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Published: March 3rd 2008
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It is now the 1st March and we are headed back to Kathmandu in Nepal to get ready to set off on the South East Asian leg of our round-the-world journey. Due to a lack of time and reasonable Internet facilities I am over a month behind in our blog so you'll have to wait to hear about our adventures in one of the most fascinating countries I've been too - anyway, back to Egypt (it's a good thing I've also been keeping a written journal).
Leaving the smog, dirt and noise of Cairo behind we made our way through a variety of landscapes - farmland, desert and strange walled, yet empty army installations - to the seaside city of Alexandria. Founded by Alexander the Great in 332 BC, Alexandria was built to be the capital of Alexander's vast empire, but due to his untimely death in 323 BC he never got to see it completed. Nestled against the Mediterranean, Alexandria nevertheless came to rival Rome in importance due to it's strategic location and position on the trade routes of ancient times. Unfortunately, the city experienced a significant decline in the 4th Century AD and it was only in the
19th Century when Pasha Mohammed Ali linked it to the Nile that it began to be revived. Today, it is a fairly unimpressive city, but there are clues in the ancient sites and archaeological finds that hint at its glorious past and illustrate the Egyptian, Hellenistic and Roman influences the city has experienced over the years.
Upon arriving in Alexandria, I was surprised to find that we were in a cold, windswept and run-down town, rather than the pleasant, warm seaside place I had been expecting. As it was already quite late, we checked into our hotel (just minutes prior to the arrival of a very large wedding party) and headed out to Gad's - an Egyptian fast food chain - for quite a good meal of freshly baked breads, dips and grilled meats. The next morning (after a sleepless night due to the cold and incessant banging caused by the wind howling in off the sea), we headed out for a guided tour of the city.
Our first stop was the National Museum of Alexandria (the usual stop is the reputedly very good Graeco-Roman Museum, but it has been closed for renovations for some time); it is
a small three level museum featuring items found in and around Alexandria - two objects I particularly liked were a statue of Emperor Caracalla (from Baths of Caracalla fame for those that have visited Rome) and a statue of the "heretic" Pharaoh, Akhenaten. Next stop on the agenda was Pompey's Pillar. This famous landmark was named after the famous Roman General, Consul and rival of Julius Ceasar as travelers in the middle ages mistakenly believed that he was buried here. In fact, the pillar and surrounding Sphinx are all that remain of the Temple of Serapis (a popular deity in the 3rd Century BC). We couldn't spend too much time at the Pillar as the wind was howling, it was starting to rain and getting quite cold so after a quick walk around and some photos we headed off to the Catacombs of Kom ash-Shuqqafa.
As the catacomb complex is 35 metres underground, we weren't in any danger of getting wet so we made our way down into the necropolis, the largest of its kind in Egypt, Dating from the 2nd Century AD, the catacombs were originally built as the burial chamber for a wealthy family, but over time
were expanded to a point where several hundred, perhaps thousands could have been buried here. Wandering around the corridors and peering into small, rectangular holes where corpses once lay was an interesting experience - the larger tombs were decorated with reliefs and statues clearly showing influence from the Egyptian and Roman cultures that were present in Egypt at the time - seeing these quite well preserved designs was pretty cool as it was our first look at "temple art" so far (the pyramids are quite bare inside).
With our tour of Alexandria over, we stopped in at a restaurant for some lunch and were surprised to find when we returned to the street that a huge KFC sign had been blown off the roof of a five storey building onto the footpath - I'm glad that we weren't walking along there at the time - imagine being killed by a falling fried chicken sign!! Then it was time to board a bus bound for Cairo where we were transferred to an overnight train that would take us to the site of the ancient capital of Thebes, Luxor.
Luxor and the surrounding area is filled with archaeological sites, temples
and museums that make the area second only to the Pyramids in terms of importance and tourist numbers. Upon arrival in Luxor, we stopped by the Nile to drop off our bags and check into our "state" rooms on board the Nile Cruise boat, "The Melodie". We then set off to the great temple of Karnak for a guided tour with Egyptologist, Adel - a very smart and funny guy. Building of the massive complex started in the 11th Dynasty and continued for 1,300 years with Pharaoh after Pharaoh adding their own touches to the temples and monuments. The site covers an area of about 100 acres and is filled with temples, monuments, obelisks and statues - due to its size we only saw a small fraction of the complex, but what we did see was amazing.
The huge statues of Rameses II, the rows of Rams leading to the main entrance, the massive columns of the Great Hypostyle Hall, the huge reliefs and hieroglyphics and the colours still present in the Great Festival Temple are all examples that demonstrate the skills, artistry and vision that the architects and builders of this complex possessed - it must have been
unbelievable in its heyday.
Once we had completed the tour, we boarded a horse drawn carriage for a ride down the corniche (street along the Nile) and once back on the Melodie set sail for Edfu.
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Craig Goldsmith
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Hahah, I'm Famous
I've made it onto the blog! Excellent, and a great summary of the opening leg of our travels Dan!