Hurghada
Now was the time for a long drive from Luxor to Hurghada and to spend some leisurely time. It was a magical drive, sometimes it was 12 lane road, the driver was experienced and efficient. Feasting eyes on the vast desert around, it was a meditative drive!
The hotel had a huge campus with so many trees and date palms. The air was cool and soothing, the meditation here was also rewarding.
After a peaceful sleep, next day morning we went walking to the Red sea and had a nice swim. The Red Sea is the saltiest sea of all the seas that connect to the ocean without even one river meeting the sea. Connected to the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal, the Red Sea laps the shores of eastern Egypt and its beautiful beaches are just over 100 kilometres from Cairo. A popular hypothesis about the origins of the Red Sea's name is that it contains a cyanobacteria called Trichodesmium erythraeum, which turns the normally blue-green water a reddish-brown.
The Red Sea is known for its vibrant coral reefs, diverse marine life, and clear blue waters, making it a popular destination for diving and snorkelling. And that was what we planned for the next day and we signed up for the boat trip that would take us deep inside for snorkelling. And what marine life we got to see there! It was so amazing and clearly visible because of the crystal clear water.
Then we were taken to the Orange Bay Island, which is called the Maldives of Egypt, where we were given some time to chill out, swim and rest before heading back to the hotel. It was a great place to relax and to really enjoy the sun and clear water of the Red Sea.
To Cairo
Now the last leg of our trip – three days in Cairo, pyramids, here we come!
Cairo, the capital of Egypt, is a city of contrasts. It is home to ancient ruins, world-class museums, and bustling markets. When the guide told us that there are 1000 pyramids around the world, in countries like Sudan (The Nubian Pyramids), Peru(Chavin de Huantar), Mexico, Iraq, Guatemala, Rome, and China, I was literally shocked. For me, pyramids and Egypt were synonymous. When we were in Sudan, nobody mentioned anything about pyramids. But the biggest pyramids are in Egypt, and there are 140 of them.
The Great Pyramids of Giza
The famous image of three pyramids outside of Cairo is imprinted in people’s minds across the world. They include the Great Pyramid, built for Pharaoh Khufu, which is the largest one. Another one was for Pharaoh Khafre. This temple complex also includes the famous Sphinx statue – a half-man, half-lion figure. The third one was built for Menkaure.
The pyramids were built to honor certain Pharaohs of the fourth ruling dynasty of Egypt during a period known as the Old Kingdom, the first great era of Egyptian civilization that lasted from 2686 to 2181 BCE. They were built to serve as temples to the Gods and also to entomb the pharaohs, who were believed to be divine, who would continue to live in the afterlife. Therefore, it was essential that the body of the pharaoh be carefully preserved, which was done through mummification. It was believed they could take their possessions with them, so the rulers were buried inside the pyramids with items they intended to take with them into the next life. The ancient pyramids of Giza, known as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, were built over 4,000 years ago and are still standing tall today.
The Pyramids of Giza represent the advanced technological
and engineering capabilities of the ancient Egyptians. They used astronomy and
the stars to guide precise measurements and utilized geometry and other
mathematics to build the pyramids. The 3 pyramids are synchronized with the Orion
galaxy. The pyramids are also considered as electricity generators. According
to our guide, the magnetic power of the pyramid is so strong that helicopters flying
above it fall down.
National Museum of Egyptian civilization and
Mummies hall
This world-class museum houses a vast collection of ancient Egyptian artefacts, including the famous death mask of Tutankhamun. The museum is unique in its presentation of the whole history of Egyptian civilization.
The Royal Mummies' Hall, considered the crown jewel of the museum, is specially designed to display the mummies of the ancient Kings and Queens of Egypt. It is designed in a way to give the visitor the feeling of strolling down the Valley of the Kings, where most of these mummies were originally resting. The ancient Egyptian civilization, famous for its pyramids, pharaohs, mummies, and tombs, flourished for thousands of years, and. contributed to modern-day society with its many cultural developments, particularly in language and mathematics.
The Mummies hall includes 20 Royal mummies, 18 Kings and 2 Queens, from the 17th until the 20th dynasty. In 1922, British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the mummy of pharaoh Tutankhamun in Egypt's Valley of the Kings. In spite of several apparent grave robberies, the tomb was crammed with ancient treasures including jewellery, gilded shrines and a solid gold funerary mask. Tutankhamun's mummy and sarcophagus are still on display in the tomb in Luxor.
Anubis, depicted as a jackal-headed God, was one of the most important Gods in Ancient Egyptian history and he was said to have invented the mummification process.
