Journal

ALEXANDRIA

Alexandria is the second largest city in Egypt, It has an atmosphere that is more Mediterranean than Middle Eastern; its ambience and cultural heritage distance it from the rest of the country although it is actually only 225 km. from Cairo. Founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BC, who was to be buried there just two years later, the city became the capital of the Graeco-Roman Egypt, its status as a beacon of culture symbolized by Pharos and the setting for the stormy relationship between Cleopatra and Mark Antony. It is a city that has seen Alexander the Great, Cleopatra, Napoleon and in more recent times, the famous Second World War German general Erwin Romel, whose headquarters were turned into the city's military museum. The city, immortalizing Alexander's name, flourished, beyond all expectations, into a prominent cultural, intellectual and economic metropolis, the remains of which are still evident to this day.
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CAIRO

Founded on the site of Babylon, near the ruins of ancient Memphis, Cairo has been the largest city in Africa for centuries. Modern Cairo encompasses many former cities and their monuments: the pyramids of the pharaohs; early Christian monasteries and churches. Fans of Olando Bloom's 'Kingdom of Heaven' movie should know that the famous Muslim king Salah al-Din's citadel lies in Cairo. Five thousand years of culture are concentrated here.
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THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZA

     There is an old Arab proverb 'Man fears Time, yet Time fears the Pyramids'.
You may better understand the proverb when you learn that the pyramids were already over 2,500 years old before the birth of Christ.

     Giza is the site of the Great Pyramid, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Towering 481 ft high over the desert, the monument took over 20 years to build. It was built by the Egyptian pharaoh Khufu around the year 2560 BC, to serve as a tomb when he died.

     In the nearby museum visitors can still see the mysterious Sun Boat, only discovered in 1954 near the south side of the pyramid. The boat is believed by Egyptologists to have been used to carry the body of Khufu in his last journey on earth before being buried inside the pyramid. According to the ancient Egyptian religion, it may also have served him as a means of transportation for his afterlife journey.

Giza is also the home of the Sphinx. If time fears the 5,000-year-old pyramids, we can only guess how it feels about the Sphinx, which some Egyptologists believe could be arround 10,000 years old! Carved from a single piece of rock 73 metres long and 20 metres high, the Sphinx is a statue that has the head of a man and the body of a lion. It's name in Arabic is Abu al-Hol, 'Father of Terror', while the ancient Greeks called it 'Sphinx' after a mythical winged monster with a woman's head and a lion's body who would challenge men to answer her clever riddles, killing any who failed her tests.

Computer models of the Pyramids of Giza l

LUXOR

The modern town of Luxor is the site of the famous city of Thebes, the city of a hundred gates. It was the capital of Egypt from the 12th dynasty (1991 BC) and reached its zenith during the New Kingdom. It was from here that Thutmose III planned his campaigns, Akenaten first contemplated the nature of god and Rameses II set out his ambitious building program. Only Memphis could compare in size and wealth. Although the mud brick palaces of Thebes have disappeared the stone built temples have survived.

The temple of Luxor is close to the Nile and parallel with the riverbank. King Amenhotep III who reigned 1390-53 BC built this beautiful temple and dedicated it to Amon-Re, king of the gods.

This temple has been in almost continuous use as a place of worship right up to the present day. It was completed by Tutankhamun and Horemheb and added to by Ramses II. Towards the rear is a granite shrine dedicated to Alexander the Great.

During the Christian era the temple's hall was converted into a Christian church, and the remains of another Coptic church can be seen to the west.

THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS

     The ancient Egyptians called this "The Place of Truth". It is a barren desert valley far from the land of the living. Standing at the far end of the valley is the mountain of Thebes, it creates a natural pyramid under which the pharaohs of the 18th, 19th and 20th Dynasty came to seek their immortality. It contains more then 60 royal tombs from the New Kingdom. Some of Egypt's greatest rulers were buried here. They built wonderfully decorated tombs that were cut deeply into the valley floor and filled them with riches beyond our wildest imagination.

      It is rather ironic that the only tomb to have survived with it's treasure almost completely intact was that of a lesser known pharaoh, a mere boy who's deeds were probably forgotten shortly after his untimely death and quick burial. That boy was the young King Tutankhamen. The discovery of this tomb in 1922 by Howard Carter has dramatically changed the way we look at Ancient Egypt.

     For more then 70 years the valley has yielded nothing to compare with the magnitude of Howard Carters discovery. Until recently that is, in 1995 Dr. Kent Weeks decided to look once more at a tomb that had been thought to be unimportant and in poor condition. This tomb turned out to possess a huge underground complex, both larger and more extensive then anyone dreamed. This was the tomb built for the 50 or more sons of Ramesses II.

EDFU AND THE TEMPLE OF HORUS

The temple at Edfu is the best preserved in all Egypt, and second only to the temple at Karnak in size.
Dedicated to Horus, the falcon headed god of wisdom and protection, the temple was built during the reigns of six Ptolemies. It was begun in 237 BC by Ptolemy III and was finished in 57 BC.

This is not only one of the largest temples in Egypt, but also the best preserved. It was believed that the temple was built on the site of the great battle where the god Horus defeated Seth, the evil god of the desert, storm and violence, which are all enemies of the fertile, prosperous, narrow valley of the Nile.

ASWAN

One thousand, two hundred and thirty eight kilometres south of Alexandria lies the High Damn of the Nile and my journeys end. Aswan, Egypt's sunniest southern city and ancient frontier town, has a distinctively African atmosphere. Small enough to walk' around and graced with the most beautiful setting on the Nile.