April 7th - Egypt

“….as you look upon these mighty ruins [Karnak], a voice seems continually saying to you, ‘And seekest thou good things for thyself? Seek them not, for is there ought like this ruin?’ One wonders that people come back from Egypt and live lives as they did before.”

- Florence Nightingale

Our ship berthed in the port of Safaga, a popular seaside resort. It is known for its stiff breezes off the Red Sea and, indeed, the area was just winding down from a massive and gritty 5-day sandstorm. (Welcome to the desert!) We made the 4 hour drive to Luxor and “The Valley of the Kings” in a long security escorted convoy…some fellow passengers counted 87 motor coaches! It was quite an operation since there were armed security personnel all along the route closing off traffic on all the crossroads. We enjoyed glimpses of the traditional farming villages that cling to the fertile strip bordering the Nile. There were even bucolic scenes of donkey-drawn carts and sun-dried mud-brick houses in some of the isolated rural areas.

The Valley of the Kings was a little chaotic! And I have a VERY large and colorful souvenir on my upper leg since I fell off the little tram that takes people over the desert sands to the pharaohs’ tombs. Yep…. fell right off! I only mention this because I know my kids are receiving maximum enjoyment reading about this and are probably rolling on the floor laughing right now! Thanks to all the yummy desserts I’ve consumed here on the ship and, hence, some additional padding in that area, I fortunately won’t be joining the onboard wheelchair/walker brigade yet! Whew!! (Perhaps it’s hereditary…. family lore has it that a long time ago when my grandfather visited the pyramids, he was “showing off” -- my grandmother’s take -- and fell and rolled down part of the pyramid!) Anyway, the tombs were impressive, especially the intricate paintings on the walls and ceilings which have surprisingly maintained their rich colors through all these many years. (We'd show you a sampling, but photography was not allowed in the tombs....and the Egyptian guards looked rather serious!)

Luxor is the home of ancient Thebes, which once epitomized the splendor of the ancient world. The temples of Karnak and Luxor were mind-boggling…. in terms of both grandeur and the fact that so much of these ancient structures, statuary and carvings still exist. I suppose that can partly be attributed to the fact that, until the 1930s, these ruins were half-buried in the sand. Particularly impressive were the ram-headed sphinxes which line the entrance to the Temple of Karnak. The temples of Karnak and Luxor were at one time connected by The Avenue of the Sphinxes…. a distance of nearly two miles. A lone obelisk, supported by dog-headed baboons, stands at the entrance to the Temple of Luxor. If we thought it looked familiar, we would be correct…. its twin stands in the Place de la Concorde in Paris!

It was a lot to absorb in a very short time (we even squeezed in a delightful lunch stop at the Winter Palace Hotel)….and left us eager to learn more about all the incredible symbolism found in all these amazing relics. However, the sidewalk hawkers here have the reputation of being the very most aggressive of their breed! (Yes, they’re even worse than in India!) So it was almost a relief (…I was starting to feel an incredible urge to seriously hurt one of them…) to form up our convoy and head home to “the Queen."