Seven Wonders

Alexandria from Caitbay Fort

The next day we decided to explore Caitbay Fort, built by Mamluk Sultan Caitbay in 1477-80, over the site of the famous Lighthouse of Alexandria. (Another of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World in this area.  The Pyramids, of course, being the other!)  

The Lighthouse, built in Pharaonic times (297 BC), had stood guiding ships – a mirror by day and fire by night - until an earthquake in 1303 toppled it.  Its demise was complete following an earthquake driven tsunami in 1326. 

Caitbay Fort

This impressive fort is built over what was once the Island of Pharos, the port entrance of Alexandria.  Caitbay had selected this strategic position to defend Alexandria against Turkish attacks.  Some of the building materials were taken from Lighthouse rubble.  The fort houses a small but well-presented Maine Biology Institute Museum with displays encompassing the Nile, Mediterranean and Red Seas.

On our way back we made a quick detour into the lobby of the famous Hotel Cecil to imaging rubbing shoulders with British Secret Service agents, Winston Churchill, Somerset Maugham or even Al Capone.  We made our way passed the Library of Alexandria, now a modern adaption of its famous ancient self, then dashed over to the beach for a quick paddle in salty Med waters before sitting in the bus, 3 hours back to Cairo.  Our overnight train to Aswan was waiting…

A little medicine for the train trip
& one for Stella (my MIL)

Mediterranean Splendour

Next morning off we bussed to Alexandria, really getting a feel for the geography of the country.  I admired large white dovecotes in farmyards along the road but travelling at the speed of light, as Egyptian drivers are wont to do, meant really blurred photos.  We were pleased to see Alexandria, coated as it were in concrete cancer and salt from a stiff wind blowing off the Med.  Founded by Alexander the Great in 332 BC it became, under guidance of its Ptolemaic rulers, a great metropolis second only to Rome.  Its historic centre has a collection of interesting Greco-Roman sites, so we started off at Pompey’s Pillar.

Pompey's Pillar & pink Sphinx

Of course, Pompey’s Pillar is not Pompey’s at all.  It was carved out of one block of red granite and erected in 298 in honour of the Roman Emperor Diocletian.  It is flanked by two gorgeous pink sphinxes and is situated in the Serapeum Gardens.  These gardens, and I use the term very loosely, are part of the site of the ancient temple of Serapis.  This cult had grown from a merging of both Egyptian and Roman gods, including Apis (the bull) who was worshiped during the Old Kingdom. 

Not so gloomy below ground in the Cataombs

We escaped the heat with a walk through the musty Kom al-Shuqafa Catacombs.  This again was a complex of mixed cultures – decorated in a lavish fusion of Egyptian and Greek symbolism.  It was fascinating to walk through this underground cemetery imagining the elaborate ceremonies performed for the dead one thousand years ago.  The introduction of Christianity in Alexandria is attributed to St Mark about the time of Roman Emperor Claudius (42 AD).  It gained popularity very quickly and soon Christians constituted the majority of Egypt’s population.

Fortunately, the Greco-Roman Museum (1895) cares for many of the important finds from Alexandria’s past.  The museum itself is quite beautiful; set around central gardens.  We could have stayed longer.  Do remember to keep change in your pocket for your trip to the bathroom however, as the monitors demand a tip.  I was beginning to see Paul Theroux’s point. (I can't quite remember what that was now - having written this some 10 years ago, gasp!!) An international incident, however was narrowly averted and we scooted off to a nice open air seafood café with attentive waiters and cats, down near the Corniche.

Still Standing

Our “tour proper” had now started and a quick bus ride to Giza took all of us to back to the Old Kingdom.  We were lucky to have the services of a very knowledgeable guide on board. 

Early Morning Crowds at Giza

A lingering early morning haze made the Pyramids all the more mysterious and their monumental size reduced the madding crowds to miniature.  Somehow all you want to do is stare and gawp.  I guess that’s partly what the Pharaohs wanted; not bad considering they didn’t have skyscrapers, massive gothic cathedrals or vast bridge superstructures as competition.  We didn’t go inside Khufu but wandered around the base to get a feel for the incredible building blocks (2½ tons each) and wondered at the beauty of art rendered with only the simplest of tools.  Each pyramid does not stand alone.  Subsidiary pyramids, mortuary temples, a valley temple, storehouses, courtyards and a causeway make up the basic plan.  Khufu even had his royal bark (ship) buried too.  Add to the mix a surrounding burial ground littered with tombs.  Only the Pyramid of Khafre has the remains of its limestone casing.  One can only imagine how polished these lavish red and white tombs must have been.  Not only a monument to a great king but also to imaginative man living in a country of red desert sands spliced through by a river of abundance which ensured man’s prosperity and development.

Companion Pair

The Sphinx is a little less imposing and far gentler against the rigidity of the pyramids.  Together they make a perfect couple.    With its lion body and majestic human head, the Sphinx was the guardian of the Royal Necropolis of Giza.  From our viewpoint on the causeway, we had a perfect outlook over the Sphinx Temple and Khafre’s valley temple, built it is thought, to appease gods of the solar cult.

Mummified Cat (Louvre Collection) See wiki link

Having filled our minds with the mysteries and ingenuity of man, we chugged off to see some papyrus paintings.  Yes, of course I bought one.  At least it had a cat in it.  Cats were a revered animal and some were even mummified.  The cult of the cat has not died out entirely in Egypt and many furry friends have developed well-honed bargaining skills, becoming quite slick souk hawkers as I was soon to find out!

Tutankhamun's Death Mask

A fantastic local lunch in downtown Giza set us up for an afternoon at the Egyptian Museum.  Despite wanting to see everything, we made the best of our limited time by taking a ‘soldier’s five” tour with our guide.  This meant cutting back to essentials, so we marched off to see Tutankhamun’s (1358–1353 BC) 3000 funerary objects and his amazing, amazing death mask.   After lingering as long as I could, we moved on to see the exhibition of mummies, wondering if these former kings and nobles would have been pleased to know of their fate behind glass and being gawked at by millions.  I also couldn't help but wonder about the skilled weavers who prepared cloth for the mumification process (amongst other things).  That left us a little time to do a “mad mile”, to see as many exhibits as we could, before closing time.  We were still pinching ourselves back at the hotel – just in time naturally, for the call to evening prayer.  Lucky us…