After a few enquiries, without much effort, we fixed our tour for Egypt and started on Tuesday 23rd of March from Kuwait airport. The flight took less than four hours and we landed in Cairo Airport, by evening five O clock. We were received by our tour operator and we waited for a few more minutes to be joined with another couple arriving another flight. Already few people from India along with the tour manager have landed in Cairo Airport and we all proceeded to our hotel, Pyramids Park Resorts in a bus. We met the remaining group members at the resort and after, freshening ourselves, we were taken to an Indian Restaurant for our first dinner at Cairo.
On the way from airport to our Resort, we had a glimpse of Cairo,as it took more than an hour to travel the distance, as the evening rush hour was at it's peak and we had a taste of the City in it's most unglamorous moments. From our windows of the bus, I could see, huge construction work going on in the desert on one side and after entering the city, I could see residential buildings lined with red bricks, stacked like a pile of match boxes, washed linen on strings, flying like inviting flags, with a cable dish on the top as an compulsory adornment.
Cairo city, the capital of Egypt, flourishing on the banks of River Nile , with its centuries old history, home for one of the seven wonders of the world, the Pyramids, has already drawn us into its age old charm. At the Indian restaurant we had a sumptuous dinner and we were formally invited to the tour of Egypt, by our tour manager, in the bus,on the way back to resort.
The first day of tour was to the world famous pyramids, at Giza desert just 8km. from our resort, and we were introduced to our local guide, who is an Egyptologist and well versed with the local customs. On each day, at the start , we were given our dos and donts and tips to gain maximum benefit from our tour, and schedule of the day was followed very strictly, as it is essential to cover all the sites of importance within our limited time.
The three pyramids built on a high plateau are huge as we all expected, but until we stand beside them we do not get the exact idea, lifting our heads high, we have to strain our necks to look at the top. The three pyramids were built by the Pharaohs (kings) of Old kingdom, who belong to third century BC, when the kingdom was in a flourishing state. The shape of the pyramid takes from an earth mould, which was thought of as the primordial shape of Life.
The kings - Pharaohs were worshipped as Gods and they firmly believed, in resurrection and to help them get ready for their rebirth and kingdom, the dead bodies of kings were eternally saved from getting destroyed by time,by a process called mummification and these mummies were buried with all pomp and grandeur deserved to a royal, along with treasures, horses, and servants too.
We were allowed to creep into a pyramid by bending into half, and walking like that for a few metres, we ended in a big chamber with four tubs, which were used to prepare mummies, we were explained.
All the pyramids were built by huge lime stone blocks which were transferred on the river Nile, by barges, at times when the peasants are free from their agricultural activities. The mathematical calculations employed in constructing these pyramids is so exact, that they found on verification by GPS ,only 3mm. error, which shows us that Egyptians at that time were mathematical wizards of their own right.
After taking appropriate photos of all the pyramids in one frame, and in different angles we proceed to the huge Sphinx at the same area.This sphinx is an enormous statue of a human face and lion's body,carved from the natural bedrock at the bottom of the causeway to Khafre's Pyramid, which is one of the pyramids of the three.
From here,we were taken to the famous Egyptian Cotton Factory, where pure cotton dress materials, curtains, and other furnishing materials , shirts, shawls and richly embroidered materials etc. are available for sale.Nile river leaves a black fertile soil, on it's banks , which is most suitable for cotton fields, hence cotton industry seems to be flourishing in Egypt.We shed some Egyptian pounds for some pure cotton material...
Our next stop was at another famous ,ancient , paper making industry , that is not an ordinary paper but natural, fibre paper from papyrus, which is a water plant, grown extensively in the waters of Nile. Papyrus was the ancient, thousands of years old , first found paper by Egyptians.The natural fibre inside the stem of the plant is soaked in water and pressed into a flat paper, on which various paintings are drawn, which they say last for ages, long after our lives too..
The ancient history of Egypt, with its folk tales and tales of Gods and Pharaohs, and the pictorial script of ancient Egypt called as hieroglyphics are all depicted on these papyrus, we were also tempted into buying a few paintings with our names written in hieroglyphics, for posterity sake.
