The history of ancient Egypt has always fascinated me. I have numerous books about the subject and about archaeology. I’ve probably seen every documentary ever made about ancient Egypt and I’ve gone to every museum exhibition featuring Egyptian artifacts in my area.

In July of 1998, I was fortunate enough to travel to the country I had dreamed and read about since I was a little girl. Egypt. The land of pyramids, pharaohs, and ancient ruins. I still have a difficult time believing I was there.

I traveled to Egypt with my dad. He has always been an adventurer at heart. How could he not be? He and my mother immigrated from Holland over forty years ago. Leaving your family and your country to move to another continent to live? That is a huge adventure in itself! Since he retired 13 years ago, he has traveled extensively. He returns home to Holland every year to visit relatives and travels to other European countries as well. My dad is quite a character and has always followed the road less traveled in his life and on his various trips. Each time I have traveled with him has been unforgettable in a good way (for the most part, anyway!) and this trip proved to be more than I could have imagined.

My dad took his annual trip home to Holland in mid-June. I flew there and met him on July 1st. He had arranged our tour to Egypt when he arrived in Holland. We were to depart on July 5th and return to Holland on the July 13th.

We departed from Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. We took Egypt Air Airlines to Cairo. The lines at the check in counter for Egypt Air were incredible. Apparently, Egyptians love to travel to Holland and buy enormous amounts of household items such as electronic equipment, furniture, mattresses, etc., because it’s much less expensive than in their own country. The amount of boxes, bags, and luggage that the Egyptians had with them in line was unbelievable. Although the airline regulations stated 'one carry on bag per person', it quickly became apparent that the rule only applied to non-Egyptians! The airline employees stressed several times to all of the other European passengers (there were only a handful) that they were only allowed one carry on. However, everyone else was free to take on five or six bags!

* Travel Tip #1:
When traveling on Egypt Air Airlines, do not be surprised to see that native Egyptians are given preferential treatment.

When we finally boarded the plane, I crossed my fingers, hoping that I would not be seated next to anyone that had a body odor problem. No such luck! My assigned seat was near a man that obviously had not bathed or washed his clothing in quite a while. Thankfully, he was seated across the aisle. I spent most of the 5 hour flight with my head turned in the opposite direction to avoid the ‘cloud‘ that was permeating from the gentleman. The plane was full of children that were allowed free reign to run up and down the aisles. The Egyptian culture has a great love of children and while kids are lavished with affection, they are disciplined very little.

* Travel Tip #2:
Do not expect the plane to ever have a moment of quiet. Not only are there children running everywhere, the Egyptian men are also extremely boisterous and they gather in groups to smoke and drink.

The flight took off at 7:30 PM (two hours later than the scheduled time) and was uneventful despite all the noise.

We arrived in Cairo around 12:30 AM. The plane did not pull up to a gate but stopped a couple of hundred yards from the terminal. Stairs were brought out to the plane so the passengers could disembark. One would have thought that you would walk to the terminal because it was so close. WRONG! The passengers were herded to a waiting bus and driven to the terminal. It took longer to get everyone on the bus than it would have taken to walk to the terminal! Apparently, this was some odd security measure! The terrible body odor on the bus was something I didn’t forget for a long time!

After the one minute bus ride to the terminal, everyone got off to be processed through Customs. Even at that time of night, the lines were horrendous. The first thing I noticed was that there were an excessive number of security guards in the airport. I guess it was a good thing, because a large group of Egyptian men kept moving to the front of the line and the security guards had to force them back three times.

By the time my dad and I finally got through Customs, it was nearly 1:45 AM. Our tour guide, Hassan, was waiting for us holding a sign with our names on it. He told us that we were waiting for rest of our group before we could leave for our hotel. Two men joined us a few moments later and we went out to the parking lot to waiting van. Hassan told us that the two other men were in a separate tour group, they just happened to be on the same flight. I asked how many people were in our group. Hassan told me, "Only you two." I had to laugh. I had no idea that two people were considered a ’group’!

