Holy Land Pilgrimage - Day Four

Thursday, March 5th:

We got up around 6:15 a.m. again and met for breakfast at 7:00 a.m. Brenda and I stopped in the Golf Pro Shop before boarding the bus. We were looking for shirts for our hubbies. At 8:00 a.m. the bus left the hotel for the day. Because of where we were heading today, we had a security man traveling with us.

Our first stop was Old Cairo. We toured The Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus (Abu Serga), a 4th century church. Today it is considered to be the oldest of Cairo's Christian churches. It is dedicated to two early martyrs and traditionally believed to have been built on the spot where the Holy Family, Joseph, Mary and the infant Christ, rested at the end of their journey into Egypt. They supposedly hid here until Herod died. There was a lot of security.

On the way to Memphis:

Memphis was the capital of ancient Egypt during the Old Kingdom (c. 2575–c. 2130 bc). The ruins of ancient Memphis have yielded a large number of sculptures representing the pharaoh Rameses II. Within the museum in Memphis is a giant statue of the pharaoh carved of monumental limestone, about 10 metres in length. It was discovered in 1820 near the southern gate of the temple of Ptah. The beauty of this statue lies in its flawless detail of the complex and subtle forms of human anatomy. The pharaoh wears the white crown of Upper Egypt.

Our next stop was Saqqara to see ruins from 4750 years ago. The Pyramid of Djoser (Zoser), or step pyramid is an archeological remain in the Saqqara necropolis, Egypt, northwest of the city of Memphis. It was built for the burial of Pharaoh Djoser by his vizier Imhotep, during the 27th century B.C. It is the central feature of a vast mortuary complex in an enormous courtyard surrounded by ceremonial structures and decoration. The Djoser complex is surrounded by a wall of light Tura limestone 10.5m high. The roofed colonnade led from the enclosure wall to the south of the complex. A passageway with a limestone ceiling constructed to look as though it was made from whole tree trunks led to a massive stone imitation of two open doors. Beyond this portal was a hall with twenty pairs of limestone columns composed of drum shaped segments built to look like bundles of plant stems and reaching a height of 6.6 m. The columns were not free-standing, but were attached to the wall by masonry projections.

This building is supposedly the oldest building in the world. Someone has spent years trying to put it back together.

They are still doing some excavating:

We stopped at a carpet institute after leaving Saqqara. We got to see how Egyptian rugs are made - it was quite fascinating! The one thing most of us did not like was that they use young children as their labor. But the children only work 2 1/2 hours 2 days a week. That way they are still able to finish their education. All education in Egypt is free- from kindergarten to college. The children making the carpets work very very fast - it was a little creepy watching them. They have a pattern to follow but mostly do it from memory. The carpets were very expensive so needless to say I didn't even buy a tiny one!



Time for lunch (finally). We ate at the same place as yesterday. Love those felafels!!

We stopped by the Merit Bazaar so we could pick up our jewelry order. One thing I didn't mention in my last post about shopping at the bazaar: they assign each of us a salesperson who follows you around the store - kinda creepy, you couldn't just browse slowly, you felt you had to move it along... We had two guards watching us and our bus while there. They were there for our safetly but none of us felt unsafe.

We went to the basement of the Bazaar and they gave us a demonstration on how to make paprus paper. It was pretty cool!

Then we went back to our hotel to get packed up and rest a bit. We had about 2 hours. We won't get back this evening until 11:00 p.m. We had to have our bags outside our door at 5:00 a.m. the next morning and be on the bus by 5:20 a.m. We are going to cross the Sinai Desert and must be in Taba at the Israel border by 11:00 a.m. because at noon they close the border for 2 hours for prayers.

They don't appear to have trash pick up... they just throw their trash out anywhere. The "canals" are full of trash - pretty nasty!

At 6:30 p.m. we met at the bus to head into town for a dinner cruise on the Nile River. It took 1 1/4 hours to reach the boat. In Egypt, they have Friday and Saturday as their "weekend". So Thursday nights they all like to get out and stay out very late. The traffic congestion was awful. There were people everywhere. They even stop along the bridges to get out and visit with friends! Also, anytime during the week if someone is waiting for a ride from someone, they just stand alongside the road, anywhere they want. They also cram as many people as possible in their vehicles: such as 25 people crammed in a van!The dinner cruise was nice. It was a buffet dinner with a gal and guy singing while we ate- the singers were not very good (had to keep from laughing). After dinner, Brenda and I walked out on the deck for a few minutes and then went back inside for the main entertainment: a belly dancer and whirly dirvish (The dance is an invention of a branch of Islam known as the Sufi, and its history dates back some 700 years; a display by men wearing long, large skirts who twirl around performing some interesting formations- they just spin around and around for at least 15 minutes). They were pretty good and got the audience involved. The cruise was 1 1/2 hours long. By the time we got back to the hotel it was 11:15 p.m. We went to our rooms and crashed!

