Exploring Egypt 1980

Party, Egyptian Style

2006-02-09T19:54:00.000-05:00

The best thing about traveling while you're young is that you'll do insanely risky things that you'd never consider in your later, wiser years. I got chatty with a merchant who owned a souvenir shop across from the Mena House Hotel in Giza. He invited me to a party he was throwing that evening for his wife's sister, who would soon be marrying. He said, "I'll send my brother with the car for you. Bring your camera, there'll be dancing horses." An irresistible invitation!

At the appointed time, the car came for me, and I got into a vintage Chevy with a young man who spoke little English and was taking me to heaven knows where in an unfamiliar city in a foreign country where I couldn't even read a street sign to figure out where I was. It seems totally insane now, more than 20 years later, but at the time I trusted my intuition and everything turned out fine.

There were, indeed, dancing horses. There was also live music, dancing women, and herds of giggling children that followed me everywhere. No one spoke any English, other than the merchant who invited me, but everyone made me feel very welcome.

The festivities took place in two adjacent yards. In the larger yard there were musicians and the dancing horses. The chairs along the walls were filled with men. There were no women in this area, but children wandered around freely. It seemed as if this was where the men were doing their traditional man stuff, not the least of which included the smoking of some extremely fragrant nontobacco product from a large hookah by these guys. You could get a contact high within three yards of them!

In the other yard the women's activities were taking place. The soon-to-be-wedded couple seemed very happy to have a complete stranger attending their party and wanted their picture taken with me. They insisted that I sit in the nicest chair there, which had been decorated and was clearly intended for the bride-to-be. I didn't want to steal the limelight from her, but I was the guest and I did what they asked.

There was a ceremony taking place for the bride-to-be. Each woman of childbearing age would, one by one, stand up and dance for her. Yep, I took my turn, too! The women were delighted. The man dancing with me was the uncle of my merchant friend. Normally the men did not come and dance in the women's area, but this uncle was quite taken with me and followed me all around the party.

I took a lot of photos, and when I got back home I had copies made and mailed them to my merchant friend. Here is one of the engaged couple, my merchant friend and his wife, and a couple of his children.

Crazy or not, this was the most amazing night of my life.

People

2006-02-09T19:28:00.000-05:00

I met some interesting people on my trip, and some I captured only in passing. I wondered whether this man grew the garlic he was taking to market or whether he only sold it.

This young girl was very happy and carefree. I wonder what her life is like now.

Going to Egypt without riding a camel was unthinkable. At a rest stop, I got my chance and took a quick turn on a rent-a-camel. The camel guys were happy to pose with me, for a little baksheesh.

I gave them the tour-guide-recommended tip, but they thought they could get more out of me by arguing loudly about the amount. I was a bit overwhelmed because there were three of them (the third guy was taking the picture), all complaining at the same time. One of the men in my tour group saw that I was having trouble extricating myself, and he rescued me. He came over and asked them what they wanted with his "wife", and they backed off immediately. I laugh about that experience every time I think about it.

Learning the secrets of the desert from the camel's mouth.

Temples

2006-02-09T18:53:00.000-05:00

I've scanned only a small amount of the temples and ruins. This is a small portion of the Avenue of the Sphinxes at Karnak. At one time the Avenue was over a mile long, lined with ram-headed sphinxes on both sides.

In the temple at Luxor, the hypostyle hall is an area filled with columns. Each column is about 90 feet tall and about 30 feet in diameter. They are completely covered with carvings.

Detail of a lotus capital on a column at the temple of Isis, near Aswan.

Tomb Paintings

2006-02-09T18:19:00.000-05:00

In the Valley of the Kings we visited a tomb of an overseer who supervised the workers who built the tombs and pyramids. It was located in the general area of King Tut's tomb. A steep, narrow passage descended into the overseer's tomb, lit by an occasional naked light bulb.

The image above is probably of royals. The smaller figures indicate children and those of lesser rank.

The overseer was important enough to have received a tomb, but because he was not a royal, the inside of his tomb was decorated only in paintings and not with carvings. Our guide said the tomb was probably hastily constructed, and paintings could be done much faster than carvings.

The paintings in the overseer's tomb are my favorites. I like these even more than the ones I saw in King Tut's tomb.

This image shows Anubis, the dog-headed god of the underworld, preparing the dead king for burial.

