in something, you can always figure out a way to do it.
Carin - I don't know about the mummification of insects. I think you are right in that they just let them dry up with the natron solution without removing any of the insides. I will try to ask our guides in the next few days. This National Geographic article describes how animals were mummified the same way as humans, so it makes sense that sacred insects were treated the same way.
Lindsey - There were 6 woman pharoahs in Egypt. Nitocris in the 6th dynasty, Sobekneferu in the 12th, Hatshepsut in the 18th, Smenkhkare (some have even suggested this was another name for Akhenaten's wife, Nefertiti) in the 18th, Twosret in the 19th and Cleopatra VII in the final Ptolemaic dynasty. Hatshepsut is really the only woman that ruled when Egypt was prosperous.
Mitch - Egyptologist used to think that King Tut was murdered by Ay but recent evidence shows this not to be the case. It is now thought that he died from an infection from a hunting accident - you can read more in this National Geographic article from 10/23/07.
Brian - Yes, we really like seeing all of these places on the West Bank. We are actually planning on going back in the next few days to see more of the tombs that we didn't get to go in. I hope you can visit www.kv5.com and see the same things we are seeing. It's really interesting because these tombs are beautifully decorated and very large. The ancient Egyptians didn't have bulldozers like we have now so it must have taken them a very long time to dig these tombs out.
Alex - Egyptians thought the heart was the brain because they could feel it beating. They could feel love and other emotions with their heart. It seemed to them to be the seat of all of their emotions and thoughts.
Jack - It took us 3 hours to drive to Abydos from Luxor. Two hours from Abydos to Dendera and one hour back to our hotel in Luxor.
Carlyle Lynn - Yes, we are having fun but traveling in these kinds of countries is difficult. The language hasn't been that much of a problem for us because most everyone speaks a little English. Also, most of the signs in the larger cities are written in English and Arabic. Not knowing what's in the food is a bit hard plus not being able to drink the water and eat the fresh fruit and vegetables starts to get a bit hard after awhile. Start saving your money now. You can definitely go to Egypt when you get a little older. Nothing is impossible. If you have a love for something or are interested in something, you can always figure out a way to do it.
Carin - I don't know about the mummification of insects. I think you are right in that they just let them dry up with the natron solution without removing any of the insides. I will try to ask our guides in the next few days. This National Geographic article describes how animals were mummified the same way as humans, so it makes sense that sacred insects were treated the same way.
Answers to more of your questions
Here are the answers to your latest questions from the blogs:
Lindsey - There were 6 woman pharoahs in Egypt. Nitocris in the 6th dynasty, Sobekneferu in the 12th, Hatshepsut in the 18th, Smenkhkare (who was really Aknahtn's wife, Nefertiti) in the 18th, Towosret in the 19th and Cleopatra VII in the final Ptolemaic dynasty. Hatshepsut is really the only woman that ruled when Egypt was properous.
Mitch - Egyptologist used to think that King Tut was murdered by Ay but recent evidence shows this not to be the case. It is now thought that he died from an infection from a hunting accident.
Brian - Yes, we really like seeing all of these places on the West Bank. We are actually planning on going back in the next few days to see more of the tombs that we didn't get to go in. I hope you can visit www.kv5.com and see the same things we are seeing. It's really interesting because these tombs are beautifully decorated and very large. The ancient Egyptians didn't have bulldozers like we have now so it must have taken them a very long time to dig these tombs out.
Alex - Egyptians thought the heart was the brain because they could feel it beating. They could feel love and other emotions with their heart. It seemed to them to be the seat of all of their emotions and thoughts.
Jack - It took us 3 hours to drive to Abydos from Luxor. Two hours from Abydos to Dendara and one hour back to our hotel in Luxor.
Carlyle Lynn - Yes, we are having fun but travelling in these kinds of countries is difficult. The language hasn't been that much of a problem for us because most everyone speaks a little English. Also, most of the signs in the larger cities are written in English and Arabic. Not knowing what's in the food is a bit hard plus not being able to drink the water and eat the fresh fruit and vegetables starts to get a bit hard after awhile. Start saving your money now. You can definitely go to Egypt when you get a little older. Nothing is impossible. If you have a love for something or are interested in something, you can always figure out a way to do it.
Carin - I don't know about the mummification of insects. I think you are right in that they just let them dry up with the natron solution without removing any of the insides. I will try to ask our guides in the next few days.
Lindsey - There were 6 woman pharoahs in Egypt. Nitocris in the 6th dynasty, Sobekneferu in the 12th, Hatshepsut in the 18th, Smenkhkare (who was really Aknahtn's wife, Nefertiti) in the 18th, Towosret in the 19th and Cleopatra VII in the final Ptolemaic dynasty. Hatshepsut is really the only woman that ruled when Egypt was properous.
Mitch - Egyptologist used to think that King Tut was murdered by Ay but recent evidence shows this not to be the case. It is now thought that he died from an infection from a hunting accident.
Brian - Yes, we really like seeing all of these places on the West Bank. We are actually planning on going back in the next few days to see more of the tombs that we didn't get to go in. I hope you can visit www.kv5.com and see the same things we are seeing. It's really interesting because these tombs are beautifully decorated and very large. The ancient Egyptians didn't have bulldozers like we have now so it must have taken them a very long time to dig these tombs out.
Alex - Egyptians thought the heart was the brain because they could feel it beating. They could feel love and other emotions with their heart. It seemed to them to be the seat of all of their emotions and thoughts.
Jack - It took us 3 hours to drive to Abydos from Luxor. Two hours from Abydos to Dendara and one hour back to our hotel in Luxor.
