Dendera

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It is Friday morning and the day is beautiful. It is only going to be about 80 degrees today. Normally the temperature in Dendera is above 90 so we are thankful.
Last night, our first on the boat was interesting. We enjoyed a late dinner, a sumptuous buffet meal consisting of several different salads, olives, cheeses and soup. To this was added fish, meat and chicken followed up by one of several sweets for dessert, coffee and tea. Our wait staff was very attentive being Johnny on the spot to fulfill your every need. Remember the boat usually has a passenger manifest of 150 we are only 48 so attention to customer need is very noticeable.
We sat around chatting and I did some blogging but by and by I grew tired and headed up to bed. Our room was an ice box. The A/C was blowing hard but we were so tired we just changed and went to bed. In a few minutes it was so cold I was actually freezing so much I began to shiver, but I refused to get up as I was so tired I did not want to move. Rick forgot to give himself insulin so he passed out all night. So I n the morning we were ice cubes, but well rested!
At Breakfast we took stock of our fellow travelers:
We had Ellen and Ian, retired Australians who will celebrate their wedding anniversary on April 27.
We have Jim and Heather, also retired; also Australians and a wonderful fun couple who love to laugh and have fun.
We have Aloma, the no luggage lady who still has no luggage and is suffering this morning from a bout of the Pharaoh’s Revenge.
George our octogenarian is still with us and is doing fine. He gets lost a little from time to time and have a deep unflinching believe that the aliens built all the ancient temples and pyramids.
We lost one gentleman, another Australian, to the Pharaoh’s Revenge. He is sick, real sick. His wife is worried as we all are because he cannot leave his room and we have not seen him for 3 days. She is doing well and is a trooper coming with us and caring for him when we return.
We have Cathy and her husband, our youngest companions, from California. They are faring well as are Rick and I, no problems here.
Several other travelers round out the group and we are developing the usual tour group bonds as we get to know each other more and more.
So back to the highlights. A buffet breakfast at 6 AM followed by departure for our visit to Dendera before the heat builds.
Dendera is amazing. Located a few kilometers north of Luxor, Dendera boasts the most preserved Temple dedicated to Hathor goddess of love, beauty, music and birth. She is often depicted as a cow. Hathor is married to Horus of Edfu. Each year the statue of Hathor would be taken from the temple to sail upriver to Edfu to celebrate the divine marriage. The ensuing festival lasted two weeks.
At the site we also have a sanatorium, a sacred lake, a small temple to Isis and a Coptic (early Christian Church).
The temple is huge and beautiful. Here we see Columns (required in all temples), statues dedicated to the Pharaohs and open courtyard decorated with ornate wall reliefs and statues of Ramses II.
Here we have a view of what the colors must have been like in the temples. The ceiling of the temple depicts the night sky and so is painted with stars. Some of the columns have traces of color and show various pharaohs honoring the goddess by making offerings of animals, plants, beer and other valuable gifts.
Here we have an unusual building plan in that after the first courtyard where normally we enter the holy shrine, we instead enter a second column space. Here we have several outer rooms, all highly decorated depicting early everyday life, offerings to the gods and accomplishments of the Pharaohs.
There is so much to see and learn that we are truly overwhelmed. We see the treasury, where the precious metals were stored; the laboratory where the perfumes were formulated, and other rooms.
Something we learned that is intriguing is that it takes 120 - 150 years to build a temple. Once the temple is commissioned it is completely planned out and written down as to what it will look like at the end. The architect of the temple will refer to the drawings until his death and it will become the responsibility of the next architect to follow the plans exactly. It was impossible for the pharaoh who commissioned the temple to see it finished. That is amazing. What is more amazing any succeeding pharaoh followed the plans to the letter although he had the power and authority to make changes they did not. Only after the temple was build would he deface the temple by destroying the faces of a despised pharaoh within the temple!
We climbed a steep circular staircase to the roof where we came to the celestial or horoscope room. There on the ceiling in a spiral was the night sky as depicted by the locations of the signs of the Zodiac. It was amazing but it was all dark because the original painted surface was removed and sent to the Louvre in Paris leaving only the background behind. We gaze from the roof top at the surrounding countryside and have a bird’s eye view of the temple site itself. It is still hard to believe we are here.
