After an amazing time in the Greek Islands, where we really hit a vacation 'groove', we headed to Athens, where we spent a few days sightseeing. Our friends Cathy and Hashem were just starting their honeymoon and we were lucky to spend a fun evening with them. Earlier in the day, we were at the Acropolis on our own as rain came and tourists fled for cover. I guess we stood out, because all of the sudden Hashem called out Molly's name and we laughed at the crazy luck of bumping into each other unplanned. Athens proved to be okay but after getting a healthy dose of Greek life on the islands in a more relaxed and beautiful setting, we were glad that we only spent two nights in the big city before heading to Cairo for the next chapter of our trip.....AFRICA.As with many places we have visited on our trip, we truthfully (and embarrassingly) had only done a little research and reading on Egypt. The most prominent random things about Egypt my brain could muster were songs! The Bangles' 1986 single "Walk Like An Egyptian" depressingly played over and over in my head on the flight from Athens to Cairo, as did Steve Martin's "King Tut" song, but that one made me smile.
Rather than buying a book for every African country we planned to visit, we were only armed with our Lonely Planet Africa book that has an overview of every African country. Sure it was 1,000 pages (and weighed in at probably 5 pounds!), but the Egypt section was all to brief and the Cairo section was like 3 pages.
Having visited Morocco, we anticipated that Egypt would be reminiscent in many ways including the prominence of the Arabic language and Islam, our obligation to dress conservatively and show no signs of affection (such as holding hands in public), and unfortunately the disrespectful treatment that female tourists have to endure in Muslim cultures including leering men that literally stop in the street to stare as women pass, often cat-calling or snickering as well. We also again expected a cool reception as Americans, and were already planning on the flight to say we were "Canadians from Calgary, eh" to anyone that asked.
We ultimately were correct in our assumptions in some respects, but we were also pleasantly surprised to be wrong! Most Egyptians were extremely friendly and helpful to us, with shop owners often going out of their way to say "welcome" as we passed, or asking "where are you from?" to which we felt comfortable enough to be honest, and they'd respond, "Ah, America...nice people." Even the most wrinkled and ornery looking merchant on the streets would turn his scowl into a huge, mostly toothed smile when we would pass and say "Salaam" ('hello').
Cairo did feel a lot like Morocco as far the shocking dilapidation of buildings and homes on street after street. I expected some of this, but even the most touristed sites such as the Egyptian Museum had an air of decay and collapse. As we walked the streets on several days while visiting, I kept waiting to turn a corner and see a modern, tree-lined boulevard with glassy buildings or an massive air-conditioned mall, or perhaps a city park with fountains and benches, but that wasn't the case at all. Cairo looks and feels as old as it is, and maybe that's a good thing. Who really needs yet another ancient city TGI-Friday'd and Banana Republic'd?
We set out one day to visit the Pyramids at Giza, along with the Sphinx as well as Saqqara and Dahshur. This proved to be a wild experience right off the bat. Dahshur was our first stop and it came highly recommended as a less touristy pyramid you could go inside for no added cost. Little did we know that we'd show up and just walk inside the pyramid by ourselves. Sure enough, we walked up a few stone and wooden stairs to the tomb entrance where a hole about 4 feet square led down into darkness at an alarming angle. Before I knew it, we were plunging downwards and things were getting very claustrophobic, but to shake my fear, I kept talking and walking. When we finally reached the end, in what I'd assume was the lower center of the pyramid, it opened up into a steeply arched room about 20m high. Stifling heat, unmoving air, and the scent of urine. We walked forward and ducked down to walk into the next room, just as big and absolutely wreaking of urine now. At the end of the room a winding, decrepit wooden stairway led upwards to a small additional room with access only from 10m above the floor. Presumably these empty rooms once housed a king's tomb and many possessions and this upper room was purposefully hard to get at for thieves that would eventually find there way in. Molly and Lindsay (our companion that day) went up the stairs to see for themselves, but I was sufficiently anxious and gassed out to want to stay right where I was, and walking back into the other chamber, I was for a brief time by myself. An eerie and amazing sensation came over me. It felt like a combination of being woven into history somehow while at the same time being at the center of the Earth, ways away from life on the surface of the planet.Next we went on to Saqqara (Step Pyramid) and the Pyramids at Giza and the Sphinx. In summary, the visits closed the circle from all those years ago in my Egyptian Art class when I was so into the art and architecture and had memorized Pharoahs and Dynasties. But the actual experience of standing there is mixed bag of thoughts voiced over in my head.
"Wow, I'm finally here"
"They aren't as big as I thought"
"It's way too hot here"
"How did they ever build these?"
"Am I really here?"
"This is surreal"
The same thoughts came over me at the Egyptian Museum when finally face to face with the iconic funeral mask and sarcophagus of gold of King Tutankhamen. I just couldn't believe what I was seeing. And with all the glitz, the built-up expectations, the mass of tourists led with Egyptian guides, the stale air and humidity, and the monumental amount of stuff packing shelves, aisles, walls, glass cases, turns and twists leading further to rooms, it was overwhelming enough to make it difficult to simply take a breath and admire the beauty and really look, really see. Only glimpses of these moments came to pass. I was keenly aware of and frustrated by this so I made a second trip back up stairs to see Tut's mask one more time before we headed out. I'm not sure it helped bring me more into the moment, but I could think of no other way to at least try.
See the rest of the best of our Egypt photos here.
