Egypt and Jordan: it was truly amaazing!
Jun 15th, 2023, 06:41 AM
#262
Original Poster
Jun 15th, 2023, 08:16 PM
#263
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Progol and everyone, there's new book with a related theme: 'A Grand Tour of the Roman Empire'.
I'm reading the Egyptian chapters just now.
Such a unique structure---the author poses as a fictional upper-crust Roman traveling about, and there's a summary update written by a real archaeologist at the end of each chapter.
Excellent writing and well worth your time.
Carry on.
I am done. The reader.
I'm reading the Egyptian chapters just now.
Such a unique structure---the author poses as a fictional upper-crust Roman traveling about, and there's a summary update written by a real archaeologist at the end of each chapter.
Excellent writing and well worth your time.
Carry on.
I am done. The reader.
Jun 16th, 2023, 01:58 AM
#264
Original Poster
Progol and everyone, there's new book with a related theme: 'A Grand Tour of the Roman Empire'.
I'm reading the Egyptian chapters just now.
Such a unique structure---the author poses as a fictional upper-crust Roman traveling about, and there's a summary update written by a real archaeologist at the end of each chapter.
Excellent writing and well worth your time.
Carry on.
I am done. The reader.
I'm reading the Egyptian chapters just now.
Such a unique structure---the author poses as a fictional upper-crust Roman traveling about, and there's a summary update written by a real archaeologist at the end of each chapter.
Excellent writing and well worth your time.
Carry on.
I am done. The reader.
Jun 19th, 2023, 12:06 PM
#267
Original Poster
Sunday, November 13 - A felucca ride around Elephantine Island and a Night Flight to Cairo
Our guide, Fatima, met us at the hotel at 10am for our last day of touring in Aswan. We had already checked out but we stored our luggage while we toured with Fatima. We were brought to our felucca, a small 1-man sailboat, and spent the next few hours around exploring Elephantine Island and surroundings in a wonderful and relaxing way.
First stop: Kitcheners Island, home to the Aswan Botanical garden. A pleasant enough garden though Fatima must’ve given us details of every one of the trees we passed! She was definitely beginning to sound like a kindergarten teacher! I was more taken by the numbers of young women who seemed to be celebrating a birthday. And then M was approached by a group of young men with what must’ve been an illegal baby crocodile!
We returned to the boat and, gliding through the water, passed Aga Khan’s Mausoleum. Aga Khan III had been the imam of one of the largest Islamic sects. He came to Egypt for health reasons, and chose to be buried there.
We continued around the Islam, admiring the many traditional buildings at the water’s edge, including the legendary Old Cataract hotel, which is beautifully sited overlooking the Nile.
Eventually , we arrived at our main destination, the southern tip of Elephantine Island with its large collection of temples, built one on top of another, going back to the very early years. These were great but it was very hot and we both started to feel very tired.
But I loved the vista - the view of the Nile from the top of the hill where the temples are located was wonderful and really felt timeless.
We had a picnic lunch on the boat - a very filling takeout of chicken, falafel and other assorted small dishes, though we both felt that the felucca wasn’t really set up for a meal.
Our touring came to an end, and we were dropped off at the hotel, where we spent the next few hours hanging out on the terrace until 6pm, when we had to take the ferry across to meet Mustafa and our driver for our trip to the airport. We had plenty of time to tour or shop, if we chose to, but we were both ready to call it a day and we’re more than happy to spend the afternoon at the hotel.
We were dropped off at the Aswan airport, a teeny weeny airport with absolutely nothing to do, at 6:30pm. We thought our flight was at 8:00pm but we found out that it was scheduled for 8:45pm. And then it was at least an hour delayed. By the time we finally arrived in Cairo, we were very tired and very cranky. It must’ve been close to midnight when we arrived!
I had booked at Hotel Longchamps, which got excellent reviews as a quirky but comfortable moderately-priced hotel on Zamalek Island. But our experience of it was less than stellar. Arriving late in a very old-fashioned and quirky hotel, we were greeted by the weirdest, most sullen receptionist, a character who would’ve fit right in to the Bates Motel!
The best thing about the evening was to see our old driver, Omar, who met us at the airport and had requested to be our driver for the next few days.
Our guide, Fatima, met us at the hotel at 10am for our last day of touring in Aswan. We had already checked out but we stored our luggage while we toured with Fatima. We were brought to our felucca, a small 1-man sailboat, and spent the next few hours around exploring Elephantine Island and surroundings in a wonderful and relaxing way.
