EGYPT – A SAD CORNUCOPIA

Probably more papyrus has been issued extolling the virtues of Egypt’s dynamic tourism attractions than offered even describing what Paris Hilton had for lunch on any given slow day in the gossip business.  So it is not my intention here to write about that which has been dramatized at length since time immemorial.   Moreso to portray what epiphanies I have come to understand from a delightful but slightly melancholy 14 days in this historically rich, friendly, cultured and nearly perfect destination.

I say slightly melancholy only because this beloved place with her warm and effusive people is suffering right now.  Up until her Revolution of 2011 Egypt normally had 11 million tourists a year.  These visitors brought cash, confidence, approval, word of mouth praise, connection, and pulse to the country.  At present -- due to terrorism events (real or threatened) on the part of the Islamic Muslim Brotherhood -- that number has dwindled to a mere 1 million yearly.

I was told myself not to go to Egypt.  Shortly before departing for Europe in March on a very long and roundabout path here, a busload of Korean tourists was attacked with machine guns some 300 yards from the Israeli border at Eilat.  Four were killed. The translation to international loss of confidence in security measures and resulting loss of pounds flowing to the Egyptian economy when combined with earlier setbacks was chilling.

Restaurants and cafes that would ordinarily have hour-long waits sit empty.  Cruise barges on the Nile tilt listlessly on the shore, minus the clinking glasses, laughter, and lightness of being that bonds travelers to a place.  Hotels beg for customers.  Falucca captains twiddle their thumbs and peddle carvings while awaiting passengers that won’t appear.  There are no lines at the pyramids.  Souvenir salesmen weep and tug at your clothing to buy … “Take a look, Sir.  Please.  Buy something … buy anything!”  

There is hope on the horizon.   While in Egypt in May of 2014, a hotly anticipated national election was held over a three-day period between May 26^th and 28^th. There were only two candidates, former Egyptian Defense Minister Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Egyptian Popular Current Party candidate Hamdeen Sabahi. The elections came almost a year after the June 2013 nationwide protests that prompted el-Sisi to depose Egypt's existing president Mohamed Morsi – a sympathizer of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Ordinarily when a candidate acquires 96% of the vote, the first thought that comes to mind is “Fraud.”  Massive fraud!  But these results are believable.  As I traveled about Egypt for two weeks, the only campaign pictures I saw were of Sisi.  They were omnipresent.  It was if he was not just nominated, but coronated before the election even took place.

The unanimity of support for his remaining in power by electoral means was inspiring.  Nowhere did I hear of opposition to his Presidency, nor even a hint of support for the Muslim Brotherhood.  The Egyptian people are secular and tolerant of multiple faiths.  They are tired of what this group of fanatics has done to destabilize Egypt.  Let alone the country’s standard of living …

My explorations begin with The Egyptian Museum in Cairo, a perfect introduction to Egyptian culture and history.  Who, after all, can possibly understand multiple dynasties let alone successions of pharaohs, without a world class museum to straighten it all out for you? The current 1902 building on Tahrir Square, the first purpose-built museum in the world, contains the world's most extensive collection of pharaonic antiquities.

The Museum boasts 107 halls filled with artifacts dating from the prehistoric through the Roman periods. A majority of the collection is focused on the extensive lineage of pharaohs, ranging around 3150 BC to the time of Augustus Caesar in Rome in 30 BC.  Overall it houses nearly 160,000 objects covering 5,000 years of Egypt's well recorded past.

The ground floor takes the visitor on a chronological tour through the collections.  The objects on the upper floor are grouped according to either tomb name or category -- exhibits here include the famous death mask and treasures of the boy king Tutankhamun, wooden models of daily life, statues of multiple divinities, and a rare group of royal portraits.   Displayed on the second floor are also many of the New Kingdom royal mummies.  Luckily labels are printed in both Arabic and English throughout the museum.

