Egypt – A Traveling Fool

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

November 21, 2022

Thoughts While on the Avalon Waterways Grand France River Cruise: Knowledge of the history of a place makes being there more interesting

I love history anyway, so I can easily get excited over seeing someplace like Hadrian’s Wall or Egyptian pyramids and temples or battlefields like Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, Yorktown, Culloden, the D-Day landing beaches, etc. Smaller historical events are also intriguing to me.

Whether you are fascinated by history or not, knowing just a little bit about a place can make it much more interesting, such as what is the significance of an old cemetery? Who is buried there?

In St Augustine, Florida, I was fascinated by the fort. It had been built by the Spanish prior to the English settlements at either Jamestown or Roanoke, Virginia or Plymouth, Massachusetts.

In Israel, Masada would have just been several piles of rocks up on a high, hot plateau without knowledge of its history. For those who hadn’t read up on it before the trip, there was a short film down at the base that everyone watched before taking the cable car up to see it.

At Thermopylae in Greece, without knowledge of what had taken place there a couple thousand years ago, just looking at a monument to Leonides and the 300 Spartans who fought and died there wouldn’t have been all that fascinating. Since I knew the story, I could use my imagination. And a good imagination was necessary. The topography has changed quite a bit since 480 BC.

On this trip, my knowledge of Joan of Arc came in handy while in Rouen. I knew that the museum dedicated to her was in the very building where her trial had taken place. I also knew about all of the other locations associated with her.

In Avignon, I was aware of the history of the town, the Pont de Avignon, and the Palais des Papes. Despite it being a very hot day, my back hurting, and lots of stairs to climb, I was very interested in seeing it all.

Sometimes when visiting a place where you already know the history, you can find that seeing the place itself can make your understanding of it much clearer. It was one thing to read about traboules (the secret passages that had been used by the French Resistance to escape detection), but quite another to actually walk through a few of them. They had been built in the old, Renaissance portion of Lyon back when that part of the city was new. People who lived there knew about them. But people who didn’t live there were at a loss. To this day, only a handful of them are open to the public.

Although most people are well aware of who Napoleon was and his role in history, I always find it to be fun to see personal objects used by such iconic public figures. In Napoleon’s case, it was his hat on display in the library of Malmaison – the home he shared with Josephine. It made him seem more human. Like when I saw one of Queen Victoria’s gowns and Admiral Horatio Nelson’s uniform.