Alexandria, our gateway to the pyramids

Our sail in to Alexandria brought us through a very busy container harbor to the feet of the city historically besieged by Julius Caesar and Napoleon.  

It only has a few remnants of the magnificent ancient city founded by Alexander the Great in 332 BC.  Over the centuries it was subject to earthquakes and its low elevation on the Nile Delta makes it vulnerable to rising sea levels. What is left has been besieged by the chaotic Egyptian government.  The unfinished, abandoned, and derelict buildings seem to be the most prevalent architectural feature in modern Egypt.

 One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Lighthouse, or Pharos of Alexandria stood for centuries as one of the tallest man-made structures in the world.  Badly damaged by several earthquakes, the remaining stones were used in 1480 to build the Citadel of Qaitbay (seen in the distance on the left).

 As we drove through town, we passed the tomb of the unknown soldier.

There was a celebration going on as we passed.

 The 132 mile bus ride to Cairo was about 3 hours long.  When we boarded the bus, we were quite disappointed that the windows were very dirty, which made picture taking an exercise in futility.  By the end of the day driving through a rain/dust storm, we understood why washing the windows would be equally as futile.   Despite the conditions, we had to take a photo of these conical structures which we saw every few miles. The guide explained that they housed pigeons raised as food.

We rode through miles of agricultural land interspersed by the occasional unfinished or abandoned building.

I'm including two photos of the poorly built and still unfinished housing blocs to show that they were everywhere one looked.  Developers looking to make a quick profit from the demand for housing in a rapidly rising population, built without permits or adhering to safety standards.  Many residents invested their life savings to get one of these apartments which may never be completed. 

Now the government wants to tear down many of the 1.5 million unsafe, illegal, and unoccupied buildings, but doing so will create great social unrest among the city's 20 million residents.

The first part of our visit to Cairo was to see The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, built in 1902.  It contains 120,000 items, tracing 5000 years of Egyptian history.







Even without the price of admission, one can enjoy many of the artifacts scattered around the museum grounds.
 

It would take weeks to see all that is on display.  Many other objects are held in storage.  The collection has outgrown its space and a new museum is being built adjacent to the Giza Plateau in the shadow of the Great Pyramid.  We drove past it on our way, but thought the advertised partial opening date of May 2018 was totally unachievable.

The current museum is poorly maintained.  Much of what is on display had no easily visible description, so I don't have any information to accompany the photos.  This is merely a tiny sample of items found there. 

We paid a fee to take photos, but the best Tutankhamun artifacts are in a special room where photography is prohibited.  The items in the photos above are from his tomb, but not in the restricted collection.

 I'm breaking my resolve to use only my own photos with this one of King Tut's funeral mask.  We saw it, but couldn't take our own photos.  It is really this beautiful.

















This is the main ground floor hall.  The scope of the items on display is overwhelming.  So much effort went into the preparation of the pharaohs for the afterlife that we have a rich record of this ancient civilization.

Learning about the destinations listed for this trip helped me realize that the pyramids don't stand in isolation far from modern life.  The Giza Plateau lies at the very edge of Cairo, but it still surprised me to see the pyramids in the back yard of the city.

Here is the obligatory "We were here!" photo. It was taken by one of our bus-mates, but there were many locals around who wanted the honor--for a fee.  We've had to adjust to the culture of these developing nations which includes hawkers and venders at every tourist location.  I've learned to avoid eye contact and just keep walking, or if I really want to buy a souvenir, decide beforehand what it's worth to me and wait until they come down to my price.

This photo shows the scale of the blocks used to build the structures.

Of course, the pyramids are breathtaking, but the camels are so darn cute!

I'd ridden a camel in Petra, so I've checked it off my bucket list, otherwise, it would be pretty tempting.  One fellow tried to talk me into riding his nice camel he called Daisy.

David was taken by surprise to see the roads and walkways that have been built to ease the access to these monuments.  He had thought we would be brought to the edge of the plateau, then let out to trudge through the sand.  

 Egypt is working hard to entice tourists to come and see their treasures.  There are new roads that allow viewing from all vantage points.

The Great Pyramid of Khufu, or Cheops, (on the left) is the oldest and only remaining of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.  It is said to have been built around 2560 BC by a workforce of 200,000 and contains 2.3 million granite blocks.  It was originally covered with a smooth limestone casing, but earthquakes loosened the casing and what fell to the base was used in the middle ages as building material in Cairo.

When I was very young, the pictures of the sphinx that I saw showed only the head and shoulders rising out of the sand.  I was so shocked years later when I saw newer photos that showed its long paws that had been unearthed.  

Up close and personal.

The sphinx sits facing east in front of the Pyramid of Khafre which still shows some of the limestone casing at the top.  Coming to see this pyramid complex is yet another adventure I never thought I would have.  

We had a police escort that changed as we passed from one governate to another, striving to smooth our way in a country where lane lines are described as "decoration".  The explanation for the armed security was to let us know that Egypt is a safe place for tourism.  At the end of our return trip, we drove through the streets of Alexandria which were buzzing with nightlife.  Many of the people we passed smiled and waved.  Our guide said that we were the first large tour group to come in many years and the locals are happy to have us come and boost their economy.  Personally, I will feel more at ease traveling in Egypt when I don't see guns everywhere.