WHERE CENTURIES COLLIDE

Vicki and Yusuf Bismilla at the Treasury Building inside the Petra canyon.

By DR VICKI BISMILLA

We have read about, watched videos of, and some of us, since childhood, have wondered how the pyramids were built and what it might be like to actually be there.

So recently, my husband and I decided to book a tour of Egypt and Jordan offered by the tour company Tripoppo. It was a very well-organized trip with knowledgeable guides who take the group to all the important historical places in luxury buses. The hotels in the Egypt part of the trip were very nice and, on the Jordan segment the hotels were excellent. Breakfasts and dinners were included in the plan and a few lunches as well. All the hotels served good meals with a wide selection for both vegetarians and non-vegetarians.

We checked the extended weather forecasts for both countries in the days before departure. The Cairo 14-day weather forecast was good but it’s easy to be fooled. The 24-degree December forecast was deceptive because that warmth is only experienced for a few hours around midday. Mornings, late afternoons, and evenings are cool to cold. The sun is bright, but the desert winds are chilly. So, while we didn’t overpack, we took some sweaters and scarves and, of course, the light December jackets that we wore to the Toronto airport were handy.

It is such a new experience to stand at the pyramids and look out at miles and miles of desert; and as we drove around, we saw serendipitous oases around which small towns have developed. The pyramids are incredible! It is remarkable to look at the huge blocks of rocks that were piled one on top of the other at heights of 139 metres. How that was done 3000 years ago is a point of study by archeologists and engineers and to us ordinary folk it is mind-boggling. In addition to just being there at each pyramid in quiet wonder, tourists are offered the distraction of climbing on camels for a short trot in the desert. I am always worried about the treatment of animals at tourist attractions. I have watched documentaries about dedicated animal advocates who have started sanctuaries for animals mistreated for tourist entertainment in many countries. So I observed the handlers of the camels at the pyramids, and they seemed to be kind to their camels. Each handler appeared to own or be dedicated to one or two of the camels and I watched them being fed and watered.

The pyramids and the Sphinx are awe-inspiring

The chilly and very dusty desert winds are definitely felt. Our Toronto Zoom host had warned us that throat infections, coughs and colds were common complaints from tourists so the over-the-counter (OTC) cough, cold, aches and pains meds we packed were useful. We certainly needed ours. This tour involves a lot of walking, over 13,000 steps a day and the pyramids, tombs, temples, and cobbled sidewalks are stone covered, rocky and uneven so eyes on the feet and very careful walking were essential. A good pair of walking shoes and one spare are needed because a twisted ankle or broken bone will ruin the whole trip. We were a group of 23 travellers, all very careful and everyone was tremendously supportive of one another.

It’s advisable to drink a lot of water but not tap water even in the best hotels. The five-star hotels provide each room with two bottles of water per day, but everywhere else water must be bought, two bottles for a dollar, so carrying a fair number of loose US dollars (USD) is advised. However, drinking from personal water bottles, that most tourists carry, is not permitted in restaurants. No water, no juice, no drinks at all are provided with restaurant and hotel meals, they must be purchased at the table. Alcohol is not available in most restaurants. For the long days of walking, bottled water is available for purchase on your bus, also two bottles for one USD, so it’s advisable to stock up on the bus each day. It’s also a good idea to have lots of single US dollar bills to buy odds and ends like juice boxes.

Egypt is a developing country which seems dichotomous to say seeing that we were visiting spectacular engineering feats by Egyptian architects and builders of 3000 years ago. But that is not dissimilar to comparisons of ancient India’s magnificent architectural marvels compared to the large swaths of poverty and lack of opportunity for millions of Indians today. For example, when touring the ruins of India’s ancient palaces, forts, castles, temples and hundreds of other architectural feats, we have seen sophisticated water systems and even basic air-conditioning using water pipes nearly 3000 years ago and today circumstances in India echo much of what we saw in today’s Egypt. There are indications of poverty-stress everywhere as seen in crumbling apartments, litter, and pollution in the rivers. However, as privileged tourists I believe we must be cautious not to judge.

