Trisha Lichty

September 13, 2026

Egyptian Expedition 017: Day 7 – Riding A Camel, the Giza Pyramids & the Sphinx

Have you ever had one of those times when your emotions sort of overtook your brain and you found yourself doing something before your brain was actually engaged? Well. That’s what happened to me when we arrived at the Giza Pyramid complex. We were led to where several camels were waiting and asked, “who wants to ride a camel?” My hand immediately shot up into the air and I was the first one led down to the camels.

Although I had been to Egypt before and had also encountered camels in Israel, Jordan, and Turkey, I never rode one. I guess I found it a little intimidating. But this time…. This time I was set to doing it. I was determined to get up on one and underway before thinking too much and chickening out.

I was concentrating so hard on my goal that I didn’t really pay much attention to what anyone else was doing. So I didn’t find out until later that there were only about eight of us out of our group of twenty that did it.

I was introduced to Moses, who I felt was gazing upon me with kind eyes. His handler raised up part of the blanket that was over his back for me to put my left foot and then hoist myself up. My short little right leg didn’t quite make it over the back hump on the first try. But, with a little help from one of the other handlers, I found myself properly seated on Moses on the second try.

I held on tight and leaned back as Moses raised up his hind legs and then his front legs. So far, so good. His handler took hold of the reins and led me over to a couple from my group. Moses and I fell into step next to the husband while the wife trailed along behind us. I thought it was a bit odd that couples weren’t being kept together. Moses kept brushing up against the other camel next to us and trapping my left leg in between the two camels or brushing me up against the fella next to us.

We rode out for a bit and then Moses’ handler asked for my phone to take a photo. Although it is not one of my better photos, it is included here (photo 004). Moses is looking quite regal. The pyramids can be seen behind us.

We rode back to close to where we had started from and then the handler asked for payment for the photo. We had been told by our Egyptologist, Hanaa, ahead of time that the ride was covered by Viking and the photo would cost $5 USD. I pulled out my fiver and paid him. He then insisted that the cost was $20 USD. I argued. But it then became clear that I would not be getting off Moses until $20 crossed his palm. I also realized that this same thing was happening to everyone. So I decided to pay the ransom to then be able to run and get Hanaa to straighten this out.

Just before I reached her, another member of our group squeaked past me and told her what was happening. She marched off towards the camels, their handlers and our group members who were still being held hostage. I don’t know what she and the head handler were saying to each other, but I could tell that she was definitely telling him off something fierce. I got $15 of my $20 back as well as an apology. Our remaining camel riders were released from captivity after their $5 payments. We then rejoined the rest of the group and set off for the pyramids themselves.

The Giza pyramid complex is home to the Great Pyramid, which is the oldest and largest. It was built for King Khufu around 2600 BC. Then there is the Pyramid of Khafre, built for Khufu’s son. That is the one that still has some of its original outer casing stones near the top. The smallest of the three main structures is the Pyramid of Menkaure, the son of Khafre. There are several smaller pyramids for some of their queens, plus temples, cemeteries, and the remains of a workers’ village. Then there is the Great Sphinx. All of these were built during the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom between roughly 2600 and 2500 BC. The Giza, Abusir, Saqqara (Sakkara), and Dahshur pyramid complexes were all built in the vicinity of Egypt’s ancient capital of Memphis.

Photos 001 and 005 are of the Great Pyramid. Photo 006 shows one of the boat pits for Khufu’s Solar Boats. Photos 007 to 009 show the remains of three small pyramids of some of Khufu’s queens. In 010, the Great Pyramid is on the right and Khafre’s Pyramid on the left. There used to be a valley temple for Khufu, but it is buried beneath a village. There was a causeway that led from the valley temple to a mortuary temple, but both structures no longer exist.

Although we could go into the Great Pyramid, I am not aware of anyone in our group choosing to do so. The burial chamber was way up inside of the pyramid, accessed by a series of very long, very narrow, and very steep wooden ramps, much like the ramp we were on to enter King Teti’s Pyramid in Sakkara, but much longer and even steeper.

Another thing about pyramids is that, however hot it might be outside, it is even hotter inside. Plus, since they were designed for the dead, not the living, the air inside is stale. It isn’t moving. So, it can be more difficult to breathe. Not recommended for anyone with any breathing problems. To summarize, to explore the inside of a pyramid, it takes a good deal of physical exertion in a very hot and claustrophobic environment without much air. I figured that Teti’s Pyramid was good enough for me and that I didn’t need to give the Great Pyramid a try.

Khafre’s Pyramid (011 and 012) can often appear taller than the Great Pyramid because of its more elevated location and the steeper inclined angle of its construction. More of Khafre’s complex is still in existence too. There is a valley temple, the Sphinx, a causeway, and a mortuary temple in addition to its pyramid. There were quite a few statues found as well, which now reside in various museums around the world.

We were given some free time to wander around the pyramids and then we met up again at the Valley Temple of Khafre (013 to 015). This is one of the most impressive and best preserved of the Ancient Egyptian temples. It stands beside the Great Sphinx and has remained mostly intact for over 4,500 years.

Dating to about 2570 BC, the temple was the starting point for the pharaoh’s journey into the afterlife. The key rituals were performed here before Khafre’s body was transported into his pyramid for its final burial. In ancient times, the Nile’s floodwaters reached the base of the Valley Temple. This allowed boats to transport the pharaoh’s body from Memphis directly to the temple.

Once Khafre’s body arrived at the temple, the priests welcomed the body and began preliminary embalming. The purification rituals used oils, incense, and resins believed to hold spiritual power. These rituals prepared Khafre for his transformation into a divine being. From there, the king’s body traveled along the causeway to the Mortuary Temple beside his pyramid for its remaining embalming rituals.

One of the most important rituals performed in the valley temple was the Opening of the Mouth. This was to restore the senses of Khafre, such as sight, speech, and breath, to ensure that he could function in the afterlife.

The main hall still has its alabaster floors. The exterior is limestone, while the interior walls are pink granite from Aswan with massive red granite pillars. The main reason why the temple is so well preserved is that it was buried under many layers of desert sand until the mid-nineteenth century.

After we stood in the shade of the red granite pillars to listen to Hanaa tell us about the building and the rituals performed within it, we left the building at its far end (016) and walked back to the Sphinx (017 to 020). The face of the Sphinx is thought to be Khafre as it resembles his face from his statues. In photo 019, you can clearly see the Sphinx’s tail and one of his hind legs.

Although there is a myth that the nose of the Sphinx was destroyed by cannon fire from Napoleon’s troops in 1798, the evidence instead shows that it was deliberately chiseled off. Most likely much earlier than 1798. Part of its beard is on display in the British Museum. I shared my photo of it in my post about our visit to the British Museum back in 002 of this Egyptian Expedition series. The Arabs know the Great Sphinx of Giza by the name of Abū al-Hawl, or “Father of Terror.”

When we got back to the hotel after a very long but amazing day at the Grand Egyptian Museum and the Giza Pyramids and Sphinx (plus that camel ride), we had an early dinner at Giannini’s New York Italian Restaurant in the hotel and packed everything up for an early departure the following morning. We would be taking a chartered flight to Luxor where we would then embark on our Nile River cruise.

I do have a photo of my dinner (021). It was Risotto alla Perscatora, which included shrimps, scallops, calamari, mussels and a crab bisque. The wine was a Syrah called Castello Di Trevi, which was an Egyptian Rosé. I found it to be quite tasty.

Next – The amazing Karnak Temple at Luxor

September 9, 2026

Egyptian Expedition 016: Day 7 – The King Khufu Solar Boats at the GEM

Once we finished our tour of the Tutankhamun Gallery, we had roughly an hour of free time. So, a friend and I went to see the Solar Boats that were once buried alongside King Khufu’s Great Pyramid. These are among the oldest wooden ships ever discovered and date back to approximately 4,600 years ago.

