| Submitted by: Gopal VenkatUnited States |
| Submission Date: 04 February 2005 |
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Left NYC on April 25.
Landed Amsterdam on April 26. Since I had a 7 hour layover, took a transit Visa and went to the City. Good place to Visit.
Took a flight to Cairo in the evening and landed at Cairo around Midnight. A representative from the tour Company took us to the hotel from the Airport. The Hotel is a 3 Star Hotel and is said to be an ancient hotel that has been renovated. Crashed around 1 AM on the 27th.
Left the Hotel around 10 AM on the 27th to take a flight to Luxor. We were supposed to have a 5-Day / 4-Night cruise on the Nile between Luxor and Aswan stopping on the way to see places of Interest. After a delay of about 2 hrs. the flight took off from Cairo around Noon and reached Luxor a little after 1 PM. Went to the Cruise boat. Was allotted a Twin-Bed Cabin. (Didn't have anybody to share it though !!!)
Has lunch and boarded a Bus to go to the Temples of Karnak and Luxor. (Most of the Monuments here are called Temples. The Ancient Egyptian Kings built them to Glorify the Gods / themselves. Ideally they would be called palaces) The Temple of Karnak was Started by Seti I and Completed by Ramses III. The Building / Additions were a Continuous Process with each ruler trying to leave his Stamp of Greatness. The Most Megalomaniacal of all was Ramses II, the son of Seti I and played by Yul Brynner in "TEN COMMANDMENTS".
One of the biggest reasons these temples / Monuments are mostly intact is weather oriented. As it hardly ever rains in Egypt, Most of the Monuments are Intact except for the ravages of time over 5000 + years.
Most of these Monuments have almost Standard architecture. Each one has a number of Pylons (Walls) and a Single Hypostyle Hall (Considered the equivalent of a Darbar hall, perhaps) plus various other Chambers dedicated to the King's / Pharoah's Conquests / achievements. The thing that perhaps amazes most are the rich Carvings / Paintings on these walls and Papyriform (Papyrus like) Columns. Some of the Colours on these Walls / Columns are still beautiful.
After Spending around 2 hours at Karnak, we drove to the temples of Luxor. The Temples of Karnak & Luxor are about 3 Miles apart. During the reign of the Pharaohs they were connected by an avenue lined with Sphinxes on both sides. The King / Pharaoh used to go in a grand procession from one temple to the Other. Today you can find about 40-50 metres of Sphinxes before each temple. Civilization has crept in between with Houses / roads and other Monstrosities.
The Same evening, we went to the Sound & Light show at Karnak. This is a feature offered at Most monuments. The Show at Karnak was 90 Minutes long. During the first half, various Chambers / Halls are lit up and people (tourists) walk from one to the other. During the second half they are required to sit in galleries before a small lake and get a grand view as the various places within the temple complex are lit up. The Narration accompanying these light effects appears as though the King is Speaking to you Directly. (I did this, I did that & so on)
On most of these excursion Days, we are required to leave early as the heat becomes unbearable around 10:30 AM !!! A Hat and a continuous supply of water is a must if you want to avoid a Heat-stroke. Man was equipped.
We left on the Morning of the 28th to the Valley of the Kings where most of the Pharaohs are buried. King Tut's treasure was found here. We took a small ferry from the eastern side of the Nile (where our Cruise Ship was berthed) to the western side of the Nile. Boarded a bus to go to the Valley of the Kings. Visited the Tomb of Amenhoteph, Ramses I and Tutmoses III. Due to the paucity of time, we did not see all the tombs in the area. These tombs are shafted deep into the mountains with a plethora of obstacles for the Grave Robbers (who were in abundance in those days) to overcome. People with heart ailments, Claustrophobia etc. are advised not to go in the tombs. Even a youthful healthy individual like me found it difficult to Climb up a Steep Incline from a depth of about 200 metres inside the tomb.
As an aside, the recent unearthing of more than 50 tombs believed to those of Ramses II 's sons was discovered at this place. At the time of my visit neither me nor my guide (nor the archaeologists who discovered it) had a clue of that.
From the Valley of the Kings, we went to Deir-el-Bahri which was the burial place of Queen Hatshepsut. The Only Queen in Egyptian Pharaonic History who ruled the Kingdom of Egypt and has been accorded an equal place in Burial. Some of the paintings out here were pretty good after thousands of years. The Heat was Unbearable though. (It was just around 11 AM)
From Deir-el-Bahri, we proceeded to Medinet-Habu, a monument built by Seti I (I have to verify this) While returning to the ferry after our morning visits, we stopped by to admire the Colossi of Memnon. These are Two Mammoth status of King Amenhoteph in a seated posture about 20 metres high. The ancient Greeks who conquered these parts, thought it was their hero Memnon and the Name has Stuck ever since.
It was good to get back to Cool Air-Conditioned Cruise Boat. We had lunch and set sail for Esna. The food was OK. Being a Vegetarian, is certainly hard. But I just ate everything & anything with no meat in it. I even Started eating Salads. There are a Number of Egyptian Dishes with Beans / Yogurt etc. They also have small Yogurt Containers and lots of Fruits to which I helped myself liberally. Around 4 PM every day, if we are on the Cruise Ship we are served Tea, Cake & Biscuits on the Upper Deck. I managed to make a lot of friends here being the Charmer I am. We have 3 Groups on this Ship. Two of them are English Speaking Groups and the third is a German Group. Among the English Speaking, One is the Luxury tour while simpletons like me who did not want to pay the extra $300/$400 are clubbed into the Economy Group. Among the 25 folks in the Economy Group, there are about 15 from Australia, 4 from New Zealand and 5 from U.S. Needless to say, the Aussies and the New Zealanders are the most easy going folks and welcome you to their groups / talk sessions easily. But, sometimes the talk get a bit trite as to which street in Melbourne each one lives and where they do their shopping !! But by & large, one tends to move a certain group of people on a regular basis from the second/Third Day onwards.
