Day 12 - Cairo and the Pyramids

Today we began the day by going first to the Egyptian Archeological Museun which is right off Tahrir Square, about 3 blocks from our hotel.  It is here that the original artifacts from the pyramids are housed.  Many artifacts from the pyramids were stolen by the pyramid robbers and sold to private collections or on eBay.  We saw many famous relics, but the most interesting were the mummies from the pyramids.  They exist in bones with some having some hair - these were preserved by the type of embalming and burial in the pyramids.  They look like something from a horror movie, but they are authentic and real.  We were not allowed to take pictures inside the museum so what you see below is the building. In one picture you will see a burnt out building to the left of the pink/orange museum - this is the headquarters of Mubarak (former president) political party which was overthrown in January, 2011 and set on fire.

 

 

 

From the museum we travelled to Giza (about 30 min. and a lifetime away) to see the first pyramids.  On the way we passed the US Embassy which is heavily fortified and is about 2 min. from the hotel we are staying at.  Giza has it all  - dirt roads, a canal filled with all kinds of trash (the government is planning to cover the canal to prevent the trash), mercedes cars, horses and donkeys and camels all on the same roadway.  The pyramids are set apart from the little village and vendors and camels exist on the grounds of the pyramids.  It is hard to believe that the pyramids are 4000 yrs. old, were built in 30 yrs (probably by tremendous manpower) and consist of blocks of stone.  The pyramids were designed to give honor to the pharoah and serve as their final resting place before entering the hereafter.  Here at Giza is the Great Pyramid of Cheops which is regarded as one of the seven wonders of the world.  In the pyramid is not only the body of the pharoah, but also everything the pharoah holds dear, needs until they pass into the after life and protection against enemy and curses.  They cannot be described adequately, just held in awe.

 

 

 

 

At the Giza pyramids, we rode a camel out to the desert area behind the pyramids.  While it is easier to get on a camel than a horse as the camel sits down, I still didn't feel comfortable riding a camel.   

 

 

 

 

 

After the camel ride, we went to the Solar Boat museum on the grounds.  In 1954, they discoerred 2 of the boats that were used to transport the pharoahs up the Nile in one of the pyramids.  They have excavated and restored one of the boats and plan to do the same with the other boat after finishing the testing.

 

 

 

We also visited in the Giza area a papyrus factory where we saw how they take a papyrus plant and make the paper upon which they recorded history.  We purchased an Egyptian map in papyrus.  Also, to allow our tour guide for the day, Yashir, time to do his mid day call of prayer, we visited a perfume/glass blowing factory. 

 

 

 

 

 

We then travelled to old city Cairo to the bazaar.  The bazaar is many labyrinth streets with all kinds of products for sale.  You haggle with the seller to get the best price.  We purchased a camel bone cat for $10 and a scarab (amulet assuring a good life) for $7. 

 

 

We returned to the hotel around 6 pm after a full day of activities.  What struck me most is that we were all over Cairo today and would not know that there is any problems in Cairo if not for national news.  Yashir, our tour guide, unlike yesterday's is defintiely voting no on the referendum for the constitution as he feels Morsy is a weak leader.  His take is that Morsy's party (the Muslim Brotherhood) was viewed as better than the corrupt regime of Mubarak during the presidential election and thus won.  However, he distrusts the Muslim Brotherhood and its influence over Morsy.  Yashir knows everyone is Cairo (it seems) and everyone he greeted got in a discussion of how they will vote - yes or no.  They vote by paper and put their ballot in a box which is manually counted.  In the presidential election in the last 18 mos. Morsy won by 1 million votes over the Mubarak party with 50% of eligible voters voting.  This was the first ever vote by the people.  Everyone seems actively engaged in the process as they are so new to being a democracy.  Yashir feels the country was safer under dictatorial rule, but democracy produces more rights - now Egypt just has to draft a constitution that ensures everyone's rights.  I feel we are in a place where fledging democracy is taking place.

 

Tomorrow we leave on a 7 am flight to Luxor to spend the day at the Valley of the Kings and the Queens and see the the great Karnak pyramid.  We return around midnight tomorrow to Cairo.  Friday is a quiet day as people begin going to the mosque at noon and spend the afternoon in religious activities.  The door to our balcony is open tonight and all is quiet outside. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

Day 11 - Arriving in Cairo

We left the Jade early this morning and took a bus to the Rome airport.  The cruise was fantastic (except for 2 days of rough weather). At the Rome airport we checked in and boarded our flight to Cairo.  It is a 3 hrs. flight from Rome to Cairo and though it was mid afternoon we were served a full meal.  On the plane we met and talked with an Indian lady who works for the UN and has been posted to Cairo - she is not sure how long she will be there, but her husband (also with the UN) is already in Cairo.  We genrously gave us their contact numbers in case we should need them in Egypt.