First stop: Kitcheners Island, home to the Aswan Botanical garden. A pleasant enough garden though Fatima must’ve given us details of every one of the trees we passed! She was definitely beginning to sound like a kindergarten teacher! I was more taken by the numbers of young women who seemed to be celebrating a birthday. And then M was approached by a group of young men with what must’ve been an illegal baby crocodile!
We returned to the boat and, gliding through the water, passed Aga Khan’s Mausoleum. Aga Khan III had been the imam of one of the largest Islamic sects. He came to Egypt for health reasons, and chose to be buried there.
We continued around the Islam, admiring the many traditional buildings at the water’s edge, including the legendary Old Cataract hotel, which is beautifully sited overlooking the Nile.
Eventually , we arrived at our main destination, the southern tip of Elephantine Island with its large collection of temples, built one on top of another, going back to the very early years. These were great but it was very hot and we both started to feel very tired.
But I loved the vista - the view of the Nile from the top of the hill where the temples are located was wonderful and really felt timeless.
We had a picnic lunch on the boat - a very filling takeout of chicken, falafel and other assorted small dishes, though we both felt that the felucca wasn’t really set up for a meal.
Our touring came to an end, and we were dropped off at the hotel, where we spent the next few hours hanging out on the terrace until 6pm, when we had to take the ferry across to meet Mustafa and our driver for our trip to the airport. We had plenty of time to tour or shop, if we chose to, but we were both ready to call it a day and we’re more than happy to spend the afternoon at the hotel.
We were dropped off at the Aswan airport, a teeny weeny airport with absolutely nothing to do, at 6:30pm. We thought our flight was at 8:00pm but we found out that it was scheduled for 8:45pm. And then it was at least an hour delayed. By the time we finally arrived in Cairo, we were very tired and very cranky. It must’ve been close to midnight when we arrived!
I had booked at Hotel Longchamps, which got excellent reviews as a quirky but comfortable moderately-priced hotel on Zamalek Island. But our experience of it was less than stellar. Arriving late in a very old-fashioned and quirky hotel, we were greeted by the weirdest, most sullen receptionist, a character who would’ve fit right in to the Bates Motel!
The best thing about the evening was to see our old driver, Omar, who met us at the airport and had requested to be our driver for the next few days.
Jun 19th, 2023, 12:27 PM
#268
Original Poster
Felucca DayHere’s a selection of photos from our felucca ride, first stopping at the Aswan Botanical garden on Kitcheners Island, then to the ruins at the southern tip of Elephantine island. There are many temples here, from many different eras, going as far back as 3000 BCE. It’s a large site, but it’s so evocative, yet the best part is the fantastic view over the Nile.
Our felucca
The captain of our ship!
Aswan Botanical Gardens
Celebrating
No thank you!
Garden palms
Fatima, relaxing
Aga Khan Mausoleum
Old Cataract - so beautifully sited!
Fatima by the temples on the southern tip of Elephantine Island
The vista is the best part of this!
Timeless view!
Our felucca
The captain of our ship!
Aswan Botanical Gardens
Celebrating
No thank you!
Garden palms
Fatima, relaxing
Aga Khan Mausoleum
Old Cataract - so beautifully sited!
Fatima by the temples on the southern tip of Elephantine Island
The vista is the best part of this!
Timeless view!
Jun 19th, 2023, 05:31 PM
#271
Original Poster
You don’t have to worry about making the same choice we did - the Hotel Longchamps has permanently closed. It did get a little better in the light of day, but still not a place we cared for. I think we had one of the smallest rooms and we had a lot of problems with wifi. It wasn’t bad, just not the charming place it sounded like.
Jun 22nd, 2023, 03:07 AM
#274
Original Poster
schmerl, I spent my entire trip with the “pinch me” feeling so, believe me, I do appreciate that constant sense of “Wow!” At last, (sniff) we’re winding down, and the remaining “wows” are in the museums - and they do impress!
and Songdoc and schmerl, the photo of the felucca really surprised me. It does look like a painting and it’s one of my favorites.
The last few days to come…
and Songdoc and schmerl, the photo of the felucca really surprised me. It does look like a painting and it’s one of my favorites.
The last few days to come…
Last edited by progol; Jun 22nd, 2023 at 03:16 AM.
Jun 26th, 2023, 09:56 AM
#280
Original Poster
And, bit by bit, I’m creeping toward the end of this trip.
Monday, November 14
Two more full days in Egypt — our amazing journey is almost over. After the last 3 1/2 weeks, we’ve seen plenty and we are saturated and pretty exhausted, so we simplified our plan for the last 2 days of touring. There were several sites that were on our initial itinerary, but we realized that the intensity of the trip had taken its toll, and we wanted to keep it as easy as possible.
