Freakin’ early wake-up call this morning – 4:15 AM. Ouch. After grabbing breakfast boxes from the lobby, though, we hopped on the buses to go to the Giza Plateau to see the sunrise over the pyramids! What an incredible experience. We got there in complete darkness and within a two hour period, the scenery had undergone an amazing transformation because of the changing light. It was really hazy too (probably from all of Cairo’s pollution), but it gave the entire site a mystical appearance. It was an incredible way to experience the pyramids, though, and I think I must have taken about 300 pictures that morning. The pyramids really are an amazing site. Because we were there so gosh-darn early, our Semester at Sea group were the only visitors, which made picture-taking a dream and the overall experience more pleasant than if we were being pushed around by a bunch of other tourists. Also, although the sun was HOT, it was nowhere nearly as hot as it would be at mid-day. I think someone said it was 110 degrees when we were leaving. Though I might have been grouchy at first, it was totally worth the early morning wake-up for this experience.
While at the pyramids, Greg and I bought an extra ticket to actually climb inside the Second Pyramid! This is my favorite pyramid, for sure - it’s definitely the best one. : ) The pyramids are solid on the inside and the burial chamber is dug underneath. It was similar to the day before when we had to crouch down and climb through a small opening then down a really steep ramp. The climb down into the Second Pyramid’s tomb was A LOT longer than the one the day before. There is a room in the middle where you can stand up a little before you have to climb BACK up the other side to get to the burial chamber. As soon as you get inside, it feels like you are in a cave. (Takes me back to our spelunking days, Kim!) There were fewer details on the walls than we had seen the day before, but it was much bigger. The best thing about this experience, though, was that we were there SO early that there were no other people inside! Greg and I had the entire tomb to ourselves! It was creepy and awesome at the same time.
After getting our fill of the pyramids, we jumped back on the bus for the short drive down the hill to see the Great Sphinx of Giza! SO COOL! It was a great view with the pyramids in the back. It was definitely one of those, “I can’t believe I am here!” moments.
The next stop was the Egyptian Archeological Museum in Cairo where we saw ancient statues and works of art along with all of KING TUT’s burial treasure. AH! KING TUT! It was incredible because he was the only Egyptian king whose tomb was not raided. He was buried so quickly after he died that no one had a chance to see where he was buried – the paint wasn’t even dried on the wall of the tomb when they sealed it! An archeologist named Carter excavated the site in the 1920’s and found the tomb to be completely intact. All of Tut’s treasures now reside in the Archeological Museum in Cairo. We also got to see the MUMMY ROOM! (Rachy, I was thinking of you, Bones, and Booth the entire time!!!) To me, it is difficult to fathom how all of the most famous rulers of Egypt have their BODIES on display in a museum. The bodies were creepily well-preserved. The teeth were perfectly intact along with hair and even eyelashes! There are hardly words – it’s just so crazy to think about the history that is evidenced by the remains of these famous rulers.
The museum was fantastic because we had a guided tour from our tour guide for the trip, Rhem (pronounced Reem). Side note about Rhem: she is an AMAZING lady – I think she was a former archeologist or something. She is also super bossy – which was great because we were always the first bus to get anywhere! She pretty much talked NON-STOP for 4 days on the trip, filling our heads with facts and stories. She did such a great job of telling the history of Egypt and making it sound like a narrative. It was great. I wish I would have had her for my personal tour guide the entire summer. Also, she has this super loud voice, so she would yell “BUS SIX, ANGELS! THIS WAY!” and you knew exactly where to go.
After getting admiring all of Tut’s treasures, we went to the Alabaster Mosque. It was another beautiful mosque – with low lights and beautiful rugs all over the floor. We took our shoes off (of course) to enter into the building. Once inside, we sat down on the rugs and listen to Rhem tell us all about Islam. Such interesting stuff. The mosque was decorated wonderfully and had gorgeous chandeliers hanging all over the place. It was nice and cool and shady in the mosque and I really didn’t want to leave. : ( On the way out, I saw the women’s section – another tragically small area with a crude curtain hung up to shield it from the vision of people in the mosque. I understand that it is traditional for women to pray behind the men, but it just FEELS so oppressive to me and it makes me upset. What I’ve learned in the past few weeks is that I would probably make a very bad Muslim if I had to jam into a little area like that to say my prayers when the men get great seats and all of the room that they need. Oh well, apparently I am still working on my cultural understanding….maybe I will “get it” someday…
After the Alabaster Mosque, the whole group of us jumped on a lunch cruise down the Nile River! I kinda expected the Nile to be this gorgeous, glistening river…instead it reminded me A LOT of the three rivers in Pittsburgh – pretty muddy and like nothing you would ever want to swim in. Regardless of its appearance, though, it is the source of life for many many Egyptian people, which it pretty amazing if you think about it. During the lunch cruise, we saw a belly dancing show as well as an “oriental show” which was like the whirling dervish show I saw, but with more interesting costumes. The whole thing was pretty cheesy and touristy – it was nothing I would have picked to do for myself, but it was a fun way to spend the afternoon and see more of the city of Cairo. : )
After our late lunch, we returned to the hotel around 3:30 PM. We had a few hours to relax and get out of the sun, which was nice. I went out to the pool and sat under a shady umbrella and finished my book (“Girl with a Dragon Tattoo” – it was a crazy storyline, but pretty addicting – can’t wait to read the next two in the series!). Before long, I was feeling toasty again, so I jumped into the pool. By the time I got in there were about 50 other people from Semester at Sea because all of the Cairo overnight trips were staying in the same resort. The pool was magnificent. The bottom of the pool was dark blue and it had streams and waterfalls running into it from the front and back sides. It was incredible! When the sun started to go down in the sky, the water was reflecting so much light, it was almost blinding.
I took a quick shower and then jumped back onto Bus 6 with the rest of the “Angels” to go back to the pyramids at sunset for the “Sound and Light Spectacular” show. What they didn’t tell us was that the word “spectacular” was used quite loosely in this instance. Unfortunately, it had like 1983 special effects and was pretty lame. However, it did have a lot of good information about the pyramids and the Sphinx, which helped to supplement what I had learned earlier in the day.
We had a short drive back to the hotel and our bus driver BOOKED it back. He passed all of the other buses and it was pretty obnoxious because we weren’t exactly waiting our turn – but, that’s the way it is in Egypt! If it’s a 3 lane road, 6 cars would easily fit into one row. There’s just no concept of a safe distance here. Plus, don’t even think you would get a chance to doze off on the bus – the horns on the streets were blaring every five seconds. Egyptian drivers seem so aggressive, which is one reason why I couldn’t live in Egypt – I would never get anywhere! We had a delicious buffet dinner at the hotel and then I pretty much crashed into bed barely holding my eyes open.
No comments:
Post a Comment