There's never been a better, cheaper time to visit the Great Pyramids, Nile
The Great Pyramids at Giza can be seen from the upper floors of the Sofitel el Gezirah Hotel in Cairo.
Just book it.
You'll get the best prices in decades. You'll have unprecedented access to the wonders of ancient and modern Egypt. The most skilled Egyptologists will have the time to share their passion. Visits to temples and museums will be leisurely and enlightening. You'll meet like-minded travelers from the world over.
You'll feel welcome and safe, just as Bud and I did from the moment we landed in Cairo in early January. We booked the trip last June, once the State Department eased travel advisories issued after Egypt's revolution. Respected tour companies like Abercrombie & Kent were running trips after a brief hiatus. Major airlines were servicing Cairo, and EgyptAir had connections to tourist destinations throughout the country. Cruise ships were plying the Nile.
Not being foolhardy, though - and carefully monitoring the December protests in Tahrir Square - I confirmed our arrangements. The only questionable item was a trip to the Egyptian Museum just off Tahrir Square. If there were protests, we'd switch out either the day or the site. Reasonable.
Our first surprise was Cairo's international airport. It is spanking new and spotless, with excellent signage in Arabic and English. An eager young man met us right at the arrival gate, airside - impossible in the United States!
"I am Emad, your tour coordinator," he said. "Welcome to Egypt. We are so grateful for your visit!"
In minutes he whisked us through the immigration process and grabbed our bags. Soon Emad and our driver, Tamar, were strategizing the best route through unruly nighttime traffic to our hotel, the Sofitel El Gezirah.
The Sofitel's lobby was another world. Men in long robes with heads draped in traditional keffiyeh scarves chatted in Arabic, hands fluttering and occasionally reaching for (yes) cell phones. The few women sported Western dress, but wore hijabs, scarves covering the head/shoulders, but leaving the face exposed. Some hijabs were modest, almost businesslike. Some were colorful with embroidery or delicate beading.
Tamar muscled our car expertly through traffic, dodging lorries, rickety cars of indeterminate make, donkey carts loaded with produce and the occasional Mercedes-Benz. There seemed to be no traffic lights or police officers. It was dusty, chaotic, noisy - and absolutely alive.
Eman laughed. "If there is room for three lanes, Egyptians will make four. If room for four, they will make five."
Eman pointed out Cairo landmarks: the new opera house, the public garden, a large public hospital and Tahrir Square, locus of the revolution. Like all our guides, Eman wanted us to see two Egypts; the ancient and fascinating civilization of the Pharaohs, but also the modern Egypt emerging from decades of autocratic rule and corruption.
Bud and I found both stories utterly compelling, but we had to begin with Ancient Egypt: pyramids, temples, monuments, Pharaohs. Eman laid out a chronology for us, from the Early Dynastic Period at 3100 B.C. through the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms and 30 separate dynasties to Alexander the Great and then the Roman Empire in 30 B.C. Add the two millennia since then, and you have 5,000 years of complex history.
Whew! I abandoned note-taking almost immediately. We came to Egypt to marvel at ancient wonders, not to become Egyptologists. We relaxed, listened and, yes, marveled. Each iconic site, from the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx at Giza to the temples at Abu Simbel and Luxor and the tombs at Valley of the Kings, drew us further into the ancient world. We savored the themes: obsession with the afterlife, the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, deities and pharaohs, Christians and Muslims. Through it all, running strangely south to north, the Nile, heavy with symbolism. Tombs for the dead concentrated on the west bank with the setting sun; monuments to the living on the east bank with the rising sun.
Over and over we asked, "How did they do that?" They cut 250-ton obelisks from single blocks of granite, transported them by barge and set them in place, perfectly balanced, held perfectly plumb by gravity alone - 4000 years ago. How? The Great Pyramid at Giza is made up of 2.3 million blocks of stone ranging from 2½ to 16 tons each. It is commanding, almost unsettling. Who were these men? Bud, being fond of engineering feats and mysteries, was captivated. Our guides kept repeating, "There are many theories, but the truth . . .?"
"Wearing the hijab is not a religious command," we kept hearing. "It is more to show you belong to the group in power. The black niqabs? They usually represent villages."
But what of the revolution and the ongoing struggles? The explanation was consistent. Everyone in Tahrir Square last January wanted to eliminate corruption and have President Hosni Mubarak deposed, but there was little agreement on exactly what or who should replace him. Now for the hard part: crafting a government that can be trusted to govern and provide services honestly and efficiently. Everyone we met seemed anxious to accomplish that as smoothly as possible.
The truth is that creating democracies is not always (ever?) easy in countries with long histories of autocratic rule like Egypt. Bud and I did see evidence of the struggle in Cairo - some burned-out buildings, some piles of trash. But we also enjoyed tree-lined pedestrian walkways along the Nile in Luxor, a lovely outdoor cafe overlooking Lake Nasser Abu Simbel, and an engaging sound and light show at Giza. We floated down the Nile and we hiked the Valley of the Kings.
And yes, we did visit the Egyptian Museum, where we walked right in and, incredibly, were able to linger over the King Tutankhamen exhibit - a mere handful of enthusiasts nearby.
Did I mention now is a good time to book?
http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/311049/thinking-about-trip-to-egypt-book-it?SESS0bb560bbf70d59e63d3690cd91d70e3b=google
You'll get the best prices in decades. You'll have unprecedented access to the wonders of ancient and modern Egypt. The most skilled Egyptologists will have the time to share their passion. Visits to temples and museums will be leisurely and enlightening. You'll meet like-minded travelers from the world over.
