I have seen the king in Memphis, lying on his back near Cairo !
Written: May 01 '07 (Updated May 05 '07)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Avoid the hassle from vendors and touts. See almost everything in two days.
Cons: It is a whirlwind at times (or should I say a sandstorm?).
The Bottom Line: To organise this yourself would be difficult and time consuming. This tour is not expensive and includes a hotel. Go for it.
|
|
|
| gillandtony's Full Review: Cairo |
It was two o’clock in the morning. Understandably we felt disoriented and bleary eyed as we scrambled into the mini van and came face to face with two perfect strangers who were to be our travelling companions for the next few days. Our tour price for a two day overland trip to Cairo included one night in a four star hotel,meals, transport, most entrance fees and the services of a couple of drivers, our tour guide, Ahmed, and an Egyptologist. Quite an entourage. Our logic was that we would set off from the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, sleep overnight and wake up in Cairo at about eight in the morning. Our theory sort of worked, Tony got more sleep than I did. I think that he could sleep on a rock.
We stopped at a café en route where the coffee was about 2$ a cup (for Egyptians it is about 20 cents), then it was back in the van and on our way once more. I woke up at the Suez Canal, well, you have to don’t you? Where else can you see ships that appear to float through the desert?
The next thing that I remember was the Cairo skyline, high rise and modern, more modern than I had imagined. I picked out the Ramses and the Nile Hilton, all hotels I had looked at on the Internet. We were meeting our Egyptologist just by the Cairo museum. It was crowded but not too crowded. We had managed to beat the morning rush. “The Great Abou” is a giant of a man. He says that he never needs to carry a flag, or an umbrella or whatever Egyptologists carry to keep their group together. He is head and shoulders above the rest. As you would expect, he knows his history.
The Egyptian Museum
This has the greatest collection of Pharonic treasures in the world. Many of the most famous treasures are in separate galleries. The sections are arranged in chronological order. The most famous collection is that of Tutankhamun. My favourite piece is not the golden death mask but his throne made of wood, gold leaf, silver and inlaid with semi-precious stones. I simply love the ornate back of the chair where you can see the Pharoah and his queen sharing a pair of sandals, a tiny detail that you would often miss.
Zoom in on the chair on
Eternal Egypt
http://www.eternalegypt.org/EternalEgyptWebsiteWeb/widget/viewer_popup.jsp?language_id=1&name=398-4-EM-1-881-BIS&element_id=62387&mode=1n
For more of the amazing treasures found by Howard Carter, excavating in the valley of the Kings, Luxor see
The Tutankhamun Collection
http://touregypt.net/museum/tutc.htm
Those who fly to Cairo on a day trip will still have to get up at some ungodly hour of the morning. These organised tours usually spend around two hours in the museum. For most people this would be plenty but as we were on a private tour, we wanted three. The extra hour gave us time to see Royal Mummy Room (cost $10). There are eleven mummies, including the mummy of Ramses II. The atmosphere is hushed. The mummies are viewed chronologically in an anti-clockwise direction. It is fascinating. Even after thousands and thousands of years you can still see pale, manicured fingernails and get an idea of hair style and hair colour.
The Citadel:
After a brief chat with one of Abou’s professors from Cairo University, we set off for Cairo’s ancient citadel located on a spur of high land and famous for cool breezes, fresh air and stunning views across the city. The Citadel is a collection of buildings within a fortified outer wall. You could easily spend half a day here. Perched on the summit sits the famous Ottoman style Muhammed Ali mosque. This was designed by the Greek Yussuf Bushnaq on a similar plan to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. The mosque is also known as the Alabaster Mosque. Its silver dome can be seen from almost anywhere in Cairo. Two tall pencil shaped minarets tower above it. The central courtyard has a cool, white marble floor and a beautiful fountain for ritual ablutions. There is an ornate clock tower, a gift from Louis Philippe of France received in exchange for the famous obelisk which now stands in the Place de la Concorde in Paris. Alas the clock does not work.
The interior of the mosque has an air of faded grandeur. The walls and pillars are covered with alabaster up to a height of eleven metres. Above your head a circle of small lamps hang over the central prayer hall. As you look up into the richly embellished and painted central dome it feels as if you are looking up into the upper half of an enormous Fabergé egg. This huge dome is surrounded by four smaller domes and four semicircular domes. Outside, we stood on the parapets of the citadel. The view over Cairo was amazing.
