Land of the Pharaohs

Anu and I had a very enjoyable trip to Egypt during the christmas vacation. We flew Cochin-Dubai-Cairo and on our way back Cairo-Dubai-Mumbai-Cochin, celebrating new year in Mumbai.

We flew into Cairo on 24th evening and started our tour at Giza on 25th visiting the Pyramids and the Sphinx. We had made all necessary arrangements through our travel agent. And we had a car, driver and a qualified guide at our disposal at all places.

The pyramids and sphinx are marvellous structures and we spent almost 4 hours marvelling at these magnificent edifices and of course, clicking away.

We visited a papyrus museum, a commercial one, and also a perfume factory. These are something unique to Egypt. The perfumery supplies perfume oils to some of the world renowned brands like Armani, Davidoff, etc.

We spent the evening at the Cairo Museum gorging on history. (There is no point travelling without a qualified guide as there is a story behind every small monument or artifact. We were lucky to have some very good guides for company throughout)

Next day we spent at a private museum, Pharonic Village. Most of the things here are worthless except for the museums of Nasser, Muslim history, among others. Evening we boarded the train to Aswan in the south which is about 1000 kms away. Trains are comfortable and provide good cosy beds and a wash-basin. These are tourist trains and locals are not allowed inside. Cabins are private and they provide dinner and breakfast.

We arrived 2 hours late and were received and escorted to the cruise liner which would be our home for the next 3 days. The ship provided a comfortable room and a nice toilet, although a far cry from what was touted as 'five star'.We hit the road after a shower and quick lunch visiting the new dam (so called because it replaced an older one). Next was a visit to Philae temple which was relocated stone by stone in the 70s.The creation of the old dam caused flooding of the old temple site.Philae is an island and it takes a 10 min boat ride to get there.It is a marvellous monument in every sense of the term.The history attached to it would take pages to describe but the sheer beauty of the temple is a sight to behold.After dinner on the ship we again went back to a light and sound show at Philae and we did not regret having to endure biting cold and gusty winds.If during the morning Philae was magnificent, at night it was drop dead gorgeous.

We set sail at 3 am and docked at Komombo at 5.30 in the morning and were off by 6 (again in bright sunshine but equally fierce cold).Komombo is another of the 3000 year old temples but in quite good condition. Next stop was Edfu temple, a vast and massive temple site.All the historical sites are now well preserved with active international participation.And all places are well connected by good roads.We wound up for the day and set sail for Luxor, our last stop on the cruise.The cruise on the Nile is by itself quite picturesque.If we had more time on hand we probably would have hired a Felucca, a small sail boat, and toured the Nile at our whim.

Anyway, Luxor was twice the capital of ancient Egypt and is home to some of the most magnificent ancient temple sites.We had a remarkable day at Luxor, probably our best on the trip.We had for company the best guide of the whole trip and some of the most beautiful monuments that we could ever hope to see.

Karnak Temple (on 64 hectares) is the biggest in the whole of Egypt, the Hatchepsut temple (the only Queen to have ruled ancient Egypt), Workers village (the place were workers who worked on the temples were housed),Temple of Ramses,Valley of the Kings (62 tombs and counting) and finally the Luxor temple by night.We also stopped by at a stone craft shop to look at some exquisite hand-crafted pieces made of various local stones.

We arrived back just in time for dinner and a farewell party on board.Next morning we were off to Cairo,the flight takes about an hour.Back in Cairo we again hit the ground running visiting the citadel (900 years old),a few other ancient mosques and museums.We also grabbed a quick visit to the Coptic church and a synagogue. Interestingly, Jews lived in Cairo till the 60s when war broke out between Egypt and Israel after which they fled the place.But the Synagogue itself is a well protected monument and very well preserved.It was the only place where even cameras without flash were not allowed to be used inside (Of course the same applies to the Valley of the Kings where no photograph is allowed inside the tombs).Incredulously, Alexandria in northern Egypt, is still home to Jews who follow their faith without any fear.And there are still 15 million Christians living in Egypt.

The Nile is practically the nerve centre, all activity and prosperity, for that matter,revolves around this mighty river which originates from deepest Africa,in Ethiopia.We as foreigners can get a bit confused with Egyptian geography.Cities in southern Egypt like, Aswan, Luxor, etc. are referred to as Upper Egypt and those in the north (Cairo, Alexandria, etc) are referred to as Lower Egypt.All this because the Nile flows from the south to the north!

Anyone who loves history would fall in love with this place.One cannot stop marvelling at the structures,it is a photographer's delight. Of course, the preservation work by the government is a lesson in itself. We were initially put off a little by the constant demand for tips but save for this minor irritant Egyptians are very friendly, peace loving and surprisingly broad-minded.We loved being there and look forward to going back to see some of the places that we could not travel to this time.