I am particularly struck by the quality of the King Tut Exhibit (1333 to 1324 BC) gold finery, its craftsmanship for something plated over 3300 years ago, and legends that get straightened out in such displays.  Apparently, Howard Carter did not discover King Tut’s Tomb in the Valley of Kings in 1922.  A mule did, slipping into the barely cracked entry tunnel of a previously unsuspected tomb.

Carter observed and reacted accordingly.  The rest is history.  Almost … sometimes the rest is partially science.  In 2010, DNA tests revealed King Tut was the progeny of his father (the Pharaoh Akhenaten) and his father’s sister/wife, otherwise known to history only as “The Younger Lady.”  Tut’s reign lasted only ten years.  For decades his death was suspected from gangrene, but new information as of 2013 reveals he probably died as a result of massive trauma – perhaps from a chariot collision.

The other really memorable pieces upstairs at the Egyptian Museum were the exquisitely fashioned permanent and portable thrones on display (particularly those of Seti 1^st – 1290 to 1970 BC).  The other … uh … pieces that caught my eye, were the royal underwear.  They answered questions I have always wondered about.  What material?  How worn?  How cleaned?  Answers: broad triangular muslin or cotton wedges, one piece in front and the other in back, each colored differently, and tied together like baby diapers so one could easily be changed out quickly if necessary.

This, and sampling the fine Egyptian fare at local restaurants, constituted my first day in Cairo – somewhat restrained due to landing quite late and not arriving at The Family Palace Hotel until 4 in the morning.

The other element that delayed in-town vamping was arranging a plan for the following two weeks.  This becomes necessary as an “on the fly” Freestyle Traveler. No matter how intrepid a bootstrapper, if you don’t speak the local language, know well the local conditions (Egypt was a “go warily” zone at the time, though I never felt safer in my life), know the virtues or lack thereof embodied by the local transportation hub, you are best to at least get suggestions from a local arranger for points of interest (read: NOT tourist sites!), entry fees, routes, timing, travel options, food, and budget.

You may test-drive several.  But luckily I met mine the very first day.  Mostafa Hashed, the general manager of the Family Palace Hotel in Cairo.  The same man who arranged seamlessly for me to be carted to my lodging after arriving one and one-half hours late in Cairo (and a day later) without complaint or financial penalty.  Over a 24 hour period, this amazingly efficient young man arranged for close to 2 weeks of out-the-door to lay-me-down travel arrangements over a 3000 mile “W” pattern encompassing almost all of Egypt and the Sinai desert.

This included Cairo and the Giza Plateau.  Alexandria.  The multiple watering holes and White and Black Deserts of the Western Desert Oasis Loop.  Aswan.  Abu Simbel.  Luxor.  Mt. Sinai and St. Katerine’s Cathedral.  Sharm el Sheikh.  Dahab.   And finally, the ferry hub handoff to Jordan and the entry there at the famous port city of Aqaba.

Put this in perspective: we are talking TWO meals a day.  All transportation (including a flight from Luxor to Cairo, and then on to Sharm el Sheikh at the tip of the Sinai Peninsula).  All drivers.  All three-star hotels.  All guides and drivers, in air conditioned vehicles.  Taxes.  Arrival and departure assistance.  Mostafa’s availability by phone 24/7.  And Egyptologists where available (knowing I was a scribe with an insatiable curiosity).

All this, for $471 per person.  The only things not included were personal items such as phone calls and laundry), tipping (in an admittedly tip heavy culture), scuba diving and snorkeling charges, and entrance fees to some of the world’s greatest antiquity sites -- which ended up costing about $65 extra over 14 days’ time.

In my travels in 95 countries, I have never seen such a travel bargain.  I will be Mostafa’s friend for life.

Outside of the fee structure (and despite a heady desire to get outside the city to Egypt’s most famous ruins), Mostafa also arranged for me to see within the city and the nearby Giza Plateau (combined population: 26 million) the Great Pyramids of Giza, the dominating Citadel of Saladin, The El-Rifai’i Mosque, and its imposing neighbor Mosque Madrassa of Sultan Hassan as some of the highlights of Islamic Cairo – “The City of 1000 Mosques.”