Because the tomb was completely underground and was not subject to deterioration by weather, the paintings were still very vivid.

There is no way to match the paint colors, so when the tomb began to develop cracks or if portions of the painted scenes crumbled away, the damaged portions, such as that seen here at the top of the image, were only patched with cement. No attempt was made to restore the painting itself.

Sakkara

2006-02-05T09:02:00.000-05:00

Sakkara is the site of the famous Step Pyramid. In the early stages of pyramid construction, this was the way they were built. The Giza Pyramids are of a much later design. The Step Pyramid was designed by the architecht Imhotep, who later became a king.

The buildings in the foreground are a temple.

Memphis

2006-02-05T08:08:00.000-05:00

South of Cairo is Memphis, the ancient capital of Upper Egypt. We visited an archaeological site where restoration work was being done on a number of recently discovered statues. Here we visited an open air museum which is little more than a building constructed over what remains of a statue of Rameses in order to protect it from the elements.

Abu Simbel

2006-02-04T15:56:00.000-05:00

Abu Simbel is the temple that was cut into pieces and reassembled on higher ground so it would not be submerged by the reservoir after the Aswan Dam was built.

The magnificence of these figures of Rameses cannot be overstated. To understand that the statues are 90 feet tall may be impressive, but to stand in front of them and be dwarfed by them is another thing entirely.

We arrived early in the morning, as temperatures here frequently exceed 100 degrees F. At 8 a.m. it was already over 90. But the temple is so astonishing you could almost forget how stunningly hot it was.

Our guide at the Abu Simbel site was kind enough to allow me to take his picture.

In this photo I am standing to the right of the temple entrance next to one of my tour group members. I'm the speck wearing a light colored shirt and dark slacks.

Aswan

2006-02-04T08:36:00.000-05:00

Aswan in 1980 was small enough to explore entirely on foot, which I did after the day's tour activities were finished. The tour group stayed in a hotel on a tiny island directly across the Nile from Aswan. When you stepped out of the hotel, this was the view. We stayed in Aswan as it was a convenient stopping point after flying south from Cairo, visiting Abu Simbel and touring the Aswan Dam.

After dinner, I was eager to explore the town my own for awhile after spending the entire day doing structured activities with the tour group. None of the tour group members were interested in going with me. They all stayed in their rooms.

So off I went to visit Aswan on my own. I ran into the Aswan Chief of Police, who had been a guest speaker for part of the daytime tour. He was a very amiable man and invited me back to the police station for tea, where we chatted for over an hour about ancient Egypt, the history of Aswan and modern Egyptian culture.

Afterwards, I continued to explore Aswan on foot and did a little shopping. As I waited for the ferry to take me back across the Nile to my hotel, the magnificent sunset provided a beautiful backdrop for a lone felucca.

The view from my hotel balcony was like something out of a Hollywood movie.

I loved watching the feluccas float by.

We sailed around the area in our own felucca the next day with a local guide, stopping at the north end of the island to visit the botanical garden.

Cairo

2006-02-04T07:59:00.000-05:00

I spent no time in the modern areas of the city, as I was much more attracted to everything that was from another time.

My favorite parts of Cairo were the old Coptic neighborhood and the bazaar.

I remember having a strong feeling, not like deja vu, but more like the familiarity you would feel with family and friends. Everything was so different from the United States, where I was from, yet instead of feeling uneasy or out of place, I felt very much at home. The Egyptians were very friendly.

I was surprised at the number of animals that navigated the center of the city along with the cars. There were plenty of horse drawn carriages, and burros pulling wagons were a common sight.

In the old bazaar area, if you were grocery shopping you could be assured that tonight's turkey dinner was going to be really fresh.

One thing that I really liked about my tour was that we always stayed in local hotels. We stayed at the Mena House Hotel in the Giza neighborhood, a half block away from the great pyramids. This is the front of the hotel, and from where I am taking the picture, the pyramids are behind me.

The tour advertised that our stay at the Mena House would have pyramid views from our rooms, and we certainly did. Each day we stayed there, first thing I did every morning was open the curtains and gawk.

At the foot of the pyramids, you could rent horses or camels and take a ride in the desert. Although the city comes right up to the edge of the pyramids on one side, on the back side there is mostly desert with a few houses here and there.