I couldn't believe the geographic size of the city as we were landing.  We were met my the tour respresentative, Mustafa who walked us through getting the visas, customs, etc.  Egypt contains more than 80 million people.  As the guide said "There are over 20 million people in Cairo, 10 million cars and no driving rules".  We thought Rome was bad, this is just chaos.  There is more chance we will get hit by a car than a rock thrown by the few thousand protesters.  It to30-40ok us 1 1/2 to get from the airport to the hotel as the 5 lane boulevards are literally packed with cars (24/7 according to the guide.  Cairo never sleeps.  In transit to the hotel we drive right up to Tahrir Square, but it is currently blockaded.  Our impression is that this is New York but with building a little more spread out and double the amount of people. 

Our tour guides are young (30-40) with the head one - Mohammed - being a Egyptologist with a Master's degree.  Education is important to Egyptians for both male and females.  His wife is also an Egyptologist and the mother-in-law watches their 2 yr. old daughter.  Egypt is 98% Muslim and the tour operators hope their country can be like Turkey - democratically rule and non-religious.  They feel the previous president, Mubarak, was very corrupt and keeping all the money from their vast resources in gas and oil for himself and his family and friends.  They have welcomed the change to Dr. Morsy and feel the referendum on the constitutiion will be passed.  Gas prices here are $1.50/gallon which probably accounts for the great number of cars even though they have a subway/metro system. 

There is not a military presence evident, but we did not go near the presidential palace.  The hotel, a 5 star Western, however, had a dog sniffing any vehicle that comes up their drive and their is a metal detector one must go through to enter the hotel each time.  Whether it is due to the current situation in Cairo, Mumbai or the hotel(s) just feel the need to increase security precautions, I am not sure.  This is a recent development. 

After checking in, we then were escorted to a dinner cruise on the Nile which included traditional Egyptian entertainment - belly dancing.  Bell dancing is viewed as an art so bare skin by women is allowed.  To me it seemed like a cross of strip dancing and hula dancing because I am not familiar with the moves of the dancer.  We arrived back at our hotel at midnight after another full day of traveling.  We will be picked up at 9 am tomorrow for our first real view of the pyramids, archeological museum and old town bazaar.

Day 10 - Dec. 11 - Naples

We disembarked the Jade at 8 am to be on our own today in Naples and Herculaneum.  From the port we walked to the central train station, bought our ticket, and descended to the train tracks where we found lots of people and trains, but no drivers and no trains listed on the overhead monitors.  It appears the train operators were instituting a “slow down”.  After waiting 15 minutes a train finally left and our train to Herculaneum left shortly thereafter.  On our walk to the train station we found the streets dirty and littered with trash, although in one square a man with a whisk broom was trying to keep the square unlettered (it will take more than a whisk broom to clean things up). 

 

 

 

 

Upon arriving at Herculaneum, we walked to the site of the resort city of Herculaneum which was covered in mud from the Mt. Vesusius in 62 AD.  We had visited Pompeii on a previous trip to Italy which has more extensive ruins, but it not as well preserved due to the lava and digging that had to take place.  Pompeii was 5 stops up on the train.  In Herculaneum, the mud helped preserve the building and people and over 300 bodies were recovered since the 1980’s.  The resort city had a population of around 4000 and excavation began in 1738 and continue until today.  The small size of the city and the fact that no buildings were built on top of it made it easier to excavate and restore.  You will see many pictures below from the buildings and ruins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After Herculaneum, we took the train back to Naples and on foot traversed the city streets for 5 hrs. stopping in at various churches in their palazzos.  We could not take pictures inside the churches.  One church in particular is dedicated (see the skull pic) to the lost souls in purgatory.  Unfortunately we could not go down into the bowels of the churchh to see the bodies of the lost souls.  Look at the typical butcher shop and fish market we passed in a street.  Many structures were destroyed by the Nazis in WWII who wanted to leave nothing left for the approaching American army. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One structure I particularly wanted to see was the opera house of San Carlos which is the oldest opera house in Europe being built around 11 years before the opera house in Paris.  The original opera house built by Charles of Bourbon burned down and was rebuilt shortly thereafter.  We got a private tour of the structure by a delightful guide who filled us in on the importance of culture in Naples and its place as an Italian city.  It is the 3^rd largest city in Italy and in the 1500’s was the capital of Italy.  Today it is viewed as a step-sister to Rome and Milan. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We returned to the Jade around 4 pm.  Tonight we pack as we leave the cruise and Jade early tomorrow morning.  Upon leaving the Jade we will take the train to the Rome airport and board an early afternoon flight to Cairo.  We have been in contact with our Egyptian guide and he and his representative will meet us at the Cairo airport and transport us to our Western hotel on the Nile river where we go on a dinner cruise on the Nile with Egyptian entertainment.  Mr. Abaza feels the situation is better in Egypt (probably because the military is stepping in to control the protesters).  We will see.  We are scheduled to spend Thursday in Cairo, fly to Luxor to view the Valley of the Kings on Friday, motor to Alexandria on Saturday and fly back to Rome on  Sunday. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 9 - December 10 - At Sea

