Experiencing Egypt: History, Streets and Mysteries
I visited Egypt in December, 2023. It was an exhilarating experience as I was travelling international only for the second time and with one of my favorite person, Harshvardhan. The place itself was something more than I could ever imagine. As a Muslim majority, middle-eastern country, I had several assumptions about the place. Let me list down each one of them below and break it for you as well-
It would be unsafe for woman - I travelled late at night in cabs and walked on roads, with one male friend. I do not know what the experience of a single woman might be but I didn’t feel unsafe for a moment, especially in the cosmopolitan area, called Zamalek. I could see women in burkhas walking around late into the night, after dinners, and with kids, who were skating, biking, and playing around till 11 pm at night! This is something I had never see in India. It was much safer than I had anticipated.
It would be hot around Pyramids - We chose the best time of the year to visit - the winters. The temperature was expected to be around 22 degrees Celsius. And to my surprise there were chilly winds blowing while walking around the pyramids. It was so windy that I had to buy a scarf to save my eardrums from hurting. They say it is Egyptian cotton scarf but who knows what all they say to the tourists. Nonetheless, the day temperatures were low and nights even lower. Night walks in Egypt, especially along the Nile should not be taken without warmers .
I would learn the secrets of Egyptians - One would be surprised by how much we do not know about the ancient Egyptians. You would try to ask the guides, and try to read the long plaques in museums but you would never find a concrete answer. Most of the things known about their lives are assumptions or approximations based on study of hieroglyphics, that could be deciphered. There are hundreds of hieroglyphic symbols, which makes it extremely difficult to understand the full story. You will learn a bunch of interesting stuff, no doubt, but you also find more unanswered questions. And the answer to the ever-intriguing question of how the pyramids were made - Nobody knows.
Everyone will try to scam the tourist - Yes there are scammers everywhere, and one needs to be aware of them in Egypt. Having said that, we found some of the sweetest people there. Our guides and renters were so kind to show us around, take us out to lunch as “Egyptian hospitality”, and even shared their life stories with us. Although language stood as a barrier because most people in Egypt only use Arabic, some people on the streets went out of their way to help us. And no, they did not ask any money for it. There are both kinds of people in the world, and the belief that there are more nice people than “scamming” people was certainly validated in Egypt.
Now coming to the trip itself, we started with Cairo since we landed there. The streets of Zamalek were the first day’s experience. We went along the Nile river and found elegantly decorated restaurants. The walkway, called Mamsha Ahl Misr, was a long stretch along the river and very romantic.
We went to the National Egyptian Museum the next day, and it was surprisingly less organised than we had expected. It was huge with numerous artefacts from different time periods but the descriptions were not enough. We needed a guide we realized, and caught one inside the museum. We were on the mercy of the guide after that, trying to understand the stories. Honestly, it was a bombardment of information for us because Egyptian history is long and complicated. We picked up whatever we could and took pictures. The only area where pictures were not allowed was the area where they kept the gold of Tutankhamun.
Interesting thing was seeing a bunch of art students trying to draw the portrait of sculptures on their notebooks. Later we learnt this is common for applied arts students to do so in Cairo. Well if you have some of the most ancient art pieces in the history of humanity accessible to you, why would you not?
On the third day, we went to Giza, where we met our actual tour planner. He was our Airbnb guy who offered to arrange the rest of the trip for us. It was amazing to see the first glimpse of the pyramids as we were approaching Giza via car, and it was exhilarating to see them visible from our Airbnb room window!
That evening we spent on a Nile cruise, and I had high expectations of it. However, it was only 2 hours long with dinner, a belly dance performer and an Arabic singer. What was nice was the food and the belly dance. I got to know about Tanoura dance as another Egyptian dance performed by men. What I did not like was that it was crowded and they took extra money to buy a photo with the performers.
Then, we went for a Sheesh (Hookah) and Turkish coffee to a local place with out host after the end of cruise, and night ended with stories being shared between Indians and an Egyptian.
