It took about a ½ hour to get to Saqqara, a fine drive on a nice morning. When we climbed out of the air conditioned minivan the warmth of the summer sun was strong. The girls are still getting used to the heat. Again it was different from 20 years ago. Now there was a fine museum at the entrance to the Saqqara pyramids. We walked through it looking at the pharonic artifacts. Hey, it’s a statue of Imenhotep, the most famous ‘renaissance man’ in the world and the power behind the throne of Pharaoh. He is the one who designed the first pyramid. Mummies are here and there. Look a statue of a nude man! Mohamed explains that it was a servant who worked in food service back in the day. Whether you stomped grapes or made bread, you had to do it with no clothes on. The girls are disgusted.
We go into a video room and see a short National Geographic film on the ancient history of Saqqara, narrated by Omar Sherrif. Well done. Now it is time to venture into the sun to see the actual step pyramid, the one Imenhotep designed for Zoser. There are groups working on digging and cleaning on site. Archeology is happening as we look on. All of the mounds of sand that we see in the desert? Those are tells, buried archeological treasure. Someday more will be discovered and the history books will need to be revised again.
Hey, what’s this writing in this obscure corner of an ancient stone? Why it’s the oldest graffiti in the world! It seems that about 3,000 years ago a tourist came to view the great pyramids and temples at Saqqara and was so impressed he wrote something to the effect of ‘I was here’ before he left [I got the following excerpt online]; Graffiti from those belonging to what may be deemed as the “middle class” dating to Ramesses II's reign has been found all over the Memphite necropolis. One such example, belonging to a Treasury-Scribe named Hednakht reads:
“Year 47, 2nd month of winter, day 25 [January 1232 BC], the Treasury-Scribe Hednakht, son of Tjenro and Tewosret, came to take a stroll and enjoy himself in the west of Memphis, along with his brother Panakht...He said: 'O all you gods in the West of Memphis...and glorified dead...grant a full lifetime in serving your good pleasure, a goodly burial after a happy old age, like yourself...”
Tourists don’t write graffiti like this nowadays . . .
After Saqqara we are heading back to Cairo and Mohamed suggests we stop and see a place where rugs are handwoven, mostly by children. We agree. I can see this will be a pattern over the next number of days. It is not unusual for guides and businesses to strike up a ‘deal’ whereby the guide brings his clients to the business. Since there are 100’s, even 1000’s of rug making establishments, this is a way for one rug weaver to get ahead of the others. A symbiotic relationship. One can only hope that tourists like ourselves also are not getting ripped off. Mohamed has taken us to places that he says have the seal of approval of the Ministry of Tourism. There are certain standards involved.
We like the rugs, especially the silk ones. The manager says ‘no pressure to buy’. The Egyptians have learned that turns Westerners off. I’m sure it goes against his business nature but he is pretty good at being low key. The basement has the looms and the children at the looms. They are village children being taught this trade to help their families survive. The income allows the children to stay in school (otherwise they would be forced to quit school and work). One little girl, Noori, is working at the looms and invites Amani to sit down and try to weave the way she is doing. She is dressed in a headscarf, a hijab. She has a winning smile and friendly eyes so Amani sits down. We leave them to go upstairs to look at the ‘showroom’ of rugs. Amani says Noori asked her name and when she heard ‘Amani’, she started talking in Arabic, likely thinking that anyone named Amani would know Arabic. Amani found out she was 15, but she didn’t look it. In the end we didn’t buy any rugs, they were quite nice but expensive.
We drive back into Cairo and the girls are sleeping by the time we arrive at Coptic Cairo. Sophia doesn’t want to wake up. It makes for some grumpiness all around. The ancient church of the Virgin Mary, also known as the ‘hanging church’ because it was built over an ancient Roman guard tower. The church was under renovation. We also saw St. Sergius church and the Greek Orthodox church of St. George.
Finally it was time to eat. Off we went to KFC for lunch. Don’t worry, we’ll eat Egyptian food soon. The girls needed to get McDonalds and other western food for lunch first so they can go back to Addis and tell everyone they ate at McD’s and other fine dining establishments. We are happy to oblige because it is somewhat cheaper than a nice restaurant (but more expensive than street food).
After lunch we stopped in at a perfume shop, the Golden Eagle Perfume shop in Giza. Mohamed always asks if we want to stop and if we don’t it’s no problem for him. So I feel like he is doing this for us. At any rate the girls and Wanda enjoyed the experience. The salesman was good, he showed us how he only sells the real oil essence, not like some in the Khan Il Khalili which might have up to 70% alcohol. Even western perfumes do. He took one perfume spray bottle, lit a match and pumped the bottle, the spray turned into a big fireball. Impressive but hard to know if it was accurate.
We all tried the different oil essences on our arms. We finally bought some oils; sandalwood (for me as an oil for my joints), jasmine, secrets of the desert, five secrets and mint (Abby got this for medicinal purposes as well). 3 LE for 1 gram, not cheap but relative to the perfumes of the west, not expensive. It was a fun time for the girls as they enjoyed the oils of the Orient and the fancy glass bottles to put the perfumes in.
After a quick stop at a pharmacy for Sophia we headed back to our hotel where the girls once again rewarded themselves with a long swim in the pool. They didn’t want to go out to supper afterwards so we ordered in for them (sandwiches and salad) and Wanda and I went to the Thai restaurant in the hotel compound. The food was excellent and we had a great dinner for two. On top of all this from the day, Team USA had won their World Cup match against Algeria 1-0 with an exciting goal in the 91st minute. USA and England are through to the round of 16 so I was happy going to supper.
No complaints about going to bed these days. Everyone went down with nary a peep. A big day tomorrow in Islamic Cairo.
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