Although it was very dark, on the drive to the hotel, I tried to see out the window to catch my first glimpse of Cairo. As we left the airport, I saw a huge statue of King Ramses at the entrance. I was amazed to see that an ancient statue was a decoration for the airport!

We checked into The Salma Hotel around 2:30 AM. The hotel staff was very gracious, but believed that my dad and I were a couple because we were sharing a room (even though it had two beds!). My dad kept trying to explain, but I told him not to bother. We were never going to see these people again, who cares? Eventually, they seemed to believe us. I guess the fact that I was always calling the man, "Dad" started to sink in!

* Travel Tip#3:
Do not drink the local water! Purchase bottled water!

We had to buy water immediately at the front desk because tourists are advised not to drink the water. Not even to brush your teeth. It takes a approximately two weeks to adjust to the water and we were only going to be in Egypt 8 days. We didn’t want to spend a single second of that time having stomach ailments! Hassan told us that he would be back at 9:00 AM to pick us up to begin our tour.

The Salma Hotel looked like something out of a 1940’s movie. It was a small building, but very neat and fairly modern. Our room had two single beds and a tidy bathroom which I was very grateful to see! My dad and I were exhausted after the trip and we practically passed out in our beds immediately. Sadly, I was awakened by my dear old dad’s terrible snoring within a half an hour!

* Travel Tip #4:
BRING EAR PLUGS!

I finally got back to sleep after putting a pillow over my head only to be brutally awakened by a loud speaker on top of the mosque across the street, blasting first call to Mecca (Muslim prayers) of the day! My dad and I both nearly had heart attacks. The wailing of the prayer only lasted a few moments but it took a while to get back to sleep. Prayers are broadcast several times a day, beginning at 4:00 AM and ending at 10:00 PM. After hearing it the first few times, you become accustomed to it and it certainly added to the atmosphere.

Later that morning, dad and I had the complimentary continental breakfast. For those who appreciate good coffee and excellent baked bread, I can tell you it was heaven! Along with the bread, hard boiled eggs, and fruit, there were a few odd items offered as part of the meal: cucumber, black olives, and something that looked like refried beans!

A van with a driver and our tour guide, Hassan, picked us up promptly at 9:00 o’clock to begin our tour. First, we picked up a young gentleman, Ashraf, who was to be our guide for the day, and dropped off Hassan at his office.

My eyes were glued to the scenery as we rode in the van. Cairo is an enormous city of 15 million people. Most of the city is fairly modern, the rest is very old. The traffic was an odd mix of new modern vehicles, old cars, black and white taxis (also known as flying coffins because cab drivers drive like maniacs!), and mule driven carts!

The first stop of the day was the tiny town of Memphis to see the colossus (a huge statue) of the pharaoh, Ramses II. Memphis is only a 30 minute drive from Cairo, yet as we drove out of the city into the countryside, it literally felt like we were going back in time. Where the city was brown and dirty, the landscape turned into lush, green farmland along the Nile. Farmers were dressed in long, white cotton gowns, plowing fields with ancient plows pulled by cows or mules. There were very few cars on the dirt road.

We stopped and parked at a fairly modern, long, narrow building. I was amazed at what we saw inside the building. There was the enormous colossus of Ramses II. The statue is approximately 150 feet long and that’s only because the legs were missing below the knee! It was on it’s back and filled the entire room! We were told that because the colossus is so huge and heavy, it was cheaper to construct the building around it. The figure is about 20 feet tall so in order to view it, you must climb a flight of stairs to the balcony that goes around the entire room. The detailed carving, especially the facial features, in the stone was really beautiful. Behind the building housing the colossus, was a garden that had several additional large free standing statues of Ramses II, rams, and a small version of the sphinx. It was incredible to see these works of art that had been created thousands of years ago!

