Egypt and the Nile
Mike and Judy Henderson
September 29 - October 10, 2018
I'm going to leave this map on each page so you can see where we are.
10/8/2018 (Monday) We woke up to see the balloons over the Valley of the Kings.
After an early start we bused to the Luxor airport. It's not a giant airport and it didn't take long to get through security.
Our group is picking up their tickets at the Nile Air counter.
After a reasonable wait we boarded an Airbus A321-200 for the flight to Cairo. No problems in the flight and we arrived on time at Cairo. Everyone's luggage was slow to come out, but it finally showed up.
Here's a picture of one of the terminals of Cairo airport, taken as we were leaving the airport. It's a big airport.
We arrived at the Four Seasons Hotel after negotiating the Cairo rush hour traffic.
That evening we had the "Sound and Light Show" at the pyramids. I'm sorry to say that it was a real disappointment. It mostly consisted of lighting the pyramids with different color lights while voices narrated the history of Egypt. It wasn't very imaginative or exciting. If you visit Egypt, skip the Sound and Light Show at the pyramids.
Here's a picture of the pyramids illuminated. The Great Pyramid is to the right and the Pyramid of Khafre is to the left.
We were sitting right in front of the Great Sphinx of Giza. It's smaller than I expected from pictures I had seen earlier.
During the show, they projected the image of Tutankhamun on the face of the Sphinx.
Than, it was back to the hotel and quickly to bed. We visit the pyramids of Giza in the morning.
10/9/2018 (Tuesday) We were loaded on the bus early for a 7am departure. As we were driving to Giza I saw several of these small SUVs. The wheelbase is so short that they look like they would tip over forward if you put the brakes on hard. But I guess they work. They are used as small private buses, and small vehicles are practical on the crowded roads.
On our way to the pyramids we passed the Grand Egyptian Museum - under construction. It's gigantic. Here are a few pictures taken as we were passing by. The planned opening is sometime in the next few months, and some items have already been moved. Eventually there will be a pedestrian passageway from the museum to the pyramids, with the goal being to cut tourist bus and car traffic in the area and to ease traffic in the center of Cairo.
Here's an aerial view to show the location and the size. It's budgeted at $1 billion and probably will exceed that estimate. It's already years late in construction.
I took the above pictures from the road at the left side of the picture.
It's clear that this will be a museum that will require more than a day to see:-)
A view of the museum from the Giza Plaza - taken later, of course.
I found this great picture of the pyramids at Giza on Wikipedia so I'm going to put it here for you. It shows almost all of the pyramids at Giza, the small ones as well as (from back to front) the Great Pyramid (Pyramid of Khufu), the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid of Menkure.
Also on Wikipedia was this map of the Giza complex.
We arrived at the Giza plaza, and there we were with the Great Pyramid (Pyramid of Khufu) right in front of us!
We walked to the base of the Great Pyramid. Here's the sun peeking over the edge of the Great Pyramid, with a shaft of sunlight extending off the top to the right. The pyramids were carefully oriented to have the entrance on the north side so the soul could fly directly upward.
A view of the sun over the Great Pyramid.
Judy and I at the base of the Great Pyramid. You can see the Pyramid of Khafre in the background.
A look at the Pyramid of Khafre in the daylight. In their original condition the sides of the pyramids were covered with a smooth layer of polished limestone. The top of this pyramid still has that surface, but time, erosion, and pillaging have destroyed much of the original surfaces.
The police ride camels.
People were lining up to go into the Great Pyramid. The opening a bit above the people is known as the false entrance, apparently built to fool tomb robbers.
Here's Sandra at the entrance.
Wai and Caroline.
And me at the entrance. I did not go in - there was an extra charge and I didn't have a ticket. I did go inside a different pyramid later. The interiors are empty, and some just offer the chance to crouch along long passageways.
A peek into the entrance.
A diagram of the chambers and passageways inside the Great Pyramid.
After leaving the Great Pyramid we went to an area where camel rides were available. Some of the people on our tour took the rides (about $15US plus tip) but Judy and I did not since we had ridden camels in Jordan.
As we waited we just enjoyed the scenery. Here are Joe and Judy (another Judy), pictured against the pyramids.
Uniworld had a photographer take a group shot, but I could not get an electronic version of the picture so I had to scan the paper copy. Doing it that way always degrades the picture but I think you can sill identify the various people.
Next we went to Menkaure's Pyramid which has a low, downward sloping passage into the pyramid. We were warned that the guards were very strict about photos (not allowed) and would confiscate your camera - so I left my camera on the bus and only took my iPhone.
That information turned out to be completely incorrect. As with many things in Egypt, I suppose, a few Egyptian pounds or US dollars opened all doors and I was able to take many pictures with my iPhone. I can't edit iPhone pictures like I can pictures from my camera, but the pictures came out pretty well.
I don't have any pictures of us going down because I didn't pay off the guard until I got to the bottom of the first shaft. Here are some people going down the second shaft to the room where the sarcophagus was originally placed.
The burial room. Really nothing much to see here. No wall decorations and the sarcophagus has been removed.
Going back up. You can see how low this shaft is. It was harder to go down than to go up because you have to bend over more to clear your head.