After a buffet lunch on a boat by the Nile we checked into the Intercontinental Pyramids Park Resort on the Alexandria Road, fairly close to the Pyramids at Giza. This huge 4* hotel has rooms in numbered areas in the gardens past the large swimming pool. Allow time to get lost. A map would have been useful.
Intercontinental Pyramids Park Resort.
http://www.cairo-pyramids.intercontinental.com/crohb/photo_01.html
We had booked tickets for the Son et Lumiere, a combination of modern light and lasers played against the backdrop of the Sphinx in front of the three most famous pyramids on the Giza plateau. There is an English version on most days of the week except for Sunday. Check the timetable for other languages. It was to prove a good introduction for a more detailed exploration the following day.
The spectacle begins by telling the story of the Sphinx, Abu al Hol in Arabic, the “Father of Terror” and the guardian of the city of the dead. It tells how the pyramids of Cheops, Chephren and Menkaure were built almost 5,000 years ago and describes some of the famous figures of ancient Egypt, including Tutmoses IV, Akhnaten, Nefertiti and Tutankhamun.
See A Guide to Cairo by Anouk Zijlma
http://goafrica.about.com/od/egypttopattractions/a/cairoguide_3.htm
Click on the link “Explore the pyramids”. Some reviewers have described the show as “cheesy”. In our opinion it was worth seeing but could be updated. It was also a bit of a scrum with ushers trying to siphon you off into the bar area so that they could sell you drinks during the performance, which is fine if you want that, but if you don’t then ignore the touts and head straight for the front. The Son et Lumiere was extra to our programme and cost $20 per person including a transfer to the venue and back.
The Great Pyramid and the Sphinx.
The next morning we were very excited to think that we would see the Great Pyramid, the last surviving wonder of the ancient world “up close and personal” so to speak. Most tour groups descend inside the Pyramid of Chephren but we opted to pay more and go for the great Pyramid of Cheops, sometimes called the Pyramid of Khufu, because, uniquely, it is the only example where you must ascend to the burial chamber.
I have photos of my father standing half way up the Great Pyramid. They were taken before my parents had even met. It was a strange feeling to think that he had been here all those years ago, before I existed. Tony was disappointed that you can no longer climb the outside. However, climbing inside is permitted for a fee. Climbing inside a pyramid is a hot and sticky business despite the dryness of the surrounding desert. You ascend at a very steep angle up a slope punctuated by wooden slats that prevent you from slipping. Eventually the incline leads into the King's Chamber. The walls are made of pink Aswan granite. Inside the chamber is a huge unlidded sarcophagus, so large that it was placed inside the chamber as the pyramid was under construction. There was a lot of chanting as a couple of New Age people were testing the ley lines.
A few hundred metres away lies the smaller Pyramid of Chephren or Khafre. Chephren was a successor of Cheops. Chephren is believed to be either the builder or restorer of the Sphinx. Beyond this pyramid is the much smaller Pyramid of Menkaure, Khafre’s successor. We walked to a view point where we could see a long line of pyramids disappearing into the horizon. I had no idea that there were so many.
It was a short journey down the slope to the Sphinx. You could easily walk. A Sphinx is a Greek mythological creature with the head of a woman, the body of a lion and the wings of a bird. The Egyptian Sphinx does not exactly conform to this image as it is said to possibly have the face of Chephren whose name is mentioned on the dream stele between its great paws. The face is broad and square and the headdress represents a folded head cloth or nemes in the style of the Old Kingdom and the fourth Dynasty. Again, I have photos of the Sphinx taken by my father who stood in exactly the same spot as we stood to take ours. For the Sphinx, the passing years are a mere blink in time and a generation is nothing at all.
We had a delicious traditional Egyptian lunch at Felfela, a restaurant near to the pyramids. This is part of a chain and is popular with tour groups but the food was excellent and the service friendly. Our set menu consisted of a mezze of tahina, pickled vegetables, incredible fried falafel sprinkled with fresh herbs, tiny plates of tomato and cheese, plus Arabic bread. This was followed by shish kebabs, chicken kebabs and salads. For dessert there was a sweet baked rice pudding. As it says on our “get by in Egyptian” tape “Falafel—LOVELY”. Next door there is a Felfela take away and as we drove past it was doing a roaring trade.