Our slowed down steps and grumbling tummies have announced that it is lunch time and our next stop is at a local eatery, which serves Filafel sandwiches combined with green salad, a tasty Egyptian simple meal,and easy on pocket too.It was mentioned that we have to buy bottled mineral water ,at every meal ,as water is not served along with food, and water from public taps is not safe.The bus driver, has a small fridge in the bus, from where we can buy bottles for a cheaper rate than hotels.A convenient arrangement for both ,the local driver and for us, tourists too.
After lunch, no time for cat nap, or anything like that, we were taken to the famous Cairo National Museum, a must see on the list of tourist for its huge collection of over one lakh antiques , carefully preserved and displayed mummies and the world renowned treasures of Tutankhamum, which were found in the recent times. We were explained in detail, by our guide all the historical facts and the importance of the displays and we felt like peeping into the pages of ancient Egypt.
A separate ticket need to be purchased, for those who are interested in visiting the special gallery for mummies, which they are preserving in controlled climatic conditions. Otherwise, the tour operator buys all the tickets in advance, saving our time.
There are four important sections of the Museum, and an hour or two is insufficient to walk through all the halls, but we have to be satisfied with a running glimpse of the more important displays, with shortage of time.
Our last stop, for the first day is a dinner on board a boat cruise, ofcourse a short one on the river nile along the banks of Cairo city.The early dinner served on board, was enjoyable as local artists entertained us with a symphony of music ,a medley of drums and keyboard, accompanied by a scintillating dance by a single artist, whose movements were so fast and rhythmic, that we have fallen into his trance, this was followed by the famous belly dance too, and all this while the boat sailed smoothly in the river Nile.
We were back to our Resort, by night, and were instructed to be ready by early morning 7.30.as we have to leave to Alexandria which is 270 km. distant from Cairo. Alexandria is the second largest city in Egypt, and it got it's name, from the famous Greek King Alexander. It is also popularly known as The Pearl of the Mediterranean.
We started our second day in Egypt, on our bus tour to Alexandria, and we arrived on time in three hours. Our first stop was at Catacombs tombs, which were excavated recently. We were told these were the largest Roman Cemetery consisting of three levels cut in the rock. Underneath the earth, a maze of chambers and shelves to hold the bodies were cut into the rocks, and a central well like hole was the way to drop mummies inside for preservation. These tombs belong to private elite Roman gentry, they were following the ancient Egyptian way of mummification of bodies and the walls too were painted of figures depicting those times.
Our next visit was to the famous Pompeii's Pillar,constructed in honour of the Emperor Diocletian at the end of the 4th century AD. Then we proceeded to Quitbay Citadel, which was built on the site of ancient Pharaohs- this was the place where an ancient Light House also stood , we were told. This place is on the coast of Mediterranean sea and the coastal road is lively with beautiful beach, sailing boats, leisurely crowds walking on the pavements, hawkers selling memorabilia of their country to tourists, a central monument in the memory of unknown soldier, surrounded by a green park, hotels and restaurants busy with tourists on one side of the road, we were taken to Athens hotel on this beach road for our lunch.
From here, our next stop is the world famous, second largest Library of Alexandria. Biblotheca Alexandria is the name of this library, which is an aesthetically built , green building to save energy, we were told.The roof of the building is open to sky with windows like eyes, to allow light during day time, to save energy. The building is seven stories high, with sections for old manuscripts and millions of books from all over the world, internet facility ,facilities to copy those books, antiques collected from ancient cities, personal memorabilia of their leaders, valuable paintings, statues, a conference hall, a planetarium, all in one campus and we came to know that this building is on the same place where an ancient library used to be, which was destroyed in a fire accident.Another interesting feature,we found out, the compound wall of the library contained letters from all the languages in the world, and all of us from different parts of India were busy locating our own language on the wall. Every one took a photo, no doubt, of their findings.
We proceeded back to Egypt and had dinner at another authentic Indian restaurant,at Cairo, having a glimpse of Cairo city at night. A short stop at the famous bazaar of Cairo, made our day complete.
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