Carlyle Lynn - Yes, we are having fun but travelling in these kinds of countries is difficult. The language hasn't been that much of a problem for us because most everyone speaks a little English. Also, most of the signs in the larger cities are written in English and Arabic. Not knowing what's in the food is a bit hard plus not being able to drink the water and eat the fresh fruit and vegetables starts to get a bit hard after awhile. Start saving your money now. You can definitely go to Egypt when you get a little older. Nothing is impossible. If you have a love for something or are interested in something, you can always figure out a way to do it.
Carin - I don't know about the mummification of insects. I think you are right in that they just let them dry up with the natron solution without removing any of the insides. I will try to ask our guides in the next few days.
Day 12 - Abu Simbel
We left our ship this morning at 5:45 to catch a short 30 minute flight to Abu Simbel. We only had to arrive to the airport within 30 minutes of our flight and things went off on time. The plane was very nice and we didn’t even have to pay to use the bathroom!
When we arrived at the Abu Simbel airport we expected there to be a guide to take us to the temple site and show us around. However, there was no one there. After looking around for awhile, we found some other guide who was nice enough to direct us to a bus that could take us to the site. Of course, we were a bit annoyed that no one met us and that we would have to buy our own tickets inside the site, but everything worked out okay. Our tour includes access to all of the sites so we will have to figure out how to get reimbursed for our tickets later.
The Great Temple of Abu Simbel was built to honor Ramses II and dedicated to the patron deities of Egypt’s great cities - Amun of Thebes, Ptah of Memphis and Ra-Harakhty of Heliopolis. The temple is 108 feet high with four colossal enthroned statues of Rames II and was intended to impress and frighten.
There is a smaller temple at Abu Simbel that was built by Ramses II to honor his favorite wife, Nefertari. The main thing here was to note that Nefertari was shown as the same size as her husband. This showed that he had a great deal of love and respect for her.
With the building of the dam and the creation of Lake Nasser, the temples at Abu Simbel were quickly being drowned by the lake. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) jumped in to help save the temples. They were cut from the mountain and moved above their original position.
The hours are from 6am until 8pm or later, depending on the flight schedules.
We were able to find the number of our bus and headed back to the airport for our short flight back to Aswan. We are now staying one more night at a hotel called the Basma Hotel. Tomorrow we head back to Luxor.
When we arrived at the Abu Simbel airport we expected there to be a guide to take us to the temple site and show us around. However, there was no one there. After looking around for awhile, we found some other guide who was nice enough to direct us to a bus that could take us to the site. Of course, we were a bit annoyed that no one met us and that we would have to buy our own tickets inside the site, but everything worked out okay. Our tour includes access to all of the sites so we will have to figure out how to get reimbursed for our tickets later.
The Great Temple of Abu Simbel was built to honor Ramses II and dedicated to the patron deities of Egypt’s great cities - Amun of Thebes, Ptah of Memphis and Ra-Harakhty of Heliopolis. The temple is 108 feet high with four colossal enthroned statues of Rames II and was intended to impress and frighten.
There is a smaller temple at Abu Simbel that was built by Ramses II to honor his favorite wife, Nefertari. The main thing here was to note that Nefertari was shown as the same size as her husband. This showed that he had a great deal of love and respect for her.
With the building of the dam and the creation of Lake Nasser, the temples at Abu Simbel were quickly being drowned by the lake. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) jumped in to help save the temples. They were cut from the mountain and moved above their original position.
The hours are from 6am until 8pm or later, depending on the flight schedules.
We were able to find the number of our bus and headed back to the airport for our short flight back to Aswan. We are now staying one more night at a hotel called the Basma Hotel. Tomorrow we head back to Luxor.
Day 11 - Philae Temple, Aswan Dams, and Granite
Today we are seeing some sites in Aswan. We had breakfast about 7am and left the boat at 8am to first head towards the granite quarry. We are in a white van again but this time it is a bit bigger. The roads of Aswan our less congested and more civilized than Cairo so we are driving at normal speeds and within our own lanes. Aswan provided all of the granite that the ancient Egyptians used for building obelisks, stelae, and statues. We were able to see an unfinished obelisk that was started by Hathesput but was abandoned when a flaw in the granite was found.
From the quarry, our driver took us toward Lake Nasser and the Aswan and High dams. I took a few pictures of the information boards at the top of the High dam that show some of the statistics. Basically, the Aswan dam was erected to stop the overflowing of the Nile River. The original Aswan dam was built in 1900 by the British but the Nile River eventually overflowed that dam and extensions were built to raise the height of the dam in 1912, 1926 and 1936. This also proved to be inadequate. The British promised Egypt a loan but when Egypt became a Republic and elected Gamal Abdel Nasser as its president in 1952, the British pulled out of the deal. In 1956, Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal and used the monies from that to fund the new, High dam along with help from Russia. In 1960 they started building the High dam and finished it in 1970. Building the High dam created Lake Nasser, the largest man made lake in the world.
Our last scheduled stop this morning was to the Philae Temple. It is necessary to board small motor boats to get to the site. I videoed a bit of the ride so you could see the boat.
The original site of the Temple is underwater due to the building of the High dam. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) contributed $25 million to move the 20,000 tons of stone to higher ground. The new site was landscape to look exactly like the original. The Philae Temple was built to honor Isis. In the famous story of Set, Osiris and Isis, Isis was able to resurrect Osiris after Set killed him. Set obviously didn’t like this and cut Osiris up into 14 pieces and put the piece all over Egypt. Isis asked for wings from one of the gods and flew around Egypt looking for the pieces. We learned that the heart and the backbone were at Abydos. The final piece she was looking for, the male organ, was said to have been eaten by a catfish on the site of the Philae Temple. Without this piece of Osiris, she could not put him back together. Her tears of sadness are said to have started the Nile River at this spot. There is a video of the original site and what it looks like now. I also included a short video on what it looks like from the water.
After all of this, we came back to the boat for a dip in the pool and lunch. It’s a funny thing about the pools in Egypt. They are all freezing! You would think that the ship’s pool, on the top deck, in the sun all morning, would be at least warm. It wasn’t. We stayed in about 60 seconds.
