by Pete Barba with contributions by Drew Barba

Pete Marvels

I thought I understood the terms “old” and “ancient”, but then I went to Egypt.  When I was in 7th grade, I went to England on an exchange program.  I remember being amazed that the house I was staying in was built in the 1500s; I thought that was so ancient.  Having grown up in Philly, to me old is Independence Hall and Betsy Ross’s house, both about 250 years old.  Even Jamestown in Virginia, one of the original European settlements in the Americas, was only established 400 years ago.  

On this trip we’ve been to Bavaria with castles that are 800 years old.  Then Greece with the 2,500 year old Parthenon.  Now we enter Egypt whose recorded history dates back over 5,000 years to a time so remote we can barely grasp it.  Their civilization is staggeringly ancient; the pyramids were built around 2,500 years BC.  We are closer in time to the life of Christ, than he was to the construction of the pyramids.  Now that’s old.

Even more staggering to me is the engineering marvels that are the pyramids and temples. 2.3 million blocks each weighing 3 tons had to be quarried, shaped, moved, placed and mortared.  Egyptologists have estimated that when the Great Pyramid of Giza was being built, a new stone block was placed every 3 minutes!  The final structure is 750 feet on each side, stands at a height of almost 500 feet, and held the record for the world’s tallest man-made structure for 3,800 years.  This Wonder of the Ancient World was constructed without modern math, power tools, or computers.  Just ponder that ingenuity next time you struggle to assemble a piece of Costco furniture.  

Finally, there is the miracle that these marvels are still there for us to explore and enjoy.  The curse of Egypt is the dry, sandy environment.  But the blessing for the rest of us is that the shifting sands over the millennia have buried and protected thousands of sites that continue to be discovered, and there are even places where the pigment is still as vivid as the day it was applied.  Incredible.

Cairo

We started our adventure in Cairo, which is like any other huge city.  It’s chaotic, stressy and overwhelms the senses.  Thankfully, we knew this in advance and planned a short stop only to visit the Egyptian Museum and the Pyramids of Giza.  In the museum, we saw the staggering amount of gold that King Tut encased himself in for all eternity, only to be unearthed against his wishes in the early 1900s.  So much for his “final resting place”.  Then we explored the pyramids, even climbing inside one of them for a claustrophobic, hot and sweaty adventure under millions of tons of sandstone.  As we scrambled through tight passageways, we prayed it wouldn’t collapse at that exact moment in time.  We also got to see the light show at the pyramids.  For those of you who are James Bond fans, the show hasn’t changed one bit since they filmed “The Spy Who Loved Me” at that exact site 45 years ago.  We recommend a driver and guide in chaotic Cairo and thank Ahmed and Mohammed for their expertise.

Luxor

We then jetted down to Luxor for 6 days of history and relaxation.  Our first 3 days were filled with history brought to life by our friend (and now brother) Mahmoud. He gave us an exceptional tour of all the temples and burial sites around Luxor, and there are a lot of them: Luxor and Karnak Temples, Valley of the Kings and Queens, plus a couple mortuary temples.  As a bonus, he thought we were too skinny, so he was constantly feeding us treats: traditional breakfast of foule (beans and eggs) with aged cheese, baba ganoush and kebabs, plus treats of all kinds.  He even blessed us with homemade bread, coffee, tea, and spices to take with us.  If you ever are in Egypt, please look him up, he will treat you like family and give you the tour of a lifetime. 

“Valley of the Queens, Queen Nefertari’s‘s tomb” by Drew Barba: As we walked into the tomb, we were hit with a wave of an old, slightly decaying smell. Then when your eyes adjusted, you could see all of the colors. Reds and whites, blues and yellows, light greens and dark blacks, all decorating the intricate symbols, patterns, and carvings. We walked around the paintings inspecting and marveling at them. It was astonishing that people from thousands of years ago could make such beautiful designs! It was also cool to be able to figure out what the carvings were about because our guide, Mahmoud, taught us. The coffin itself was very detailed and the chamber would probably have contained expensive things if the cave robbers had not stolen them. Once we were done, we walked out of the tomb and back into the blazing and blinding sun. It was incredible and I am glad we got the opportunity to explore the ancient tombs.

