Holy Cow I Went to Egypt: Part 2


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Africa » Egypt » Lower Egypt » Cairo
June 3rd 2008
Published: June 3rd 2008
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On Monday Jordan and I had planned to go to the Egyptian Antiquities Museum and so got up early and worked our way down Tallat Harb to one of the main squares in Cairo: Midan Tahrir. From the square you can see the American University in Cairo, where I almost studied abroad, along with both fancy Hilton hotels, a Sheraton Hotel, an Inter-Continental Hotel, Cairo's main public administrative building, and of course the museum.
The building was bright pink and as we approached the gate and bought our tickets, masses of tour groups gathered outside the main entrance. We decided to forgo getting a tour guide seeing as how we pretty much know most of the facts about the artifacts and decided to explore on our own. The museum was well organized with two levels and group by time periods which made it easy to navigate. After getting through security we made a beeline strait for the mummy rooms and Tutankhamen's tomb contents. As we wound our way up the stairs Jordan and I debated which museum the famous King Tut death mask and all of his sarcophagus belongings were housed and whether or not they were on tour. We followed signs saying King Tut and to our surprise found all of the artifacts in King Tut's tomb displayed in glass cases. It was stunning to see everything up close. However, when we reached the end of the hall, to our right was a small air-conditioned room which to our disbelief housed King Tut's death mask, sarcophagi, and everything found on him in his coffin. His mummy was actually kept in it's tomb in Thebes however, that didn't deter me from being completely memorized by the famous face that graced the cover of every newspaper in the world after Howard Carter's discovery in the 1920's. Jordan and I took our time looking very closely at every piece of jewelry, amulet, effigy, and stone found on the boy king of the 18th Dynasty.
When more people began to file into the small room, we reluctantly left and went to see the mummies. We had to pay an extra fee to get into the two rooms, but it was completely worth it. The rooms were completely silent as we gazed into the faces of Queen Hatshepsut, Tuthsmosis II, Seti I, and perhaps the most famous pharaoh in history, Ramses II. It was an experience I can't even describe to see the features, hair, fingernails, and physical facial expressions of these magnificent rulers who led one of the most powerful empires in the history of the world.
After visiting other parts of the museum and drooling over the years of history and art displayed, I was disappointed to find that Jordan was tired and hungry and wanted to leave. I personally could have spend a week in the museum going over every detail of every artifact and begging the curators to let me into the basement where there were over 5,000 more artifacts that weren't on display, however, I felt obligated to go search for food. We settled on lunch at Felfela's once again. This time I chose stuffed grape leaves which were lovely. We also tried a traditional Egyptian dessert called Om Ali. It's a mixture of milk, egg, honey, apricots, and almonds and this together with our cinnamon spiked Turkish coffee what simply perfect.
After lunch we headed to Coptic Cairo, the area of the city where the old Coptic Christians under Greek and Roman rule and influence built most of their churches and other structures. To get there we decided to try our hand at Cairo's underground Metro system. It was actually easier than we thought it would be and only cost 1 EGP for a one way pass to anywhere in the city. After asking around and being directed to the correct rail we hopped aboard and were off. We payed very close attention to each stop we made and tried our best to read the signs and within 15 minutes made it to our destination with no trouble at all.
When entering the streets of the Coptic area it was very clear the influence that Europe had on Egypt in the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D. We first explored St. Georges church which had beautiful architecture and a gorgeous courtyard. Then we proceeded to the Hanging Church, the main tourist attraction in the area. It too had breathtaking architecture and was built in the 4th century A.D., having undergone extensive reconstruction over the years. It is still used for services on the weekends and remains and important figure in Coptic history.
Seeing no more tourist attractions in the guidebook, we decided to just explore the streets of the area and make our way to the next Metro stop. As we walked along it was interesting to see bunches of spice shops and pastry vendors bunched together. Everywhere children were carrying baskets of flat bread to sell and we passed by countless cafes where old men sat smoking hookah and playing backgammon. After getting good and lost, consulting the guidebook, and asking for directions, we were finally on a Metro back to central Cairo.
With nothing very exciting to do we checked out movie times for the new Marvel movie: Iron Man. So for the final hours of the evening we dined on popcorn, Doritos, and M&M's while being entertained by Robert Downy Jr.