We took short naps after lunch and headed out to the souk. A souk is the Arabic word for market. There is one main street that runs probably about a mile or so with offshoots. The small stores, like the bazaar at Khan el Khalili, contain touristy things as well as food and spices and jewelry.
That’s it for today. Tomorrow we get up very early and fly to Abu Simbel.
From the quarry, our driver took us toward Lake Nasser and the Aswan and High dams. I took a few pictures of the information boards at the top of the High dam that show some of the statistics. Basically, the Aswan dam was erected to stop the overflowing of the Nile River. The original Aswan dam was built in 1900 by the British but the Nile River eventually overflowed that dam and extensions were built to raise the height of the dam in 1912, 1926 and 1936. This also proved to be inadequate. The British promised Egypt a loan but when Egypt became a Republic and elected Gamal Abdel Nasser as its president in 1952, the British pulled out of the deal. In 1956, Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal and used the monies from that to fund the new, High dam along with help from Russia. In 1960 they started building the High dam and finished it in 1970. Building the High dam created Lake Nasser, the largest man made lake in the world.
Our last scheduled stop this morning was to the Philae Temple. It is necessary to board small motor boats to get to the site. I videoed a bit of the ride so you could see the boat.
The original site of the Temple is underwater due to the building of the High dam. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) contributed $25 million to move the 20,000 tons of stone to higher ground. The new site was landscape to look exactly like the original. The Philae Temple was built to honor Isis. In the famous story of Set, Osiris and Isis, Isis was able to resurrect Osiris after Set killed him. Set obviously didn’t like this and cut Osiris up into 14 pieces and put the piece all over Egypt. Isis asked for wings from one of the gods and flew around Egypt looking for the pieces. We learned that the heart and the backbone were at Abydos. The final piece she was looking for, the male organ, was said to have been eaten by a catfish on the site of the Philae Temple. Without this piece of Osiris, she could not put him back together. Her tears of sadness are said to have started the Nile River at this spot. There is a video of the original site and what it looks like now. I also included a short video on what it looks like from the water.
After all of this, we came back to the boat for a dip in the pool and lunch. It’s a funny thing about the pools in Egypt. They are all freezing! You would think that the ship’s pool, on the top deck, in the sun all morning, would be at least warm. It wasn’t. We stayed in about 60 seconds.
We took short naps after lunch and headed out to the souk. A souk is the Arabic word for market. There is one main street that runs probably about a mile or so with offshoots. The small stores, like the bazaar at Khan el Khalili, contain touristy things as well as food and spices and jewelry.
That’s it for today. Tomorrow we get up very early and fly to Abu Simbel.
Day 10 - Edfu and Kom Ombo
Today we are still aboard our Nile cruise boat.
The boat docked last night in Edfu, about dinnertime. We stayed overnight on the ship and woke up this morning before 6am to eat breakfast and take our tour of the Edfu Temple. We left this early because of the heat as well as the fact that there are many other boats docked here and we wanted it to be a bit less crowded at the temple. We took a horse drawn carriage (a caleche) to the site of the temple.
I’m not sure of the operating hours but I think it’s 6am until 4pm. Most of the tourists arrive by boat and they are usually gone by that time of day. There are only about 50,000 people who actually live in the town of Edfu. Our whole visit took less than 2 hours.
The Edfu temple was built by the Ptolemies about 250 BC and took almost 180 years to build. This was because there was some unrest happening in their capital of Alexandria so people kept getting pulled off the building project and moved to the capital to help defend against the problems occurring there. The Greco-roman rulers continued the tradition of the Egyptians as far as temple building and followed the Amarna style of reliefs which shows the people more accurately. The figures had more rounded bellies and stronger legs. Everything was a bit more realistic to show what the kings actually looked like. It is called Amarna style because Akhenaten started this tradition when he moved to Amarna.
The temple is devoted to the god, Horus, who is the son of Isis and Osiris. You will see a video of one of the walls that depicts the battle between Horus and his uncle, Set, who killed his father, Osiris. Obviously, Horus is angry that Set has killed his father. Each set of figures shows Horus on a boat trying to capture Set who has taken on the figures of a hippopotamus and a turtle while trying to escape. Isis is on the boat with Horus helping him out. In the final scene, Horus has captured Set (as a hippo) and put chains around his feet. He does not kill Set. This shows that evil is always around us but that we must try to control it only.
Our guide also showed us a first lesson in reading hieroglyphs. There are many different ways to read them. It all depends on what directions the faces of the animals and people are facing. If they are facing right, you read from right to left. If they are facing left, you read left to right. Once you know the hieroglyphic alphabet, you can read the cartouches fairly easily. I have included one video that shows our guide reading a cartouche. I have also included one video for you all to figure out yourselves.
There is also a Nilometer at this temple. Every farmer was taxed each year based on the height of the river. The government reasoned that if the Nile was high, the crops would be good. If the Nile was lower than normal then the crops probably wouldn’t be as abundant. The Nilometer is set under the temple and looks like an isosceles triangle. The water fills up the narrow end of the triangle and comes forward based on the level.
We went back to the boat and are now sailing towards Kom Ombo.
We arrived at Kom Ombo Temple at about 3pm. Kom Ombo is a Greco-Roman temple that was started by Ptolemy VI Philometor at the beginning of his reign and added to by other Ptolemys. It is a two part temple that is symmetrically balanced with the left side being dedicated to Haroeris, Horus the Elder (not to be confused with Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris) and the right side being dedicated to the crocodile God, Sobek. One interesting fact was that this temple was mostly filled with water five months of the year when the Nile flooded. When it was discovered, it was filled with sand.
There is a separate structure that has 2 crocoldile mummies:
There are a few very interesting scenes depicted on the walls in this temple. The first one is the calendar. The round disk means “day” and the marks before the disk indicated the number of days. So, 2 marks plus the disk means the second day of the month. There were also symbols for each season plus the last day of the month.