You'll feel welcome and safe, just as Bud and I did from the moment we landed in Cairo in early January. We booked the trip last June, once the State Department eased travel advisories issued after Egypt's revolution. Respected tour companies like Abercrombie & Kent were running trips after a brief hiatus. Major airlines were servicing Cairo, and EgyptAir had connections to tourist destinations throughout the country. Cruise ships were plying the Nile.
Not being foolhardy, though - and carefully monitoring the December protests in Tahrir Square - I confirmed our arrangements. The only questionable item was a trip to the Egyptian Museum just off Tahrir Square. If there were protests, we'd switch out either the day or the site. Reasonable.
Our first surprise was Cairo's international airport. It is spanking new and spotless, with excellent signage in Arabic and English. An eager young man met us right at the arrival gate, airside - impossible in the United States!
"I am Emad, your tour coordinator," he said. "Welcome to Egypt. We are so grateful for your visit!"
In minutes he whisked us through the immigration process and grabbed our bags. Soon Emad and our driver, Tamar, were strategizing the best route through unruly nighttime traffic to our hotel, the Sofitel El Gezirah.
The Sofitel's lobby was another world. Men in long robes with heads draped in traditional keffiyeh scarves chatted in Arabic, hands fluttering and occasionally reaching for (yes) cell phones. The few women sported Western dress, but wore hijabs, scarves covering the head/shoulders, but leaving the face exposed. Some hijabs were modest, almost businesslike. Some were colorful with embroidery or delicate beading.
5,000 years
The morning brought an introduction to Eman, our certified Egyptologist, a smartly-dressed professional with no hijab. We started with a drive to the earliest of Egypt's ancient monuments. Memphis, the capital of Egypt from about 3100 B.C.; Sakkara, the site of the oldest of Egypt's 107 pyramids; and Dahshur, home to the Bent Pyramid and Red Pyramids.Tamar muscled our car expertly through traffic, dodging lorries, rickety cars of indeterminate make, donkey carts loaded with produce and the occasional Mercedes-Benz. There seemed to be no traffic lights or police officers. It was dusty, chaotic, noisy - and absolutely alive.
Eman laughed. "If there is room for three lanes, Egyptians will make four. If room for four, they will make five."
Eman pointed out Cairo landmarks: the new opera house, the public garden, a large public hospital and Tahrir Square, locus of the revolution. Like all our guides, Eman wanted us to see two Egypts; the ancient and fascinating civilization of the Pharaohs, but also the modern Egypt emerging from decades of autocratic rule and corruption.
Bud and I found both stories utterly compelling, but we had to begin with Ancient Egypt: pyramids, temples, monuments, Pharaohs. Eman laid out a chronology for us, from the Early Dynastic Period at 3100 B.C. through the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms and 30 separate dynasties to Alexander the Great and then the Roman Empire in 30 B.C. Add the two millennia since then, and you have 5,000 years of complex history.
Whew! I abandoned note-taking almost immediately. We came to Egypt to marvel at ancient wonders, not to become Egyptologists. We relaxed, listened and, yes, marveled. Each iconic site, from the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx at Giza to the temples at Abu Simbel and Luxor and the tombs at Valley of the Kings, drew us further into the ancient world. We savored the themes: obsession with the afterlife, the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, deities and pharaohs, Christians and Muslims. Through it all, running strangely south to north, the Nile, heavy with symbolism. Tombs for the dead concentrated on the west bank with the setting sun; monuments to the living on the east bank with the rising sun.
Over and over we asked, "How did they do that?" They cut 250-ton obelisks from single blocks of granite, transported them by barge and set them in place, perfectly balanced, held perfectly plumb by gravity alone - 4000 years ago. How? The Great Pyramid at Giza is made up of 2.3 million blocks of stone ranging from 2½ to 16 tons each. It is commanding, almost unsettling. Who were these men? Bud, being fond of engineering feats and mysteries, was captivated. Our guides kept repeating, "There are many theories, but the truth . . .?"
Modern Egypt
The truth of modern Egypt is less elusive, if complex. Islamic overtones color the political and social landscape, and oddly are most evident in women's clothing. Stroll a Cairo street and you'll see more women in hijabs, the ankle-length jilbab robes and even the black full-covering niqab than in Western dress - a change from the 1960s and '70s when many women held professional positions and often dressed like counterparts in New York or London."Wearing the hijab is not a religious command," we kept hearing. "It is more to show you belong to the group in power. The black niqabs? They usually represent villages."
But what of the revolution and the ongoing struggles? The explanation was consistent. Everyone in Tahrir Square last January wanted to eliminate corruption and have President Hosni Mubarak deposed, but there was little agreement on exactly what or who should replace him. Now for the hard part: crafting a government that can be trusted to govern and provide services honestly and efficiently. Everyone we met seemed anxious to accomplish that as smoothly as possible.
The truth is that creating democracies is not always (ever?) easy in countries with long histories of autocratic rule like Egypt. Bud and I did see evidence of the struggle in Cairo - some burned-out buildings, some piles of trash. But we also enjoyed tree-lined pedestrian walkways along the Nile in Luxor, a lovely outdoor cafe overlooking Lake Nasser Abu Simbel, and an engaging sound and light show at Giza. We floated down the Nile and we hiked the Valley of the Kings.
And yes, we did visit the Egyptian Museum, where we walked right in and, incredibly, were able to linger over the King Tutankhamen exhibit - a mere handful of enthusiasts nearby.
Did I mention now is a good time to book?
http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/311049/thinking-about-trip-to-egypt-book-it?SESS0bb560bbf70d59e63d3690cd91d70e3b=google
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