On Tuesday morning we slept, enjoyed our meager breakfast at our hostel, and caught a taxi to the Central Ramses Train Station for we had gotten tickets to Alexandria the night before. I have always wanted to go to Alexandria, seeing as how I just finished a class where I learned all about the city and how it was affected by Alexander the Great. After being dropped off and getting help navigating our way through the station, we stood waiting for our train to arrive. When it did, we jumped aboard and found the first class car where we took our nice big seats in the air conditioned compartment (our friend Yazzmine had advised us to travel first class seeing as it was only $5 more than traveling second class). The train sped off towards the Mediterranean and we enjoyed watching the city fly by. During the trip a server came around offering refreshments and Jordan and I partook in a cup of Nescafe, not the greatest, but it did the trick. As we watched the landscape we could see it change from dusty brown to lush green as we entered the Nile Delta region. I was surprised by the amount of agriculture being practiced in the upper region as masses of cornfields flew by.
Finally after two and a half hours of reading and listening to our iPods, the train slowed as it pulled into the Alexandria Station. We exited our trains and went straight to the ticket office to buy our return tickets, however, the only ones we could find for 7:00pm were second class and so we reluctantly bought them, wondering what to expect that night. After buying our tickets we heard an American voice behind us say, "Jeez you guys are brave." We turned around to see a SoCal looking guy who introduced himself as Mike. He told us that he was Egyptian but that his parents had moved to the States when he was a toddler and he grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. He said that he now lived in Pasadena, CA and he was a movie editor. He was evidently working on a movie in Cairo for a few days and was visiting his Uncle in Alexandria for the night. As we told him our story of studying abroad his Uncle walked up and Mike introduced us. We asked if he could ask his Uncle the best way to get to the Library in Alexandria and to our surprise his Uncle offered to take us right there seeing as how he and Mike would be passing on their way home. Jordan and I took a moment to discuss the decision and decided that Mike and his Uncle seemed trustworthy and so took their offer, seeing as how it would be nice to save taxi-fare.
As we drove through the city in Mike's Uncle's car, Mike informed us that his Uncle was a doctor and was very happy to see his nephew after so many years. After about five minutes of drive, I caught the pure essence of blue out of the corner of my eye, and sure enough, straight ahead of us was the Mediterranean Sea. It was more beautiful than the Nile, the Pyramids, and the Antiquities Museum combined. As we drove along the coast the waters sparkled with sunlight and seemed to reflect all the history that had taken place there over the last 3000 years. We finally arrived at the Library, thanked Mike and his Uncle and hopped out of the car. We were a bit confused however, because the extremely new structure that was in the place of the once magnificent Library containing all the knowledge of the ancient known world was teaming with news crews from all over the world. It wasn't until our flight home that we ran into two Ghanaian architects that told us that the library was hosting the Pan-African Architectural conference that week. After buying yet more tickets, we entered the building to find that it was in fact an actual library that was used by students and the Alexandrian public. We roamed the levels looking at all the books, observing art exhibits, and trying to imagine what had stood in the new building's place in ancient times.
After having our fill of the library we decided to try to get to the Greco-Roman museum in the middle of the city. Unfortunately the taxi driver we got didn't know a word of English and couldn't read the map in our guidebook that we repeatedly showed him. Stopping every few minutes to ask for directions the driver finally dropped us off at what looked like the correct building, but when we went up to the security guard by the door he informed us that the museum was closed due to construction. So we decided to just walk the streets of Alexandria to see what we could find. My disappointment about the museum was quickly absorbed as I enjoyed all of the amazing architecture around the city. It seems that Europeans had completely revamped the city in the early 1900's and the buildings still screamed with turn of the century styles and techniques. After an hour or so of walking around Jordan and I started to get hungry and decided to head back to the coast area. I must say that this was my favorite part of the entire trip. Sitting in the bay overlooking the Mediterranean where Alexander's fleets once anchored was too much for me to handle. Looking into the deep blue spanning the horizon I became misty-eyed as the realization of how important Alexandria was to world history hit me in an intense wave, and I came to appreciate where I was more than I ever have.
Jordan and I dined at a hotel restaurant finishing up with a dessert of chocolate crepes which were pretty much amazing and just barely caught our train home. We didn't understand what all the fuss was about due to the lack of any real difference between the first and second class cars of the train. After another two and a half hours we arrived home and headed back to the hostel for a good night's sleep.

On Wednesday Jordan and I hadn't planned anything and so we looked in the guidebook to see what was left to do in Cairo. We decided to head back to Islamic Cairo and explore the famous Citadel. As our taxi pulled up the massive complex came into view with minarets and turrets towering high above us. The Citadel was home to Egypt's rulers for almost 700 years, being originally found in 1176 by a Muslim commander it now houses mosques, museums and battlements reflecting a diverse heritage. Inside Jordan and I explored on our own taking a massive amount of pictures and marveling at the architecture once again. Each mosque was unique and beautiful and again it was quite an experience knowing how much hard work and faith went into building the complex.
After running around the Citadel for a few hours we decided to go back to the bazaar Khan al-Khalili to eat lunch and buy some last minute gifts and souvenirs. We eventually got tired and decided that since we still hadn't had coffee at Starbucks, that we'd better go back to the City Starts Mall and make a point of finding it. And so we did. I cannot tell you how amazing it was to taste the tall, non-fat latte I drank everyday at home last semester. After slowly enjoying every sip of our coffee we decided to catch a last minute showing of the new Narnia: Prince Caspian movie, and after that we enjoyed one last luxurious meal at another yummy Mexican restaurant before heading back to our hostel.

The next day our hostel kicked us out at noon after thanking us for staying with them and so Jordan and I were left to roam the city until our flight back to Ghana that night. We walked up and down Tallat Harb one last time before taking a taxi to go wait at the airport. To our surprise the airport also had a Starbucks and Cinnabon and so we enjoyed the comforts of development one more time before getting on our plane to fly back to the dust and humidity that awaited us.
I must stay that even though the week flew by and it still just seems like a dream, it was one of the best adventures I've ever been on and I can't wait to go back and see the rest of it!!!


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