The Step Pyramid at Saqqara.
A short drive from Giza you can see the beginning of the evolution of all Pyramids, the Step Pyramid at Saqqara. It was built by the architect Imhotep for Djoser (also known as Zozer) Pharoah of the 3rd dynasty. For the first time stone was used instead of mud brick. The tomb began as a flat-roofed, bunker known as a Mastaba (the Arabic for bench). Djoser reigned for 19 years and by 2611 BC there were six stepped layers covered in white marble. His tomb was lined with beautiful turquoise and blue faience tiles. A temple complex followed. Inside the temple the limestone has been carved to resemble wood and reeds. Imhotep, now credited with the invention of stone architecture, was deified. The burial chamber is underground, unsafe and inaccessible to the public. Tomb raiders have plundered much of the treasure, but they did leave Djoser’s mummified foot (now in the Cairo museum). You can also see a replica of his seated statue. On the southern tomb a wall relief shows him taking part in a ritual race.
Our free time here was spent being bombarded with sellers of books, stamp collections and numerous “baksheesh” enterprises. If you walk away the price tumbles and so we bought a few souvenirs though how we succumbed to being photographed beside a tiny man (with atrocious teeth) and a donkey beats me. As we waited for our travelling companions Tony took some portrait photos of the people around us. You can see them on our Fotothing website (click on fotothing on our profile page).
Memphis.
I cannot think of Memphis without thinking of Elvis. Sorry but it’s true. We were promised “The King” and we were not disappointed. The colossal white limestone statue of Rameses II, which once stood outside the temple of Ptah now lies on his back in the museum. This means that you can view him from a gallery. Note that even his ears are 50 centimetres long. That should give you some idea of his size. His name is inscribed on his shoulder, chest and belt. He wears the false beard of the Pharoahs of Egypt while in his belt is a dagger decorated with the heads of two falcons. The sculpture is superb. The statue is impressive. “The King” would be proud.
Memphis was the ancient capital of Lower Egypt, the kingdom of Menes who united the upper and lower kingdoms. Memphis was once enormous but sadly little can be seen today. All that is left is scattered ruins and the museum. The pleasant gardens house a giant alabaster Sphinx which may also have been positioned outside the temple of Ptah.
To end our tour of Cairo and surroundings we drove to the famous and atmospheric Khan-el-Khalili market, the oldest and most famous shopping area in Cairo. It is a busy bustling labyrinth of streets selling everything from tacky souvenirs to bread, vegetables and gold and silver. I bought a perfume bottle for Regina (Reginafug of Epinions fame) and half a kilo of hibiscus tea. I let our Egyptologist, Abou, bargain for the tea just to see if he did better than us—and he did, inside about thirty seconds.
By the time we left Cairo it was eight thirty in the evening. Our tour had been action packed. Anyone who reads our travel reviews will know that we are perfectly capable of organising tours ourselves but we could never have managed to see so much into two days. We would have needed about a week. Ahmed our “Mr. Fix It,” tour guide was fantastic. He took care of every detail. When we got back to the Sinai peninsular he even took us on an additional complementary tour given by his tour company and personally escorted us to the gate for our flight home, by which time he had become a firm friend.
The company that employs “The Great Abou,” our Egyptologist, has just launched its own website:
Step2Egypt
http://www.step2egypt.com/
Their three night “Great Cheops” tour, is (as of April 2007) $280 per person in double economy or $360 in a double deluxe. It is a bit more expensive than our tour (which included travel to Cairo) but very similar. However, you get three nights in a hotel instead of one avoiding the need to sleep in a minivan. In addition to our itinerary it visits the Crypt of the Holy family, the Hanging Church and the Synagogue of Ben Ezra. It also has a complementary Nile Cruise on the last evening.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Friends
Best Time to Travel Here: Dec - Feb
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
gillandtony
|
 in Hotels & Travel |
 in Hotels & Travel |
|
Member: Gill and Tony
Location: Worcestershire, England.
Reviews written: 57
Trusted by: 99 members
About Me:
Computer problems ! Normal service resumed as soon as possible !
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.