They are referred to as “solar boats”, “solar barges” or “solar barques”. These would have been ritual vessels believed to carry the resurrected king across the heavens with the sun god Ra. However, the first boat discovered and reconstructed does appear to have been used in water. So maybe it was once used as a funeral barge or maybe even by Khufu while he was alive to visit holy places and then buried for him to use in the afterlife.

Both boats were disassembled when found. The first boat was reconstructed back in the 1960s. It is considered to be the world’s oldest intact ship. It has also been described as “a masterpiece of woodcraft” which could still sail if put into a lake or a river.

The second boat is being put back together now in a space next to the first boat. It has some design differences from the first and is believed to have been created for a different function. Once its reconstruction is complete the two boats will remain displayed in their own special building side by side.

We were able to walk completely around the two boats, seeing them from every angle and from different levels. The second boat is currently just a skeleton. But the first boat looks like you could just walk onto it and sail off in it, if it were in water. It was remarkable to see something made of wood that was so old but looked so sturdy.

Although Khufu was the builder of the Great Pyramid, which is the only one of the ancient seven wonders of the world still in existence, there is only one, small ivory figure known to be of him. He apparently wasn’t like so many of the later pharaohs who had numerous massive statutes of themselves everywhere. His father is considered to have been Sneferu. His son, Djedefre, succeeded him to the throne. Djedefre’s brother, Khafre, succeeded him and built the second largest pyramid in Giza. More about him in the next post.

Making sure to have enough time to eat some lunch before heading to the Giza Pyramids for the afternoon, we next headed to the area with several restaurants, cafes and retail shops in the museum complex. We needed something that would keep us going through the afternoon but not be too heavy. A sandwich shop called Sandough seemed to fit the bill. I had a tuna sandwich with some fresh-squeezed orange juice. We were planning to have dinner at the Italian restaurant in the hotel that evening.

After lunch there was still some time before we needed to leave, so we checked out some of the shops. Didn’t see anything that I wanted to haul home and they didn’t have an online shop as of yet. So nothing was purchased there.

The first two photos are of the outside of the Khufu Boat Museum. The last photo is of a statue of Ramesses II that was encountered on our way out. All of the other photos were taken of the two boats (mostly the first one) inside of the museum.

The nautical term for Day 7 of the trip was “Pooped”. The poop is the stern section of a ship. To be “pooped” is to be swamped by a high, following sea. By the time this day was over, it described me quite well.

Next – Riding a camel at the Giza Pyramids & the Sphinx

September 4, 2026

Egyptian Expedition 015: Day 7 – GEM Tutankhamun Collection

As I said in the post just before this one, this is the first time that the entire 5,398-piece complete collection from the tomb of King Tutankhamun has been displayed all in one place. I distinctly remember squeezing through a tight space between his canopic shrine and another displayed artifact (I think it was his throne) back in 2008. This was when everything was jammed into the Cairo Museum in Tahrir Square. It really reminded me of somebody’s attic. So much stuff in such a relatively small space.

Some of the items found in his tomb were used in royal ceremonies and religious rituals, while others were more personal, including his jewelry, clothing, furniture, food and drink, vehicles and weapons. All of the items are grouped as follows in the Tutankhamun Gallery of the GEM:

Discovery – the story of how Tut’s tomb was discovered.
Lifestyle – Tut’s personal possessions.
Rebirth – regarding the Egyptian concept of the afterlife.
Funeral – how his body was preserved, dressed, placed in the three coffins, the sarcophagus, and the multiple shrines, plus the funeral rituals.
Identity –Tut’s family tree.

Tutankhamun was born as Tutankhaten in roughly 1342 BC. His reign was roughly from 1332 to 1323 BC. He was about nine years old when he came to the throne and about eighteen or nineteen when he died. It is thought that he might have died from a combination of malaria and a severe leg fracture.

Since he was born during the reign of Akhenaten, he was named Tutankhaten, which meant “living image of Aten”, because of a major religious shift during Akhenaten’s reign. Instead of worshiping multiple gods, Akhenaten decided that only one god should be worshiped. That was Aten. The Aten was the disc of the sun and originally an aspect of Ra, the sun god in the traditional Egyptian religion. After Akhenaten’s death, Tutankhamun changed his name and returned to the ancient multi-deity religion.

Although he is thought to be the son of Akhenaten by most Egyptologists, there is a debate as to whether Akhenaten was actually his father or maybe it was Smenkhkare. Smenkhkare was a co-ruler of Akhenaten towards the end of Akhenaten’s reign. He also reigned for a short time after Akhenaten’s death before he too died and Tutankhamun took the throne. Tutankhamun was definitely a prince and referred to as the son of a king, but it wasn’t really clear as to which king. DNA testing has confirmed that his father is a particular mummy, but there is a dispute as to whether the mummy is Akhenaten or Smenkhkare.

His mother was definitely not Nefertiti, Akhenaten’s chief wife. DNA testing has identified a female mummy known as The Younger Lady as Tutankhamun’s mother. Both she and Akhenaten are believed to have been children of King Amenhotep III and his chief wife, Tiye. Nothing complicated there.

Tutankhamun’s wife, Ankhesenamun (originally Ankhesenpaaten) was definitely one of Akhenaten’s daughters with Nefertiti. They had two still-born daughters who were buried with Tutankhamun in his tomb. His death was the end of his bloodline. Information about Akhenaten and Tutankhamun is sketchy because their successors tried to erase them from history and so there isn’t as much information about them as with other pharaohs.

The majority of the photos that I took and am sharing here are from the areas of Lifestyle (photos 001 to 008) and Funeral (009 to 017, plus 020 to 027), although the throne was in the section referred to as Identity (018 & 019).

Photo 001 has Tutankhamun’s footwear, which was mostly sandals. 002 is of various chests and other furniture that contained his belongings. Next come some beds in 003. They look pretty uncomfortable to me, especially with those headrests. A few headrests can be seen in the photo to the right behind one of the beds.

Photo 004 shows clothing and some jewelry. Those linen triangles were loincloths.

Several alabaster urns and figures are in 005. Some chairs in 006. Chariots in 007. And a closeup of a chariot in 008.

Moving to the Funeral section of the collection, we have the outermost of the four shrines in photo 009. This were all of gilded wood. The second shrine in 010 had a gilded wood frame on top which held a linen cloth with gilt bronze and rose-shaped sequins. This was called a pall.

Photo 011 shows the 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th shrines in a line. The sarcophagus, the base of which was carved from a solid block of quartzite (the lid is of painted granite), is still in the tomb. I have some photos of that which I will share in a later post when we visit that tomb.

There were three nesting coffins. Photo 012 is of the outermost coffin, which was of embellished gilded wood. The second coffin (013) was also of embellished gilded wood. The third coffin (014), however, was of solid gold. Tutankhamun’s mummy was inside of that coffin, wrapped in funerary wrappings (015) and wearing the magnificent solid gold mask shown in photos 025 to 027.

Photo 016 shows the funerary beds that were found in the tomb and 017 shows an Anubis statue also found in the tomb. The throne, is shown in 018 & 019. It was of wood, overlaid with gold and silver.

Photo 020 shows the garment mannequin of the pharaoh. It is made of painted wood. The Canopic Shrine is in photo 021, with the Canopic Chest and Jars in photo 022. Each jar held a specific internal organ (liver, lungs, stomach, intestines) and normally featured a lid shaped after one of the Four Sons of Horus, who served as divine protectors. In this case, the lids all resembled Tut himself.