Another scene in the back of the temple depicts the ancient Egyptian means of surgery. There is a surgery table plus a few examples of their instruments. The temple was used as a type of hospital where local people could come and get medical treatment. There is also a picture of Isis showing the best way for a woman to position herself for child birth.
There is also a Nilometer at this Temple. There is evidence that the people at this temple took baby crocodile from the river and raised them in the nilometer. There was also a tradition of using the nilometer as a sort of wishing well. People would write their requests, or wishes, on rocks and toss them into the water as an offering to the gods.
The last important scene we saw was the block of stone that actually contains both of the gods – Horus the elder and Sobek. Originally this slab was thought to have been at the very top, middle of the front entrance to the temple.
There is also good examples of how the Egyptians built concrete structures without cement. Each piece of concrete contains a slit that fit a wooden wedge inside it. Each piece of granite was stuck together with these wooden wedges.
The Kom Ombo temple is open from 6am until 8pm. There are lights at the temple which help people see after dark.
After dinner tonight, we had Nubians come aboard and give us a show of their music and dancing. We are now docked in Aswan and the Nubian village is on an island in the Nile River in Aswan.
The boat docked last night in Edfu, about dinnertime. We stayed overnight on the ship and woke up this morning before 6am to eat breakfast and take our tour of the Edfu Temple. We left this early because of the heat as well as the fact that there are many other boats docked here and we wanted it to be a bit less crowded at the temple. We took a horse drawn carriage (a caleche) to the site of the temple.
I’m not sure of the operating hours but I think it’s 6am until 4pm. Most of the tourists arrive by boat and they are usually gone by that time of day. There are only about 50,000 people who actually live in the town of Edfu. Our whole visit took less than 2 hours.
The Edfu temple was built by the Ptolemies about 250 BC and took almost 180 years to build. This was because there was some unrest happening in their capital of Alexandria so people kept getting pulled off the building project and moved to the capital to help defend against the problems occurring there. The Greco-roman rulers continued the tradition of the Egyptians as far as temple building and followed the Amarna style of reliefs which shows the people more accurately. The figures had more rounded bellies and stronger legs. Everything was a bit more realistic to show what the kings actually looked like. It is called Amarna style because Akhenaten started this tradition when he moved to Amarna.
The temple is devoted to the god, Horus, who is the son of Isis and Osiris. You will see a video of one of the walls that depicts the battle between Horus and his uncle, Set, who killed his father, Osiris. Obviously, Horus is angry that Set has killed his father. Each set of figures shows Horus on a boat trying to capture Set who has taken on the figures of a hippopotamus and a turtle while trying to escape. Isis is on the boat with Horus helping him out. In the final scene, Horus has captured Set (as a hippo) and put chains around his feet. He does not kill Set. This shows that evil is always around us but that we must try to control it only.
Our guide also showed us a first lesson in reading hieroglyphs. There are many different ways to read them. It all depends on what directions the faces of the animals and people are facing. If they are facing right, you read from right to left. If they are facing left, you read left to right. Once you know the hieroglyphic alphabet, you can read the cartouches fairly easily. I have included one video that shows our guide reading a cartouche. I have also included one video for you all to figure out yourselves.
There is also a Nilometer at this temple. Every farmer was taxed each year based on the height of the river. The government reasoned that if the Nile was high, the crops would be good. If the Nile was lower than normal then the crops probably wouldn’t be as abundant. The Nilometer is set under the temple and looks like an isosceles triangle. The water fills up the narrow end of the triangle and comes forward based on the level.
We went back to the boat and are now sailing towards Kom Ombo.
We arrived at Kom Ombo Temple at about 3pm. Kom Ombo is a Greco-Roman temple that was started by Ptolemy VI Philometor at the beginning of his reign and added to by other Ptolemys. It is a two part temple that is symmetrically balanced with the left side being dedicated to Haroeris, Horus the Elder (not to be confused with Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris) and the right side being dedicated to the crocodile God, Sobek. One interesting fact was that this temple was mostly filled with water five months of the year when the Nile flooded. When it was discovered, it was filled with sand.
There is a separate structure that has 2 crocoldile mummies:
There are a few very interesting scenes depicted on the walls in this temple. The first one is the calendar. The round disk means “day” and the marks before the disk indicated the number of days. So, 2 marks plus the disk means the second day of the month. There were also symbols for each season plus the last day of the month.
Another scene in the back of the temple depicts the ancient Egyptian means of surgery. There is a surgery table plus a few examples of their instruments. The temple was used as a type of hospital where local people could come and get medical treatment. There is also a picture of Isis showing the best way for a woman to position herself for child birth.
There is also a Nilometer at this Temple. There is evidence that the people at this temple took baby crocodile from the river and raised them in the nilometer. There was also a tradition of using the nilometer as a sort of wishing well. People would write their requests, or wishes, on rocks and toss them into the water as an offering to the gods.
The last important scene we saw was the block of stone that actually contains both of the gods – Horus the elder and Sobek. Originally this slab was thought to have been at the very top, middle of the front entrance to the temple.
There is also good examples of how the Egyptians built concrete structures without cement. Each piece of concrete contains a slit that fit a wooden wedge inside it. Each piece of granite was stuck together with these wooden wedges.
The Kom Ombo temple is open from 6am until 8pm. There are lights at the temple which help people see after dark.
After dinner tonight, we had Nubians come aboard and give us a show of their music and dancing. We are now docked in Aswan and the Nubian village is on an island in the Nile River in Aswan.
