This is a subsidiary page. If you haven't been there already, the main page is the place to start.
If you see this early on, you will wonder if you are seeing double. In the past when creating trip albums, I've incorporated the best pictures first, and then built the account of the trip around them. This time... thank you, I think it will work better... I've typed a rough outline of what we did. That will remain as a page of its own. This page started life as a clone, and will be filled with pictures relevant to individual dates, events. And the "skeleton" will gradually be whittled back. That's the plan, anyway. We'll see?
I will concentrate images of general interest here, and do a similar page which will contain photos more of interest to the trip's participants, e.g. us with various people we met.
November 4: Our hotel, the Sofitel, seen here from the water during our felucca luncheon of the 5th.
November 5: Boarded two feluccas for an elegant lunch under (gentle) sail on the Nile.
November 6: Pyramids...
Solar boat museum
Special "up close" visit to Sphinx.
Egyptian Museum of Antiquities... No photos!!... including Mummies Room and Tutankhamen's treasures.
No photographs are allowed inside this treasure house. How sad. Istanbul has it right on this point. (See my page from visit there for why I think the policy in Cairo is wrong.)
November 7:Mosque of Ibn Tulun... oldest in Cairo not "renovated" out of recognition over the years. (Only two older.) Also subject of Tarek's doctoral thesis.
A poor picture, actually! The minaret is NOT part of the mosque of Ibn Tulun, and we are only seeing the outer "buffer" area. The mosque proper is behind the wall you see at the left, which is the northern wall. But gives sense of the mosque's style!
Detail from inside Ibn Tulun mosque, eastern wall... towards which the faithful pray.
1:30: Lunch at al-Azhar Park, overlooking the citadel, with it's mosque in the Turkish style.
Dome of al-Azhar mosque
Evening: Dinner at the atmospheric Naguib Mahfouz restaurant in Khan al-Khalili bazaar area, followed by stroll down Shari' al-Muez, which was the main street of mediaeval Cairo, and visit to a mosque- become- museum.
3pm- Visit to Roman "amphitheater"... more correctly called "opera". Also on display at this site, artifacts retrieved from the harbor at Alexandria, including this sphinx of Ramesses II, the "great" Ramesses, 1279-1213 BC. (I stood 18 inches from his mortal remains...
(photo courtesy of Wiki Commons)... in the Cairo museum of antiquities. He had red hair. Even preliminary study of ancient Egypt will bring you across his name again and again. Heard of Ozymandias? Same chap, but the Greeks could never let one name do when two could be inflicted on students of history.) Sadly the original head was lost sometime in the past 3,200 years. I hope you like my replacement, even if I did inflict a gender change on him. (The sphinx had inscriptions which allowed the attribution I've reported.) Is that really Ramesses II in the Cairo museum? Well, if it isn't, then someone's been very clever, because DNA studies of this and many other mummies all "fit" together to suggest that yes, these really are the people we are told they are. Tutankhamen's mummy, by the way, is still in his tomb, even if it isn't as it was left by his worshippers. Seems right, not that I'm of the "send all Egyptian artifacts back to Egypt" and "respect" the (old) mummies" camp. (I feel differently about mummies of more recent... say less than 500 years) origin.)
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After a great morning in Alexandria... photos to come... quick visit to area of citadel of Kayet Bai/ Quaitbay, built on site of Pharos lighthouse. (View from southeast).
November 10: Visit to headquarters of Arab League, where we had an interesting and informative meeting with a senior diplomat of the League. After the meeting, we visited what was until recently the supreme meeting place of the League... a gorgeous room, in the modest, elegant Arab style, but today used less due to the problems of traffic and security arising from central Cairo location.
November 11, morning: Visited the impressive "American University in Cairo", in New Cairo, on the eastern edge of the town. ("American" in style of education, and from some of the funding. Not the university for Americans in Cairo).
Lunch "a la students" in food court... also in the American style, complete with McDonalds...
November 12: Flew to Aswan.
Just sample (Philae) for you.... more to come.
Visited the Aswan granite quarry, source for many things seen in Cairo, from ancient times. Also site of the failed biggest- ever obelisk. The small image has the obelisk highlighted in blue.
About 15:10 arrived at our sumptuous cruise ship, the Abercrombie and Kent Nile Adventurer. The ship was excellent in every regard, but in particular all of the staff were friendly, competent, helpful.
Good lunch aboard Nile Adventurer, followed by delightful felucca sail up Nile and back again. A very welcome relaxing interlude following some busy days.
This was one of several lads who were paddling out to the tourist feluccas, in hopes of some baksheesh. They would grab the side of the boat like remoras, and ride along as long as they were allowed to, some of them singing for their supper. Accepting the money and not losing it, all the while hanging onto the tourist boat took some doing! Yes- that's a sheet of about 2" thick plastic foam (rigid) he is riding.
Fear not! I KNOW there's a big gap in the story here. More to come!
17:40- Luxor Temple, after nightfall, beautifully lit up. Our last bit of antiquity before returning to Cairo.
This is far from complete... many more photos to come. At least three whole categories barely touched, as yet:
© TK Boyd 09/10. Click here to contact him.
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Don't forget: This is just a sub-page of my description of the Cornell Adult University trip to Egypt, November 2010.
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