Using special processes, the Egyptians removed all moisture from the body, leaving only a dried form that would not easily decay. Other steps included embalming the body, removal of brain, removal of internal organs, drying out process and wrapping of the body. The heart, representing the centre of all knowledge and emotions, was usually left untouched inside the body while the brain was often thrown away. The wrapping served two purposes: the bandages kept moisture away from the body so it would not decompose, and the wrappings let the embalmers build up the shape of the mummy, to give it a more lifelike form. The whole process lasted about 70 days.Those that couldn’t afford embalming generally had their bodies ‘preserved’ through drying in hot desert sands or by covering them with resin.
Alexandria
Next was a full day trip to Alexandria, which was among the largest and most magnificent cities in antiquity. Founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BC, palaces and temples dominating the skyline, its architecture and culture even overshadowed those of the city of Rome. The city’s 130 metres high Pharos lighthouse represented one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Alexandria was also famous for its huge library with about half a million roles of papyrus. One of the largest ports on the Mediterranean coast, Alexandria was a major centre of civilization in the ancient world, controlling commerce between Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean, and has continued throughout its long history to act as a vital crossing point for merchants and their trade on the maritime routes between Asia and Europe.
Parts of the city’s royal quarter with its temples, palaces, royal gardens and harbour structures were situated in the eastern harbour, called the Portus Magnus. Here, on the Island of Antirhodos and the Poseidium Peninsula, Julius Caesar, Mark Antony and the famous Cleopatra 7 used to stay.
After a series of earthquakes and tidal waves, the Portus Magnus and parts of the city’s ancient coastline sank beneath the sea. For more than 1,200 years temples, buildings, palaces, statues, ceramics, coins, jewellery and everyday objects lay untouched on the seabed covered by thick layers of sand and sediment. Using selective mechanical soundings or through the use of electronic detection instruments such as nuclear magnetic resonance, archaeological remains buried under the sediment were located. The archaeological campaigns have made it possible to develop, for the first time, a complete panorama of the famous Portus Magnus.
Here I couldn’t help myself from thinking about Dwaraka of India, which is also buried under sea, as my body was resonating similar to the way I felt while visiting Bet Dwaraka.
Cleopatra
I have to mention about Cleopatra here. I had a lesson on Cleopatra during my Pre University Course and the teacher who took the lesson explained in vivid detail how Cleopatra committed suicide from snake bites, that I remember it even now.
Daughter of King Ptolemy XII Auletes, Cleopatra was destined to become the last queen of the Macedonian dynasty that ruled Egypt between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE and its annexation by Rome in 30 BCE. She actively influenced Roman politics at a crucial period and was especially known for her relationships with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. She came to represent, as did no other woman of antiquity, the prototype of the romantic femme fatale. Most archaeologists assume that Cleopatra's grave is in ancient Alexandria.
Catacomb
Whereas tombs are basically stone rooms, the catacombs are tunnels and caves. They are underground galleries used for centuries as cemeteries.
The catacombs consist of three tiers of tombs and chambers cut into bedrock to a depth of 35m. The bottom level used to be flooded and inaccessible. But when we visited, the water was not present and the guide told we were lucky to go to the deeper level. Entry is through a spiral staircase; the bodies of the dead would have been lowered on ropes down the centre of this circular shaft. The catacombs in the Kom al-Shoqafa cemetery are one of the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages, due to their combination of the Greek, Egyptian and Roman civilizations and their walls containing the distinctive inscriptions of each of them.
Pompey’s pillar
It is believed that the ashes or remains of the great Roman general Pompey were in a pot at the top of the column. Pompey's Pillar is one of the oldest and highest memorial columns in the world. It is a 25 meter tall structure of granite, completed in 292 AD. In Arabic, this pillar is referred to as ‘Amud El-Sawari’. This is a Roman victory column, which was constructed to honour the Roman emperor Diocletian, who ruled between 298 AD to 302 AD.
Pompey’s Pillar is one of the few ruins of the ancient Roman complex known as Serapeum, a temple that was created for the worship of the God Serapis. The God Serapis is syncretic deity that was created from a mixture of different Egyptian Gods such as Osiris and Apis, the sacred bull, along with Greek Gods such as Zeus and Dionysus.
An interesting fact
Though it was just the beginning of tourist season, there was quite a crowd of visitors. To me, Egypt doesn't appear to be back packers friendly, hardly saw any. Bulk of tourism seems to be through agents.
Time to leave
On the next day, we took our flight back. On reaching back, there was no feeling that we had travelled so much, no tiredness, no jet lag, nothing. It may be from the fact that on every single day in Egypt, all of us got deep, peaceful sleep that was very unique!
While I was reading this travelogue after writing it down, I was surprised at the number of times the word ‘meditation’ was present. Yes, actually I was in a meditative state most of the time. The visit increased my love for the country and left me with a desire to do ‘Egyptology.’
References:
6. https://www.skyscanner.co.in/news/tips/ancient-pyramids-around-the-world
8. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Cleopatra-queen-of-Egypt
9. https://egypttimetravel.com/pompey-pillar
