Splendors of Egypt & the Nile

When I asked Janeen what were the first thoughts she had when I said Egypt.  She replied with Desert, Nile River, Pharaohs and Pyramids.  On a recent UniWorld Adventure (Splendors of Egypt & the Nile) we learned about all of those things and a lot more.

It’s clear we didn’t know much about Egypt.  According to Wikipedia, Egypt is officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, and the country spans the northeast corner of Africa and the Sinai Peninsula in the southwest corner of Asia. Cairo, the capital and largest city of Egypt, was our first destination on this trip and is home to more than 10 million people.  The Greater Cairo metropolitan area is the 12th-largest in the world by population with over 22.1 million people.  This includes the Giza pyramid complex and the ancient cities of Memphis and Heliopolis which are near-by.  With one of the longest histories of any country, tracing its heritage along the Nile Delta back to the 6th–4th millennia BCE and considered to be the cradle of civilizations, Ancient Egypt saw some of the earliest developments of writing, agriculture, ubanization, organized religion and central government.

After getting picked up at the airport and checked into our hotel – The Four Seasons!  The following morning, we met with our Egyptologist, Assem and had a preview of some of the sites we might visit plus the beginning of lots of history we were to receive over the course of this trip.  After meeting together, there were about 24 in our group, we boarded the first of many bus trips to various sites.

The bus did a general tour of Cairo eventually finding its way to Old Citadel of Salah al-Din with the Alabaster Mosque of Muhammad Ali.  

Perched high upon a deep slope is the historical Salah-al Din Citadel, also known as the Cairo Citadel, is one of the most elegant fortresses of the Middle Ages, offering a bird’s eye view of the city. The citadel was intended to instill fear in and intimidate Crusaders who would dare to violate the city’s peace.  It was the seat of government in Egypt and the residence of its rulers for nearly 700 years from the 13th century until the 19th century. 

Situated within the overall Citadel complex is the Muhammad Ali Mosque.  Built by Muhammad Ali Pasha, who was the founder of modern Egypt and ruled Egypt between 1805 and 1848, built the Great Mosque inside the Citadel between 1832 and 1857. 

 It is one of the most visible mosques and landmarks in the City. Unlike the traditional Cairene architecture that preceded it, the mosque was built in an entirely Ottoman and European-influenced style, further setting it apart from other monuments. It is sometimes called the Alabaster Mosque due to the prominent use of alabaster as a covering for its walls.

After this visit, we headed to the Egyptian Museum, the oldest archaeological museum in the Middle East, which houses the largest collection of Pharaonic antiquities in the world.

The museum displays an extensive collection spanning from the Predynastic Period (5000 BCE) to the Greco-Roman Era (642 CE).  The museum was inaugurated in 1902 by Khedive Abbas Helmy II, and has become a historic landmark in downtown Cairo, and home to some of the world’s most magnificent ancient masterpieces.  This was our first exposure to the art, culture and history of Egypt.  

A whole row of Sarcophagus and other items – many of which celebrated the gods and were found in various tombs.

Funerary Masks – These two painted cartonnage masks were found in the tomb of Sennedjem. One of them belongs to his wife, lyneferti, and the other probably belongs to one of his daughters in law. These masks were placed over the mummified and wrapped face of the deceased in order to identify them and to protect the body.

The museum houses the splendid statues of the great kings Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure, the builders of the pyramids at the Giza plateau and an extensive collection of papyri, sarcophagi and jewelry, and other objects.  

Of course, one of the highlights was the ability to see some of Tutankhamun’s treasures (many are being moved to the Grand Egyptian Museum which we will see later in this trip).

After visiting the Museum we headed back to the Hotel for a relaxing evening.