We depart the temple through a second set of stairs and back to the ground where we go to the back of the temple and see the carving of Cleopatra (Cleopadra in Egyptian as they have not letter T) and Caesarion her son by with Julius Caesar. It is magnificent and we get a lesson in reading a cartouche (the naming plate showing the name of a person associated with a location.
Now we have 30 minutes of ‘Free” time or as I like to call it “shooting fish in a barrel” where we are the fish and the hawkers are the shooters.
A few of us walk off to explore and my first stop is the lake where I am quickly approached by a man with a submachine gun (a Tourist Police Officer) who wants to show me the best view of the lake. I think “hay he is a cop so what can go wrong” plenty.
I follow him and sure enough I get a great view of the lake and a few pictures. He gives me a lecture on the area in pretty good English I thank him and begin to head up and out comes the hand! Now I am not going to argue with a man holding a machine gun so 5 pounds ($1) are extracted. Damn, you can’t even trust the cops assigned to protect me. A little wiser I walk on.
Next stop is the Coptic Church built during the time of the Roman occupation of Egypt. Here the early Christians came to escape persecution from the Romans. They build their church and spent the next 50 years defacing every face and foot of every statue and drawing throughout the entire temple complex. They did this to wipe out the Egyptian religion. Fortunately they left the writings on the walls otherwise they may have been able to wipe out all of Egyptian history.
Of course soon as I enter another helpful cop comes by shows me around and extorts another 5 pound note and I am finally allowed to leave to may next adventure I like to call the “Hawker Gauntlet”
It is pure genius that EVERY site we go to one must exit through a section devoted to the selling of stuff! Here you can find anything you could ever want but not need. You have onyx (fake), Basalt stone carvings (cement), stone carvings (wood), handmade alabaster (machine made or plastic), scarves and shirts (the real thing finally).
I of course love to shop. The sights, the sounds, the colors, the lack of sales resistance all make for an exciting and dangerous (costly) passage through the gauntlet. Today however I am well armed as last night at our group meeting our tour guide Mohammed, now known as “mo” for short, gave us the real skinny on prices we should pay.
So armed with this new knowledge I actually see a very pretty cotton blouse that would look great on Cathy. Of course the hawking begins “fine Egyptian cotton for you my American friend today only 200 pounds” I offer 20.
“20 pounds you insult me sir. Look at the quality, look at the color 150 pounds and take it away.”
“35 pounds take it or leave it” I reply and begin toward the door.
“50 pounds my friend only $10 US Dollars”
“La la la” (no no no) I say and exit.
He follows me out the door still pushing his price. I keep walking singing La la la.
As I approach the bus music to my ears “Ok 35 pounds ($7) and beautiful cotton blouse heading for Cathy. I am now back on the bus and ready for lunch!
The rest of the day is devoted to sailing. We are heading back to Luxor a 4 hour sailing from our location in Dendera where we will arrive around 4 PM for or afternoon tour of the famous Luxor Temple and papyrus museum (store).
Lunch is another feast of delectable dishes of several salads, eggplant preparations, fish and chicken with rice vegetables and soup. Needless to say we are eating well so well that even Mr. Picky (Rick) is enjoying himself. In fact he is enjoying himself so much people are asking ME how Rick stays so thin!
Another perfect afternoon cruise on the Nile and we arrive at Luxor. Now Luxor was known as Thebes in ancient Egypt and was the home of Ramses II. This temple was dedicated to the Thebian triad of Amun Ra (Sun God); Mut (goddess of queens) and Khonsu (moon god). The temple was started by Amenhotep III and completed by Ramses II a century later.
Within the walls of this complex has been built over the last 1000 years, a Mosque and several Christian Churches. There is a functioning Mosque still standing with in the walls.
You enter the main square through the Avenue of the Sphinx, 70 human headed sphinx statues. Originally this avenue connected Luxor Temple to Karnak a distance of 2.5 kilometers. Efforts are being made to locate the rest of the missing sphinx and rebuild the avenue to Karnak.
