| June 17, 2008
From the 5th to 13th of June, we took a break from our boat projects and flew to Egypt. Using the Internet, we were able to book with just two week�s notice an Insight Vacation �Wonders of Egypt� tour. Upon our arrival in Cairo to our departure nine days later, the Egyptian Insight Vacation staff took care of every logistic detail. It was wonderful! When we booked the tour we knew we were heading to Egypt during the hot season. Many days our visits to the historic sites started early so as to avoid the intense sun between noon and 5 pm. What we didn�t know until our arrival in Egypt was that due to the heat, there would be less tourists. For us that was a blessing. Instead of between 35 to 40 people, our tour consisted of just 6 other Americans, 6 Australians, and 2 newlyweds from Singapore. As such, we were more like a caring family than a tour group. The main historical sites in Egypt that we visited on our tour mainly centered around three periods in Egyptian history: the Old Kingdom (3100-2180 BC), the New Kingdom (1550-1070 BC), and the Ptolemaic Period (332-30 BC). The main sites of the Old Kingdom consisted of the pyramids built near Cairo. The main sites of the New Kingdom and Ptolemaic Period consisted of the temples built along the Nile River between Luxor and Aswan. We started our tour Friday, June 6, with a 4:30 am departure from our Cairo hotel to catch a flight to Luxor. At the Cairo airport we met our tour guide, Ahmed, who would be with us throughout our tour. During our seven days together, Ahmed made the historical sites come to life. He had the amazing ability of being able to give us just the right amount of information, simply stated, so we could absorb and learn from our experiences rather than providing us with too many minute unnecessary details. As a result, throughout the week we grew in our knowledge of Egyptology, a relatively exciting new science. To think that the history and knowledge of the ancient Egyptians had remained hidden for almost 2000 years until the hieroglyphics code found on the Rosetta stone was finally deciphered in 1822! Even today, our understanding of ancient Egypt is continually being redefined with new discoveries. Luxor stood upon the ruins of ancient Thebes, the capital during the New Kingdom. During this period, Egypt became one of the most powerful countries in the ancient world, acquiring great amounts of wealth. Much of its wealth was channeled into massive building projects in and around Thebes, its capital, with each successive ruler wishing to leave his imprint. One of the greatest pharaohs during the New Kingdom was Ramses II, also known as Ramses the Great. During his 67 year reign (the longest reign by far of any pharaoh in this period) he spent much on royal construction projects, definitely preserving his name for posterity. In the morning we visited the huge, sprawling temple complex at Karnak dedicated to Amun-Ra, the king of the gods (basically the sun god). To the Egyptians, the sun was regarded as the source of all life, so when Thebes became the Egyptian capital, its local Theban deity Amun became linked with the ancient Egyptian sun god Ra, thus making Amun-Ra. This magnificent temple complex at Karnak covered 68 acres and was considered to be the largest temple in Egypt. It was 3000 years old and had been built over 1300 years with successive pharaohs adding to, changing, and embellishing its original temple. Then, for more than 1000 years it lay buried under sand until excavations began in the mid-1800�s. |
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