The primary draw to Cairo for the average tourist is clearly the Great Pyramids of Giza.  These last remaining wonders of the ancient world can not be dismissed lightly, but can be summarized.  Located on a plateau a half hour’s easy ride outside the city are 123 pyramids.  The pyramid shaped mausoleums are meant both to introduce the fallen Pharaoh to paradise, and preserve for him the trappings of life after death.

The greatest of these is the Pyramid of Khufu (also known as The Pyramid of Cheops, the Greek form of Khufu).  It is now 137 meters high.  Upon completion it was ten meters taller, but the limestone top casing and summit pieces resting on a base made up of 2.5 million granite and sandstone blocks were borrowed by ambitious builders in centuries to follow.   Embedded deep inside are the burial chambers for the King.  Despite security precautions, all contents were looted.  Exactly when is not known.

This pyramid took 300,000 workers 20 years to complete.  Stone was quarried on the east side of the Nile, and transported adjacent to the west Nile construction site during flood stage.  Cutting of the stone took place year round.  But construction of the pyramid did not.  The actual placement of blocks (ranging from 9 tons at the base to 4 tons at the peak) occurred in August, September and October when the Nile was flooded and no other productive work could be undertaken.  It is a historical question of great significance just how many slaves were used during this process -- or any at all?

Construction was begun at the beginning of Khufu’s reign, in the 4^th Dynasty of the Pharaohs, around 2613 BC.  It was completed five years prior to his death.  From its fortitude throughout the last 46 centuries, we know today they got the engineering right on this one, compared to earlier, less ambitious pyramids – including an angle of inclination at 53 degrees.  Previous attempts elsewhere at higher angles collapsed.

Khufu’s son, the Pharaoh Khafra (Chephren in Greek), built his pyramid nearby.  Along with the pyramid of Khafra’s son Mnkawiza (Mikerinos in Greek), the three daunting structures – along with six much smaller pyramids to encase the tombs of wives and mothers --  make up the classic skyline view of “The Great Pyramids” imposed on the backdrop of sprawling Cairo.

Khufu, in deference to his father, built his own pyramid 1.5 meters shorter, though it appears larger.  This is due to being built on a portion of the Giza Plateau that is 9 meters higher, and the fact its distinctive summit cap of white limestone and mortar have held fast against the centuries and better preserved its height.

Mnkawiza’s Pyramid is only 66 meters high.  It has been suggested that the economy at the time did not support building efforts to the same extent as those enjoyed by his father and grandfather.  An apparently much loved King, it has also been said that he did not want his people to have to work that hard on his monuments.  Nevertheless, this smallest of the Great Pyramids is distinctive for its pink granite casing imported downriver from Aswan, and the three smaller 20 meter pyramids to its side for his wives called Mastabas.

The final wonder of the Giza Plateau resides in The Great Sphinx, a combination of the close likeness at least of Khafra and the body of a lion.  The crouching figure is 74 meters long by 20 meters in width and height.  Portions of the nose and false goatee have been damaged over the course of time, but who is primarily responsible for the bulk of the damage remains an unanswered question.  It is the largest monolithic statue and also the oldest known monumental sculpture on the planet.

The Sphinx presents an ongoing mystery on several fronts.  This often leads to references about “The Riddle of The Sphinx.” Chief among them is, when was it actually built, and by whom?  There are simply too many theories and too little space to discuss this in any depth.  But a set of historical references on stone stelae nearby relates that Khafra and Khufu each walked past the Sphinx at times when it was covered up to its chest in sand.  It thus probably predated each.

Another theory (due to vertical erosion grooves, which can only derive from water, as horizontal grooves emanate only from wind and grit) is that the Sphinx must have been built nearly 10,000 BC, when Egypt’s desert regions were an inland savannah and rainfall was an ever present part of the weather and the landscape.