The guardian statues of King Tutankhamun (023 & 024) are a pair of life-sized wooden sentinel figures that stood facing each other on either side of the entrance to the pharaoh’s burial chamber. You may remember the photo of these in the tomb when it was discovered from the post about the Griffith Institute at Oxford University in England.

I took numerous photos of the mask from every angle. Here, I have included photos of the back of the mask (025), a side view (026) which shows a bit of the inside of the mask as well, and a full frontal view. Tutankhamun’s mummy remains in his tomb in the Valley of the Kings and will not be moved. We visited the tomb a bit later in this trip and I will be publishing a post of that visit, complete with photos.

Next – The Over Four Thousand Years Old King Khufu Solar Boats at the GEM

August 28, 2026

Egyptian Expedition 014: Day 7 – The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM)

We spent four hours at the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), from 8:30am to 12:30pm on our last day in Cairo before heading to our river cruise. What an amazing place. The first three hours were spent in the Atrium, on the Grand Staircase, in the Main Galleries, and in the Tutankhamun Collection. During free time, a visit was made to the Khufu Solar Boats. Then there was time left for lunch and a look at the gift shop before heading to where we would meet up to go and visit the Giza Pyramids, the Sphinx, and take a camel ride.

The GEM has so many wonderful things to see that I have split this morning excursion into three posts. This one is about the Atrium, the Grand Staircase and the Main Galleries. The second will be about everything Tut and the third will be about the Khufu Solar Boats.

When I visited Egypt the first time, the entire collection of artifacts had been jammed into the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square. It was packed so full of stuff that it was difficult to move, much less see things clearly. That museum is still open and definitely worth a visit. There are still many awe-inspiring pieces there.

The GEM is the largest museum in the world dedicated to just one single civilization. Have I said it is incredible? Amazing? Absolutely stunning?

It is just two kilometres (1.2 miles) from the Giza Pyramid Complex. Some people have been calling it the fourth Giza Pyramid. It contains over 100,000 artifacts ranging from the Predynastic Period to Roman Egypt (roughly 6210 BC to 642 AD. At least 20,000 of these artifacts are being displayed to the public for the first time. Another first is the display of the entire 5,398-piece collection from the tomb of King Tutankhamun.

Outside of the main entrance is the Hanging Obelisk of Ramesses II (photo 001). Carved from red granite, the obelisk dates back to about 1279 to 1213 BC and was originally erected in Tanis. It stands approximately 16 meters (roughly 52 ½ feet) high and weighs 80 – 100 tons. It is suspended on a four-column support system which allows visitors to walk beneath it and see the inscriptions there. It is currently the only suspended obelisk in the world.

Part of the façade around the entrance to the museum is decorated with the hieroglyph cartouches of the Egyptian kings and queens (photo 002). Just inside the entrance is the Atrium.

Visitors are greeted there by an 11 meters (roughly 36 feet) tall colossal red granite statue of King Ramesses II. Referred to by the ancient Greeks as Ozymandias, Ramesses II was the son of King Seti I and ruled from 1279 to 1213 BC, dying at the age of 96. I took several photos of this statue with both my phone and my camera from several angles. Four of them (003 to 006) are included here. In photo 004, you can see just how colossal the statue is by comparing it to the people. Photo 005 has a closeup of the dagger through his belt and the cartouche on the belt. Photo 006 shows a side view. If you look carefully, you can see a carving of one of his royal children between his legs.

As we headed to the travelator, we passed the Victory Column of Merenpetah (007) and statues of an unnamed Ptolemaic (Greek) king and his queen (008). The travelator was similar to the moving sidewalks in airports, but inclined upwards next to the Grand Staircase. It allowed anyone who didn’t want to or couldn’t walk up the Grand Staircase to ride to the top of it while still being able to see everything on it. Before getting onto the travelator, I put my phone away to make sure I didn’t drop it while taking photos of the items on the Grand Staircase. My camera has a strap that goes around my neck, so not too much chance of dropping it.

Photos 009 & 010 were taken of the Grand Staircase as I was walking to the travelator. Photos 011 to 014 were taken from the travelator as we rode up to the top. The first section of the Grand Staircase focuses on The Royal Image and so is all about statues of the Pharaohs.

In photo 010, on the left side, you can see two seated statues of a Middle Kingdom Pharaoh on either side of a standing statue of King Senusret III. Across from them to the right is a seated statue of King Thutmose III. Just to his right, you can see a couple of people on the travelator.

In the slightly fuzzy next photo (011) is another seated statue of a Pharoah. To his right is King/Queen Hatshepsut. She was the female pharaoh who represented herself as male. To her right is her successor Thutmose III. That statue was originally also of Hatshepsut but, since Thutmose was trying to erase her existence, he usurped her statue and added his own inscriptions and cartouches. Even though Hatshepsut’s statue is on a lower step, her plinth is bigger and so her statue is actually taller than Thutmose’s.

In 012, on the left we have King Seti II. There is a statue of King Ramesses III behind him, but he can’t be seen in my photograph. King Merneptah (son of Ramesses II) is the statue you can see next to Seti II. Just in front of the person in white, is a colossal head of King Akhenaten (King Tutankhamun’s dad). Behind him begins another section, focusing on the relationship of the King with the gods. These are mainly sculptures of architectural elements.

The threesome on the left in photo 013 consists of Ptah (Egyptian god of creation; patron of craftsmen, architects, and builders), King Ramesses II, and Sekhmet (Egyptian goddess of war, destruction, plague, and healing). At the far right, in front of the man in the white T-shirt, is what they call an Osiride statue of King Senusret I. An Osiride statue is one where a pharaoh is depicted as a mummy with crossed arms. This symbolizes their divine association with Osiris, the god of the afterlife, resurrection, and fertility.

The final section of the Grand Staircase contains Funerary Sculpture. The piece shaped like a pyramid in photo 014 is actually the pyramidion (capstone) of a smallish pyramid in Sakkara of an unknown king. Look up the stairs a bit to the man in a dark shirt and tan trousers. To the left of his shoulder you can see a brightly lit sarcophagus. This was for King Thutmose I and was found in his tomb (KV38) in the Valley of the Kings.

Upon reaching the top of the stairs (or travelator) the reward is this view in photo 015 of the Khufu (aka Cheops) Pyramid — the Great Pyramid — on the left and the Khafre (aka Chephren) Pyramid on the right. Khafre was Khufu’s son. Although his pyramid looks a bit taller than the Great Pyramid in this photo, it isn’t. Just a trick of the angle of the photo.

Next we entered the Main Galleries. These were in chronological order. Halls 01 through 03 covered the following: Prehistoric Egypt, the Predynastic Period, the Early Dynastic Period, the Old Kingdom era (including the pyramid builders of that era), and the First Intermediate Period.

Halls 04 through 06 covered the Middle Kingdom and the Second Intermediate Period. This would have included Mentuhotep III, Amenemhet I, Senusret III, and Amenemhet III.

Halls 07 through 09 covered the New Kingdom, considered to be Egypt’s imperial golden age. Ahmose I, Hatshepsut, Thutmose III, Amenhotep III, Akhenaten, Seti I, and Ramesses II would have been included in this era. Tutankhamun also. But he has his own gallery.

Halls 10 through 12 covered the Third Intermediate Period, the Late Period (including Nubian and Persian dynasties), and the Greek (Ptolemaic) and Roman periods. Cleopatra VII, the famous Cleopatra, was part of the Ptolemaic Greek dynasty as was Alexander the Great.

One of the first encounters I had in these galleries was with this striking-looking fellow in photo 016. His name was Mitri. He held several important titles during the 5^th Dynasty. This was a period of about 149 years, from roughly 2494 to 2345 BC, in the Old Kingdom. His titles included “Nome Administrator”, “Priest of the goddess Maat”, and “Overseer of Scribes”. Mitri’s life-sized statue is made of painted wood with eyes made with inlaid stone. He is roughly 4,371 to 4,520 years old.

