Kiwiblog

What better way to spend a Monday than looking around the sole remaining wonder of the ancient world.

The pyramids are in the desert, but at the very border of Cairo. So it is very easy to get to them.

These are the three main Giza pyramids. The one on the left is actually the largest – known as the Great Pyramid of Giza. The pyramids are far older than the tombs at the Valley of the Kings. They date back to around 2560 BC, so are around 4,550 years old.

Rather than just drive up to the pyramids, I got dropped off in the desert, and enjoyed a walk through the desert. You really soak up the atmosphere that way.

This is the Great Pyramid of Giza up close. It is estimated to have around 2.3 million blocks in total, weighing 5.9 million tonnes. You wouldn’t want someone to drop it on you!

It is thought to have taken 20 years to build, which meant moving 800 tonnes of stone a day. And they were not just dumped down. The four sides have a mean error of only 58 mm.

The blocks have got worn over the years, but for 4,500 years of wear and tear they are holding up pretty good.

You can climb up the first few layers, but are not allowed to ascend to the top anymore.

A lone camel crossing the desert behind.

I declined to go on the camels as I had been warned that the price you negotiate is only for getting onto the camel, and that afterwards you also have to negotiate a price to be helped off, and by then you are in a weak bargaining position.

This is the smallest (but still large) of the three – the pyramid of Menkaure. The Great Pyramid is Khufu’s

And this is the Pyramid of Khafre.

At the apex of Khafre’s pyramid, its “coat” is still in place. The Pharoah’s didn’t actually want people climbing their tombs, so they smoothe rteh pyramids out. But over time much of the outer layer has disappeared, exposing the surface below.

I think most people can identify the Great Sphinx. It is within walking distance of the three main pyramids. It is 74 metres tall. There is great debate about when it as created. Most think at the time of the pyramids, but some say it pre-dates them and may be over 5,000 years old.

These shops are within 200 metres of the Sphinx. Sacrilege!

This is the Pyramid of Djoser, over at Saqqara. It was the first Egyptian pyramid and is 4,700 years old.

In the sand, you can see many fragments of pottery and other artefacts from the Pyramids.

This is the general Memphis area, famous for its palm trees. Memphis was the capital of Egypt until 2200 BC.

On the way home, went past the Saladin Citadel of Cairo. Ran out of time to look around it, so will keep for my return trip!

On Sunday took the train down from Alexandria. Only had to “tip” two police officers today. I have learnt that the worst question in the world you can hear in Egypt is “Hello Sir, what country are you from?”.

In New Zealand, you ask somewhere where they are from as a genuine conversation starter. Here it is a prelude to a mugging. You see they have craftily picked a question that is hard to avoid without being rude. You are obviously from somewhere and your instinct is to say where from.

The moment you do, it is all over. Like a limpet the person attaches to you talking about how good New Zealand (land of milk) is and how much they like New Zealanders and just for you they will tell you something about the local facility. Never mind you didn’t want to know, or already did know. You are then obliged to hand over some money for this favour.

My suggestion is to carry lots of small currency.

Anyway once I got to Cairo, checked in at the hotel, and discovered the swimming pool is one of those ones with a bar in the middle of it. Nice.

I’m not sure I have mentioned this before, but to respect local customs I have not worn shorts outside at all. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Now I have avoided the very hottest months but it has still got up to around 30 degrees, and even in shorts that is hot – especially for me who still has an internal thermostat attuned to Dunedin climate. So swimming pools are a welcome relief.

This is the view from my room.  What a great location to be staying. Met up with a friend, and we enjoyed the view from the balcony for hours.

Decided to go to the famous National Museum of Egypt. Even better learnt it was only a couple of kms away, so could walk there, avoiding a taxi driver negotiation.

The bridge over the Nile has these lion statues at each end.

The Cairo International Film Festival is very highly regarded, and a source of pride to many in Egypt.

The Cairo Tower. It is 187 metres tall and has a restaurant at the top. It is mainly used for TV signals

This is the famous Egyptian Museum. The sheer amount of artifacts is staggering, and you could easily spend days here. The treasures from King Tut’s tomb are amazing, as are his two gold coffins. The wooden outer coffin and the mummy itself remain in his tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

Everyone says this is a must see, and they are right. Both the quantity and quality of material is vast.

Alexandria is a lovely city – most of all it is clean, unlike Luxor and much of Cairo. It makes such a difference not having dirt and dust everywhere.

The hotel arranged a driver and car for only NZ$12 an hour. Unlike Luxor where there are formal tours, Alexandria is more the place where you just go the places you want to. I also did not want to be a full day tour, as the reason I chose Alexandria was partly just to have a nice place to relax for at least half a day. Holidays can be very exhausting!

This is the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, which is Latin for Library of Alexandria. It is to commerorate the original Library of Alexandria whose loss is one of history’s tragedies.

