A channel of the Nile River in Cairo taken from our tour bus
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We flew into Cairo on a Friday evening and spent two nights there. On Saturday we visited the Egyptian Museum and then went to see the pyramids that are just outside of city. The Sphinx is near by. On Sunday morning we left for Mt. Sinai. Cameras are not allowed inside the Egyptian Museum. The website http://www.virtual-egyptian-museum.org/ seems to have a nice collection of pictures of Egyptian artifacts if you are interested. |
Cairo is an extremely large city (over 20 million) but rather poor. There are some wide streets with 3 or more marked lanes in each direction often separated by a meridian. It was common to see men sweeping the edges of them with brooms. Outside of the central district, cars shared the road with donkey carts. Lane markers are just decorations. There are very few stop lights in the city. Consequently traffic does not stop and somehow just mixes at intersections. Horns are sounded frequently. Streets are jammed during rush hours. Pedestrians have to dart between cars to cross a street. At least on the we traveled on, after dark leaving ones headlights off is considered the sign of a professional driver. But we saw no accidents while on our bus trips.
Egypt is a poor country. While we didn't see beggars. at the pyramids, we were regularly approached by men and boys selling souvenirs. We observed that prices were reduced as we returned to the bus. Camel drivers are particularly notorious. Our tour guide told of a woman who went for a camel ride and then had to pay over $200 in order to get off the camel.
Our outstanding tour guide in Egypt was a wonderful Christian. He was proud of his country and even prouder of its role in Christianity. He reminded us that in "Biblical times", Egypt meant the Nile valley. The pyramids we saw are the oldest so they were there before Abraham went to Egypt. Hence Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and Jesus all saw the pyramids. In fact, Jesus had his own exodus from Egypt when Mary and Joseph returned to Israel after their escape to Egypt. The first monasteries were in Egypt as they were one of the way Christians could avoid persecution.
| The 3 oldest pyramids are just outside Cairo. Notice the smaller wife pyramid on the right. |
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The remains of a small wife pyramid. Pharaohs were allowed three wives. So each of the large pyramids has three adjacent smaller pyramids for their wives. Unfortunately many of the wife pyramids were destroyed by groups that wanted to use their rocks for new construction projects. |
The camel drivers are particularly notorious. One asked if we would like to have our picture taken with his camel. After taking the picture, he asked $50 dollars but might have settled for $10 which was still more than we wanted to pay. A park policeman stepped in to help settle the dispute. We ended up paying $2. |
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The Sphinx is nearby. Originally it had the typical beard we see on Pharaohs. But the British removed it and sent it to England. |
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Copyright 2010 James and Danielle Brink. Permission is given for non-commercial use.
Last revision: 4/5/2010