The second photo I am sharing here (017) is of King Khafre and 018 is of King Menkaure. These are the kings with the other two large pyramids flanking the Great Pyramid of King Khufu. Photo 019 is of a sculpture of the god Osiris on his funerary bed. More about him in later posts when we get into some of the deity myths.

Photo 020 is of some heads and a headless statue in Gallery #5, which focused on the Middle Kingdom. Also from the Middle Kingdom galleries are photo 021 of several statues of Senusret I depicted as Osiris, 022 of King Sensuret I depicted as pharaoh, and a large group of troop models, dating back to the Middle Kingdom (circa 2000 BC) in photo 023. They were found in the tomb of a regional governor named Mesehti.

Photo 024 is of Queen Mutnofret, who was a wife of King Thutmose I and the mother of King Thutmose II. Photo 025 is of a really cool statue of Hatshepsut. I will have a lot more about her when I post about visiting her mortuary temple later on. For now, she lived from about 1505 to 1458 BC and was the 6^th Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. She was the daughter of Thutmose I and Queen Ahmose. Thutmose II was her half brother and also her husband. Loads of inbreeding back then. Thutmose III, who succeeded her as pharaoh, was her stepson.

Photo 026 is of some packed lunches. Very interesting looking lunch boxes. Some musical instruments are shown in photo 027. King Amenhotep II, who was the son of Thutmose III is seen in photo 028. In 029 is Thutmose III. The last photo (030) I have included here shows a wig on the left.

Next – The Tutankhamun Collection at the GEM

August 22, 2026

Egyptian Expedition 013: Day 6 – Khan el Khalili Bazaar, Al Muizz Street, and a traditional Egyptian Dinner

I had been to the Khan el Khalili Bazaar (or Souk) on my first visit to Cairo. I have also been to the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul on a couple of visits and to various smaller bazaars in Israel and Jordan. So I knew what to expect. It is very crowded and noisy. It can also be confusing for outsiders and therefore easy to get lost in the maze of shops and stalls. I figured that it would be best to stay relatively close to our leader.

This time, as this was an optional excursion and so had a smaller group, our leader was George. He was normally the Egyptologist/Program Director for group Amun C. I also liked George. He was both friendly and knowledgeable. He was also a tall man and so was easy to spot in a crowd, especially in his red Viking shirt and carrying his red Viking sign. Hanaa was a shorty like me. Even with her red shirt and sign, she could disappear in a crowd of “normal sized” people. There were a couple of times later on in the tour when, although I could clearly hear her on my earbuds, I completely lost track of her.

The Khan el Khalili Bazaar is located in the historic center of Cairo. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Cairo was founded in 969 AD. Originally it was a walled residence for the caliphs, which were the rulers, and their families. Two palaces were built. The site that later became Khan el Khalili was originally the southern end of the eastern Fatimid palace. It was under Saladin that Cairo became open to the general population. That was when the Citadel was built.

In the 14^th century, the 10^th century Fatimid mausoleum (Turbat az-Za’faraan) was demolished and the Khan el Khalili was constructed in its place. In addition to souvenirs, antiques, leather goods, jewelry, and clothing, there are several coffee houses and spice shops. Although there are still some goldsmiths too, the main focus nowadays is tourism (photos 001 to 004).

We came out of the souk intact (photo 007) onto Al-Muizz li Din Allah al-Fatimi Street (Al-Muizz Street for short). This was a major north-to-south street in the walled city of historic Cairo. It is one of the city’s oldest streets and dates back to the foundation of the city in the 10^th century. It runs from the gate of Bab Zuweila in the south to the gate of Bab al-Futah in the north. We were heading north.

We stopped by the Mausoleum of al-Salih Najm al-Din Ayyub, dating to 1250 (photo 008). Next we took several photos of the Funerary complex of Sultan al-Mansur Qalawun (aka the Qalawun complex, photos 005, 006 & 009). This one dated to 1285 and was quite large. Next came the Madrasa of al-Nasir Muhammad (010), dating to 1304.

Then came a 10^th century house (011) and then the Beshtak Palace, dated to 1339. This was only a portion of the palace and was quite plain looking. I was more interested in the 10^th century house and the monument I saw ahead of us and quite frankly neglected to take a photo of the palace.

The monument that was ahead of us was called the Sabil-Kuttab of Katkhuda (012). This was built in 1744 and was a combination of a sabil, which provided free, fresh water for thirsty people passing by, and a kuttab, which was a rather primitive elementary school of sorts to teach children to read and write. Also for free. Photo 013 is the Mosque of Aqmar, which dated to 1125.

That was when we reached our dinner destination, the Zeeyara Moez Restaurant in Le Riad Hotel de Charme (014 to 017). The hotel building was originally built in 1968 and renovated in 2006 to reflect both traditional Fatimid and Ottoman architectural styles.

George said that there was only one small, slow lift (elevator) and that the restaurant was on the fourth floor. I figured I could handle four floors of steps. I should have looked up and counted the floors (018, which was taken when we were leaving). The restaurant was on the top floor and that was actually the sixth floor, with the entrance on ground, then one, two, three, etc. I did well until floor five. Then I needed to stop to catch my breath before tackling the remaining stairs. All ceilings were high, so each floor was essentially a floor and a half with two staircases per floor. I was liking George a little less at that point.

Despite all that, I was still one of the first people to reach the restaurant. So I zeroed in on the cushy seats along the back wall, especially the one in the corner (015). As a lefty, I tend to seek out any seat where my left arm won’t be limited in movement by sitting too closely to someone who is right-handed.

The food was all served family-style. I found a copy of the menu so I could keep track of the foods.

First several appetizers were set before us to sample. These included:

Duck Pie – a pie stuffed with caramelized shredded duck and caramelized onion
Sausage Pie – a pie topped with sausage, caramelized onions and bell-pepper
Bulgur Camel Meat Balls – sautéed camel meat balls with garlic butter sauce (I do distinctly remember eating camel meat balls)
Mombar – a beef casing stuffed with rice and fresh herbs

Next was soup. I don’t remember if we were given a choice, but I had lentil soup, which was served with cumin flavored garlic bread.

A large platter of small portions of various items was placed on the table for us to serve ourselves. This included:

Auzy Zeeyara – lamb meat served with mixed nuts, rice, raisins, and cinnamon
Pigeon – boneless stuffed with walnut rice
Baldi Duck – Egyptian style duck caramelized with carrots and grits
Lamb Chops & Vine Leaves – grilled lamb chops served with rice, fresh herbs, and yogurt
Egyptian Fattah Bil Mouza – a traditional Egyptian Fattah (a base of crispy garlic bread with warm toppings, a cool garlic-yogurt sauce, and savory garnishes) with rice
Roasted Lamb Shank – lamb shank with brown sauce and rosemary

I had eaten pigeon before in Wales. Although I had liked it, I was more interested in having something unique to Egypt and so went with some of the Auzy Zeeyara, Baldi Duck, and Egyptian Fattah Bil Mouza.

For dessert was Rozo, which was a special rice pudding with coconut milk, orange zest, and cinnamon, topped with caramelized walnuts and mastic ice cream. Mastic is an aromatic, resinous sap of the Pistacia lentiscus tree, harvested mostly on the Greek island of Chios. It features a piney, herbal flavor with subtle citrus and vanilla-like undertones. I had encountered mastic in a candy form when I was on the island of Chios during a previous trip to Greece and the Greek Islands.

After dinner, we walked back the same way we came to the Khan el-Khalili bazaar (photos 019 to 022). We sat down in an area just outside of the souk to wait for our transportation back to the hotel. Across the road from where we were sitting was the Al-Hussein Mosque (023 & 024). Like the Muhammad Ali Mosque, this one was also both a mosque and a mausoleum.

