The final day – in Cairo
the final day – a long one
This was the last day and one that all people who come to Cairo live for – a visit to the Egyptian Museum. This place is a monument to the Egyptians of old – really old but as the only real treasures the World wants to see that the Egyptians have are the artifacts of King Tut then it appears that the Museum was built around them. But in reality because the Museum was built as a special purpose Museum, in 1891, before King Tut’s tomb was discovered, there is far more to the Museum than King Tut wiki ref here.
Walking into the foyer, fighting off the crowds who want to see the same thing you do the trick is not to get stuck behind a large tour group, and there are plenty of those. King Ramses greets you and the visitor is treated to a succession of statues that all look alike but really aren’t, but the average sightseer can’t see that. So the museum appears to be a collection of statues, relics and pieces of tombs with old painting on them.
But going up the staircase to the second floor we see the centrepiece, well we don’t really as half the artifacts from King Tut’s tomb have been moved to the new Museum that isn’t open yet. But the room with the gold pieces, the masks and and regalia, as well as the two inner coffins that were contained in the sarcophagus were mind boggling. One can just imagine the look on Howard Carter’s face when he saw them for the first time.
The problem for me with Egyptian antiquities is that they all look alike. Same design just different sizes and intricacy. But they have to be seen as part of life’s experience.
It was the same sensory experience when we visited the second sight of the day – the Egyptian Bazaar. This area of old Cairo is as seen in pictures – small streets lined with small shops selling gold, silver, clothes, spices, linens and all things Middle-Eastern. To be fair the people were not as pushy as we had been led to believe – just persistent. Keep walking and saying “No” was enough to be left alone.
The big drawback to today was having to negotiate two airports in one day. The constant screening by half-hearted and disinterested screeners was enough to make one tire of the processes very quickly. In a Country that has been beset with terrorist violence one can understand why they do it.
Last note to reader
Despite the cynicism that may shine through sometimes in this travelog it should be said that the organisation put on by Osiris Tours and its employees was magnificent. From the first navigation of the Cairo airport with Visa confusion that was quickly cleared up to the handoffs to various guides – Mohammed Saad and Khalifah and the others – Sharif and Ahmed, they all did a superb job and I would recommend them and Osiris Tours to anybody wanting to see Egypt on a tailor-made tour. The hotels that we stayed in were far more luxurious than we were used to and we enjoyed them all. The only negative about the week was the weather in Luxor – it was very hot and even Mahmoud the organiser couldn’t fix that! But he did set the tours up to start early to accommodate us with the heat – thank you.
Today’s Gallery