The second stop was a small town call Saqarra, the location of the first pyramid ever built. It’s called the ’step’ pyramid and is the central piece of an extensive finery complex built for the Third Dynasty pharaoh, Zoser. The story behind Zoser’s pyramid is that the tomb was originally built with 2 levels. A wall was built around the tomb to protect it, no one was allowed inside. The common people prayed at the wall every day and were upset they couldn’t see the tomb. This became such an issue that the decision was made to build additional layers, or steps, to make the tomb tall enough for the people to see above the protective wall. We also went into a nearby tomb that had 22 small rooms. It was very dark and the carvings were hardly visible but it was really amazing.

Our third stop of the day was Giza Plateau, the location of the great pyramids. Amazingly enough, Giza plateau is only 10 miles outside of Cairo and overlooks the city. When we drove up the road that led to the pyramids, I thought I was going to hyperventilate. I was so excited. I could hardly believe I was really there in front of these gargantuan structures made of millions of tons of stone. My dad and I got out of the vehicle and just stood there in silence. It was awe inspiring. We felt so small. My dad and I took pictures of each other in front of the pyramids and then continued onward.

The three pyramids of Giza are the pyramid of Cheops (the oldest and largest one), the pyramid of Chephren, and the pyramid of Mycerinus, the smallest of the three. There are also three tiny ones near Mycerinus call the Pyramids of the Queens.

My dad and I actually got to go into the pyramid of Chephren. It is almost as large as Cheops but seems larger because it stands on higher ground. To enter the pyramid, you walk down a very narrow tunnel into the ground, then the tunnel angles upward again. The ceiling is very low so you are walking bent at the waist for most of the walk. I couldn’t help touching the wall of the tunnel as we walked. I almost couldn’t believe I was there! To be in a place built so many thousands of years ago by hundreds of thousands of people! To this day, archaeologists are still debating how the Egyptians built the pyramids. They do know now that the people who built them were not slaves, but paid workers.

The tunnel led to the tomb chamber where the empty sarcophagus was found. The first thing I noticed was the odd faint odor in the place. It was a fairly large chamber and it was a relief to be able to stand upright. The ceiling was at least 15 feet high. The room was dimly lit with a few light bulbs, but you could still easily see the carvings on the stone blocks and on the stone sarcophagus. Our guide, Ashraf, told us that all three of the pyramids were thought to have been sealed when they were discovered, but when the archeologists got inside them, they found all of them had been looted. He also explained that the odor we were smelling was the embalming fluid from the sarcophagus! Three thousand years after the fact! Incredible! All too soon, we had to leave the pyramid. I deliberately took my time on the way out even though it was uncomfortable to walk with your body so hunched over. I wanted to savor every minute I could of the experience.

When we emerged from the pyramid, we were overtaken by vendors selling all kinds of tourist trap items. The vendors are very aggressive and you very nearly have to fight them off and say ‘imshee’ which means ‘go way’ in Arabic. ‘Imshee’ became a word we used frequently during the trip! The vendors finally left me alone so I could take some panoramic photos of the pyramids.

The final stop of the day was the great Sphinx. It is located just down the road from the pyramids. The Sphinx had restoration work done on the legs and haunches. It looked spectacular. I was struck, however, by it’s size. It is very large, but not as large as I had imagined it to be. I was sad to see how badly the face had deteriorated although restoration work has been done there as well. Our guide told us, the nose was shot off by the Turks in the 16th century when they used it for target practice!

After taking some pictures at the Sphinx, we stopped at a shop and I bought an 18K gold ankh charm, then we headed back to our hotel in Cairo. My first day in Egypt was at an end. I had taken several rolls of film and I still felt like I hadn’t taken enough. I wanted to record every second and I wished I’d had a camcorder. I was tired but exhilarated by everything I had seen. My dad and I couldn’t stop smiling and talking about what we’d seen. We couldn’t wait for the next day to arrive to see and experience more of Egypt.

Please join me here next issue, for part 2 of my Egypt Adventure!

"Sterling Moon is my favorite specialty coffee!" David E. Brown,
[Billy Joel's former lead guitarist for 11 years] Gloucester, MA

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