Letters from Egypt, Jordan & Israel - Desert Treasures

Egypt - The Pyramids of Cairo

 Egypt Photo Album

Well - I actually did make it to Cairo, fast & furious - never sleeping Cairo!  The traffic is full tilt 24 hours a day but absolutely bumper to bumper during peak hours. I was still struggling with my fears of crossing the streets and would typically shamelessly shadow any man, woman, or child who was crossing the street. And, if solo, I sometimes would even take the long way just to avoid having to cross a street.

My hotel was just around the block from the national archeology museum so that was my first stop and I did not have to risk getting killed to get there. The museum is of course what you would imagine in terms of the age & volume of important ancient Egyptian art & treasures.  It was so much better than the reviews I had read that complained about poor organization and labeling. The building is huge and is well organized, the ground floor by era & the top floor by ruler. The King Tutankhamun display is really impressive and yes - I really did get to see his gold & jeweled burial mask. Except for King Tut's mummy, which is still sleeping in his tomb in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor, there are so many artifacts from Tut's tomb  that you really get a feel for the life of the privileged in ancient Egypt in the early-mid 1300s BC.  I was glad that I had seen so many of the important tombs & palaces in Luxor before coming to the museum as I actually had some basic knowledge of the era's & rulers of the new kingdom.

I ended up meeting a professional, bona fide guide while trying to cross some complicated streets while walking about Cairo. An older gentleman offered to help me… now I know that is usually the way the touts find vulnerable tourists but this fellow, Rashida, was really genuine.  He ended up telling me about his business but asked that I look at this web site and reviews before making any judgments. His personally guided tours of the pyramids were a much better deal than what was being offered at the hotel. Best of all - he would take me to see not just the Giza pyramid complex, the big 3 (Cheops, Khafre, & Menakaure) & the Sphinx, we are so used to seeing in travel photographs, but he would take me outside the city to see the  earliest pyramids of the old and middle kingdoms. Once he picked me up he gave me a pad and pen so that I could take notes - like a historian he pumped me full of dates, names, and places of the ancient Egyptians throughout the day. 

Did you know there is a Bent Pyramid of Dashur?  This design signified an important transition in the evolution of the now classic triangle shape we are most familiar with. The ancients were learning from design & structural flaws as early as 2,600 BC.

One of the sad realities of the world is the sporadic terrorist attacks that take place. After leaving Cairo I found out that one of the Coptic Christian churches in old Cairo that I had spent some pleasant quite time in -just to chill out - was bombed a few days after my visit. It is was fairly empty when I visited but in order to make a spectacle the terrorists chose a time when parishioners fill the church.

I left Cairo on a night bus headed to the Sinai - one that would take me all along the coast of the Red Sea's Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba & up to the small charming beach town of Dahab. The sea is beautiful there and the town takes advantage of good diving and great fishing by offering lots of quaint inns & beach side restaurants.  But I had my sights on reaching Jordan so after a short stay & continued on up the coast by bus to a port and then by ferry on to Jordan. I teamed up with a couple of 20-something Japanese to share a taxi to Petra and so enter the highlands and cold temperatures that I had not experienced for a long, long time.

Jordan - Sandstone Tombs, Temples, and Treasury

Jordan Photo Album

Petra is an absolutely amazing spectacle of landscape, rock, & architecture created by the nomadic Nabataeans over 300 years BC.  Though nomadic, the Nabataeans developed incredible skill in sculpting whole cities of sandstone rock & creating highly efficient canals for distributing water. Petra was able to flourish under this tribe.  

The shuttle from my hostel dropped our little group off just as the site was opening so we were the first to enter the deep slot canyon entrance to the tombs, temples, & palaces.  A cold, crisp, totally enchanting walk through canyon in no way prepares one for the first site - absolutely stunning. It's impossible to really describe the incredible workmanship & beauty of the structures carved right out of/in to the colorful sandstone cliffs. The site is immense & I was able to wander totally alone to the very end taking in the views as I climbed up & up to a vast vista point over the Wadi Araba. 