 

After leaving Crete yesterday we sailed all night in very rough waters with 7-12 ft. waves and a strong wind.  Around 10 am this morning the ship stopped buffeting around though the waves are still very choppy.  A little about our ship – Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) Jade.  The Jade used to be the Pride of Hawaii until 2010 when it became the Jade.  There is still some Hawaiian décor on the ship indicative of its time in Hawaii.  The capacity of the Jade is 2402 (with double occupancy).  The ship weighs 93,558 tons and is 965 ft. long.  Cruise speed is 25 knots and there are 1075 crew members aboard. 

NCL is known for its freestyle dining whereby they have different restaurants aboard and you choose to dine where you want, rather than have a specific table and tablemates for eating.  Some of the restaurants have a cover charge ($10-25).  Both Jim and I prefer this as we can dine when and where we want.  The ship contains 4 pools with water slide, a library, a game room, fitness center, spa, a casino, theater, many bars, shopping store (largest of all the NCL ships we’ve been on), chapel, Internet café, clinic, golf cage, art gallery, ping pong, kid’s center, video arcade, and a sports court.  There are activities galore as many of you know that have cruised all day and evening from bingo, trivia, DJs, piano bar and educational sessions on the places the ship will dock. 

There are a variety of land tours to purchase at each stop as well as one can arrange for an outside tour company to meet you when the ship docks (we did this in Russia on the Baltic cruise and it worked out great and was cheaper than arranging land tours through NCL).  Below are some shots of the Jade.  We have travelled 3 times with NCL – on the Jade, Sun and Pearl (Alaska).  While I am not a boat fan, I have gotten used to cruising and some of the places we’ve gone with NCL can be done best by cruising.  This cruise is an 11 day one leaving from Civitavecchia (a Rome port). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 8 - Island of Crete

Day 8 – Kphth (Crete)

Crete is a Greek island of 600,000 people with 98% of them being Greek Orthodox.  It contains the ruins of the Minoan civilization which dates back to 4,000 BC.  The Minoan palace is the main site of interest at Knossos which was completely excavated by Sir Arthur Evans in the 1930’s. 

 

Today we went from the biblical events of Israel to the Greek mythology traditions in the Minoan culture.  The Knossos palace was originally 5 stories tall with 500 rooms and was the seat of the wise king Minos.  Minos by legend, is the son of Zeus and nephew of Poseidon.  He is also the father of Mintaur (half-man/half-bull).  The Minoan civilization was very developed and its trading partners were the Phoenicians, Eyptians and Syrians.  The current site is being restored to look like the original site which can be ascertained from the pictures on the walls.  Original objects from the site are housed in the Archeology Museum in the port city of Heraklion (after Hercules) which is the capital of Crete.  The pictures below are from the palace ruins at Knossos. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



After discovering the ruins at Knossos, we drove to Heraklion to walk its city streets and see Venetian ruins from when Venice built the port area in 1500’s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While the Archeological Museum in Heraklion is under renovation, open was a special exhibit of the original frescoes from the Knossos palace and statues from the Hellenistic period. A model of the original Knossos palace is depicted below

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Again, both Jim and I are impressed with the level of civilization that existed between 2-4,000 BC.  The Knossos palace had the primitive beginnings of today's water, sewage and air conditioning system. 

 

Tomorrow we will be at see again as we head for Napolis.  I will blog on the ship we are on - Norwegian Cruise Line Jade. 

 

 

 

 



 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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