Ramses II was a prolific builder and it can be seen here in Luxor. The scale of everything is GRAND to say the least. The first entrance Pylon is 58 yards wide or the span of 14 people arms spread apart. It is HUGE. There is an Obelisk out front, one of a pair the other of which was given to Paris in return for a stone clock that never worked. Also here we have 6 colossi of Ramses II (simply put huge statues of a seated Ramses II). Two more were also given to France in exchange for the recipe for French Fries.
A temple takes so long to build that we see influences from many rulers of the ancient world. Queen Hatshepsut (the only woman Pharaoh), built a shrine at the site but Thutmose III crossed out her name and replaced it with his own because he did not feel a woman should be remembered as a Pharaoh. So he wiped out every statue and cartouche bearing her name and replaced it with his own. The first male chauvinist.
The Luxor Temple has been probably seen by everyone reading this blog at some time or another as it is the topic of many National Geographic or Discovery Channel programs. In person it is amazing.
So we spend almost 2 hours here and try to head back the bus but first we must pass through the Gauntlet. This time I survive but others are not so luck and fall victim from the onslaught. It is now actually fun to try to get by without buying something but the stuff is cool and it is hard to resist.
Off we go to the Papyrus Museum. This is a government school which specializes in papyrus making and artistic reproductions.
Here we learn the process. Papyrus grew wild in Egypt. It is a sacred plant for several reasons. First the stem is like a pyramid, it is triangular, the only plant like it in the world. The Egyptians felt the pyramid was a sign of eternity so the plant was sacred.
Also the flower has the appearance of the sun with the rays of the sun coming forth. The sun, as we know, was also deemed as sacred.
The plant is harvested and the outer green layer is stripped off. This is used to make baskets as it is naturally strong and weavable. Next the stem is sectioned into thin strips and placed in water for 6 days. This is to remove the natural sugars in the stem. After 6 days the strips are lined together with a slight overlap, not a weave, and are put in a press for another 6 days to cure. During this process the natural sugars act like an adhesive and hold the paper together.
Real papyrus can be soaked and crumpled and not tear or show fold lines. It is also quite strong and will not change color in the sun. Genuine papyrus must be sanctioned by the government and must bear a seal of authenticity. Because of this it is VERY EXPENSIVE. Add to this that only 1 of 40 master artists are allowed to paint on natural papyrus and only specific ancient scenes or scenes approved by the institute the price rises again. (Yup honey I getting you prepared AGAIN).
So we learn about papyrus in the museum, which just happens to have on display many natural papyri for sale. Imagine that. Right there you have genuine, government approval and painted by the approved artist for your purchasing pleasure. And suddenly out of nowhere are a dozen sales men, where the hell were these guys a minute ago, ready to help you with your purchase. So kind.
Of course I get the manager of the store, who also happened to be our demonstrator to “help me look around”. Like I need help LOOKING.
Ok, they are beautiful I have to admit that. It is something you cannot buy anywhere else in the world. So let me look.
Each piece has a number and a price so there is no dickering. No dickering, what the hell, this is still Egypt right? So I go to Mo, “Hay MO can I get a better price for anything”
“This is a government store and the prices are set, if you spend over 300 pounds ($60) you get 10%. If you spend over 700 pounds ($140) you may get 15% off but that is fixed”
Great the piece I like is of course 960 pounds ($192).
My helpful sales person sees the piece I like he whispers to me “do not worry my friend, I am the shop manager and I can help you buy this piece”
What are you going to lend me $100? Because I am not going to pay nearly $200 for a papyrus. Sadly I was not able to leave the shop with one papyrus, I left with three. The guy was good what can I say. I told you all I have no sales resistance. I blame Cathy for making me go alone. That is my story and I am sticking to it.
Back to the bus we go for our ride to the boat and dinner. Now we are a little late for dinner, like 45 minutes but dinner is there piping hot and delicious as ever.
After dinner I call my lovely wife whom I miss so dearly (yes I am buttering her up because she is going to kill me) and soon head to bed for a well deserved rest. Tomorrow we begin again in Luxor and will see the West Bank and the Valley of the Kings. Good Night

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