EGYPT : The Magic

What is Egypt? It is a land, a country, a living breathing landscape filled with people, animals, gods and goddesses. It is a place of vastly different energies and spiritual practices. If you listen carefully you can hear the stones.

Many tourists arrive in Cairo, go to the pyramids, snap a picture, go to the Sphinx, snap another picture, and say, “ OK, let’s go, I have now been to Egypt.

Egypt is so much more. The mysteries continue to unfold and share their spiritual heritage. Egypt is so much more than a demarcation on a map. It is not a stagnant, non-living, non-breathing country which we read about in the newspapers or hear about on TV.

Egypt is a land of people and palms and contrasts:

• Sunrises - Sunsets
• Full moons - Orion
• Cleopatra - Hatshepsut
• Salt - Clear Blue Water
• Green Olives - Dates
• Dehabayas - Water Taxies
• Cacophony - Quiet 
• People Noise - Silence 
• Stories - Energy 
• Rivers - Lakes
• The Old - The New
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The historical, powerful, energy filled sites ( many of which are World Heritage designated ) are so numerous that it would take lifetimes to visit them all. Each has its own story and energy.

The silence in the temples and the cacophony in the streets provide two widely divergent experiences, each coming alive in its own way.

I began this sojourn, 3rd trip to Egypt, flying United  from Chicago to Munich then Egypt Air from Munich to Cairo. After 17 hours of flying, I met my friend, Zahra Indigo in the lobby of the Meridian Giza, now a Marriott and part of the Bonvoy group. Two like minded members of the group arrived shortly and we chatted until I could no longer keep my eyes open. 

The next day was a day for resting, relaxing and recalibrating.

On the following day we left the hotel at 4:30 A.M., in the dark and cold, for our private visit with the Sphinx for the sunrise. The Sphinx is carved out of a single stone and is 66 feet tall and 240 feet long. It has the body of a lion and the head of a pharaoh and acts as a guard to the pyramids at Giza. There is nothing like being out in the desert, with the waning moon with a planet in the middle of it directly over the Sphinx, watching the dark turn to light. The energy and power are incredible. I felt as if I was in a vortex looking out but also part of the vortex. It is an experience that I will always remember, an incredible experience one does not forget.

We visited the Egyptian museum on Tahir Square. The square has changed dramatically since my last visit. It is now filled with potted plants and walkways and the Hilton is now a Ritz Carlton and getting a face lift. The new Grand Egyptian Museum, which is scheduled to open in early 2019 , will be located near the Giza pyramid complex.

There are over 100 pyramids in Egypt and the oldest is Saqqara, the step pyramid, which is one of my favorites. It is 204 feet tall, has a colonnade at the entrance, is uniquely multilayered, and has a huge expanse of plateau surrounding it. 

While staying at two different hotels on the Giza plateau, the two large pyramids were always in view. What can one say other than that they are majestic. The views of the pyramids are incredible. We had a private visit to the Great Pyramid.

No trip to Cairo would be complete without a visit to Khan el Khalili, the famous old bazaar. It is like no other bazaar anywhere. Of course I love going there and even tho I say that I am not going to buy anything, I always manage to find small treasures that I could not live without. The number of scarves, prayer beads, jewelry stalls, and everything you can imagine that is for sale literally blows the mind. We ended the bazaar visit with coffee and hookas. 

Caio traffic is unbelievable until one gets to Alexandria, and then,  it gets even more unbelievable. At least in Cairo, cars stay more or less in their lanes. In Alexandria the concept of lanes is non existent with everyone cutting in and out constantly. Sometimes it seems you are moving sideways more than forward.

Traffic aside, this was my first visit to Alexandria and I loved it. We stayed at a Sheraton, now also a Marriott. The lobby was vintage 70’s and 80’s, dark, mirrored and in need of a facelift. The room was large, clean, and bright. The room service food left a lot to be desired. BUT, the view from my balcony of the Mediterranean, in all her glory, made up for everything. It was quite windy so the sea was churning and since I was on the 12th floor, I slept with the balcony door open so I could hear the sea.

Many years ago, in the 50’s and 60’s, the brother of a friend of my mom and dad was a priest who served in Alexandria. I was able to take a picture of the entrance to the only Catholic cemetery in Alexandria where he is buried. 

We also stopped at the Church of St. Catherine which is as beautiful as any church or cathedral that one would see in Italy our elsewhere. St Catherine’s body is preserved and visible in a glass case. She looks quite good for having died several hundred years ago.

We ate freshly prepared, in front of us, sushi at an Organic Food Market at the City Center Mall. Afterwards we stopped for a very good gelato, and then a coffee at a Cosi coffee shop. All seemed very international.

