Day 2. Sun 14th September
Cairo. The Pyramids at Giza
I am woken at 7:30am, having had about three hours sleep, to find that
I have lost the key to my barrel-bag so I cannot get at any of my stuff.
I clamber into the grubby clothes I travelled in and set off to meet my
companions.
We are a group of 19, plus Maria the tour leader - Martin and Judy
(who were in fact on the same flight as I was), Ian and Isobel, Nigel and
Anne (Nigel is a fund raiser for Christian Aid), Bob and Laura (from New
Hampshire), Hugo, David (living in Malta), Chris, Oisìn (from Dublin),
Jenny, Anne (also from Dublin), Sophie (French Canadian), Lisa, Beverley,
Jo and myself.
We do not stay long in Cairo at this stage of the trip - we will return
to the captial at the end of our journey and have more time to explore
a little of this huge city. Today we will "do" the pyramids at Giza (Py
Ra Mid = Great House of Ra). Giza is about a 20min drive in an air-conditioned
bus to the south west of central Cairo and as soon as we are out of the
main built-up area we can see the pyramids looming in the distance. Built
by father (Cheops), son (Khafre) and grandson (Menkaure), these massive
structures were already over 2500 years old at the time of Christ, and
are the sole survivors of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. These
structures are not only huge and massive (they are not hollow, but solid
- the great pyramid of Cheops is constructed out of 2.3 million blocks
weighing around 2.5 tonnes each), but are positioned and aligned on a North-South
axis to an accuracy of a few centimetres (better than 0.1%), so that even
today some people refuse to believe that they could have been built by
the pharonic Egyptians (who did not even have the wheel) and put forward
all sorts of theories that they were built by angels, devils, or visitors
from outer space. It has now been shown that the position and size of these
thre pyramids exactly reflect the positions and brightness of the three
stars in Orion's belt, the constellation we know as Orion being seen by
the Pharaonic Egyptians as the God Osiris. They believed that life on earth
was repeated after death in the heavens, that the Milky Way was the Nile,
from which all life flowed, and that after death the Pharaohs became stars
and joined Osiris in the sky. As Ra, the sun God, rose in the east and
set in the west, the living made their homes on the east side of the Nile,
and the dead were buried on the west side, so that all the tombs, pyramids
and necropolises are to be found on the west side of the river. Originally
the three pyramids were clad with limestone, and must have shone like stars
in the sunlight, however most of the limestone was taken to build modern
Cairo, and only the pyramid of Khafre is still capped with the original
limestone casing.
Like nearly all the sites we visit, this is primarly a tourist attraction
(95% of Egyptian income is from tourism), and we are immediately set upon
by traders, guides, camel owners and just plain beggars trying to get money
off us by selling us a scarab (dung beetle), a trip on a camel, or even
just taking their picture. Every photograph taken is liable to be followed
by demands for "baksheesh" from every Egyptian who thinks he might have
been in frame, and woe betide the tourist who fancies a snap of himself
on a camel - once the animal has stood up it costs quite a lot to persuade
the owner to make it kneel down again. Even the Tourist Police, who are
supposed to be monitoring this activity, expect a little something for
a pose. Even if you explain beforehand that no money will be paid they
still expect "something for the camel", and I upset several local David
Baileys by allowing them to take my photograph and then not giving them
anything, and eventually have to take refuge in the coach. At least they
didn't run off with my camera!
To my great disappointment the great pyramid of Cheops (at 146 metres it
was the tallest man-made structure in the world until the Eiffel Tower
was built in 1898) was not open to visitors. Apparently they are opened
in rotation to allow maintenance work to be done. However the Mencaure
pyramid (the smallest of the three at 62 metres) is open, and we join the
queue to venture inside.
From ground level the shaft, which is about 4 feet high, slopes steeply
down to the burial chamber. It is extremely humid (one of the main problems
with all of these burial chambers is that the humidity caused by the tourists
breathing is causing fungus to grow on the walls), and the shaft is only
just wide enough for the two streams of people, one going down, one coming
back up. The burial chamber is empty and there is nothing to see, but it
is an interesting experience, though not for the claustrophobic.
In front of Khafre's pyramid, and thought to have been built by him
and to represent him, is the Sphinx. We also visit the granite temple below
the Giza plateau, which was built to be used only once, for the 70 day
mumification process of the dead Pharaoh.
Back on the coach, we drive back to Cairo, and, having no time in our
busy schedule for a sit down lunch, are introduced to falafel sandwiches
(mashed up chick peas in pitta bread). These are actually delicious and
are to be a staple over the next few weeks.
In the afternoon we visit one of the many papyrus "institutes", where
we are given a demonstration of how the papyrus plant is made into sheets.
In ancient times Egypt was divided into Southern or Upper Egypt and Northern
or Lower Egypt. The Papyrus was the symbol of Lower Egypt and the Lotus
of Upper.
The shop is full of papyrus paintings which are done in glowing colours
and are very striking. I go the tourist route and buy a small papyrus of
my birthsign, Libra, and have my name put on it in hieroglyphics in a cartouche.
(Cartouche is French for a little box, and refers to the ovaloid box in
which the names of the Pharaohs always appear in Egyptian hierolglyphic
writing). Having your name put on things in hieroglyphics is a common tourist
attraction, although exactly how authentic the transliteration is I am
not too sure.
On to the Egyptian Museum in central Cairo, which houses in the order of
300,000 exhibits. We admire the massive statues and sarcophagi, and the
treasures of Tutankhamun (all except the two inner sarcophagi and the mummy
itself, which are in the Valley of the Kings at Luxor). For an extra few
egyptian pounds we visit the mummy room and gaze into the 300-years-dead
eyes of Rameses II. Our guide, Ahmed, (90% of Egyptian males are called
Ahmed or Mohammed) studies Egyptology at the University of Cairo, and gives
us a well-informed run down of the shenanigans of the old kingdom pharaohs.
We have an hour to ourselves to continue looking at the museum, but David,
Hugo and I decided to pop into the Cairo Hilton for a drink instead, and
then take a saunter down the banks of the Nile.
Finally the coach takes us back to the New President Hotel, where a man
with a screwdriver breaks into my bag, and I can finally get some clean
clothes. Although technically a third-world country the accomodation and
general lifestyle are noticeably more luxurious here than in Africa, working
showers, electricity, loo paper, air-conditioning, even a fridge and a
television in the rooms.
After a thorough briefing on the rest of the trip (the Sinai Insight
module, that is, which, for me, is the first week), we head off into town
for a dinner of kebabs and Egyptian rice pudding. A few intrepid souls
head off for the fleshpots of Cairo, but most, myself included, return
to the hotel for an early night.