The Mohammed Ali Mosque, built in 1815, looks like a palace. Yellow flowering trees welcome us on the grounds. The builder didn't want the mosque to be similar to the Persian mosques of Turkey. So alabaster decorates the walls instead of blue tiles and looms were brought in so that carpets didn't have to be imported from Turkey. The only import is the crystal chandeliers from the Czech Republic. The members of the Egyptian royal family were born here. Osman, our guide, teaches us about the dynasties that ruled this place for centuries, the people who built temples and mosques to their gods, and the influx of the Greeks to this land. We cover many years. As we listen to the history, I notice a man on scaffolding cleaning the inside and outside of the glass light fixtures with the Egyptian version of blue Windex. It appears that thoroughness is more important than speed. He is pushed from fixture to fixture by a lady below when she is not vacuuming. Someone else uses a mop to clean windows. They will be in this big building all day. We learn about dating a mosque by the style of the minarets, about the four people's names on the discs in the corners near the ceiling, and about different leaders in the ruling armies from the beginning of times until today. My brain is full, and it's not even lunchtime.
A local perfumery is our next stop. The owner of the business tells us where the flowers are grown, how the oils are extracted, which oils are the base of the international perfumes, which oils are medicinal, and which oils are relaxing. Surrounded by delicate crystal perfume bottles, we are given mint tea while we make our selections.
We eat at another shish-kabob place, outside with ladies making our pita bread in brick ovens sitting at its entrance.
We eat at another shish-kabob place, outside with ladies making our pita bread in brick ovens sitting at its entrance.
Memphis is the City of the White Wall or the Beautiful Monument. Everything we see here is from 1550-1100 BC. And everything we see here is massive - columns and a statue of Ramses II (an army man, he was the first to sign a peace treaty in history). Abraham was here more than 3,000 years ago. Mind boggling.
Sakkara was built on a higher ground, away from the city, after it was discovered that burying the dead in one's home wasn't healthy. The cemetery in ancient times had to be on the edge between the desert land and the green land. Zoser was the first pharaoh to build the stepped pyramid at Sakkara. The first domed ceiling in the world was made here. Mastaba is a tomb like a house. Noblemen were buried in a mastaba. We are off-road now on our way to see a fancy tomb. Our main source of what life was like in ancient times are the tombs of these noblemen. We walk into a tomb and see ancient scenes in relief on the walls. In the noble's son's room, the pictures are colored. Protected from the sun, the paint remains. We see a picture of a nobleman eating bread. "Pet haw" is the ancient Egyptian word for bread. The words pita and pizza were developed from this word.
We walked into the oldest stone structure in the world. The walls are smooth and restored. The columns are ribbed like those in Rome that are so familiar to us, actually the columns in Rome copied these. The persistent vendors (that's being polite) give us a story or two to remember.
Our evening meal is served on a boat floating along the Nile River. The whirling dervish was fantastic! There was an upper level deck inviting us for an escape when the music got too loud in the dining room below. It's been a full second day close to the Nile in Egypt.
Our evening meal is served on a boat floating along the Nile River. The whirling dervish was fantastic! There was an upper level deck inviting us for an escape when the music got too loud in the dining room below. It's been a full second day close to the Nile in Egypt.
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