Holy Land Pilgrimage - Day Three

Wednesday, March 4th:

I woke up around 6:15 a.m.; Brenda had already gotten up. We met our group for breakfast at 7:00 a.m. in the hotel dining room.

We then boarded the bus at 8:00 a.m. and headed to the Egyptian Museum. We arrived there at 9:10 a.m. and it was already very crowded (and it had only been open for 10 minutes). Our tour guide, Nala, took us directly to the 3rd floor to see the King Tut exhibit - it was very cool! Pictures were not allowed inside the museum. We then had about 1/2 hour to see whatever else we wanted to on our own. We did take a restroom break (they call them water closets) but Nala told us to only pay 1 pound ($1.00) for 5 people. Brenda and I walked around to look at a few more things.

Sights in Cairo:

We then headed to a "bazaar" so we could purchase some souvenirs. Nala suggested that a good souvenir would be a "cartouche". A Cartouche was a loop of rope with a knot at one end. It was thought to represent the universe. The custom of writing the Pharaoh's name inside the Cartouche represented his rule over the universe. It gives you and the name of whom you love the immortality and eternity by writing his or her name together with your name on each side of the cartouche in hieroglyphics. It is a piece of jewelry- like a charm to put on a chain. The gold ones were VERY expensive so I purchased a sterling silver one. It had my name on the front and Tracy's name on the back. I also got Tracy a t-shirt with a cartouche on it with his name in it.

Sample of a cartouche:

Sights along the road:

Brenda has started a charm bracelet to show all the places she travels to. I decided to do the same. So I purchased a charm of King Tut to represent my trip to Egypt.

It was then time for lunch. We voted and decided on a light lunch. So Nala took us to get "felafels". For $5 I got a coke and a felafel: mashed chickpeas with parsley, fried, and served in a pita with a sesame mustard. We did not get lettuce on it per Nala's recommendation. It was very good - I love felafels!

Our next stop was the Pyramids of Giza. What a cool place! The Great Pyramid of Giza (also called the Pyramid of Khufu and the Pyramid of Cheops) is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids. It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was constructed over a 14 to 20-year period concluding around 2560 B.C. Brenda and I climbed down into the Great Pyramid. When we first got to the entrance, I said there was no way I could go down in there. Brenda just kind of pushed me on in and said I would be fine. I was. It was steep climbing down - you had to bend over and it was a tad smelly because there was no fresh air. There wasn't really anything to see once you got to the main chamber- it was just a big room. But it was cool to be able to say I was in The Great Pyramid of Giza! After that we walked around and took pictures of the pyramids.

While there we went to see "Cheop's Boat". The Khufu ship is an intact full-size vessel from Ancient Egypt that was sealed into a pit in the Giza pyramid complex at the foot of the Great Pyramid of Giza around 2500 BC. The ship was rediscovered in 1954 by Kamal el-Mallakh, undisturbed since it was sealed into a pit carved out of the Giza bedrock. It has been reconstructed from 1,224 pieces which had been laid in a logical, disassembled order in the pit beside the pyramid. It took them 20 years to put it back together.

Next, anyone who was interested, got to go on a 15 minute camel ride. Of course, I decided to do it. It was a bit scary at first but riding toward the pyramids across the desert sands was very cool!

After the camel ride, we went to see the Sphinx- what an awesome sight! The Great Sphinx of Giza (or, commonly, the Sphinx) is a staute of a reclining sphinx (a mythical creature with a lion's body and a human head) that stands on the Giza Plateau on the west bank of the Nile. It is the largest monolith statue in the world, standing 241 ft long, 20 ft wide,and 66.34 ft high. It is the oldest known monumental sculpture, and is commonly believed to have been built by ancient Egyptians of the Old Kingdom in the reign of the pharaoh Khafra (c. 2558–2532 B.C.). BUT the vendors there were relentless! One followed Brenda from the Sphinx, all the way to the bus. We even stopped for a restroom break and he waited for her to come out. Finally one of the men in our group had to make him leave her alone. Vendors seemed to be just about anywhere we went. Selling their "wares" is how a lot of them make a living.

Our next stop was the Relax Perfume Center where we got to smell different essential oils. They also served us peppermint and hibiscus tea or some type of very strong coffee. Their prices were rather expensive so Brenda and I decided to buy one bottle and share it. We were able to find one we agreed on: "Bride of the Nile".

After the perfume center, we went back to the Sphinx for a light and sound show. It wasn't that great of a show and a lot of people in our group kept nodding off. It was just lights and laser pictures on the pyramids and they told stories. I expected a lot more.

It was then time to head back to the hotel to eat dinner. It was after 8:00 p.m. before we were eating. Brenda and I went back to a shop at the hotel so we could purchase some bottles for our essential oils. We were in bed around 10:30 p.m. It was a very full and tiring day.