Middle East Travel Diary 2010
My first stop was Memphis; not in Tennessee but about 24 kilometres south of the centre of Cairo. Cairo is a relatively young city in Egyptian terms, having been established as a Muslim city in 969AD. In the days of the pharaohs, Egypt’s capital was Memphis.
Today, there is little left of the ancient city apart from some statues that have been arranged conveniently in a small courtyard museum. There are a few huge statues of the famous pharaoh Ramses II, and a very impressive sphinx (see photo to the right). The sphinx is the second largest in Egypt (the largest being at Giza), but is remarkably well preserved, having been made from alabaster rather than the softer limestone used at Giza.
The central sight at Saqqara was the Step Pyramid of Zoser (see photo left), which was built in about 2625BC, making it the world’s oldest stone monument and the first pyramid. However, this was just one feature in a 7 square kilometre area of pyramids, tombs and temples. Having wandered around the Step Pyramid for a while, I then walked some distance to enter two of the structures, the small Pyramid of Titi and the Mastaba of Ti. (Word of the day: ‘mastaba’ = a kind of ancient Egyptian tomb that is a flat-roofed, rectangular structure for burying eminent people such as scribes, administrators, generals and sacred animals. The mastaba had some wonderfully fine bas relief sculptures of everyday life in ancient Egypt, some of which remarkably still contain traces of the original ochre paints used to colour the pictures.
The huge pyramids at Giza (three large one for pharaohs, plus six smaller ones for wives) are between 100 and 200 years younger than those at Saqqara. Their scale, however, is almost an order of magnitude greater. For example, the Great Pyramid of Khufu (also known as Cheops) was 146 metres high when it was first built, although the removal of the outer layer of limestone and subsequent erosion has reduced the height to 138 metres. Nonetheless, the pyramid remained the tallest structure of the world for 3,800 years (until the spire of Lincoln Cathedral was built in the 1300s).
Having explored Saqqara and Giza, it was time to return to Cairo. I returned at about 3:30 pm, and after a much needed drink of water, and took the short walk to Cairo Tower.
Much of Cairo is a high density mix of aging high rise buildings. At street level the city presents a somewhat grimy and decaying appearance, but from the top of Cairo Tower it looked magnificent. The Nile River and some nearby parklands give the city some much-needed splashes of colour, and the incessant amplified calls to prayer and sermons which are almost deafening at street level become part of the exotic hum of this vibrant city from the Tower.
All-in-all, it was an enjoyable day - but one that definitely very hot. Cairo’s forecast temperature for tomorrow is 41°C and the day that after is expected to reach 44°C. I’ll be going upcountry tomorrow where the temperatures are even higher. I expect that I’ll notice.
Saturday, 19 June 2010
Day 2 - Cairo, Egypt
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