Rome to Athens 9/15-10/1/2023 Episode 6 Cairo, Egypt Friday, 9/22

Our day in Egypt started at 4:50 a.m., preparing for an excursion to the pyramids at Giza with a boat ride and lunch on the Nile River. The tour was meeting at 6:30 for a 7:00 a.m. departure, so we ate a quick, light breakfast in our room.

We each packed a bottle of water and a collapsible water bottle along with some snacks (what’s a road trip without snacks!).  After lining up with what seemed like half the ship, we checked in, got little orange stickers with a black number 8 on them designating us for Bus #8, waited for our group to be called, and walked from the ship to our bus. It felt like a summer morning in Florida, lots of moisture in the air and hot. The forecast says 95 in Cairo today – I can’t prove it – but I think the desert sun adds 15 degrees more. 

We settled in for the 3 hour bus ride from Alexandria to Cairo, the capital city, in a convoy of buses with a police escort.  Most of the 140 mile journey was by highway that seemed in rather good condition. It was divided into five to six sections that were a bit of a puzzlement.  Two different sections on each side were going the same direction, one with 4 lanes and one with 2 to 4 lanes depending on additional dividers. Then there were empty, unpaved sections in between in various configurations.  There were always other vehicles but it was never busy – until you arrived at a city. Then it seemed that all bets were off and we were happy to be in a big bus with a driver who knew how to make the most of size to claim the road.  We never saw crosswalks, people just crossed streets at their own risk wherever and whenever they chose, and most streets had no – or faint – painted lines.  There was very limited signage of any kind, until you approached the larger cities where there are billboards in both Arabic and English.

Along the sides of the road were a mix of desert sand with scrubby brush and trees, including some kind of wispy short trees that were always bent at the top in the same direction, presumably by the wind. 

There was an occasional truck stop, cell tower, or gas station – including a Circle K and small shops for snacks.  Sometimes there were what appeared to be walled villages with small dwellings, some square and some round, and sometimes a larger, multistory house. Some smaller buildings had large cone shaped structures sitting on top of them that appeared to be 6-8 feet high, and larger similar cone shaped structures standing alone that were as much as 15-20 feet high. Perhaps we’ll figure those out at some point. There were some cultivated fields, sections that appeared to be fruit orchards, and palm trees that appeared to have been strategically planted. And wherever there was a concentration of people there was a mosque or minaret, or both. 

As we neared Cairo, more dwellings began to appear, this time in the shape of multi-storied apartment buildings. As in any big city, some were very old, some new, and in both Cairo and Alexandria there were huge sections of new ones that appeared to be sitting empty. 

As we reached the outskirts of Cairo, there in the distance we could see two of the Pyramids of Giza. Both are over 400 feet tall, the largest 481 feet, with a third over 200 feet and several smaller “Queen’s Pyramids” alongside. This site contains the “Khufu Pyramid (named for the Pharoah it buried)”, the final remaining of the original “Seven Wonders of the World”. 

This is a mix of modern and historically monumental as colossal structures that are nearly 5000 years old sit in the midst of desert sands that shift with the wind, with the skyline of Cairo presenting hazily in the background. I don’t know what causes it to be so hazy, dust in the air, pollution, heat?  

The sun beat down relentlessly but the breeze stirred the air and cooled the sweat on your skin.  The guide talked about how busy it was, but the site was so large there were actually times to take pictures with no human in the frame. 

Our guide.

Beside the structures in one direction were modern tourist buses, and in the other two camels were being ridden atop a distant ridge.  Dogs lay in the only shade – shadows of the buses, vendors approached aggressively attempting to sell wares, take pictures for you, offer a ride on a camel, or give advice – all for a price. We had practiced the Arabic for no – “La”, thank you – “Shocran”, and enough – “Helas” (spellings are phonetic) and used all three. 

As you are probably aware, the Pyramids were built as burial chambers, with tunnels dug underneath and within, where remains were entombed and items were placed that would provide for the person in their afterlife. Thousands of objects have been stolen over the years from the tombs and much of them are on display in museums all over the world. 

There has been continuous speculation over how the Pyramids were built without the use of “modern” machinery.  The stones are enormous with thousands of them used in building each structure. Recent archaeology suggests that rather than being built by tens of thousands of slaves, there were large, organized villages around the Pyramids where families of “protein eaters” lived, indicating those who provided their own foods and likely were professional artisans, stone masons and the like.

After about an hour at the site, we drove to another section where we got up close and personal with the Sphinx, a mythical creature with a crouching lion’s body and a man’s head. 

Next was a quick stop at a specific small shop in Cairo (relative of the tour guide?) then to the Nile River where we boarded a boat for a buffet lunch and cruise. Entertainment included a drummer (I’m sure there is a special name for this), a belly dancer, and a whirling dervish. The food was tasty and the boat cruise long enough. Having had the opportunity to go to the headwaters of the Nile in Uganda (it flow north), we now had sailed on it where it split in two and flowed into the sea.

We departed Cairo about 4:00 p.m. and arrived back at the ship just after 7:00, thoroughly exhausted and ready for a shower and bed. I kept thinking what it would have been like for Joseph’s family to travel to Egypt during the famine and events recorded in the latter chapters of Genesis, and the Israelites crossing the desert after being released from Egypt in Exodus. I have just a smidgen of understanding of why they complained in the wilderness in spite of the miracles and gifts of God in their lives – as I am so prone to do.  

And thus closes a day in a place I never thought I would be. However and wherever we travel, may it be with knowledge of and trust in Him who already knows the way that we go, and goes there before us.  

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