Day 9 - Nile cruising
Random Thoughts (and a new poll question) while on the Nile
Now that we are going to be on the Nile River for a few days with an archeologist and professor as our guide, I thought I’d write up a few more “random thoughts”. I am very excited about our latest guide because he speaks and understands English very well. He is very excited about this project we are doing and has said he will give me some websites and book lists for you all to look at, if you are interested. His name is Ibrahim. Theban Mapping Project - this website will give you an inch-by-inch look at all of the walls of each of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings. I haven’t looked at it myself but check it out. Since I couldn’t take any videos inside the tombs, you will at least get to see what they looked like. He has provided me with his business card with his e-mail address for anyone to ask him more questions, anytime.
Our boat – On Saturday, we boarded our boat, the M/S Diamond.
I don’t think this was our original boat because our guide had mentioned some other name earlier in the tour. The boat has mostly French people on it and we were somehow given upgrades to the Presidential Suites. Our rooms are at the end of the top floor and have their own balconies. We have a bathroom, a sitting area and a bedroom. The bed is round and there are lots of mirrors. The bathroom is bright red. It’s definitely not 5 stars on an American scale but it’s better than anything we’ve been in so far. The boat holds about 150 passengers but there are only about 100 people right now on the boat. It has a bar and disco on one end of the 4th floor, a few small shops and a pool and ping pong table and bar on the top sundeck.
The Nile River – The Nile River is actually called the River Nile in Egypt. The name comes from the Greek word, Nilos, which means valley. It is 6,615km in length and spans 9 countries. One thousand kilometers are in Egypt. The river contains Nile Perch as well as catfish. Both types of fish are eaten by the Egyptians. Behind the dam, there are crocodiles, 3 meters or longer, in Lake Nasser. In the Delta area, there are shrimp.
Someone asked how long it would take to sail the length of the Nile. Obviously, it depends on how fast you were going. So, here is a math problem for you to work out. One night, our boat left at 5pm from Kom Ombo and ended up in Aswan at 8:30pm. The distance between Aswan and Kom Ombo is 40km. Five kilometers equals 3.1 miles. How many miles per hour are we traveling? And, how long would it take to travel the length of the River Nile?
The Nile River used to overflow the banks once a year, every year for about 5 months. When this happened, all of the farmers left their farms and helped to build the pyramids and other structures in Egypt because they couldn’t farm during the flood. Nowadays, the flooding has been stopped by the creation of dams and the lock system. On our way to Aswan we are going through a set of locks. The locks and dam are structures that are as wide as the river is. The dam creates a situation where a boat would have to “step up” or “step down”, depending on which direction it is going. A boat can’t actually take a step, so there has to be a series of locks to go through. A boat pulls into a large gated vat. If you have ever seen the very first Star Wars movie, it reminds me of the trash compactor scene. The boat pulls in and a waterproof gate closes behind the boat. Water starts to come into the vat where the boat is and starts to raise the boat up to the next step. When the boat is at the same level as the next lock, the front gate opens, the boat pulls forward, the back gate shuts, and water fills and raises the boat again. This is the same situation that happens in the Panama Canal.
The river flows North into what is called Lower Egypt. Lower Egypt is where Cairo is and is very smoggy and congested. Sailing south on the river will bring you to Upper Egypt towards Aswan. This is the more rural areas of Egypt with smaller towns and no pollution. The waters of the river are drinkable (to Egyptians) in Upper Egypt but undrinkable in Lower Egypt. We are stepping up through the locks into Lower Egypt. It’s a bit confusing.
Early Egyptians used the Nile for their transportation. All of their villages were built along the Nile for obvious reasons – irrigation, travel, food, etc. They had boats that they used to transport items – kings from the east to the west bank, granite from Aswan to build things, etc. However, the Egyptians never sailed anywhere else and were not considered to be great sailors. Because of the current and the width of the river, it is very easy to navigate. There was never any need to learn complicated sailing maneuvers.
Clothing in Egypt – Most of the Muslim men wear kaftans or long, simple, one-piece robes. All of them have been long sleeves with two pockets and very plain colored. I have noticed that some men wear pants underneath and some do not. The majority of the Muslim woman have their hair covered by some sort of scarf and pinned to their heir with a sewing pin. Their pants are just what you would see in Indiana. All of their shirts are long sleeved (even in the heat) and some wear gloves. Both men and woman wear flat shoes. Muslim girls start covering their hair at about age 15. There are a few woman that do not cover their hair or wear long sleeves. They are either Coptic Orthodox (Christian) or have just decided not to follow the Muslim traditions. Of course, we have seen some woman in burkas. These are long, dark colored “dresses” that completely cover the entire body including the head. Only the eyes are visible.
More on the food – Lunch and dinner are served at normal, American times. However, the states are about the only place in the world where dinner is at 6:00pm. Most everyone else eats at 8pm or later. On the boat, we are eating buffet breakfasts, lunches and dinners. It’s mostly recognizable food – chicken, beef, fish, pasta. There are a lot of sauces and gravies on things. We invited our guide to eat with us and he was brought a separate plate from the kitchen with different kinds of food. We asked him why he didn’t eat what we were eating. He said that the food on the ships is catered towards tourists and would probably upset his stomach just like if we were to eat the food he was eating, it would probably upset our stomachs. This is just like what I had said about the water situation.
Now that we are going to be on the Nile River for a few days with an archeologist and professor as our guide, I thought I’d write up a few more “random thoughts”. I am very excited about our latest guide because he speaks and understands English very well. He is very excited about this project we are doing and has said he will give me some websites and book lists for you all to look at, if you are interested. His name is Ibrahim. Theban Mapping Project - this website will give you an inch-by-inch look at all of the walls of each of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings. I haven’t looked at it myself but check it out. Since I couldn’t take any videos inside the tombs, you will at least get to see what they looked like. He has provided me with his business card with his e-mail address for anyone to ask him more questions, anytime.
Our boat – On Saturday, we boarded our boat, the M/S Diamond.