The ancient library was thought to be the largest in the world, The exact size is unknown but most estimates are that it was in the hundreds of thousands. The world would be a different place today if that knowledge had survived. Knowledge is what separates us from the cavemen.

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is near the site of the original Library, and has shelf space for eight million books. It is also unique, being the only facility that has a copy and external backup of the Internet Archive.

This is the Citadel of Qaitbay. The citadel is around 550 years old, but prior to that the site was the location of the Lighthouse of Alexandria – one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.The lighthouse was built just after 300 BC and as destroyed in earthquakes in the 1300s.

The citadel is a pretty cool fort to look around in its own right also.

A view of the harbour and Alexandria from the Citadel.

This is Pompey’s Pillar. It is so named as legend had it that Pompey’s ashes were sprinkled at the vase of the pillar. This is unlikely though as it turned out it was constructed in 293 AD for the Emperor Diocletian.

Pompey was murdered by Ptolemy XIII in 48BC. The King thought doing so would please Caesar, but in fact Caesar was appalled that such a great Roman (even if his opponent) was killed in such a way.

The Pillar is 30 meters high and weighs 396 tons. and surrounded by various other artifacts, and also the subterranean remains of a Serapeum. This was a must see.

This is a photo down in the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa, one of the seven wonders of the Middle Ages. You go down a large spiral staircase to get to them.

Technically cameras are banned from the Catacombs but technically a Blackberry is not a camera

The planks are quite wobbly and trust me you don’t want to find out what the water is like!

These are horse bones – possibly killed during the razing of Alexandrina by Emperor Caracalla. The Catcombs were actually discovered by a donkey in 1900 when it disappeared down a previously unknown shaft. My guide told me that the donkey owner was very upset, and tried to get his donkey back, and only when they realized it had fallen 20 metres did they realise it was beyond help.

Also went to the Alexandrina National Museum. It isn’t a huge museum but worth checking out. This is a bust of Emperor Hadrian – one of the better Roman Emperors.

Also ran out of books to read (I’m onto book eight already) so managed to track down a bookstore that sold some English books. Like everything else, one had to haggle the prices. Managed to pick up three old Egyptian detective novels by Elizabeth Peters that kept me occupied on the train.

I left Luxor Thursday night. The Palace Nile hotel was very good value – only NZ$40 a night for a very good hotel room. Both Turkey and Egypt have cheap hotels. Interestingly though the food is not that cheap – for example the dinner would cost more than the accommodation.

I took the sleeper train to Cairo, and then a day train the remainign two hours to Alexandria.

At Luxor train stations I spent several minutes telling various touts no I did not need their assistance. But then as I get to the train track, a Police Officer politely asks what train I am on. I tell him, and he (so I thought) kindly took me down to the right carriage. Just as I am thinking how nice that was, he tells me that I can “reward” him if I am grateful.

I couldn’t believe it – even the effing Police want a tip. And yes of course I gave him one – you don’t generally say no to armed police. I’m not sure if this constitutes my first act of bribery of a public official!

This is my room. Was pretty reasonable for US$50, when you compare to the cost of flying.

A typical rural scene. The train windows were very dirty. While the train inside was actually very nice, the exterior looked like it was 50 years old and had never been washed.

Most areas though are like this. Makes you realise how lucky we are in NZ.

The hotel in Alexandria is on the Mediterranean Coast, and you can see the Mediterranean Sea in the background.

And the actual beach is only one minute away. Alexandria is not so much a tourist city (even though there is stuff to see) but a holiday destination for many in the Middle East.

As great as it was to see the sights from on high, there is nothing like getting up close and personal also, so did a tour of the West Bank also. I thought this was exceptionally good value – for NZ$100 I got a car all to myself, a driver, a guide and entry to the major attractions.

First we had a look at the Colossi of Memnon. They also date back to around 1350 BC, even though the Romans upgraded the top of the right hand one later on.

That track up there is where you go if you take the Donkey option to get over to the Valley of the Kings. I’m not kidding – you see packs of tourists on donkeys heading up that hill.

This is the reconstructed temple of Queen Hatshepsut. Up top parts of the original walls and artwork remain. Hatshepsut is viewed by historians as one of the most successful female Pharaohs. She ruled around 1500 BC.

Her step son, who was nominal co-ruler with her when alive, seemed to resent her as during his reign many pictures of her were literally scratched out – you can see the vandalism still today.

This is artwork on the original walls of the temple. You know you can see numerous pictures of this stuff, but there is nothing like seeing it in real life – knowing it is 3,500 years old. Amazingly well preserved.

This is Anubis – God of the Dead. All Stargate fans will know him 

This shows boats on the Nile. They also show many different fish and goods.

Again the quality of the artwork is superb. What a civilization it must have been back then.