The tomb is of Husayn ibn Ali. The tomb was built in 1154 and was moved to this location after the mosque and mausoleum were constructed in 1874. This particular mosque is considered to be one of the holiest Islamic sites in Egypt. The casket containing the head of Husayn ibn Ali was relocated from Ashkelon, Palestine to Cairo during the Crusades. Back in 985, the site of this head had been located in Baghdad. It was then buried in the Shrine of Husayn’s Head in Palestine.

Once it was moved to Cairo, it ended up moving around quite a bit until this particular mosque was built. There is an interesting story about when Saladin came into power and wanted to find the head that was so treasured by the Fatamids. He was on a campaign to destroy everything Fatamid.

An especially nasty torture was to shave a person’s head and then put a cap of centipedes on their head so they could suck the person’s blood and make holes in their skull. One of the people who had brought the head to Cairo was tortured in this manner, but it had no effect on him. In fact, it was the centipedes who died. He was asked how he managed to survive this horrific torture and he said that he had carried the casket with Husayn ibn Ali’s head in it upon his own head. He had been protected by that action.

The mosque also contains a crypt housing artefacts believed to have belonged to the Prophet Muhammad. These include part of a linen cloak once worn by the prophet, a lantern with four strands of the prophet’s hair inside, a staff with which he entered Mecca, and a sword sent to him by one of his companions.

When we got back to the hotel, I readied myself for a 6am wakeup call. We had a long and exciting day ahead of us at the Grand Egyptian Museum and at the Giza Pyramids.

Next – The incredible Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM)

August 19, 2026

Egyptian Expedition 012: Day 6 – Citadel of Saladin & Muhammad Ali Mosque

Once we arrived at the base of the Mokattam Hills, Hanaa asked how many of us wanted to ride up to the Citadel of Saladin at the top and how many would walk up with her. The round trip ride was just a dollar American. The majority of the group opted for the ride in the motorized cart. I guess after our morning exertions, we were ready to take it a little easier. Also, I think most of us were doing the visit to the Khan el Kahlili market plus dinner that evening. So we had quite a bit more walking to look forward to.

The Citadel of Saladin is a medieval Islamic-era fortress that was begun by Salah ad-Din (Saladin) in 1176. Its location at the pinnacle of the Mokattam Hills, near the center of Cairo, made it the perfect location for the residence of its rulers and seat of government for nearly 700 years. It is now a preserved historic site with mosques and museums.

Later rulers, such as the Mamluk Sultanate that followed Saladin in the 14^th century, and the Ottomans in the 16^th to 18^th centuries, demolished many of the older buildings and constructed new palaces and monuments. So it is a mishmash of all of those centuries and regimes.

The Ottomans conquered Egypt in 1517 and remained in control until the 18^th century. During that time, they often stripped the monumental Mamluk buildings of their precious materials, especially marble panels and decoration, and shipped them to Istanbul for use there. The Citadel was neglected and many of its structures fell into ruin.

However, the large, round tower near the visitor entrance was built at this time (1525) as was the other round tower (1528). The Citadel was used more for military purposes than as a palace at that time.

An Albanian, Muhammad Ali was appointed as pasha by the Ottoman sultan in 1805 to restore order after the French occupation of Egypt in 1798 to 1801. He decided to take over the entire country in a violent coup in 1811.

He invited the remaining Mamluk leaders to a celebration banquet in the Citadel. As they were passing along the road leading from the Citadel afterwards, regiments of his gunmen opened fire from above and massacred them all.

The palace harem, the private and domestic area of the sultan and his family, once stood where the Muhammad Ali Mosque now stands. Ali built this mosque between 1828 and 1848. As he was trying to erase all remnants of the Mamluks, he chose the very summit of the Citadel, in what was called the Southern Enclosure, and demolished the palace. He built his own palace in what was known as the Northern Enclosure.

Once we arrived at the summit, we left our transportation and entered the courtyard of the mosque. There we could see the fountain and the clock tower. The courtyard is called the sahn in Arabic. It is surrounded by riwaqs (arcades or porticos) supported by columns and covered by domes. The fountain in the center is an ablutions fountain for ritual purification before entering the prayer hall. The clock tower was presented to Muhammad Ali by King Louis Philippe of France in about 1846 in exchange for the obelisk of Luxor, which now stands in the Place de la Concorde in Paris. Next we entered the prayer hall of the mosque.

When I had visited Egypt in 2008, we had to remove our shoes. Also, women needed to cover our heads. We weren’t allowed to speak while inside either. None of those things were needed this time. Hanaa was able to point out items of interest as well as answer questions while we were inside.

I have to say that the interior of the Muhammad Ali Mosque is absolutely gorgeous. It is often referred to as the Alabaster Mosque as a great deal of alabaster was used on the interior walls. The alabaster on the upper portions of the walls was removed by a later pasha to be used in his palace. The upper parts of the walls were then painted to look like marble. Fortunately the lower portions of the walls retain their original alabaster.

The prayer hall is nearly square and is roofed with a central dome, surrounded by four semi-domes and four smaller corner domes. The main dome is supported by four massive pillars standing inside of the hall. The mihrab (the niche indicating the direction of prayer) sits in the southeastern side of the hall. Next to it is a newer minbar (pulpit), made of alabaster, and dating to 1939. The original minbar, which is wooden with carved and gilt decoration, still remains.

One difference between this mosque and others I have seen is that there is a tomb in this one. It is Muhammad Ali himself. His tomb was carved from Carrara marble and is hidden behind an elaborate screen of bronze openwork. I managed to capture a glimpse of his tomb with my phone. It is the carved, white structure to the right in my photo.

After spending time in the mosque, we walked across the citadel to see the panoramic view of Cairo from up there. The last photo I have here shows two of the Giza pyramids, off in the distance and somewhat hazy, in about the middle of the photo.

Once we returned to the hotel, we had about an hour and a half before our optional excursion to the Khan el-Khalili market and a traditional Egyptian dinner. I added some of an electrolyte powder (grape flavor) to a bottle of water and drank it down.

Back during my first trip to Egypt, I had suffered a fairly serious case of dehydration about midway during the trip. I had difficulty quenching my thirst and felt quite unwell. I drank a tremendous amount of liquid and ended up having to lie down and rest for a couple of hours. We were traveling on the Nile that particular afternoon so I wasn’t missing out on any excursions.

You might say that getting dehydrated in Egypt would not be too surprising. But I managed to do so in Transylvania the following year. And no, nobody bit me in the neck. It seems that the tendency to become dehydrated fairly easily was just another change to my body back then. I keep liquid electrolytes around when at home and in the powdered form to take on trips. The powder, which comes in several flavors, is in a packet designed to be added to a bottle of water. It keeps me properly hydrated whenever just water alone doesn’t quite do the job.

I dressed up a bit for our evening excursion and headed down to meet up with the rest of the group.

Next – The Khan el Khalili Bazaar, Al Muizz Street, and a traditional Egyptian dinner.

August 12, 2026

Egyptian Expedition 011: Day 6 – Sakkara Carpet Making School & Lunch at a Resort

After our morning adventures at the Sakkara tombs, we headed into town to visit a Sakkara carpet making school. The way that these schools were explained to us was that they were created to help give some of the more impoverished children a way out of poverty by providing them with both an education and a trade. They attend a regular school for half of the day and then attend the carpet making school for the other half of the day.

The carpets were made of cotton, or wool, or a combination of cotton and wool, or of silk. The silk carpets were the most expensive. Some carpets were relatively similar to the carpets I had seen in Turkey, while others were of more Egyptian images.

