I, for sure, would prefer to have an adventure than to read about one.
One of my best adventures was a trip to Egypt when many chose not to go.
I went to Egypt in late February, 2003. President George W. Bush, had given Iraq a deadline of March 19 before attacking.
None of my friends in Spain would consider going to Egypt. “No way”
“Nope”
“Huh uh”
I went by myself.
My introduction to Egypt was the Cairo airport. For the first time I understood what ‘a mass of humanity’ meant.
The tour rep that met my plane explained, ‘The Hajj in Mecca ended last night’. The massive crowd was faithful Muslim returning home.
The next day, my tour guide and I visited The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, aka the Cairo Museum. It is a vast museum that you could explore for days and days.
Tutankhamen’s gold funeral mask was breathtaking. Seeing the Rosetta Stone was special, as well. It was a copy. The English took the original and it’s now in London. The Egyptians are still trying to get it returned.
All the exotic sites and sights in Egypt have been widely publicized for many years. I won’t attempt to describe them. To me, they all looked like beautiful movie sets.
Giza, the Pyramids and the Sphinx are just a short drive from Cairo.
I always thought they would be far, far out in the desert. Nope.
The pyramids are over 4000 years old, built by one of the world’s most advanced ancient civilizations.
I left the guide’s van to walk to The Great Pyramid of Egypt, the biggest and the nearest one. I just wanted to touch a pyramid.
The following day, I flew to Aswan and immediately on to Abu Simbel, a UNESCO site. If you’re not familiar with Abu Simbel, take a peek on the Internet.
The entire monstrous site was dismantled and moved to higher ground when the Aswan Dam was built. An incredible feat.
Abu Simbel would have been flooded if left in place.
Returning to Aswan, I finally met up with the American group. We met on the boat that would take us down the Nile to Luxor.
The ‘group’ was only two people! Amy and Jim were from Pennsylvania, USA.
The rest of the Americans had cancelled because of the threat of war.
The three of us now had our own private guide, Hassan, for our cruise on the Nile. Cool!
Hassan was a professional Egyptologist. Besides his knowledge of ‘all things Egyptian’, he could read hieroglyphics. Very few Egyptians can.
Nearly all the world famous sites in Egypt are located on the Nile River between Aswan and Luxor. We stopped at them all.
The temples, monuments and tombs are thousands of years old. They were magnificent. Hassan made them unforgettable.
While in the Valley of the Kings, I asked Hassan about the many armed guards. Hassan said they were the Tourist Police.
A few years earlier, 60 tourists had been killed by terrorists in the Valley of the Kings. The Tourist Police were there to prevent that from ever happening again.
Egypt economy is dependent on tourism. The Egyptians treat all tourists thoughtfully and politely. Not all tourist dependent countries do, I assure you.
My trip to Egypt was more than I ever expected.
Sometimes a foreign country doesn’t feel very ‘foreign’ to me.
Egypt was definitely a ‘foreign’, foreign country. I was impressed.
I got in and out of Egypt just under the wire.
USA attacked Iraq March 20,2003.
American troops are still in Iraq today.