I don’t think this was our original boat because our guide had mentioned some other name earlier in the tour. The boat has mostly French people on it and we were somehow given upgrades to the Presidential Suites. Our rooms are at the end of the top floor and have their own balconies. We have a bathroom, a sitting area and a bedroom. The bed is round and there are lots of mirrors. The bathroom is bright red. It’s definitely not 5 stars on an American scale but it’s better than anything we’ve been in so far. The boat holds about 150 passengers but there are only about 100 people right now on the boat. It has a bar and disco on one end of the 4th floor, a few small shops and a pool and ping pong table and bar on the top sundeck.
The Nile River – The Nile River is actually called the River Nile in Egypt. The name comes from the Greek word, Nilos, which means valley. It is 6,615km in length and spans 9 countries. One thousand kilometers are in Egypt. The river contains Nile Perch as well as catfish. Both types of fish are eaten by the Egyptians. Behind the dam, there are crocodiles, 3 meters or longer, in Lake Nasser. In the Delta area, there are shrimp.
Someone asked how long it would take to sail the length of the Nile. Obviously, it depends on how fast you were going. So, here is a math problem for you to work out. One night, our boat left at 5pm from Kom Ombo and ended up in Aswan at 8:30pm. The distance between Aswan and Kom Ombo is 40km. Five kilometers equals 3.1 miles. How many miles per hour are we traveling? And, how long would it take to travel the length of the River Nile?
The Nile River used to overflow the banks once a year, every year for about 5 months. When this happened, all of the farmers left their farms and helped to build the pyramids and other structures in Egypt because they couldn’t farm during the flood. Nowadays, the flooding has been stopped by the creation of dams and the lock system. On our way to Aswan we are going through a set of locks. The locks and dam are structures that are as wide as the river is. The dam creates a situation where a boat would have to “step up” or “step down”, depending on which direction it is going. A boat can’t actually take a step, so there has to be a series of locks to go through. A boat pulls into a large gated vat. If you have ever seen the very first Star Wars movie, it reminds me of the trash compactor scene. The boat pulls in and a waterproof gate closes behind the boat. Water starts to come into the vat where the boat is and starts to raise the boat up to the next step. When the boat is at the same level as the next lock, the front gate opens, the boat pulls forward, the back gate shuts, and water fills and raises the boat again. This is the same situation that happens in the Panama Canal.
The river flows North into what is called Lower Egypt. Lower Egypt is where Cairo is and is very smoggy and congested. Sailing south on the river will bring you to Upper Egypt towards Aswan. This is the more rural areas of Egypt with smaller towns and no pollution. The waters of the river are drinkable (to Egyptians) in Upper Egypt but undrinkable in Lower Egypt. We are stepping up through the locks into Lower Egypt. It’s a bit confusing.
Early Egyptians used the Nile for their transportation. All of their villages were built along the Nile for obvious reasons – irrigation, travel, food, etc. They had boats that they used to transport items – kings from the east to the west bank, granite from Aswan to build things, etc. However, the Egyptians never sailed anywhere else and were not considered to be great sailors. Because of the current and the width of the river, it is very easy to navigate. There was never any need to learn complicated sailing maneuvers.
Clothing in Egypt – Most of the Muslim men wear kaftans or long, simple, one-piece robes. All of them have been long sleeves with two pockets and very plain colored. I have noticed that some men wear pants underneath and some do not. The majority of the Muslim woman have their hair covered by some sort of scarf and pinned to their heir with a sewing pin. Their pants are just what you would see in Indiana. All of their shirts are long sleeved (even in the heat) and some wear gloves. Both men and woman wear flat shoes. Muslim girls start covering their hair at about age 15. There are a few woman that do not cover their hair or wear long sleeves. They are either Coptic Orthodox (Christian) or have just decided not to follow the Muslim traditions. Of course, we have seen some woman in burkas. These are long, dark colored “dresses” that completely cover the entire body including the head. Only the eyes are visible.
More on the food – Lunch and dinner are served at normal, American times. However, the states are about the only place in the world where dinner is at 6:00pm. Most everyone else eats at 8pm or later. On the boat, we are eating buffet breakfasts, lunches and dinners. It’s mostly recognizable food – chicken, beef, fish, pasta. There are a lot of sauces and gravies on things. We invited our guide to eat with us and he was brought a separate plate from the kitchen with different kinds of food. We asked him why he didn’t eat what we were eating. He said that the food on the ships is catered towards tourists and would probably upset his stomach just like if we were to eat the food he was eating, it would probably upset our stomachs. This is just like what I had said about the water situation.
Monday, November 5, 2007
King Tut Rises to Face the World
The darkened face of ancient Egypt's most famous ruler, King Tut, was revealed Sunday, marking the first time the 3,000-year-old mummy has gone on public display. You can read more about his new resting place from National Geographic News.
And in case you were wondering, the correct answer from last week's poll was 94%. An article appeared in the August 17, 2007 International Herald Tribune that discusses Egypt's landscape and topology. Check back tomorrow for this week's poll.
Just for fun, the following is Steve Martin's classic SNL bit from 1978:
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Day 8 - Return to the West Bank
Today we returned to the West Valley (Valley of the Kings). We started by driving to the site of Deir el-Bahri. This is the site where they found the royal cache of mummies, which are now in the Egyptian Museum. The primary structure here is the Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut, the first woman king of Egypt. There is a long, stone stairway that leads up to the impressive temple site. There are many columns on the front of the temple with Hatshepsut’s head on the top. Some of these are ruined. Egyptologists think it was done by either the Christians or more likely, by her stepson, Tuthmosis III, or even by later Egyptians who did not like the fact that a woman ruled Egypt. The very back of the temple is where the tomb actually was and is called the Holy of Holies and is closed to the public.