We reached ESNA on the night of 28th April. The Next morning we set off to View the temple of ESNA. It was a short walk from the dock. This temple was buried over a period of time. Even today after being excavated, one has to climb down 20 metres to stand level with the temple. This temple was dedicated to the Ram-Headed God. The ancient Egyptians worshipped nature pretty much the same way as we did (and still do). Therefore, you have temples dedicated to Rams, Falcons, Lionesses, Crocodiles and so on. This temple contains an astronomical ceiling with all the Zodiac Signs carved in it. After seeing a Couple of these monuments, you are forced to conclude that the ancient Egyptians were pretty good at Architecture and Astronomy.
After the temple of ESNA, we got back to the Ship and set Sail for EDFU. We reached EDFU around 2 PM. We had lunch on the Ship. We had to reach the temple by Horse-drawn Carriages. The way these things are driven, you just can't help but pray for your well-being. The Temple of EDFU was dedicated to Hathor (the mother goddess - the goddess of womanhood). It is a much bigger temple than ESNA and is very much on the ground level.
Spent about an hour there before getting back to the Ship. We then set sail for KOM OMBO. Spent the rest of the day drinking tea / chatting. After dinner we had a "Galabiya Party". Galabiya is the long gown worn by most Arabs. Almost all of the tourists, bought Galabiyas and dressed up. We had some singing and dancing to the melodies of Nubian Music.
The Next morning (April 30) we docked at KOM OMBO and visited the temple. This is the Only temple dedicated to two Gods. Sobek (the Crocodile God) and Harver (Horus the elder). The temple was a short walk from the dock. After visiting the temple we set sail for ASWAN.
The Problem with these escorted tours is two-fold. You are forced to make unscheduled stops at so called "Factories" producing paintings, carvings and so on. Even if you are not interested, there is not much you can do about it. The second is the diversity of the group. There are some who have come solely to shop (damn the sights & sounds). Invariably a tour comprises of more of these people than people like me who are in it just for the historical perspective & understanding.
We reached ASWAN around 2 PM on the 30th of April. We immediately took a bus which dropped us off at a small ferry landing. We took a motor boat to the Island of Philae. This is one of the two monuments that was affected by the building of the ASWAN dam. This temple was submerged (partially) under water before it was moved block by block to its current place on the Island of Agilika. The project was one of the two funded by UNICEF. The other was the masterwork of moving the temple of ABU SIMBEL. The temple of Philae, contains a lot of Greco-roman and Egyptian architecture. As these lands changed hands frequently in ancient times, you tend to find some of these temples containing influences of the various cultures. (Greek, Roman & Egyptian) The most famous photograph of this place is the 'Kiosk of Trajan'. (The Pharoah's Bed)
From the Island of Philae, we took the ferry to the Aga Khan Mausoleum. This is the guy who was in exile in Pakistan for most of his life and is buried here. Nothing extra-ordinary about the mausoleum. It sits atop a hill. You get a pretty view of the Nile and parts of Aswan from the top.
From the Mausoleum, we sailed to Kitchener's Island. This was the name of the Britisher who first started this botanical garden by obtaining plants, trees and flowers from various parts of the world. The Garden is now maintained by the Egyptian government. The Garden was pretty bad. What can you expect in this intense heat, anyway. I think, the mausoleum & the Botanical garden are just those things tourists are taken to, so that they can flap their mouths when they get back home.
After dinner, we had a belly dancer put up a show for us. The dancer was lousy and so was her act. Egyptian dancers are not allowed to bare their midriff. It was covered by a netting. (Not that it mattered !!)
The Next Morning, we visited the fallen Obelisk. This would have been the largest obelisk in the world, if it were not abandoned due to a crack it developed during the quarrying process. (The obelisk is the equivalent of our Qutb-minar with a whole-lot of carvings / heiroglyphics on its sides) There were four obelisks in the world. One is in Karnak. One was gifted by Muhammed Ali to the French King. It is in Paris. The other two are destroyed. (Seen it all !!!)
From the fallen obelisk, we proceeded to the Aswan dam. Being the pride of a nation, this is guarded heavily. After visiting the dam, those of us who had paid for the optional tour to Abu Simbel ($240 extra) went to the Aswan airport to take a flight to ABU SIMBEL. The flight was delayed for just an hour and we reached ABU SIMBEL around 11 AM. We took an air-conditioned bus to the temple.
This is the second temple that was moved to a higher ground to avoid being submerged by the water from the Aswan Dam. The Project took 2 years to Complete. It is a marvellous work. Both the temple and the restoration in its new place. This temple is dedicated to Ramses II and his queen Nefertari. The Main temple dedicated to Ramses, has four 18 Metre statues of Ramses in a seated posture at the entrance. This is followed by a hallway lined with eight standing statues of Ramses (4 on each side). The Inner chamber contains the statues of Ramses and 3 other Gods. Twice a year, on Ramses' birthday and on the day of his ascension to the throne, the rays from the rising sun stream all the way into the inner chamber about 100 metres deep inside the temple. |
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| Copyright © - "Gopal Venkat" |
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