After so much history, we took 3 days of downtime at the Hilton Resort to catch up on schooling and playing in the pool.  We all enjoyed our end of day drinks and sunsets across the Nile. Kate and I were invigorated by some morning runs through historic Luxor while dodging crazy drivers and horse drawn carriages.  I truly cherish those morning runs and it’s even better when mí amoré joins me.

Nile Cruise

Egypt is transected by the Nile, a thin strip of blue and green running down the middle of the country. The Nile has been the life of the country since ancient times and even today 95% of the country lives on the Nile. Without it, Egypt would not exist, so a tour of Egypt wouldn’t be complete without a Nile cruise.  Kate and I have developed a phobia of crowds and large tours, so we avoided the larger cruise ships and elected to take a small boat cruise on a traditional dahabiya.

“Our Dahabiya Cruise” as told by Drew – While we were in Egypt we went on a 4 day cruise on the Nile. The boat was a traditional sailing boat with wooden decks and tall masts; 45 meters long and 7 and a half meters wide. Above decks, there were many chairs, a table, and a hammock, a nice place to decompress. Below, our rooms were comfy with a big bed, a closet, and a back porch. Every day our guide would give us a tour of a temple, an ancient city, or a market. The food was incredible with delicious bread, stews, salads, chicken, kofta (a traditional Egyptian meatball), and dips like hummus. It was a very relaxing trip and a nice break from the busy cities.

The cruise was phenomenal.  Not only because the boat was the perfect blend of history and comfort, but because of the people we met on board.  Being a small vessel, there were only 11 passengers and we became friends with our fellow cruisers.  We made friends with a Canadian couple, a young woman from Thailand who lives in Germany, and her parents.  We were especially close with Matt and Chris from New England, a mother and son pair.  Though our sail was only 4 days long, I expect we will remain friends for a lifetime.  They were both so full of fun and caring, and by the end of the trip Matt became like a long lost uncle to the kids.  (For those keeping count, that would make him Uncle Matt the Third).  The crew was also phenomenal: fulfilling our every need, feeding us delicious dishes until we were stuffed, and expertly sailing us up the Nile in shifty winds. 

Finally, we are grateful for Mohammed our tour guide.  He filled us with more facts and stories than our brains could hold, and was constantly making sure we were comfortable and safe.  Like a well seasoned teacher, he also held us accountable for remembering what he taught us.  Every night around the dinner table he would quiz us about what we learned that day and awarded “points” for our knowledge.  Early on it became clear that Drew has a memory for stories and history.  By the end of the cruise, the 3 highest point earners had a final Egyptian “quiz show”.  We are proud to say that Drew was the winner, although we all had much more experience and education than he has had!

Aswan

We spent our two final nights in the southern (upriver) city of Aswan doing laundry and re-centering ourselves before moving on to more adventures in the Kingdom of Jordan.  While we didn’t have a lot of time to explore Aswan, we did fit in a romantic felucca (small boat) sail on the Nile, a walk through the impressive Nubian Museum, and a brief exploration of the local market.  It was obvious that our planning was wrong and we should have spent more time in Aswan.  Not only is there so much more history to be explored in the upper Nile, but the town is clean, vibrant and friendly.  Next time…

As a whole Egypt was incredible and we highly recommend a visit! Be sure to get a qualified, experienced guide and take enough time to soak it all in.

Thanks for reading to the end!  Next up: Jordan! Join us for our hiking adventure in Petra (remember Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade?), camping in Wadi Rum (have you seen The Martian?), scuba diving in the Red Sea, and Halloween at the Dead Sea.  Plus our unexpected change of plans due to an unseen enemy……

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