Our last two stops were the Alexandria National Museum and the Main Library. How do I put into a few words their magnificence? The museum is located in a former Italianate mansion that was the home of a timber trading businessman. It was also the location of the United States consulate. The artifacts, from different eras, tell the story of Alexandria and Egypt. There is a section that displays items that were found under the sea in Alexandria including a statue of the head of Alexander the Great. I especially liked the heads of Medusa as I think that often I have had the same “hairdo”.

The Bibliotheca Alexandria is a major library and cultural center that is almost more an art museum than a library. It is trilingual and contains books in Classical Arabic, English, and French. The library has shelf space for eight million books. The complex has a conference center, four museums, four art galleries, four temporary exhibit areas,  fifteen permanent exhibitions, a planetarium, and a manuscript restoration laboratory. The architecture is other worldly. The collections were donated from all over the world. We only had time for a quick overview and someday I would like to go back and spend a day.

How do I describe the Nile , “ The Giver of Life “ ? 

It is a river which provides water to irrigate crops along its banks. It is the longest river in Africa. Because the river overflows annually, silt deposits from the river make the surrounding land fertile. Daily life along the Nile includes boats, women washing clothes and drying them on the banks, prayers from the mosques from loudspeakers, children, animals, farmers with water buffalo pulling their plows in the fields as they have done thru the ages. 

We flew from Cairo to Aswan on Egypt Air. We boarded our private dahabeya, “The Flower of Life”,  for our sail north to Lower Egypt. A dahabeya is a boat with no motor that either sails or is pulled by a tug on the Nile. Upper and Lower Egypt terminology is all about elevation and it is very confusing nomenclature. Lower Egypt is at a lower elevation ( it does border the Mediterranean Sea) than Upper Egypt. Therefore, one goes up/north to Lower Egypt.

The next day we had planned to sail a felucca,( a small vessel propelled by sails or oars used on the Nile), around Elephantine Island. The trip was shortened because the wind had other plans for us. We docked and visited the temple of Khnum, the ram headed creator god who fashioned humans on his potter’s wheel.  Being an Aries, I am particularly attracted to anything involving a ram, BUT, I digress. We then motor boated to a Nubian Village where Zahra has started a Women’s Cooperative to provide local women with a way to earn an income and support their families. She also teaches a way  to repurpose plastic bags, which are scattered all over Egypt, into items that can be sold. The cooperative now has a loom and a sewing machine.

The next day began with a sunrise visit to the temple of Isis at Phillae. Isis is the Egyptian interpretation of the Mother goddess. She is a protective goddess who uses powerful magic spells to help people in need. Phillae represents the fusion of three great civilizations : Egyptian, Greek, and Roman.

We also passed through the Lock of Esna. I have been through many locks on many rivers but this is really impressive. This lock was opened on January 1, 1996 at an elevation difference of 8 meters ( 26 feet ). It is 17 meters ( 56 feet ) wide, 21 meters ( 69 feet ) long, and 14.6 meters ( 48 feet ) in depth. Two boats can be in the lock at the same time.  Filling and emptying is amazing to watch and we were "all on deck". It was quite impressive.

The next morning we had an early visit to Karnak Temple, my favorite temple. It has been home for more than 3,500 years of the lion goddess, Sekmet, my favorite. The temple complex is the largest religious building ever constructed and dates from around 2055 B.C. to 100 AD. Taking pictures with people standing next to the columns is the only way to show the height.

We checked out of the dahabeya and moved to the Embrace Hotel on the West Bank. The hotel offered a quiet and relaxing atmosphere and a nice escape from the cacophony of Egypt. It also has a fantastic garden where we could sit after dinner and have our Turkish coffee and a cigarette, I did say a cigarette. For me, being in Egypt after dinner with a Turkish coffee without a cigarette would be strange. 

We visited Luxor Temple in the evening so we could appreciate the lighted temple when it got dark and the stones glow. We were greeted by the Avenue of the Sphinxes. Originally there were a pair of pink granite obelisks the entrance. Currently there is only one as the  other one stands in the Place de Concorde in Paris. The temple complex is immense and includes the Great Colonnade Hall with 28, twenty one foot high columns. As you walk into the depths of the complex you walk back in time. We saw a sign indicating reconstruction work being done by the University of Chicago

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The following  day we visited my second favorite temple, the temple at Abydos which is dedicated to Osiris. Osiris is god of the underworld. Much of the site is still unexplored and remains concealed beneath the sand. The walls have some of the best reliefs anywhere in Egypt.

