Exploring Egypt

As if I thought my 2 AM wake up call the prior week was the earliest I would ever get up, the German tourists making their way back to their rooms from the bar at 12:40 AM provided a sufficient alarm, five minutes before my scheduled wake up call at 12:45 AM.  I do not even think it is right to call 12:45 AM a wake up call, but rather more of a nap.  The phone rang shortly after I awoke; I was ready to begin my six hour journey by bus to Cairo.

Located near the Nile Delta, in the area known as lower Egypt (I will mention why later), Cairo is the city in Africa with a population over 9 million people. Founded in 969 AD, and nicknamed "the city of a thousand minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life.  The recent demonstrations occurring in Tahrir Square today (same site two years ago) occurred after I had visited a couple months ago.

On the outskirts of Cairo, with the city providing an interesting comparison of the new world and old world, you will find the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the pyramids of Giza.  There are 138 pyramids discovered in Egypt as of today, and were built by 20,000 workers (and up to 100,000 in some cases) as tombs for the country's Pharaohs.  The Great Pyramid (or Pyramid of Khufu) was the tallest man-made structure in the world for over 3,800 years. Originally, the pyramids were covered by casing stones that formed a smooth outer surface; what is seen today is the underlying core structure.  The shape of a pyramid is thought to be representative of the descending rays of the sun, and most pyramids were faced with polished, highly reflective white limestone, in order to give them a brilliant appearance when viewed from a distance.

Adjacent to the Great Pyramids of Giza lays the largest and most famous sphinx.  The Great Sphinx of Giza is a mythical creature with the body of a lion and the head of a human.  Egyptologists have proposed numerous theories surrounding the date the sphinx was completed and the method of construction used; however, it may always remain an unanswered question.  The pyramids and sphinx are very nice to see, however, more must be done to maintain their existence in history and for everyone to enjoy as people are constantly climbing on the pyramids, and with the constant bombardment of items to purchase, it takes away from the true meaning of the site.

Located just over 300 miles to the south in Upper Egypt is the city of Luxor.  The terminology of “Upper” and “Lower” Egypt derives from the flow of the Nile from the highlands of East Africa northwards to the Mediterranean Sea, thus Upper Egypt lies to the south of Lower Egypt (even though geographically it is the opposite).  Luxor was the ancient city of Thebes, the great capital of Egypt during the New Kingdom, and the glorious city of the god Amon-Ra.  Luxor has frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open air museum", as the ruins of the temple complexes at Karnak and Luxor stand within the modern city.  Build from sandstone, Luxor Temple is the large Ancient Egyptian temple complex located on the east bank of the Nile River in the city today known as Luxor and was founded in 1400 BC. 

Crossing the Nile

Immediately west, across the River Nile, lie the monuments, temples and tombs on the West Bank Necropolis, which include the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens.  With the sun rising in the east, and setting in the west, the tombs of the dead were built into the west side of the city in mountains to symbolize death and the power of restoring life by giving immortality to the dead owner.  Many years could be spent on building and preparing tombs, some of which went incomplete as the future occupant might have died prior to completion.  The art work and paintings in the tombs is beautiful, and very well preserved, most likely due to the dry, desert climate. Also, the art technique used was known as egg tempera, which a color pigment was mixed with egg white (or yolk depending on the desired effects) which resulted a mixture that was fast drying and permanent.