At the tip top of one of the last cliffs is a tent shop of sorts - the Bedouin who sits there offers tea but no expectation to buy anything. Of course I had to sit & drink tea, 3 cups of tea, as we shared stories about life & adventure.

Coming back down off the cliff I could see that visitors were now beginning to arrive so I stopped for a cup of Turkish coffee & to chat with a fellow from Pittsburg, California!  This fellow is on a quest to see the 7 "new" manmade wonders of the world & Petra was his latest conquest. Not knowing what these new 7 were - I had to google to find the list included: Petra-Jordan, Machu Pichu-Peru, Great Wall of China, Chichen Itza -Mexico, Christ the Redeemer-Rio Brazil, Colosseum-Rome Italy, & the Taj Mahal-India. The Great Pyramid of Giza holds an honorary 8th spot - it is the only one of the original 7 wonders still standing.  Turns out, with Petra, I have now seen all 8! The first, Machu Pichu, I saw in 1973 when I was 20 years old. It has only taken me 44 years to see them all!

From Petra I traveled on to Amman, the capital of Jordan from I had planned to just hop over the border to visit Jerusalem. Silly me, it was not so easy for a variety of reasons but I was able to jump over lots of hoops and made my way into Jerusalem for a short visit. It was cold & damp!! 

Israel - A Day in Old Jerusalem 

Israel Photo Album

I spent all of one day wandering around the narrow winding streets of Old Jerusalem - trying to remember what I could of actual history & Bible stories. I was surprised to see that Old Jerusalem is probably much like it was during the time of Christ in that it is a busy town with shops & vendors & bakeries & cafes & markets all competing for space as much as it is a busy neighborhood with kids playing or heading to/from school, residents visiting neighbors & shopping & just living their lives.

For some silly reason I was imagining something more like Petra where the historical buildings sit empty & quietly while tourists come to marvel at what once was. Old Jerusalem is charged up & hectic!

Motorbikes, carts, & all forms of devout & clergy navigating among neighbors & vendors & tourists. Example - the stations of the cross are well marked…in between vendor stalls! Ok- it's kind of a mad house! The Christian, Muslim, & Jewish sectors each have their own style.

The Christian area is the most chaotic & commercial with souvenir & candy shops everywhere. The Jewish section is very refined - museums, art galleries, fine craft & expensive jewelry shops, interspersed with good cafés. I did not get a chance to see the Muslim sector as it was Muhammad's birthday & open only to those coming to pray. The historical highlight for me was the Church of the Holy Sepulcher as under one cathedral are the sites where Jesus was reported to have been crucified, cleansed after death, & then entombed (all within a fairly compact space). Though the faithful are mixed in with the curious - it is impressive to see how meaningful these sites are to the devout.

My trip back to Amman, Jordan was not so easy is my arrival - I'll spare the details - as I had to exit Israel through a border several hours to the north rather than the one I had entered. However, the few buses that I took to get back allowed me to see a little more of Israel. The intense contrast of the desert juxtaposed to agricultural areas is impressive. The Israeli's sure have some impressive water management & greenhouse systems to enable the rich farm lands that produce tons of tomatoes, eggplants, date palms, & on & on.

It was a little relief to come back to Amman - the downtown area where I stayed is small but fun. Lots of shops, people on the streets, cafes, & restaurants. At night, people come out into the streets to stroll. It seemed to be a favorite activity to buy some of the delicious Jordanian sweets & stroll around while eating from paper plates. The food is really delicious and eating out in local restaurants - trying to figure out how to manage the plates - was a great experience.

Though I probably had one too many falafels during my stay in Egypt, Jordan, & Israel - all in all I had a wonderful experience in these Arab countries & I can highly recommend travel here. The people are kind & friendly to foreigners & I was never made to feel anything but welcome. Sometimes people would express their disfavor of the US government but I never heard anything but respect for the people of the USA (well I should say most people who talked about politics expressed disbelief & dismay that Trump won the election & that's still hard to explain!).

But now it's time to leave this cold weather and so I turn my sights eastward. Hmmm, where shall I go? Ahhh… Sri Lanka looks interesting!