We were given a demonstration of the carpet making and then shown several of the finished products. I wasn’t interested in buying a carpet, so I just sort of wandered around the showroom while trying not to linger long enough anywhere to attract a salesperson. There were several people in our group and the other groups who were interested in buying something, so the salespeople were busy enough with them.

All prices were being quoted in US dollars. As was the case during my first trip to Egypt, eighteen years earlier, they seemed to be much more interested in American dollars than in their own currency. All cash transactions for various souvenirs, food, clothing, etc., were always quoted in USD.

People seemed to be insulted if you tried to give them Egyptian pounds. That wasn’t helpful to the tourists who weren’t from the US. We had people from the UK and from Australia in our group and on our ship. They had exchanged some of their own currencies for Egyptian pounds. Some of them found it so frustrating that they chose not to buy anything.

On my prior trip to Egypt, one of the women with whom I was hanging out was from India. She knew about the preference for USD in Egypt and had exchanged some of her own money for USD while still in India. But an Australian woman with whom I was spending some time while on this trip had not been told about that and had exchanged her money for Egyptian pounds. She told me that she wished her travel agent had told her to get USD instead.

You might think that it would have been a good idea to just use a credit card. Unfortunately that could be quite dicey anywhere other than the finer shops and restaurants. I only used my card twice to buy anything in Egypt. Once on the ship during our cruise and the other at the papyrus shop we visited as a group.

After leaving the Sakkara Carpet School, we headed for our lunch at the Al Badarashin Resort (aka Sakkara Country Club). We were greeted there by some musicians playing Egyptian music. All three groups from the Viking Amun and both groups from the Viking Antares were dining together on Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, East African, and Egyptian cuisine.

It was buffet style, so I had some of each of the following:

Baba Ganoush (finely chopped roasted eggplant, olive oil, lemon juice, various seasonings, and tahini)
Tahini (a Middle Eastern condiment made from ground sesame seeds)
Falafel (a deep-fried ball or patty-shaped fritter of Egyptian origin, made from ground fava beans, chickpeas, or both, and mixed with herbs and spices before frying; these were made from fava beans)
Roasted eggplant
Carrots (which surprised me by being a bit spicy)
Sambusa (East African crispy, golden-brown pastries filled with a mix of spiced meat, vegetables, or lentils)
Stuffed Grape Leaves (the Egyptian version — Mahshi Waraq Enab — grape leaves stuffed with seasoned rice, herbs, and minced meat, layered in a pot and simmered with a tangy lemon and broth liquid)
Pasta
Barbequed Beef
Barbequed Chicken

I put the Tahini and Falafel together in some pita bread, and the Baba Ganoush in another pita bread with the roasted eggplant (I know – eggplant and eggplant, but it was delicious). There was a lot of food and all of it that I had was mighty tasty. I felt I was revived and ready for our afternoon excursion.

Next – The Citadel of Saladin and the Mohamed Ali Mosque

August 9, 2026August 10, 2026

Egyptian Expedition 010: Day 6 – Sakkara Tombs

Had a 5:30am wakeup call and went down to breakfast at 6:30am in the Rawi Restaurant, which was on the second floor of the North Tower overlooking the Nile. Sat with a couple, whose company I really enjoyed, from Long Island. They were going to be on the same ship, but were in a different group.

Had plenty of time to get back to the room and gather up what would be needed for the day before heading down to the Salah El Din meeting room on the first floor of the South Tower. There we had a welcome briefing from our three Egyptologists before heading to our respective coaches to start our day at Sakkara.

Sakkara (Saqqara in Arabic) is an Egyptian village which was once known as Memphis. It contains numerous pyramids, including the Step Pyramid of Djoser (which predates the Giza pyramids), and a number of mastaba tombs. I had not been to Sakkara on my first trip to Egypt in 2008, so was really looking forward to it. The Step Pyramid had been on my list of things that I wanted to see if I ever returned to Egypt.

Djoser was either the first or second king of the 3^rd Dynasty (circa 2670-2650 BC) of the Old Kingdom of Egypt (c.2686-c.2125 BC). He is best known for his innovative tomb, which was designed by his chief minister and architect, Imhotep. Prior to him, tombs were mostly mastabas. These were flat-roofed, rectangular structures with inward sloping sides, constructed out of mudbricks. His tomb was formed from several mastabas stacked upon each other and constructed in stone. The first known monumental building to be made in stone.

There are 16 pyramids built by Egyptian kings at Sakkara. It was an important burial site for more than 3,000 years, into the Ptolemaic (Greek pharaohs) and Roman times. A pyramid was not simply a grave in ancient Egypt. Its purpose was to facilitate a successful afterlife for the king so that he could be eternally reborn. The symbolism of the step pyramid form, which did not survive beyond the 3rd Dynasty, is unknown.

Several features of the Djoser complex differ from those of later Old Kingdom pyramids. The pyramid temple was situated at the north side of the pyramid, while in later pyramids it was on the east side. Also, the Djoser complex was built on a north–south axis, while later complexes utilized an east–west axis. The Djoser complex had one niched enclosure wall, whereas later pyramids had two enclosure walls with the outside one being smooth and the inside one sometimes niched.

First we entered through the main gate in the enclosure wall (photo 001) to explore the area around the Step Pyramid. The wall once enclosed the entire complex. Now there are just sections remaining. We went through the main gate because we wanted to experience the entrance as it once was. We walked through the entrance colonnade (002 & 003) with portions of the original ceiling (007) and into the South Court (004) of the complex. Some chapels for important rituals during the Heb-Sed Festival are shown in photo 005. They have rounded roofs.

The pyramid itself is no longer open to the public due to safety issues. So we contented ourselves with walking around the South Court. There were several dogs hanging out in the area, many of them taking naps in the heat. Some were in the shade, but others were just stretched out in the sun. They didn’t pay much attention to the tourists who were invading their territory.

Although we couldn’t go inside of the Step Pyramid, Hanaa indicated that we had a couple tombs lined up that we could explore inside. So we headed to them. Photo 006 shows us heading towards the tomb of Mereruka. This was a mastaba tomb and was the largest and most elaborate of all of the non-royal tombs in Sakkara. Mereruka was the Vizier to King Teti, who was the first pharaoh of the 6^th Dynasty in the Old Kingdom period of Egypt. This would have been about 2345 – 2333 BC.

This mastaba was closed for maintenance when we visited (008), so we went next door to the Mastaba of Kagemni (009) instead. Both Kagemni and Mereruka were son-in-laws to Teti as well as viziers. Mereruka succeeded Kagemni, who seems to have been in office for just one year (c.2345 BC).

There were several chambers in this tomb with walls that still held a good deal of the original colors. The chambers were decorated with carved and painted scenes of daily life, including hunting, fishing, raising livestock, and dancing. Several of these painted reliefs included depictions of Kagemni himself.

On the left of photo 010, some men are fishing. On the left of the next photo, 011, some men are hunting hippos. The hippos are purposely rendered much smaller than the people. In the Egyptian art of that time, size was an indicator of power.

In the corner of the wall in photo 012, the large man is Kagemni. The wall on the right of that photo seems to be showing a festival. The top row appears to be men carrying vessels of something to drink, while the men in the bottom row are performing some sort of ceremonial dance. Photo 013 shows Kagemni again. The last photo from Kagemni’s Mastaba (016) shows people getting ready for a feast.

One of the rooms even had a false door (014). This was common in royal tombs or temples, but not so much in the tombs of nobles. False doors were intended for living people who wanted to commune with the deceased person’s ka (the life force and vital spirit anchored to the tomb and sustained by offerings) to communicate through the false door and/or leave offerings of various kinds in front of the door.

The ka was different from the ba, which was the personality or unique spirit of a person, often depicted as a human-headed bird that could fly freely between the tomb and the outside world, or the akh, which was the transformed spirit of the deceased that successfully reached the afterlife.