The next day, we had the plan to visit pyramids and the Sphinx. The Egyptologist with us was extremely knowledgeable and entertained us with a lot of stories. Needless to say that seeing pyramids up-close was an unmatched experience.
We also bought some paintings drawn on papyrus (the real plant based paper) and essential oils on the way, wherever our car was stopped. We may have splurged a little in the favor of the shops but no regrets.
The day after we had to wake up early and leave for Luxor by flight. Luxor was a completely different story. It was greener, and the Nile more bluer than in Cairo. We visited the Luxor temple first, which blew our minds. Everyone expects the pyramids to be big but the temple pillars would be so huge and heavily engraved was unexpected. The natural colors on some parts were intact as well.
The complex itself was a mix from different time periods. The pharaohs came into power and made their additions to the temple as per their liking. The basic idea was to draw the pharaoh’s image giving an offering to the God. This highlighted the pharaoh’s status and ensured that the successors will not try to erase it. Why? Because it is made along with the Gods! Similar to what we do in India - any paper that has God’s images on it is not thrown directly into dustbins. The pharaohs understood this and used it to preserve their own legacy.
The Karnak temple was another one which talked about the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt into one land. The symbol of the Upper Egypt was blue Lotus and of the Lower Egypt was papyrus. They were beautifully decorated and demonstrated around.
We also learnt interesting facts about what the couple statues indicate about the relationship between them. For example, if a woman is sitting beside a man, it is likely his wife, but if her hand goes behind the back of the man while sitting beside him, she is his wife and half-sister!
We came back to a very nice hotel in Luxor, Iberotel, where we sat beside the pool, had some drinks, and saw the sunset. We rested well that day since we had to get up early in the morning for a hot-air balloon ride! This was the first experience for me, and it felt amazing. I thought I would be scared but it was very comfortable, and the views of the landscape with the morning sun illuminating it were delightful. One funny thing I discovered about the hot air balloon ride was that it requires 10-15 people to pull and land it safely!
The rest of the day was spent at the Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut temple. I was mesmerised by the work done on all sides, including the ceiling, inside the tombs at Valley of the kings. The tombs are now empty but the stories on the walls remain.
Hatshepsut is a fine character and a story to tell about. She was the first queen pharaoh and she took that power away from the illegitimate son of her dead husband. She sent him to military thinking that he will die but he came back stronger and destroyed her. He tried to destroy any mention of her from history but some symbols remained because she knew the old trick of including Gods in your images.
This was the end of Luxor, and then we came back to Giza. We spent the next two days leisurely. We filled our knowledge gaps through the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, which is the best museum I have seen. Pleasantly organised, documented and safe from any scams. I finally got the complete view of Egyptian history. And discovered interesting things like ancient Egyptians played a snake-and-ladder like game, and made sweet bread called “ka’k” which is similar to the root word for cake!
On the second last evening, we booked a food tour in the non-touristy streets of Cairo. This was a guided experience by a local, who helped us discover foods we had not eaten till then. I would like to mention babaganoush, tahini and desserts like Baklava and Bous-bousa. I cannot vouch for the meat dishes because I do not consume it, but I would definitely vouch for the fruit juices, which were as fresh as you can find. Through this tour, we also met other international tourists who were experiencing Egypt like us for the first time.
The last day we kept for shopping in Khan-el-khalili, which like any market in India. It was crowded and it took us a lot of time to get a cab back to Giza. But that day we unexpectedly stumbled upon the Hanging Church, St. George Church and a Al-Azhar Mosque. It was a nice closure to the tour that ensured that we get a taste of the more recent cultural pieces.
It all came to an end in the morning when we were too exhausted to do anything else but pack for the airport. We took a last photo with the pyramids from the room and said Good-bye to Egypt. Until Next time!
If you want to know more, check out Harhvardhan’s blog which gives details missed by me.