And this is the house of Howard Carter – the finder of King Tut’s Tomb.

After this temple, we went to the Valley of the Kings proper. Now earlier this year they banned cameras which is a shame, so this image is from Wikipedia.

There were 62 tombs in the Valley of the Kings but in 2006 they discovered a 63rd. Don’t think archaeology is last century – there is still so much to find.

It has been a tourism site since Roman times. Sadly even by then, most of the tombs had been looted.

I went down KV57, the tomb of Horemheb. It is a relatively deep tomb – you descend a considerable way underground. This is what you see down there. Image from Theban Mapping Project.

Also went into tombs of Ramesses IV. This tomb was very shallow but very colourful.

This is from the tomb of Rameses III. You get to do three tombs in total. You have to pay extra to see KV62 or King Tut’s tomb and I decided to skip it as I have heard the tomb itself is nothing special – what was special was the contest which are now if the Egyptian Museum in Cairo – I hope to visit them on Monday.

The combination of this, plus the balloon ride has made this a great day. Now about to head north tonight.

Going up in a hot air balloon was never something on my list of must dos – partly because I always wondered why they don’t catch fire more often, but when I saw a balloon tour over parts of the ruins on the West Bank of Luxor, I figured that would be a view worth paying for.

Cost is around NZ$200 which I thought was reasonable value for 90 minutes actually up in the air. The only hassle was having to meet the driver at 4.55 am to get me there!

This is the view we had as we got to the takeoff strip. It was still well before 6 am, and we had crossed the Nile by boat by then. Ou pilot told us that group was being reckless going up while dark as if there is an emergency it helps to be able to see the ground. I agree!

This is our balloon having the air heated up

This is taken inside the basket as we rise up. Yes you stand close to the flame and yes it is bloody hot.

This is the Temple of Queen Hatshsesut.

A view of the crops on the side nearer to the Nile.

I just love this photo (and the view). The sun rising in the East over the Nile, with a balloon in the foreground. Magnificent.

These are some of the Tombs of the Nobles.

You get some idea of how high up we were at this stage. You don’t even notice until you look down, as you move so fluidly.

In ancient times the Nile meant life or death. You can see why with this photo – the areas that get water from a high Nile flourish, while areas further away do not. Almost all of Egypt lives near the Nile or on the coast in more recent times.

Some other balloons starting to rise after us.

I’m sure the safety briefing said nothing about leaning out of the basket so someone can get a better shot of you!

Again we went pretty damn high up.

This is taken on the maximum zoom lens. You couldn’t even see these guys working away except for the moving crops that alerted us.

And as we came back down to land, the support crew ready to hold us down. We were told how to brace ourselves for the landing but one could have remained standing it was so gentle.

This was an absolute highlight. I recommend it to anyone who visits Egypt.

On Tuesday flew into Cairo and then did a domestic transfer to Luxor. Landing at Cairo was spectacular as you can see the desert and pyramids all around Cairo as the plane goes low.

The taxi drivers in Luxor were marginally less dishonest than those in Istanbul. In Istanbul I had one driver try to charge me 90 Turkish Lira (around NZ$80) for a 10 km trip which had cost me only 20 TL in reverse. I simply refused to pay and told him I wanted the Police as he was trying to rip me off. I finally gave him 40 TL. The next day I made a point of watching the meter every few minutes. But then another driver added 50 Lira on at the end of the trip. Again I refused and said I saw it at 30 Lira just two minutes ago so am not paying 80. The thieving bastard then said I had given him a 50 Lira note when I gave him 100.

Don’t get me wrong – loved Istanbul, but the taxi drivers are criminals.

Luxor was marginally better. The airport has a sign up telling you the cost into Luxor – around 30 Egyptian Pounds or NZ$7. The driver tried to tell me the sign meant US$30. Again I refused and we settled on US$15.

Later when heading into Luxor Temple from the hotel, I negotiated the fare in advance. He started at 50 EP and I started at 10 EP and we settled for 35 EP which was reasonable. I don’t mind a robust negotiation in advance- but I do detest meter fiddling.

Anyway staying at the Nile Palace Luxor. It is a very nice hotel, and one I would recommend.

There is a large courtyard in the middle of the hotel where you can dien and drink, and every night they have entertainment. This is a photo of the dancing girls from my balcony.

Some remains from the Temple of Luxor, which is in the main town. It was built over 3,000 years ago.

The hotel swimming pool, and that is the Nile behind it. It was 30 degrees today so the water was just lovely. My only problem has been I have already read all the books I brought with me, so had to buy some more books to read while sun bathing.

The Nile. The river is the longest in the world, going from Southern Rwanda to Egypt stretching just over 6,500 kms.

The central courtyard area during the day.

The sun chairs at the edge of the Nile. Very relaxing to see the many boats go past.