**Note: We just met our new guide, an Egyptologist, who happened to discuss Hatshepsut with us on the boat. He told us that 4 weeks ago, the government got back the results of the DNA analysis from a tooth that they found in what they thought was the mummy of Hatshepsut. It was confirmed that this was true. With the mummy, they found many papyri that told the story of how well she and Tuthmosis III got along and how good he treated her. This has led to the belief that she was not defaced by Tuthmosis III but probably just by the Christians who later occupied the site. This is a very good example of how different pieces of evidence can lead Egyptologists to different conclusions.
We then drove to visit the Valley of the Queens.
The most famous tomb is of Nefertari but that tomb has been closed for a few years due to the damage being caused by tourists. The vibrations of walking, the flashes from cameras and the carbon monoxide from our breathing causes damage. It is interesting that the Valley of the Queens does not just contain Queens. There are a few tombs for sons of the kings also. Again, we could not take any photos. I did film looking up towards the tomb entrances.
We also visited the Tombs of the Nobles. These were built in an area where the limestone was of a little less quality than the Valley of the Kings. Because of this and because of the expense, the walls in these tombs were covered with white plaster and the scenes were painted versus carved. There are more than 400 tombs of Theban nobles and high officials, mainly from the New Kingdom.
Next, we went to Deir al-Medina. This place is where all of the workers for the Valley of the Queens and the Kings lived while building them. You can see the structures of where they lived. It is a bit ruined and the wooden roofs are missing. Each structure has one room plus a kitchen and bath area.
The last stop was at the Colossi of Memnon. These are two gigantic statues of Amenhotep III. They are 59 feet high and about 15 feet wide. They originally guarded Amenhotep’s mortuary temple – thought to have been the largest ever built in Egypt. It was plundered for building material by later pharaohs and gradually destroyed by the annual floods. During the Roman period the northernmost statue became a popular tourist attraction as it was heard to “sing” at sunrise. The “singing” sounds were caused by gases, which were heated by the rising sun, being forced through the crevices in the rock. After the statues were repaired in 199 AD by the Roman emperor Septimius Severus, the singing stopped.
All of these sites were about 5 minutes apart. It took about 30 minutes to drive to the first site. We left at 8am and finished about 1pm. It was a long, hot day. Our driver and tour guide dropped us off in front of our Nile cruise boat. We now sleep on the boat for the next few nights. And, yes, we think we will enjoy this part of the trip. Tomorrow is a completely free day where we sail all day long!!
**Note: We just met our new guide, an Egyptologist, who happened to discuss Hatshepsut with us on the boat. He told us that 4 weeks ago, the government got back the results of the DNA analysis from a tooth that they found in what they thought was the mummy of Hatshepsut. It was confirmed that this was true. With the mummy, they found many papyri that told the story of how well she and Tuthmosis III got along and how good he treated her. This has led to the belief that she was not defaced by Tuthmosis III but probably just by the Christians who later occupied the site. This is a very good example of how different pieces of evidence can lead Egyptologists to different conclusions.
We then drove to visit the Valley of the Queens.
The most famous tomb is of Nefertari but that tomb has been closed for a few years due to the damage being caused by tourists. The vibrations of walking, the flashes from cameras and the carbon monoxide from our breathing causes damage. It is interesting that the Valley of the Queens does not just contain Queens. There are a few tombs for sons of the kings also. Again, we could not take any photos. I did film looking up towards the tomb entrances.
We also visited the Tombs of the Nobles. These were built in an area where the limestone was of a little less quality than the Valley of the Kings. Because of this and because of the expense, the walls in these tombs were covered with white plaster and the scenes were painted versus carved. There are more than 400 tombs of Theban nobles and high officials, mainly from the New Kingdom.
Next, we went to Deir al-Medina. This place is where all of the workers for the Valley of the Queens and the Kings lived while building them. You can see the structures of where they lived. It is a bit ruined and the wooden roofs are missing. Each structure has one room plus a kitchen and bath area.
The last stop was at the Colossi of Memnon. These are two gigantic statues of Amenhotep III. They are 59 feet high and about 15 feet wide. They originally guarded Amenhotep’s mortuary temple – thought to have been the largest ever built in Egypt. It was plundered for building material by later pharaohs and gradually destroyed by the annual floods. During the Roman period the northernmost statue became a popular tourist attraction as it was heard to “sing” at sunrise. The “singing” sounds were caused by gases, which were heated by the rising sun, being forced through the crevices in the rock. After the statues were repaired in 199 AD by the Roman emperor Septimius Severus, the singing stopped.
All of these sites were about 5 minutes apart. It took about 30 minutes to drive to the first site. We left at 8am and finished about 1pm. It was a long, hot day. Our driver and tour guide dropped us off in front of our Nile cruise boat. We now sleep on the boat for the next few nights. And, yes, we think we will enjoy this part of the trip. Tomorrow is a completely free day where we sail all day long!!
Friday, November 2, 2007
Day 7 - Convoy to Dendera and Abydos
Today we met up with a bunch of other tourists so that we could be a part of a convoy to drive to Abydos and Dendera (also spelled Denderah or Dandarah). Abydos will take about 3 hours of driving. We will spend 2 hours there and then drive 2 hours to Dendera. Again, we will spend 2 hours at Dendera and drive back to the hotel in 1 hour. Our driver here in Luxor is a bit more tame. We are going about 45 mph. After Josef, it feels kind of slow and boring!
There are many checkpoints along the way this morning. We just drive slowly through each one. This is just a way for the government to make sure that we are all still accounted for. After the tourist incident in 1997, there have been no other problems at all. We feel pretty safe. Our convoy appears to have about 20-25 other vans so our odds seem a bit better today. ☺
There are about 3-4,000 people who live in the village of Abydos today. The Temple of Seti I at Abydos was built by Seti I and finished by his son Ramses II as a worship place for the god Osiris, the "Lord of Abydos," whose mysteries were celebrated there each year. Walking up to the temple from the front, it doesn’t seem all that impressive (see video).
