Egypt and The Pharoah's Legacy

Egypt - The Treasures, Trials and Triumphs of Visiting the Pharoah's Legacy

Raewyn Hamilton

Cruising slowly into Alexandria, Egypt, we wondered what the overnight excursion to Cairo would bring in the way of trip highlights. A very organised port morphed into a chaotic mess as we travelled by coach later that day on a four hour ride to our first destination being the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities in Cairo, which boasts the world’s largest depository of Egyptian Antiquities. We were really fortunate to be afforded a special opening of the museum to view the treasures which included the celebrated Royal Mummies and the splendid treasures of King Tutankhamen, unearthed by Howard Carter following the discovery in 1922. One of our party, the lovely Trish, did an aussie mod on the bus curtain so we could see better. And a great idea it was too.


However, everything has a price, and by the time we arrived in Cairo at the Museum having made a wish as we did our first crossing of the Nile (an Egyptian superstition), it was to be 10pm before we would have dinner. All thoughts of food soon paled into insignificance as we became awed by the sheer scope of the bejewelled artifacts, furniture, mummified animals and Royal Mummies. The crowning glory of these treasures is the famed ‘head’ of king Tut weighing 12 kilograms of solid gold and the most unusual the mummified body of a nearly 6metre crocodile. Unreal to believe it had all been stored with the mummy in a space of around 60metres square. All for his passage into the afterlife which made me think that if they spent their physical lives preparing for the next, their lives can’t have been that appealing.


The highlight of this trip was the wonderful Egyptian man who took charge of the wheelchair we had commandeered for Gavin on seeing the flights of stairs within the museum, knowing that wheelchairs mean the service lifts get opened up. So, without any words of English he managed to get us into ante rooms that none of the rest of the tour even laid eyes on. He had a job and was determined to excel at it.
The next morning the real scope of Cairo enfolded beneath our room on the 16th floor of the hotel overlooking the Nile. Although the air is very soupy due to the smog from 20 million people out on the streets in an all day rush hour, the view was spectacular.


On our way to the first stop of the day, the Old Citadel of Saladin, we were treated to an unusual site. A group of school children taking photographs of our bus obviously very excited by seeing the many blond haired foreigners aboard. In fact one of the group, Joan with the  long blond hair, kept being stopped to ask if she was a film star and by men of all ages wanting to have their photo taken with her.  Amazingly she kept her cool through it all.




The stunning mosque was constructed by the same architect as the one who designed the blue mosque of Istanbul. This highly visable landmark also served as home to Eqypt’s rulers during a 700 year period. The interior being more spectacular due to the embellishments and the presence of the tomb of the King Mohammed Ali.



Next stop, the incomparable pyramids. The only structures left from the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. These silent sentinels rising up from the streets of Cairo, known as the Pyramid Fields, are a testament to just how advanced the Egyptian civilisation had been in it’s heyday. Declining, on the advice of the guide, to venture inside, we simply stood in the sun and haze to appreciate the wonder of the scenery and the fact we were actually there seeing the real thing. And, of course no visit is complete without a camel ride. Truly the only reason I did it was because my daughter said the grandchildren would like a photo of Rae with the camels. Silly me, next thing I was heading out into the desert as part of a small caravan of like minded tourists. Holding on for grim death, front and back, as you can see in the photo. Then, I thought, how do I get off this thing as it started to only partially kneel down YIKES, the guide had disappeared. Fine I thought again, I guess all this must have happened before and I couldn’t have been the only one to experience a rogue camel. Thankfully with the re-emergence of the guide, the camel did a full crouch and I was able to dismount and rejoin the coach. Not before being constantly accosted by every smooth talking trader attempting to sell everything from talking camels to Bedouin head coverings. The camel jockeys especially use every ruse under the sun asking you to take photographs of them, then asking to look at them and if anyone is silly enough they keep the camera until they are paid. 



The trip concluded with another long, long bus ride in the setting sun back to the ship. Made longer through a road crash holding up the motorway traffic for an hour. Very unusual for Cairo as although there are a huge number of vehicles there is a very strange set of traffic rules which involves a series of car honks and a total ignoring of traffic lights which seems to reduce crashes dramatically.

Back on board we sank back into the usual pampered, overfed lifestyle quite happily.