Across from Mereruka’s mastaba was the pyramid of King Teti. Photo 017 shows this pyramid as seen from where we were walking towards Mereruka’s mastaba. As you can see, this pyramid hasn’t quite kept its shape and looks more like a pile of rubble. Photos 015 & 018 show the entrance to the pyramid.

Pyramids are not for anyone who is claustrophobic. They tend to have very steep entrances that either go up into the pyramid or down under the pyramid. Either way, they are very narrow and not very tall. This pyramid had the burial chamber down under the pyramid. At 5’1”, I needed to duck. People taller than me were going down sideways (019) or even backwards.

Once inside, we could stand up for a little while. But then we needed to go through another passage on flat ground (020) and one (021) deeper inside. Although photo 021 is quite dark and difficult to make out, I included it because I was trying to give a real feel for the experience. If you can make out the subject of the photo, you can see that he was nearly bent in half. He was just under six feet in height.

Then we were in the burial chamber (022). The stars on the ceiling were pointed out to us by the fellow who had taken us down into the pyramid (023). There were Pyramid Texts on the wall above the entrance inside the burial chamber (026) and we could see inside of the sarcophagus (024 & 025). It is thought to be the first time that inscriptions were written inside of a royal sarcophagus.

The last photo I have shared here (027) shows the sarcophagus sitting in the burial chamber, surrounded by rather plain walls. It is thought that Teti might have died fairly suddenly before they could complete the Pyramid Texts that should have been on the rest of the walls. I thought it was great to be able to see the inside of a pyramid, especially such an old one.

Our nautical term for the day was, “three sheets to the wind.” A “sheet” is a rope line which controls the tension on the downwind side of a square sail. If, on a three-masted fully rigged ship, the sheets of the three lower course sails are loose, the sails will flap and flutter and are said to be “in the wind”. A ship in this condition would stagger and wander aimlessly downwind. That’s why this term is sometimes used to describe an inebriated person.

Next – A Carpet School and Lunch at a Resort

August 4, 2026August 4, 2026

Egyptian Expedition 009: Day 5 – Onward to Cairo

My least favorite part of traveling is the actual traveling. To make it even worse, in my opinion at least, both Heathrow Airport and Istanbul Airport make you wait until about an hour or less before your flight will be leaving to let you know which gate you will need to run to at top speed (this is because most international flights tend to start boarding roughly an hour before they take off). So, from 12:15am to 2:35am, I had to sit and wait for the gate to show up on the board announcing departures.

Istanbul Airport is the larger of the two international airports in Istanbul and has been the airport for all scheduled commercial passenger flights since 2019. It is also the largest privately-owned airport in the world and the second busiest airport in Europe after Heathrow.

The other times I had flown in or out of Istanbul (this was my first time with a connecting flight there) I had been at the Ataturk Airport. I did not realize just how enormous this newer airport was until I was trying to get from F13, where I had arrived from London, to C4 for the plane to Cairo. I found that it just went on and on and on.

I have included here a couple of photos of the interior of the airport, the sign that needed to show the departure gate (with a red arrow pointing at the flight involved), a diagram of the airport with red arrows pointing at the two gates involved, and a photo of the airport from the outside as the flight to Cairo was departing.

Immediately after I had arrived from London, I headed for the WC. The line for the ladies was quite long. It was going to take some time to get inside, much less into a stall. Many of the women around me were getting rather surly. Didn’t have a clue as to what they were saying, but they apparently didn’t feel that they should have to wait.

There was a cleaning lady working. I smiled at her. Shortly after that, a woman and some young children came out of the Family Room. The cleaning lady looked around for another family, saw none, and then came to me and motioned for me to use the Family Room. Very kind of her.

About an hour or so later when I was pretty much alone in the waiting area, another lovely cleaning woman smiled at me and said in clear English, “Welcome to Istanbul”. I didn’t know how to say “thank you” in Turkish, but she was wearing a hijab, so I said “Shkran”. She smiled even more broadly and so did I.

The gate was finally revealed and I headed down the long F gates concourse. The Cairo flight was scheduled to leave at 3:50am. Good thing as it took a little over a half an hour to get from F13 to C4. This was even with using the moving sidewalks and not standing still on them. Reaching C4 and seeing that they weren’t yet boarding, I visited the WC again and then found a seat in the Gate C4 area.

Eventually boarding began. Nobody was speaking English. But they were directing people towards signs that had letters on them. They were the group numbers for our seats. When I got to the airlines agent who was checking on the passports and boarding passes, the computer said that my boarding pass was invalid. I showed him my boarding pass from London to Istanbul and explained that I had been given both boarding passes at Heathrow by Turkish Airlines. I also said that my case had been checked through to Cairo and would be on the plane. He decided to wave me through. Thank God!

We were due to arrive in Cairo at 6:10am and got there about 20 minutes late. I was just happy to be there. I had also been up since 6am the prior morning, London time. My brain was getting a bit foggy. I was praying that I would find the Viking rep at the airport quickly and that I would be able to get into my hotel room without having to wait until 3pm.

We deplaned on the tarmac and then took a bus to the terminal. There, waiting for me at the door, was the Viking rep. I was it as far as any other Viking tour participants at that point, so he grabbed my carryon and led me towards the Visa window. As we were heading towards it, he asked me for my passport and my $30 USD Visa fee. He paid for the Visa, pasted it into my passport and off we went to where the Egyptian passport control was located. Instead of taking me to the very long line of people, he led me to a pretty much non-existent line marked for Business Class passengers. He said something to them, my passport was scanned and handed back to me.

We went on to where the cases from my flight were arriving. He was in a bit of a hurry because he did have another group arriving soon and my flight had been late. So, of course, my case was the last to show up. Once we had my case, we set off for the exit, where my driver would be waiting. He pointed out my driver to me and sent me on my way.

I remembered from my prior trip to Egypt that driving in Cairo was not for the faint of heart and that traffic tended to be in various degrees of standing still or totally chaotic and nothing in between. First of all, there are no stop signs or traffic lights. Lanes are a suggestion only. Nobody uses turn indicators. It is all by the various honks of the horn. The only thing different this time was that traffic, for the most part, kept moving. They had modernized the roads. There were still camels, donkeys, carts, etc., on the same road with the other vehicles, but there were many more lanes.

By the time we got to the hotel, there was another Viking rep waiting for me. He greeted me as I got out of the car. My cases went off with another fella. This Viking rep had my room key! I nearly kissed him. He then led me through the hotel to my room. The entrance was on the ground floor of the South Tower of the Sheraton Cairo Hotel & Casino. My room was on the 19^th floor of the North Tower. I had Nile River views.

My cases arrived in the room just seconds after I did. I wanted two main things at that time – food and sleep. But the reps for the two river cruise ships that would be traveling together would be available back down in the lobby at 10am. So I did some unpacking for what I would need for rest of that day and the next two days in Cairo, as well as for when we would fly to Luxor to get on the ship the day after that. Then I went to do some exploring of the hotel itself and where things were before meeting up with the rep for my ship.

Another thing that I remembered from my prior trip to Egypt was that the water was not drinkable. It had stuff in it that my body would not take kindly to at all. But this hotel was set up for non-Egyptians and so the water and ice there were fine. The ship would also be fine as far as both water and ice were concerned. But anywhere else in Egypt, I would need to be careful to get bottled water, no ice, and nothing that may have been touched by water or mixed with water. So, if I wanted fresh-squeezed orange juice, I would need to watch that it was the juice of the orange only without any added water or ice.

Cairo was founded in 969AD and is home to more than 9.8 million people. The Greater Cairo metropolitan area has a population of over 22 million people. Areas of what would eventually become Cairo were inhabited from the pre-dynastic and early dynastic ancient Egypt roughly 6,000 years ago. The ancient cities of Memphis and Heliopolis, as well as the Giza pyramid complex, had been absorbed within the current city.