Today, we focused on the Coptic Quarter, with its Hanging Church and Coptic museum; then, we visited the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC). According to a the website, “Local Guide to Egypt”, Coptic Cairo is:
“known as the stronghold of Christianity in Old Cairo, home to places of worship that date back to the time when the pharaonic religions of Ancient Egypt had died out and Islam had not yet arrived. Some of Egypt’s earliest churches remain standing in Coptic Egypt to this day - some dating back to the 4th century AD. It’s also believed that the Holy Family lived here for a short period during their flight into Egypt to escape Herod.”
There. I didn’t have to figure out how to describe it! But we really enjoyed our time exploring the different churches in this area. The synagogue, however, was closed - and someone sitting outside the gate had a video of the interior — which he charged 50 EGP for us to see it!
The Hanging Church is a 9th century church, named because it’s suspended over a fortress gatehouse, now buried because of the rise of the ground over the past 1300 years.
One of the churches, the Abu Serga church, is believed to be the oldest church in Egypt and also the spot where the Holy Family (Joseph, Mary and the infant, Jesus) stopped and rested towards the end of their journey to Egypt. This spot is now the crypt of the church.
And the Coptic Museum was fabulous! A large collection, mostly 3rd and 4th century, showing early Christian art. It’s a beautiful building, with elaborate woodcarving and wonderful works of (mostly) religious art. We had no idea what to expect but we found it surprisingly enjoyable and spent a long time here.
We then went to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC), a fairly new museum with a central exhibition hall and, the prize exhibit, the display of the Royal mummies, originally housed in the Egyptian Museum. And wow! The experience was amazing! There were many mummies of the pharaohs whose tombs we’d seen or temples we’d visited. And it was incredible to actually see them! There was a sense of them as real figures and even seeing small details, like their hair or teeth, gave them some humanity. Truly, an amazing experience. After viewing them for a while, we took in a few of the sights in the main exhibition hall, but we were quite wiped out by then. And with no photos allowed of the mummies, the crowding was minimal which made the experience so much better.
Finally, back to the hotel, where we took a well-deserved rest.
Monday, November 14
Two more full days in Egypt — our amazing journey is almost over. After the last 3 1/2 weeks, we’ve seen plenty and we are saturated and pretty exhausted, so we simplified our plan for the last 2 days of touring. There were several sites that were on our initial itinerary, but we realized that the intensity of the trip had taken its toll, and we wanted to keep it as easy as possible.
Today, we focused on the Coptic Quarter, with its Hanging Church and Coptic museum; then, we visited the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC). According to a the website, “Local Guide to Egypt”, Coptic Cairo is:
“known as the stronghold of Christianity in Old Cairo, home to places of worship that date back to the time when the pharaonic religions of Ancient Egypt had died out and Islam had not yet arrived. Some of Egypt’s earliest churches remain standing in Coptic Egypt to this day - some dating back to the 4th century AD. It’s also believed that the Holy Family lived here for a short period during their flight into Egypt to escape Herod.”
There. I didn’t have to figure out how to describe it! But we really enjoyed our time exploring the different churches in this area. The synagogue, however, was closed - and someone sitting outside the gate had a video of the interior — which he charged 50 EGP for us to see it!
The Hanging Church is a 9th century church, named because it’s suspended over a fortress gatehouse, now buried because of the rise of the ground over the past 1300 years.
One of the churches, the Abu Serga church, is believed to be the oldest church in Egypt and also the spot where the Holy Family (Joseph, Mary and the infant, Jesus) stopped and rested towards the end of their journey to Egypt. This spot is now the crypt of the church.
And the Coptic Museum was fabulous! A large collection, mostly 3rd and 4th century, showing early Christian art. It’s a beautiful building, with elaborate woodcarving and wonderful works of (mostly) religious art. We had no idea what to expect but we found it surprisingly enjoyable and spent a long time here.
We then went to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC), a fairly new museum with a central exhibition hall and, the prize exhibit, the display of the Royal mummies, originally housed in the Egyptian Museum. And wow! The experience was amazing! There were many mummies of the pharaohs whose tombs we’d seen or temples we’d visited. And it was incredible to actually see them! There was a sense of them as real figures and even seeing small details, like their hair or teeth, gave them some humanity. Truly, an amazing experience. After viewing them for a while, we took in a few of the sights in the main exhibition hall, but we were quite wiped out by then. And with no photos allowed of the mummies, the crowding was minimal which made the experience so much better.
Finally, back to the hotel, where we took a well-deserved rest.
Last edited by progol; Jun 26th, 2023 at 10:14 AM.
