Cairo for a Day

Next morning we were treated to a new and improved guide, Hosney, and we shared this “Santa Claus” van with Irene and Rob from England for a day in Cairo.  We jumped on a freeway for the 2 ½ hr ride to Cairo, where we wasted no time getting to the famous Archeological Museum, home of the King Tut treasures and all of the other spoils of the Egyptian tombs.  What we were NOT anticipating was the state of disrepair of this old museum, whose simple glass cases looked as they could be easily tipped over.  Faded typed 3x5 cards explained the items in the cases in Arabic and sometimes English.  There was much sand on the floors from peoples’ shoes and even though the floors and stairs were marble,  they were chipped and well-worn.    Dirty unpainted walls made this building feel like a train station in need of renovation. The dim lighting was antiquated while other painted objects  were sitting in bright morning sun.  In other words, such old artifacts were being subjected to the elements.  And for those items NOT in cases, it was even worse… signs 10 feet in the air on the wall said “Do Not Touch”, but no one saw them and many proceeded to touch every item they walked by.  But the items were nonetheless spectacular and we were awestruck.  Pictures were not allowed in the museum….so alas, our memories are in our heads until we can get our hands on a used book when we get home!  The really GOOD NEWS is that a NEW MUSEUM is being built at Giza to house the whole collection.  Only a small fraction of the goodies are displayed.  Oh, to return for  that!

As we drove through Cairo on our way to lunch, this contrast of cultures was one of the many sightings that left us with our mouths open.  Not wanting to waste time, we nixed the idea of a proper sit down lunch, opting instead for Hosney’s offer of a quick stop at a take-out restaurant.  Two gyros and two chicken shwarma later, he brought our lunch to us in the van and we were on our way to Giza and the pyramids.

The Great Pyramids are the last of the Wonders of the Ancient World left standing and they are impressive.  Now to locate the TV special I saw a few years back on how they were made.  National Geographic, maybe?  Now only the lower few layers may be climbed upon…  a short ride away provided  a nice vista of the pyramids illuminated by the late afternoon sun—picture courtesy of Hosney.

Another short ride down the hill and we arrived at the famous giant Sphinx.  He was as handsome as his pictures and although we were not able to get up close, we were able to enter the temple ruins just below him, imagining the days when  he watched over the temple.

Two young girls charmed us with their English skills just outside the temple, and G just had to have a beaded hat that they were selling.  They made our day!  We hated to leave the site, but we did want to get to one of the papyrus factories to see how paper is made from this plant stalk and then embellished with paintings of the people, hieroglyphics and motifs of the ancient world of the Pharaohs.