Sweet: If this was my last trip, Egypt the perfect destination

<b>By Guinn Sweet</b><br><a href="mailto:sweettalk@mineralwellsindex.com">sweettalk@mineralwellsindex.com</a>

Someone once said, “There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second.”

It sounds a bit like something GrandDaddy would say, and today I can say that I have been successful in accomplishing both aims.

On Nov. 3, daughter Elaine and I boarded a plane as the first leg of a trip that I have been aiming toward for the past several years. We were headed for Egypt!

This was going to be a very special trip because it would probably be the last of several trips we had taken over the years and it would complete a goal of touching foot together on every continent, excluding the polar areas.

The fact that Elaine was spending the money for it was a further incentive for enjoying it, since she is known in our family as our “stingy” one. This journey would be the climax of a long-planned and well-defined way of life.

After many hours in the air, as we approached Cairo’s Heliopolis Airport, the overture begins … the curtain rises with our first glimpse of the city’s crowding closely around the outskirts of the airport landing area. The revelation continued with our first sight of the distant pyramids of Giza on our bus ride to the hotel “oasis.”

We found, right away, that the weather was summery and mild, that female tourists were allowed to wear trousers or even shorts and go bare-headed without offending the largely Muslim population. We also were given the opportunity to change our money for 5.5l LE (Egyptian pound) for one U.S. dollar.

Often when one makes preparation for a first visit to a certain destination, the study of the culture, history, geography and other detailed aspects of that place make it so familiar to the senses that the actual experience has almost no surprises. That is not true with a visit to Egypt. It is impossible to wrap the imagination around data until it reaches familiarity with 5,000-year history which is still in tensile evidence in the sight, sound and touch of today’s Egyptian reality.

For a great majority of the Egyptian people, there is still a viable residual of the deity of the Pharaohs, a sustained respect for the original templar structure and a remnant of the past in dress, mores and transport. In many areas, they remain the subjects of their long-dead god-kings. The multitude of tourists has changed the basic culture very little, being little more than spectators of the continuing drama of Egyptian life … except for the U.S. dollar.

We became extremely aware of this fact on our first excursion, a day-long tour beginning early the first morning following our arrival. For the next few days and nights we would be sight-seers at the various temples, mortuary structures and tombs of the pyramids, museums, bazaars, and minarets of the muslims as well as the country side with farms, papyrus fields and animal herds, and fishermen on the river.

The first sights included the three large pyramids, and several smaller ones, on the Giza plateau above the city of Cairo. The size of these structures is unbelievable. They are the only remaining physical evidence of the Seven Wonders of the World. The largest, the Cheops, or Great Pyramid tomb, is the world’s largest freestanding structure. It is truly a miracle of design and proportion. Evidence of the presence and slave labor of the Israelites is confirmed, but that their labor was either on the tombs of lesser royalty figures, or on mortuary tombs.

The most awesome of the facts of these buildings is that they all, regardless of size, have the same precise degree of slant of the outer walls, even with the handling of stones weighing hundreds of tons each. It is thought that these buildings were built by thousands of volunteer workers who gave their labor in lieu of payment of taxes.

Before we left the pyramids, Elaine suggested we take a camel ride, available a short distance away. I was not really agog about it, but I agreed to walk a mile for a camel with her.

There must have been some misinterpretation, because while I was waiting for Elaine to mount, the camel driver picked me up bodily and placed me on a kneeling animal before I could object. In no time, I found myself rocking back and forth, hanging on to the saddle, both in front and in back and expecting to fall to my death at the next step. Fortunately I was able to remain on board for the seven-minute ride!

Just down in the valley, nearer Cairo, stands the Sphinx, weathered by time, winds and other unknown assaults, noseless but proud. It is in this valley that the museum dedicated to papyrus (pronounced puh-PAHY-ruhs) is located. There was a demonstration of the technique of making paper shown and articles of “genuine papyrus” were sold.

Before we left the environs of Cairo, its streets crowded with traffic of cars, trucks, buses and animal-drawn vehicles, we visited the National Museum, filled with the ancient history of Egypt. The next morning, early, we boarded a plane for Aswan to begin our Nile River trip to Luxor (formerly Thebes), where we would visit various temples and mosques.

The length of the Nile, from its two sources in Uganda (the White) and Ethiopia (the Blue) is measured as 4,184 miles. It is obviously the longest river in the world, and just as obviously, we would not travel its entire length in the four days of sailing allotted to us. It flows through nine countries and discharges, on the average, about 300 million cubic meters of water each day. The banks on each side were a constant contrast. On the west side, there were palm trees, papyrus fields presenting lush green growth, an occasional village complete with minaret, farms, women doing laundry in the river and animals. Directly across, on the east bank, sand dunes rose to the heights of Brazos Valley hills and stretched for miles along the waterside. Occasional houses and farm buildings appeared, along with animals and fishermen along the sandy way.

Our three days in Luxor was an exercise in tourism, with a visit to the temple of Karnak, Where hordes of tourists are ruining the place with touching, sitting on and taking photos, dropping litter and disrespecting the history. Of course, there were workmen, replacing paving stones, creating opportunities for unforgettable viewing and great awe.

The temple, “Ipet-isut” is the most select of places. It was thought to have been built by Pharaoh Amenhotep III in 1391-1351 B.C., but was in use by 30 pharaohs between the Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt to the Greco-Roman Egypt of the Ptolemies.

Karnak is still in the process of being unearthed, having been discovered by Europeans. It is the largest ancient religious site in the world and the second most visited after the Giza pyramids. Only one part of three is open to the public.

The approach to the temple is lined by the “Avenue of the Sphinxes” a rowed collection ram-headed sphinxes. After another day of walking the streets of Luxor, and doing a bit of sightseeing of the general public, it was time to start home on a trip that would keep us awake and remembering for the rest of our lives. The memory of small children offering to pose for our cameras for “a dollah?” of both men and women in long robes (men in white, women in black), with turbaned heads and burdens on heads and shoulders, will remain vibrantly in our future.

If this truly is the last trip that I take with Elaine, my roaming daughter, then it has been a great way to finish. I am fully gratified with our past experiences. But, anyone out there would like to go to Ireland?

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