August 2017 was my third trip to the African continent but it had another significance – I would finally get to visit a country that I had only dreamed of as a child. Egypt was everything I expected it to be and more.
Cairo was up first and despite all the warnings I had been given about wandering about alone at night and to be wary of Egyptian men, I had no issues and actually plan to revisit the country to pick up where I left off. Giza, Memphis and Saqqara were my first stop. It’s one thing to see the pyramids and sphinx in books and online but it’s something else entirely to stand in front of them and realize how advanced our ancestors had to have been in the fields of mathematics, physics and architecture just to name a few in order to build them more than 4,000 years ago. Also consider this – they erected these structures with no heavy machinery or any of the technology that we have today yet they’re still standing. Simply amazing!
Next was the Coptic Cairo Tour and the Egyptian Antiquities Museum. Many people erroneously believe the Coptic tour is strictly a tour of Christian churches and Coptic burial grounds but it also includes structures that complete the Religions Complex. Old Cairo is where you will encounter all three Abrahamic religions in the same place: Christianity, Islam and Judaism. The Mosque of Amr Ibn El-Aas which dates back to 641-642 AD and the Ben Ezra Synagogue (it was believed that baby Moses was found at this site). Saints Sergius and Bacchus Church is also located here. It is believed this church was built on the spot where the Holy Family, Joseph, Mary and the infant Jesus Christ, rested at the end of their journey into Egypt.
The Coptic tour also took me to The Monastery of Saint Simon, also known as the Cave Church, located on the outskirts of Cairo in the Mokattam mountains. The church was a piece of art, as the outside was adorned with intricate carvings made into the face of the mountain housing the church, while the inside – “the cave” – definitely was not what I had envisioned based on its name. The sad part about this amazing church is in order to reach it, you must pass through the home of the Zabbaleens. You see, Cave Church is located in a city called Manshiyat Nasser or “Garbage City” – a slum that serves as home for more than 262,000 Egyptians who live under the poverty line. The veritable “out of sight, out of mind” population that has been pushed to the edges of society and discarded to eke out a life for themselves in the mountains in garbage dumps. Zabbaleen, a term in Egyptian Arabic, simply means “garbage collectors.” As we neared the Cave Church, I noticed a shift in the atmosphere as the driver grew very focused and the cheerful banter that had been going on all day stopped. He and my guide tried to hustle their “American tourist” (because that is what I became at that moment when they as Egyptians tried not to air their country’s dirt laundry) through this area but I was there long enough to be overwhelmed by the sight of toddlers and school aged children picking through and playing in doorways stacked to the ceilings with garbage. When we first entered the area, I couldn’t understand why they began to roll up the windows of the vehicle we were riding in and handed me a handkerchief laced with perfume. As we drew closer, it became evident…and heartbreaking. All day I had been happily snapping photos everywhere we went but at this juncture, my camera lay abandoned in my lap. My moral compass simply would not allow me to even consider taking pictures of these people’s misery. I had a lot to think about that evening as I returned to my hotel room.
The next day, I set out to shake off the remnants of the previous day and an obligatory visit to the Egyptian Antiquities Museum completed my time in Cairo. The Museum of Antiquities has been the premier showcase of ancient Egyptian artifacts since it debuted in1902 and with good reason, it is literally rammed with antiquities, including the golden mask of King Tutankhamen.
I then flew to Luxor for my East and West Bank tour. The sheer scale and pristine quality of the relics in this area will blow your mind. The Temple of Karnak with its pylons and chapels, Luxor Temple, the Colossi of Memnon, the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut and the piece de resistance – the tombs of the three pharaohs in the Valley of the Kings. Luxor Museum would complete my stay and then it was off to Aswan by train (I was feeling a tad adventurous despite speaking literally no Arabic).
Aswan was beautiful and I managed to stay at a hotel on Elephantine Island right on the Nile – it doesn’t get any better than that. I took a cruise on the Nile in a felucca and had a day trip to visit the Abu Simbel Temple Complex. The story behind the complex is another serious feat of Egyptian engineering, as the complex is massive and had to be dismantled and moved due to imminent flooding from the rising Nile River. The project started in 1964 and was completed by 1968. The Nubia Museum in Aswan was my final treat before departing for U.S. shores. The museum is dedicated to the history of Nubia, which stretches from Aswan in the north through the Sudan in the south.