Cairo - the pyramids and the poverty

Sunday December 19, 2010 Day 172

We boarded the bus early for a long excursion day - more of an ordeal, as it lasted in excess of thirteen hours. The tour started with a three-hour drive through the desert from the Alexandria port to Cairo. As we got on, we were given small snack packs which included water, and were told that we could have another bottle of water from the front of the bus if we desired. Throughout the day we snacked on most of the contents, which contained an apple, a banana, a pack of crackers, a chocolate wafer candy bar, a bottle of water, a napkin and two wipes, with more water available if we needed it.

Security was tight - security personnel rode on every bus. Additionally, our 20-bus convoy from Alexandria to Cairo was escorted front and back by the Egyptian military. In Cairo, some of the buses followed agendas different from others, and I think that each separate tour had its own escort.

Poverty abounds in Alexandria and Cairo. As we left Alexandria, we passed a dirt road with a large canopy along side it under which a market was held. Along the dirt road next to the market was a man riding a donkey cart. We saw several other donkey carts in and around Cairo. The parts that we saw were mostly ugly - hundreds upon hundreds of unfinished apartment buildings, trash in the streets, trash in the canals, garbage and refuse and rubble piled everywhere, often with people picking through the garbage. There are laws in effect in Egypt which impose a tax on apartment buildings (and maybe office buildings too, I am not sure) once they are finished. As a result, apartment buildings are simply not finished, but are mostly erected, then tenants are allowed to move in. This results in blocks and blocks of hideous buildings. International hotels are usually completed buildings, and they look lovely, but they stand cheek by jowl with the unsightly, incomplete buildings and the juxtaposition is jarring. There were thousands of cars more than twenty years old on the streets, still operating. My Western mind was unable to rise above the poverty and hideousness of the city to find any beauty in Cairo.

Several unfinished building dot the skyline

One of the unfinished buildings, in all its stark ugliness

Once we arrived in Cairo, our first stop was the great pyramids - three of them, along with several lesser pyramids. They were truly awesome - rising out of the desert with the smog and poverty of Cairo on two sides, and the desert on the other two sides. The vendors outside the buses were very aggressive. We were warned by NCL not to even make eye contact with them if we did not intend to buy their wares, as they would pursue us relentlessly. In trying to avoid the vendors, we got “conned” by local military who guard the pyramids and have little to do all day except stand around and make sure that tourists do not cross the ropes and climb on the pyramids. A soldier offered to take our photo, and put us in a couple of silly poses. Then not only did he expect a Euro for himself, but he also wanted one for his buddy who did nothing but stand around. At least the con was cheap. We boarded the bus again, traveled a short distance, and arrived at the Great Sphinx - another amazing sight.

Roger and me at the Pyramids viewing point

Camel rides were available, but we did not indulge





We happened to capture this dust devil whirling across the desert

The Great Pyramid of Giza and the Sphinx

The pyramids were faced with granite or similar rock. Much of it was removed by the Arabs in the 600s CE to be used as building material in constructing Cairo. Some of it remains atop the Great Pyramid of Giza, and more of it lies at the base of the pyramid.

Facing rock leaning against the base of the pyramid

A view up the side of the pyramid to the facing rock at the top.

Our next stop was the Papyrus Institute, where we saw a papyrus-making demonstration, and had a chance to buy pictures on papyrus, cartouches and other Egyptian artifacts. From here we drove another short distance, probably 15 minutes, and arrived at our lunch venue - a large hotel standing near enough to the pyramids that they were visible through the palm trees. Lunch was a large buffet in the ballroom consisting mostly of western foods. It was good. The hotel was reputed by our tour guide to be a five-star hotel. It was certainly beautiful - there were giant chandeliers more than a story high, and an opulence that stood in stark contrast to the poverty outside its walls.

Roger and me on the stairs of the hotel where we lunched

The view from the hotel grounds

After lunch, we had more than an hour drive through crowded Cairo streets to the Egyptian National Museum, where we saw the King Tut exhibit. The museum is old, and the exhibits were not displayed to their best effect. Comment cards in the cases are so old that they were prepared on typewriters. This did not keep the collection from being absolutely stunning. So much stuff! Carter must have been continually awe-struck as he explored the tomb for the first time and uncovered more and more of the treasure there. We spent an hour and a half there, and only brushed the surface.

We had to undergo another hour of rush-hour traffic in Cairo before reaching the outskirts, then we convoyed back to Alexandria and the ship. We probably spent more than eight hours traveling on the bus, and we were exhausted when we got back to the ship. Some of the staff, including the cruise director, was outside the ship and greeted us as we arrived. I guess they were relieved to see us - it isn’t every day that the excursions roll away from the ship under the protection of the army! We went upstairs to the self-serve restaurant for a bit to eat, then went to bed.

NCL is taking special precautions to prevent gastroenteritis, because they apparently had a small outbreak of the illness last time the cruise ship visited Egypt. We were warned to eat only fresh fruit or sealed packages of food such as chips, crackers, or candy bars off the ship, or to eat only at designated food stops, and to avoid eating local foods. There was a sheet on our bed yesterday evening encouraging extra hand-washing precautions. When we returned to the ship in the evening, and for 24 hours after we sailed away from Egypt, there was no self-serve option in the self-serve restaurant at the top of the ship - we were handed plates and wrapped silver and went from station to station indicating what we wanted and servers put the food on our plates. We were not even allowed to draw our drinks ourselves and there was no salt and pepper on the tables - if we wanted those, we so indicated and were handed those ubiquitous tiny packets of salt and pepper. Apparently these measures paid off, as the restaurant returned to self-serve once we had been away from the port for 24 hours.