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Published: November 15th 2006
Nubian girl
America's next top model?For my last afternoon in Cairo I decided to squeeze in a visit to the ancient sites of Memphis and Saqqara located about 30 miles south of the city. Memphis was one of the great cities of the ancient world but has now all but disappeared from centuries of pillaging and floods. It’s a fairly unimpressive site with only a few significant monuments and statues of Ramses II.
Nearby at Saqqara is the Step pyramid built for Zoser. The step pyramid is significant because it is Egypt’s (and the worlds) first stone monument. At most of these sites, the tourism cashiers like to double dip...they charge you to enter the grounds which you assume is the full admission, then once you park and walk up to the actual site, they charge you again to get inside....sneaky buggers. Today I countered their shifty practices by just saying "no thanks" to going inside, and then just walking in around the back...I know, what a rebel.
Later in the evening, I bid farewell to my trusty driver Saeed and boarded a 1-hour flight North for Aswan. Arriving in Aswan was a welcome respite from the chaos
of Cairo. There was much less traffic, streets were not as bumpy, and things moved at a much slower and lazy pace here along the Nile River.
During my first half of the day I wandered through the bustling markets and walked along the Nile, then later hooked up with our small group for a tour of the Philae Island and Isis Temple complex. After a short boat ride on the Nile, we arrived at this beautiful and majestic island site and disembarked for a 30 minute guided tour followed by some free time to explore and take photos. What I found most amazing was that this entire complex was preemptively moved stone by stone from a neighboring island in 1972. The move was organized by UNESCO in order to save it from being submerged by flooding created by the construction of the high dam. Even before the dam was built, the site was subject to seasonal flooding and tour groups used to motor around and through the complex in boats, gazing at the site submerged underneath green waters and illuminated by the sunlight. That must have been cool!
This morning I took the 2 minute ferry across
Memphis
Statue of Ramses II the nile to Elaphantine Island. Thousands of years ago the island was a flourishing center of trade and activity, but is less significant nowadays. There are two nubian settlement villages on the island and one can easily spend an hour or two wandering the narrow mazes of mud, stucco and adobe style settlement as I did. At the far end of the island lies the walled off four-star movenpick hotel, catering mainly to European tourists. A large wall surrounds the hotel and separates it from the Nubian village community. It's a shame that most of these tourists never dare to venture off the insulated tourist path for a peek at how the people actually live. If they did, they would find that the Nubians are extremely welcoming and kind people. They don't speak much English, but one phrase they all know is "welcome to Elephantine island".
In a few hours I embark on the 2-day Nile river cruise up to Luxor.
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heidi laws
non-member comment
wow!
This is so much fun to travel with you. Great photos. Maybe you can squeeze a trip to Eugene, ORegon to visit us? Hey if you are in China, my best buddy lives there. Her name is Sally. Email me and I will give you her contact info. Our buddy Sarah will be there for Christmas. I think they plan on traveling through China......