#29 Back on the Road!
Tourism is Back
It may be a lull between waves of Covid but this trip has been planned for years and we decided to go ahead and travel to Egypt. With testing and masking rules in place, we stepped onto a plane that took us to Cairo via a four-hour layover in Frankfurt. We were funneled into a waiting van that would take us through the absolutely insane throng of city traffic from the eastern suburb where the airport sits, to the western suburb of Cairo, Giza, where the great pyramids loom regally over the landscape. With one heart-stopping near miss of an accident, it took a full hour to reach our hotel just across from the pyramids.
Pyramid Selfie by Joan Naidorf
The Great Pyramid archeological site is mostly unlit at night but this spectacular site greeted us in the morning from our balcony. I promised my friends the ultimate pyramid selfie. The Great Pyramid of Giza is a defining symbol of Egypt and one of the ancient Seven Wonders of the World. It was built as a tomb for the king Khufu, the second king of the Fourth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt (between 2600 and 2500 BC). It towers some 481 feet (147 meters) above the plateau with estimated 2.3 million stone blocks hewed and moved by hand.
Of course, the local vendors keep camels on the premises to give adventurous tourists a feel for the old time way of transportation in the desert. This fellow pictured here is sitting with another pyramid in the distance. This one, the Pyramid of Khafre or of Chephren is the second-tallest and second-largest of the Ancient Egyptian Pyramids of Giza and the tomb of the Fourth-Dynasty pharaoh Khafre. The top casing in limestone shows what all of the other pyramids may have looked like at one time.
From Giza, a 45 minute ride takes travelers to Saqqara, northwest of the city of Memphis. The Pyramid of Djoser or step pyramid in the Saqqara necropolis. It was built ca. 27th century BC during the Third dynasty for the burial of Pharaoh Djoser. The complex is believed to be among the oldest known pyramids. The complex includes exquisitely carved and painted scenes on the inside of the many tombs on the site. Our Egyptologist led the group and explained the process and meanings of the complex system of symbolic artwork and hieroglyphs.
All these sites and history comprised just one day of our grand Egyptian tour. The tour guides and vendors were overjoyed to see tourists come back to their country. The Tourism industry supports many people throughout the country and our presence was greatly missed during the height of the pandemic. The good of supporting the tourist industry stands in sharp contrast to our colleagues still battling Covid and the Ukrainians resisting the invading Russians.
Our window of traveling opportunity feels much more precious after the severe restrictions of the last two years. The walking and climbing over various ancient sites is taxing on older knees and hips. I would encourage anyone who wants to travel to see the wonders of Ancient Egypt, do not procrastinate. A world of complex history, archeology, and artwork awaits. The effort to travel there is well rewarded. I will add my blog about the Upper Nile sites in a few weeks. The best is yet to come.