At 10am, there were two women sitting at Viking tables in the lobby area. One was for Viking Antares and the other for Viking Amun. I would be on Amun, so I sat down and had a chat with Hanaa. It turned out that she would be the Egyptologist/Program Director for my particular group. There would be 60 people on the ship, divided into three groups of 20 each. Our group was Amun A. We hit it off really well. I was the only Viking passenger down there at that time and so we had a very nice, unhurried conversation.

One thing about being an Egyptologist as opposed to just being a tour guide is that they actually have a university degree in Egyptology. They know the history, the mythology, the archaeology, and can read hieroglyphics. In short, they really know what they are showing you and telling you.

Hanaa gave me the Viking Daily for that day and the following day. This provided information regarding our schedule for the day and other information of interest. Information about where we were, what we were doing, local food, nautical terms, the predicted highs in both Fahrenheit and Celsius, and anything else that we might want to know was included.

The nautical term for that day was Land A’hoy. It said, “This interjection was shouted by the ship’s lookout to announce that land had been spotted. ‘Ahoy’ is also a traditional greeting for hailing other sailors, and was originally a Viking battle cry.”

After our initial meeting, I was certain that I was going to have a great time learning about all we were experiencing with Hanaa as our Egyptologist. I went back to the room to put what I had received from her away and take some photos plus a short video from the balcony of my room. Not only did I have some great views of the city and the Nile, but I could also see Tahrir Square and the pink old Cairo Museum.

I went to lunch (the smoked salmon sandwich in the photo was mine, plus one of the salads and the lemon juice with mint) and then took a nap.

Next – Exploring the Step Pyramid and other Sakkara tombs

August 1, 2026August 4, 2026

Egyptian Expedition 008: Day 4 – Highclere Castle

Just like my interest in The Randolph Hotel in Oxford was mainly based on a television series, so was my initial interest in Highclere Castle. It had been used as Totleigh Towers in the Jeeves and Wooster television series starring Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry back in 1990 to 1993. I had been a fan of that series and still have the DVDs of the show as well as the books upon which it was based. But Highclere Castle’s biggest claim to fame is that it was Downton Abbey. I was a huge fan of that series (which ran from 2010 to 2015, followed by several films in 2019, 2022, and 2025), so I definitely had an interest in getting to see it in person. For many years, I tried to get on a tour to see it, but couldn’t seem to get anything to work out at the right time.

The reason why it was on this tour was its connection to Egypt. George Herbert, the Fifth Earl of Carnarvon (the old English spelling, as opposed to the modern Welsh spelling “Caernarfon”), married the daughter of the bank heir, Alfred de Rothschild. The Earl had a fascination with all things Egyptian – much like me, but with a whole lot more money. He got into it seriously in 1907 when he sponsored the excavation of some of the nobles’ tombs in Deir el-Bahari (Thebes). A few years later, he hired archaeologist Howard Carter to search for the tomb of Tutankhamum. That search took roughly ten years and ended with the discovery in 1922 of the most famous Egyptian tomb to date.

Highclere Castle is a country house that was built in 1679 and largely renovated in the 1840s from a design by Charles Berry, the same fellow who designed the Houses of Parliament in London. The park was designed by Capability Brown in the 18^th century.

We were taken on an exclusive tour of the entire ground floor, which included rooms that had been used in Downton Abbey and rooms that had not been used in the series, but had their own histories. The woman who led the tour was an employee of the present Earl and Lady Carnarvon and had many personal stories regarding the filming of the series and films. She could tell us all about it because she had been a part of it.

We could take as many photos as we wanted of the exterior and grounds, but nothing of the inside. Since this was someone’s home as opposed to a museum, that made perfect sense.

She also gave us a tour of the entire first floor, which contained many of the bedrooms used as family bedrooms or guest rooms. One of the stories our guide told us while on that floor was about how they filmed the third episode of the first series having to do with the young, virile, and incredibly handsome Turkish diplomat, Mr Kemal Pamuk (played by Theo James). For those familiar with the series, that’s probably all I have to say. For the rest of you, Mister Pamuk sneaks into the oldest daughter, Mary’s, bedroom, seduces her and ends up dying in her bed. Mary enlists her mother, Cora, and a ladies maid, Anna, to help her move his body back to his room. Our guide took us step by step through the logistics of all of that as we visited both Mary’s room and Pamuk’s as well as the corridors involved.

The entire lower level/basement houses the Egyptian Exhibition. We could explore that at our own pace.

The exhibition included six rooms which illustrated the 5^th Earl’s fascination with Egypt, his early excavations from 1906 on, his relationship with Howard Carter, and the discovery and contents of Tutankhamun’s tomb. The collection featured authentic antiquities, burial chamber recreations, and replicas of Tutankhamun’s shrine and death mask. I very much enjoyed seeing it all.

Afterwards I went to the gift shop. There I bought a miniature of Highclere Castle and some rather unique earrings. Then I saw the tiaras. Fortunately none of them were terribly expensive. So I picked out the one I like the best. I didn’t buy it to wear it anyplace specific. I mainly just wanted to own a tiara from Downton Abbey. I have included photos of my purchases shown with some of the items I bought on my first trip to Egypt in 2008.

We had also been given coupons for a free tea and pastry. So those of us who decided to take a break prior to exploring the gardens redeemed our coupons and sat in the shade at some tables just outside of the café. It was a lovely, but warm day. Then we explored the gardens, including one that was labeled as a Secret Garden. This particular garden had been used as such for one of the various television and film adaptations of that story.

Returning to our coach at the end of our time at Highclere, we were each handed an autographed copy of Lady Carnarvon’s book A Year at Highclere: Secrets and Stories from the Real Downton Abbey. We were then taken to our lunch stop.

The Jack Russell Inn was located on the Faccombe Estate, halfway between Newbury and Andover. It was a small inn with eleven bedrooms, but with a sizeable pub. As in many pubs throughout the British Isles, dogs were not only allowed but welcomed.

This time I chose a Cottage Pie (like a Shepherd’s Pie, but with beef instead of lamb) and a Lemon Posset with raspberry sorbet, coulis, and fresh berries for dessert. With that I ordered a shandy to drink. This was a combination of ale and a lemon-flavored soda (which is called “lemonade” in the UK; what is called “lemonade” in the US is called “lemon squash” in the UK; to further complicate matters, it is “lemon juice” in Egypt). As I often do, I forgot to take a photo before starting to eat, so I am including a photo of a friend’s fish ‘n’ chips with mushy peas.

After lunch, we headed back to Oxford. We were due to arrive at the hotel at 2:30pm and I was to be picked up by a car and driver at 2:45pm to be taken to Heathrow Airport back in London. I just had time to shove my purchases and book into my larger case before locking it up again and heading downstairs. A hotel employee took the cases down and kept an eye on them while I took a short trip to the WC. I came out to find the car and driver there and my cases in the boot (trunk).

My Turkish Airlines flight left Heathrow at 6:30pm, London time, and arrived in Istanbul at a quarter past midnight, Istanbul time. I had not been allowed to get my seats assigned ahead of time, so they were assigned at Heathrow for both the flight to Istanbul and the flight from Istanbul to Cairo. I was given my boarding passes for both flights and my larger case was checked through to Cairo.

Once everyone was on the plane, several people were jockeying and negotiating to get a seat closer to whoever they were with or to separate themselves from strangers. A woman right in front of me was in between two men she didn’t know. She moved to the empty seat across the aisle from where I was sitting after asking first if anyone was sitting there.

I was fine with where I was sitting, so I stayed put. More about the time at the Istanbul airport and the flight to Cairo in the next installment.

Next – Onward to Cairo