In Cairo, the pyramid excursions were incredible. I know that people around the world marvel at how ancient Egyptian pyramids were built 3000 years ago without the modern equipment of today. While the tours do not include entry into pyramids in Cairo, that opportunity is given in Luxor. After our early morning flight to Luxor we boarded a cruise-boat which became our base for the next five days as it cruised up the Nile, stopping at key places for us to disembark and be taken to temples, tombs and ruins by bus. Luxor is where the elaborate tombs of pharaohs were built into mountains. The tombs of the pharaohs are stunning. When each pharaoh became king, he immediately started the process of planning his funeral. Tunnels were dug into mountains and decorated with carvings and sculptures by top artisans. The five tombs of the five Kings Rameses (I to V) in Luxor are exquisitely decorated, that of King Rameses the fifth in tomb “KV9” being the most ornate. King Tutankhamen became king at the age of nine and died at the age of eighteen. So, there wasn’t time to build a tomb as highly decorated as the others. His tomb is small but as we have all seen, his death mask is the most exquisite, most well known the world over and so is his sarcophagus, the most splendidly painted of all, in honour of the emotional loss of such a young boy king. While the mummified bodies have been removed to museums, some of the sarcophagi remain.

Photography of King Tutankhamen’s sarcophagus and other relics from his tomb were not permitted at the Cairo Museum. We took one of the framed picture of his well-known death mask at the entrance of the museum gallery dedicated to him.

Not only were kings honoured with these splendid tombs, so were queens. Queen Hatshepsut’s terraced temple, an intricate and exquisite tomb, was carved into a mountain, and not only does it contain carvings and etchings on the walls, it is also made up of complicated pillars and chambers. Queen Isis also has several temples dedicated to her and it’s interesting to see the carvings on the walls depicting the birthing chair that she used to give birth to her children vertically, and of her breast feeding her toddler.

The four-tiered cruise boat on the Nile was comfortable as a base. Visits to ancient temples at stopovers in towns each day were the focus of this history-exploring trip. An odd sight from the cruise boat is of vendors in little boats speeding alongside the huge cruise boat selling items to tourists on the cruise-boat. The vendors show off their ware and if a tourist wants to buy, he throws up the item in a plastic bag weighted with a little rock and the tourist throws down the money in the weighed bag and hopes that it lands in the vendor’s little boat.

Everywhere you go there are hundreds of vendors eager to sell you their wares, but caution must be practised since most of that stuff is imitation mass-produced souvenirs from faraway countries known to flood all markets around the world. The tour guide will take you to authentic government-approved manufacturers of such things as genuine papyrus, Egyptian cotton, etc. The making of papyrus is a painstaking process, but it keeps to the age-old traditions from thousands of years ago. The guide also took us to a carpet making workshop and watching a little boy at the loom was touching.

One of the options we had was to opt out of certain excursions. So we did not join the three-and-half hour each way bus trip from the berthed cruise boat to Abu Simbel, the temple ruin site where Indiana Jones was filmed. We chose instead to enjoy the sunshine on the top deck of the cruise boat and catch up on much needed rest. The tour was quite rigorous, waking up early and walking an average of 13,000 steps a day. We did, however, that afternoon visit the Nubian Village. For this our guide rented a small boat to cross the Nile to its western bank. This incredible community has built a little town specific to their culture and practices. The brightly painted schoolhouse is such a welcoming place for the children and the headmaster gave us a lesson too in one of the friendly classrooms. Their market and its narrow laneways crowded with camels transporting traders and shoppers is a unique sight. We were taken to the home of a large family with beautiful yet rustic rooms and offered Nubian snacks and teas.

Our tour of Egypt’s very important Aswan Dam, constructed between 1960 and 1970, was historically and politically informative. At the time that it was being built, it caused tensions between and among several countries and contributed to the Cold War. It is located at the northern border of Sudan and Egypt and is fed by the waters of the Nile and Lake Nasser. Even today, the dam has exacerbated tensions between Sudan and Egypt over its Nile water source. Sudan has sided with Ethiopia’s building of a major dam that may impact Egypt’s access to Nile water for Aswan.