After this we went to the Great Sphinx of Giza. The sphinx is impressive but it's not as large as it seems in pictures I had seen earlier.
Here's a closer view of the head of the sphinx. There's a story that Napoleon's men used the Great Sphinx for target practice while they were in Egypt and that's why the nose is missing. But that's obviously false. If gunfire had been used against the face of the sphinx, there would be lots of bullet marks on the face - and there are none. The destruction of the nose on a statue, which was done frequently by later invaders on statues throughout the country, was thought to destroy the path of the soul or the breath of life of the person represented.
Judy and me at the Great Sphinx.
Next, we went to a papyrus store. Typical shopping stop. We didn't buy anything.
We then headed to the old Egyptian capital of Memphis and the Mit Rahina Museum. This museum contains a fallen statue of Ramses II, which is displayed in the exact spot in which it was discovered. It gave us an unusual close-up view of carving details, and gave us a view of the great King looking down upon him rather than having him tower over us.
Here's a view from the balcony, showing the whole statue.
Outside in the courtyard was this alabaster sphinx, known as the Sphinx of Memphis.
A closer view. Certainly not at big as the Great Sphinx of Giza, but made from a more precious stone.
Also in the courtyard is this statue of Ramses II.
As we were driving away from the museum we saw this group of school children - both boys and girls - walking along the road. I took this shot of a group of girls. They were smiling at us as the bus drove by. The people of Egypt are very friendly to tourists - they are not at all hostile.
Next, we drove to the Pyramid of Djoser, also known as the Step Pyramid. This was a very early pyramid, believed to be the first one constructed from stone instead of mud brick. One interesting thing about the area of the step pyramid is the transition between irrigated, farmed land and the desert. On one side of the fence are acres of date palms, and on the other side of the fence is the Sahara Desert. For that matter, pretty much all of Egypt is in the Sahara Desert. If it weren't for the Nile River, Cairo probably wouldn't exist.
The Step Pyramid is also the first pyramid where we know the architect - Imhotep.
We couldn't go into the Step Pyramid, or even walk around it because of the restoration work being done on it. But it was still interesting to see.
The Step Pyramid should not be confused with the Bent Pyramid. The Step Pyramid was designed to be built in this manner. The builders of the Bent Pyramid began with too high an angle and it had stability problems. They had to decrease the angle to stabilize the structure.
Next, we went to the Tomb of Mehu that had been opened for visitors only a few weeks ago. Mehu was a judge - not a king - but it was still impressive. Here's our group going in.
As usual, pictures were prohibited but a bit of baksheesh took care of that. I think the Egyptians ban photography just so the guards can make some extra money.
I took a lot of pictures in the tomb but I'll only put a few here. The tomb was very richly decorated and had vivid colors.
This one shows scenes of daily life.
A ritual "gate".
Just another picture - no idea what it represents.
And then we headed back to the hotel. It had been a long day, but filled with interesting sights. Judy and I had an early dinner and prepared to depart for the airport at 10:30pm.
Two views of the sunset over the Nile from the Four Seasons Hotel on our last evening.
The Uniworld representative and driver showed up right on time.
Cairo comes alive after dark and there was a lot of traffic, even at 11pm. When we got to the airport, the Uniworld representative stayed with us until the final security check to make sure we got off okay. Here he is helping us check in with Lufthansa. While we're fairly experienced travelers, his presence was appreciated.
10/10/2018 (Wednesday) We had to wait a couple of hours in the lounge but eventually they called our (2:30am) flight and we boarded an Airbus A321-200 for the trip to Munich. It was just standard economy class seats but we managed to sleep a bit. We have a several hour layover in Munich but get to use the Lufthansa lounge.
The plane for our flight to LAX is an Airbus A380-800.
By the time we boarded, we were pretty tired. We didn't get any sleep last night except a few winks on the plane from Cairo to Munich. We were both looking forward to using the lie-flat seats on the A380.
It was a bit over 11 hours but we finally got to LAX and our driver was waiting for us. It was about 3:30pm, putting us in rush hour traffic for LA, so it took a while to get home.
We did a bit of unpacking but went to bed early, only to wake about 2:30am. But we used the time to put things away and Judy did some laundry.
10/11/2018 (Thursday) We picked up Bernie and Skipper, both of whom were happy to see us. Skipper was still wet from his bath.
And that was another trip. Our next trip is in 2019 and we go to Australia and New Zealand with Tauck.
[Epilogue: I'm really glad we did the trip to Egypt. As time goes by, I find myself remembering the Egypt trip and the things I saw there. I feel I have a bit better understanding of the Middle East, having seen Israel, Jordan and now, Egypt. I would encourage others to make the trip to Egypt. Before we went, I was concerned about safety but I always felt safe there and the people were very friendly. I think they all recognize the importance and value of tourism to their country and welcome visitors.
And seeing the temples and, especially, the pyramids was very special. You can read about them all you want but it can't compare to actually being there.
Perhaps the most difficult aspect of the trip was the heat. We went in October because it fit with our trip to Rome and Sicily but I think a visit later, perhaps in January or February, would be cooler.]
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