The missing nose and false goatee (it was rare for Pharaoh’s to display facial hair) are by turn attributed to cannonballs around 1797 from French occupation troops.  The British and Egyptian Mamluks have been similarly indicted.  More than likely, the damage can be pinned on Muhammad Sa'im al-Dahr, a Sufi mystic who, in 1378, upon finding the local peasants making offerings to the Sphinx in the hope of increasing their harvest, was so outraged that he damaged the nose.  He was shortly after hanged for vandalism.

Briefly elsewhere around Cairo:

The Citadel of Cairo is a medieval Islamic fortification located on Mokattam Hill situated in the center of the city.  It is famous for its cooling breezes and territorial views, and is now preserved as a historic site with mosques and museums. The Citadel was fortified by the famous Arab commander Salah al-Din (Saladin The Conqueror, who re-took Jerusalem from the Christians during the Crusades) starting in 1176 AD, to protect the city from attempted encroachment by the Crusaders.

The Citadel was the centerpiece of a wall uniting the cities of Cairo and Fustat (the first capitol of Egypt and today essentially Old City Cairo), from one bank of the Nile to another so that one army could defend both cities.  Its hilltop setting and solid underpinnings made it difficult to attack.  The perfection of the Citadel's location is further attested to by the fact that it remained the heart of Egyptian government until the 19th century.

To supply water to the Citadel, Saladin built a 280 foot deep well, which can still be seen today. This cistern is also known as the Well of the Spiral because its access consisted of 300 stairs that corkscrewed around the inside of the well casement. Once water was laboriously raised from the well to the surface, it was conveyed to the Citadel via a series of small aqueducts.

Below the Citadel is a massive place of worship known as The Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hassan.  The mosque includes schools for all four of the Islamic Sunni schools of thought (Shafi’I, Maliki, Hanafi, and Hanbali), enclosed within four huge vaults opening to a central courtyard.  Islamic Students were allowed to attend the school of their choosing, could switch allegiances, or attend all four.

The ruler after which this mosque was named complained that the building was extraordinarily expensive and should never be completed save for his fear of being accused of inability to complete the project.  Because of the Sultan's extravagance in spending fortunes on women and other forms of excess – including the mosque itself – his military commander had him assassinated for greed and squandering of public funds.  The Sultan’s body was hidden and never found.  Therefore the mosque never served one of its primary purposes, as his mausoleum.

In addition to its expense, huge madrassa vaults and massive walls, the mosque is notable for its superlative 35 meter height, its minarets and its oversized wooden dome.  Original plans called for four minarets, but only three were ever constructed. One of the minarets collapsed and three hundred people were killed. This event ignited conversation across Cairo and Fustat about the impending downfall of the state.  Interestingly, Sultan (equivalent of King) Hasan's murder followed thirty-three days later.

During the medieval era, an open commons space connected the mosque and the Citadel. This proximity and the mosque's stout construct gave it a unique strategic significance. On at least one occasion it was used by rebels as a fort from which to attack the Citadel. For this reason, the Sultan Janbulat tried to destroy the mosque.  After three days of attempted demolition, he had little success and gave up. The stairs to the two minarets were later demolished to make it less useful in future such attacks.

The El-Rifai’I Mosque is located opposite the Mosque-Madrass of Sultan Hassan and was architecturally conceived as a complement to the older structure. This was part of a concerted campaign by the 19th century rulers of Egypt to both associate themselves with the perceived glory of earlier periods in Egypt's Islamic history and to modernize the city.

The Al-Rifa'i Mosque was constructed in two phases over the period between 1869 and 1912.  It was originally commissioned to expand and replace the preexisting shrine of medieval era Islamic saint Ahmad al-Rifai’i. The shrine had been a pilgrimage site for locals who believed that the tomb had mystical healing properties.  The new structure was envisioned with a dual purpose as a house for relics of Sufi mysticism and a mausoleum for the royal family of Egypt. Over the course of its construction the architect, design, and purpose were changed.  But its interior appointments, mesmerizing color scheme, and soaring beauty remain to this day.

Next: "Alexandria and the Western Desert Oasis Loop"