One of the occurrences to be aware of on the tour is that even if you book and pay for some options there may be circumstances that prevent the outing from occurring. For instance, we’d paid for a hot air balloon ride, but it had to be cancelled due to poor visibility. The tour company sent us reimbursement by cheque.

After the five-day Nile cruise, we flew to Amman, Jordan, a totally different country, pristine and uncluttered. The Jordanian guide explained that a lot of the country’s efficiency, cleanliness, productivity, economic success and absence of begging has to do with the humanitarian approach of their present king and queen.

After landing in Amman, we were taken by luxury bus south to the Wadi Rum desert. The Wadi Rum desert is spectacular and the silence is serene. It is believed to be the location where Sir Thomas Edward Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) wrote his Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1922). The local desert guides took us on open backed jeeps across the desert for a two-hour tour. The huge, convoluted rock formations are incredible. We walked on the richly red desert sand, up the huge sand dunes and when we reached the top the feeling of triumph and achievement was exhilarating!

The sand dunes are high and a lot of fun to climb to the top. My playful husband decided to roll down the dune covering himself completely in red desert sand! The beautiful “cave” hotel we stayed in that night was built in a valley right up against the surrounding rocky hills.

The next day was a tour of spectacular Petra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the seven wonders of the world. This archeological site dates back to 300 B.C. The three-hour walk through the winding Siq (canyon) of Petra and back up is a magnificent experience. The astonishing 80-metre-high rock formations on either side through the walk are thought to have been formed over three million years. The colours of the rock face vary from black, to beige, to mauve to red. Some of the shrines and of course the treasury building (used to process money from traders thousands of years ago) were built by the communities who actually lived among the rocks. There is a huge amount of information about Petra that can be found through your search engine, but the emotional feeling of actually walking through the canyon is deeply moving.

After Petra we spent two nights at a resort on the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea has the lowest elevation and is the lowest body of water on the surface of Earth. That rest and respite were much needed and appreciated. We covered ourselves in dead sea mud and floated on the recuperative saline waters of the Dead Sea.

On the final day we were driven back to Amman by bus and on the way stopped at the Church of St. George where we saw what is believed to be the earliest surviving original map of the Holy Land in a mosaic floor dating back to 560 AD. Then we proceeded to Mount Nebo, 710 metres above sea level, at the summit of which, the Bible says, Moses saw the Promised Land. Here we felt the cold mountain air for sure. The top of Mount Nebo provides a breathtaking view of the Jordan Valley. There is a small, quiet church at the summit, built in the Byzantine era, which still stands and prayers are still conducted there. We were then taken to a nearby co-op that trains wheelchair-bound men and women to learn the trade of making stone mosaics. Both the previous Queen Noor and the present-day Queen Rania started several community education and training initiatives such as this one.

Yusuf walking through Petra Siq or canyon.

Back in Amman we took a tour of the city and though I did not comprehend why, we were driven through the neighbourhoods of its most prosperous residents and their luxurious properties. Then to the Amman Citadel. This ruin contains historical evidence of various occupations from the neolithic period, through the bronze age, the Assyrian and Byzantine empires, through both early Roman and Muslim relics and ruins of family homes, sculptures, museum sites and an amphitheatre. But perhaps most touching was the sight from the citadel across the road to hundreds of recently built low rise apartment buildings to house the hundreds of Palestinian refugees crossing over to Jordan. They have been given properly built apartments to replace the tents in which they were forced to live upon arrival.

From Amman we flew back to Cairo for a late-night connecting flight home to Toronto.

This was a once-in-a-lifetime trip, the kind of trip one has on a bucket list. I frivolously remember the 2007 Rob Reiner-directed movie The Bucket List in which the pyramids featured as a coveted destination. The pyramids, the Nile, the Sahara desert, Wadi Rum and Petra are all places we have read about throughout our lives and we are grateful to have been able to see them once in our lives. Although many travellers may like to attempt the trip on their own, plot their own route, make their own reservations and do an excellent job, for us the organized group tour was the preferred way.

COVER STORY

WHERE CENTURIES COLLIDE