However, once you walk inside, it is spectacular. There are holes in the ceiling that let in the rays of the sun by the sun god, Ra (which you will remember is one of the gods the Egyptians worshipped). There are two hypostolic halls, each containing 24 papyrus columns; 12 on each side of each hall. There are 7 sanctuaries off of the second hypostolic hall built for Horus, Isis, Osiris, Amun, Ra, Ptah, and Seti I. There is also a hallway that contains the geneology of the kings of Egypt, starting with King Djoser and ending with Seti I. It’s important to note that Queen Hatshepsut (who was king) and Akhenaten were left off of the list. The Egyptians tended to re-write their own history when they didn’t like what happened in the past.
Here is my best attempt at the story of Osiris and Isis. This is the most famous story in all of Egyptian mythology. Osiris, Isis, Set and Nephtees (I said this name incorrectly on the video) were all brothers and sisters. Osiris married Isis and Set married Nephthys. Set was jealous of Osiris because he was basically the older brother and more important. Set had a party one night and had a sarcophagus built to the exact dimensions of his brother Osiris. At the party he had a contest to see who would best fit in the sarcophagus. Naturally, Osiris gets in and fits perfectly. Set slams the lid shut and kills Osiris. Set cuts Osiris’ body into 14 pieces and spreads them throughout Egypt. Isis has special powers and can bring Osiris back to life but she needs to have all the pieces. She searches everywhere in Egypt and puts him back together, brings him back to life, and they end up having a child together named Horus.
The Egyptians believed that Set buried 2 of the pieces, the heart and the backbone, at Abydos. This is why Abydos is so important and why the Temple was built there by Seti I. We drove 3 hours from Luxor this morning and all there is in Abydos is the temple. The drive is worth doing because many people believe not visiting Abydos would be like going to Paris and not visiting the Eiffel Tower.
The Temple at Dendera is where Hathor supposedly gave birth to Horus’s child, the god Ihy. The tops of each of the columns has the face of Hathor that has been defaced by the Christians. It was buried under the sand until the 19th century. The current temple is Graeco-Roman but its design imitates typical Pharaonic temple architecture. There are a series of large hypostolic halls leading into dark sanctuaries. The roof of the temple was used for rituals for the New Year.
There is a beautiful scene on the backside of the Temple that shows Cleopatra, dressed as Isis, with her son by Julius Caesar, Caesarian. She is basically presenting him to the gods as the next ruler of Egypt.
Now, we are headed back to the hotel. Today has been a long day. We started at 7:30am and we will get back to the hotel about 6pm. It’s been hot again today but once the sun starts to set, about 4pm, it gets much cooler.
There are many checkpoints along the way this morning. We just drive slowly through each one. This is just a way for the government to make sure that we are all still accounted for. After the tourist incident in 1997, there have been no other problems at all. We feel pretty safe. Our convoy appears to have about 20-25 other vans so our odds seem a bit better today. ☺
There are about 3-4,000 people who live in the village of Abydos today. The Temple of Seti I at Abydos was built by Seti I and finished by his son Ramses II as a worship place for the god Osiris, the "Lord of Abydos," whose mysteries were celebrated there each year. Walking up to the temple from the front, it doesn’t seem all that impressive (see video).
However, once you walk inside, it is spectacular. There are holes in the ceiling that let in the rays of the sun by the sun god, Ra (which you will remember is one of the gods the Egyptians worshipped). There are two hypostolic halls, each containing 24 papyrus columns; 12 on each side of each hall. There are 7 sanctuaries off of the second hypostolic hall built for Horus, Isis, Osiris, Amun, Ra, Ptah, and Seti I. There is also a hallway that contains the geneology of the kings of Egypt, starting with King Djoser and ending with Seti I. It’s important to note that Queen Hatshepsut (who was king) and Akhenaten were left off of the list. The Egyptians tended to re-write their own history when they didn’t like what happened in the past.
Here is my best attempt at the story of Osiris and Isis. This is the most famous story in all of Egyptian mythology. Osiris, Isis, Set and Nephtees (I said this name incorrectly on the video) were all brothers and sisters. Osiris married Isis and Set married Nephthys. Set was jealous of Osiris because he was basically the older brother and more important. Set had a party one night and had a sarcophagus built to the exact dimensions of his brother Osiris. At the party he had a contest to see who would best fit in the sarcophagus. Naturally, Osiris gets in and fits perfectly. Set slams the lid shut and kills Osiris. Set cuts Osiris’ body into 14 pieces and spreads them throughout Egypt. Isis has special powers and can bring Osiris back to life but she needs to have all the pieces. She searches everywhere in Egypt and puts him back together, brings him back to life, and they end up having a child together named Horus.
The Egyptians believed that Set buried 2 of the pieces, the heart and the backbone, at Abydos. This is why Abydos is so important and why the Temple was built there by Seti I. We drove 3 hours from Luxor this morning and all there is in Abydos is the temple. The drive is worth doing because many people believe not visiting Abydos would be like going to Paris and not visiting the Eiffel Tower.
The Temple at Dendera is where Hathor supposedly gave birth to Horus’s child, the god Ihy. The tops of each of the columns has the face of Hathor that has been defaced by the Christians. It was buried under the sand until the 19th century. The current temple is Graeco-Roman but its design imitates typical Pharaonic temple architecture. There are a series of large hypostolic halls leading into dark sanctuaries. The roof of the temple was used for rituals for the New Year.
There is a beautiful scene on the backside of the Temple that shows Cleopatra, dressed as Isis, with her son by Julius Caesar, Caesarian. She is basically presenting him to the gods as the next ruler of Egypt.
Now, we are headed back to the hotel. Today has been a long day. We started at 7:30am and we will get back to the hotel about 6pm. It’s been hot again today but once the sun starts to set, about 4pm, it gets much cooler.
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