The Valley of the Queens is always special for me. We made a private sunrise pilgrimage to the terraced funerary temple of the female pharaoh Hatshepsut. The temple has 3 colonnaded terraces built into a half circle of cliffs. Hatshepsut was the only female pharaoh and ruled for 21 years . She spent her time building up the wealth of Egypt. The walls of the temple are illustrated with her biography. In pictures she appears as a male pharaoh wearing a royal headdress, sandals and sometimes even wearing a false beard and moustache. During her reign, Egypt was at peace and it was the longest period of peace for Egypt. 

We also went to the Deir el-Medina, an ancient village that was home to the artisans who worked on the tombs in the Valley of the Kings. Drawings were made of red ocher after being outlined with black chalk. The workers in the community also built their own tombs. I visited one tomb and the drawings were exquisite. 

We then had a special visit to the tomb of Nefertari, which was discovered by an Italian Archeological Team ( 1904 ). It is called the Sistine Chapel of Egypt. Nefertari was the Great Wife of Ramesses II and the tomb is focused on the Queen’s life and her death. Poetry, written by Ramesses, of his wife is written on some of the walls. We were not allowed to take pictures but I did find a couple pictures on the internet which I was not allowed to add here because of copyright laws. They are  worth looking up and you can find them by Googleing ( is that a word) Tomb of Queen Nefartar

Remember the Willie Nelson song, “On the Road Again”, which I have always considered one my theme songs? Well, we were on the road from Alexandria to Siwa.

It was about 300 miles and we were fortunate to have a very comfortable van, excellent driver, good companionship, and good roads. We followed along the Mediterranean for about half the journey and then drove southwest into the desert. 

The Siwa Oasis is 50 miles in length, 12 miles wide and , and 620 feet below sea level. It is one of Egypt’s most isolated settlements with about 20,000 people . Siwa oasis is home to a large area of date palms and olive trees. The fresh dates are like no other. The oasis has several villages and a central lake, Lake Birket.

One evening we took a rowboat , yes I got in and out of the rowboat without falling into the water, to an island in the lake to enjoy the sunset . With the rock formations on the island, and the full moon it was a “ Picture Taking Event”. I was amazed that as many times on this trip that I got off of, and into, a boat not once did I end up in the water.

My hotel room, in Siwa town,  was spacious and had the trunks of two elegant, old palm trees growing thru the roof. It was a lovely site with a pool and a garden with a great sitting area. Our guide knew of a bakery, run by a Brazilian women, that had the best, moist, dark chocolate cake. We usually ended our day with coffee and chocolate cake in the garden.

The Temple of the Dead necropolis is a conical mountain that has dozens of rock cut tombs. Many of the tombs have more than one room with decorated walls depicting scenes from the owners’ lives.

The Temple of the Oracle, built in the 6th century B.C., is a Greek oracle temple dedicated to the sun god Amun. The area was part of Ancient Libya and housed a divine oracle. However, in Roman times oracles went out of fashion.

No visit to Siwa would be complete without a visit to Cleopatra’s Bath. It is a natural spring that bubbles up from the ground and fills a natural stone pool. The name of the pool refers to Queen Cleopatra VIII but there is no reason to believe that Cleopatra had anything to do with it.

I was amazed at how many pools and lakes  are in the desert. We went “swimming” in a salt pool and it was amazing. After dipping a finger in the pool and tasting it, the salt taste was much saltier than anything that comes out of a salt shaker. After floating on my back. I tried to “stand up” in the water but as soon as I put my legs down straight they just came back up to a horizontal position. Also, there were salt deposits around the pool and just areas of salt deposited on the ground. Of course my bathing attire had to be full coverage so I went in with black leggings and a high round neck, long sleeved T shirt. We then went to a fresh water pool to rinse off.  When I got back to the hotel and took off my “bathing costume” it was almost stiff from the salt.

Of course there was a market and again tho I needed nothing ( since when did “need” ever have anything to do with buying) I found a few more things I could not live without, sound familiar?

A highlight of my time in the desert was a body massage at a salt cave. The “cave” consisted of three rooms made from salt bricks that somehow had colored lights in /or behind them. The floor was salt which felt very similar to beach sand when sitting or walking on it. The massage started with my lying on a carpet on the sand and running the sand thru my fingers and toes, followed by a 30 minute meditation and then the best massage that I have ever experienced. It was followed by a foot massage. It was unique.

The drive from Siwa to Cairo, 350 miles, was made better by eating the remains of one of the chocolate cakes which we proceeded to get allover our faces.

We returned to Cairo with enough time to get something to eat and I was able to take a very brief nap before walking across the bridge from the hotel, Meridian Cairo Airport, to the airport at midnight for my 2:00 AM departure to Munich.

The trip was one of my best experiences and exceeded all my expectations. A couple of us are going to try to figure out how we can go back. if you have a desire to see Egypt, Zahra can be reached at www.mysteries of egypt.