Final Thoughts: Tours, Tourists and Touts

"When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.” – Clifton Fadiman

This is one of my favorite travel quotes.  It's very important for us to remember, as we are traveling in a country like Egypt, that things might just not be the same as here in the USA.  But isn't that the whole idea of traveling, to go to a place and not be at home, to be somewhere exotic, different and thrilling?

So even when you are on a tour and feeling comfortable being within that cocoon, go out to the occasional lunch on your own to a local restaurant, walk in the souk yourselves, finding that part of the souk that doesn't cater to tourists.  You will find that the merchants don't hassle you, instead they ask where you are from and are invariably kind, welcoming and appreciative that you have come to Egypt when so many others stay away.  And when you are in the tourist bazaar and you are constantly approached by touts and vendors shoving scarves, King Tut statues, and books in front of you asking you to buy just remember, this isn't anything new, but how they've been doing business since tourism began.  Just read the wonderful travelogue, "One Thousand Miles Up The Nile", by Amelia Edwards.  You would recognize modern Egyptian touts and beggars.  After all, these people are just trying to make money and feed their families. If you don't want to buy, just walk on.  They will go to the next person walking towards them.

We had a nice little shopping story.  While we were in Luxor the first day, we saw a Bastet cat, made out of basalt (or so they say), that weighed maybe 7 pounds and was nicely carved.  It was in an outdoor stall full of stone statues, most covered with dust, showing that they really didn't sell all that many.  We didn't bargain this time, but when we returned to Luxor we went back to the shop.  The owner saw that we were interested in the cat and maybe, he thought, other things.  So he offered us mint tea and took us around the corner to a locked door.  Unlocking it, we entered a dark and dusty room with two old chairs.  He asked us to sit, and in front of us was a wooden storage bench.  He opened the top and rustled around among a bunch of old looking stone statues.  He found what he was looking for, a black plastic bag.  He asked me to open my hand and placed in it several very, very small carvings; a horus, a Bastet cat, a beautifully carved jade scarab and a couple of other things.  Most were less than one inch high.   Hmmmm, I thought, either these are real antiquities, probably because his is one of the families that have been robbing the tombs for hundreds of years, or they are fakes and he is going to try to get away with selling me a fake for a high price.  Either way, I was not interested and told him so.  So it was back to negotiating for the big cat statue.  He started at $125.  What?!?! I said.  That's way more than we could possible afford, I thought it was around $10, I said.  No thanks, but thank you for your hospitality, I said, and we both walked away.  Wait a minute, the owner said, did I say $125?  How about $75?  No, I said, that's still to high.  Thanks, but no thanks, and walked away.  Amy, getting a little impatient, turned the corner and was gone and I started after her.  Well, let's just say that we settled on $20 and both of us seemed happy.  The cat Bastet is now in the back yard, happy among my bonsai trees.

Bastet, at home. 

Luxur souk

Egyptians are among the friendliest people anywhere

Amy and I had never been on a tour together.  In fact, the last tour I had been on (besides being in Bhutan with a guide and driver, which is required there) was in 1977, the first trip I ever took, to Egypt, Greece and Italy on a history tour with my college.  Since then, I have always traveled independently and I am a big proponent of going out on your own.  But Egypt is a little different and I think requires you to either have a private guide or go on a tour.  And our tour company, Archaeological Paths, was a great tour company to go with.

First of all, they are a very professional outfit.  They have great contacts, such as Dr. Zahi Hawaas and Mrs. Jehan Sedat (widow of President Sadat) who gives lectures and in the case of Dr. Hawaas, takes you to places ordinary tourists can't go to, such as to the village of the pyramid builders, inside the paws of the Great Sphinx, in two normally closed rooms of the Great Pyramid, Luxor Temple at night, and three of the greatest tombs in the Valley of the Kings and Queens, including probably the most beautiful tomb in the world, the tomb of Nefertari.

The guide and tour leader we had couldn't have been better.  Mohamed, our guide, was very knowledgable about ancient Egypt, showing us so many details that no normal person could possible remember them all.  He was also very interesting when talking about modern Egypt and its politics.  Plus, he is just an all around good guy, someone we could all relate to. When we left, I considered him a good friend and someone I will be in touch with for the rest of my life.  Our tour leader, Siranush, was very professional and made everything in the tour as smooth as silk.  She was also very personable and an all around nice person.  We were very lucky to have these two with our Horus tour group.

"People travel to faraway places to watch, in fascination, the kind of people they ignore at home.” – Dagobert D. Runes

Another thing I loved about the AP tour was that there were only two places we stayed, the famous Mena House out at the Giza Plateau and Le Fayan, our boat on the Nile.  So there wasn't a lot of moving around from hotel to hotel.  Both of these accommodations are five star and are great. The food was overall pretty good, although some of the buffet food got old after awhile.  This is why Amy and I would occasionally go out to a restaurant in town (just look under Tripadvisor and you will see all the restaurants in town).

Stuffed pigeon at Sofra restaurant in Luxor. 

Our tour group, named Horus, was full of interesting and fun people.  About 40 in all, the people were from all walks of life.  Most were Americans and there were a couple of Canadians and Aussies.  Everyone obviously had an interest in ancient Egypt and many were very knowledgable before they came.  One of my favorites in the group, Marsha from Arkansas, loved Egyptian history since she was a small child. In the early 1960s, she sent in $1.50 to help save the Abu Simble temples from the rising waters of Lake Nasser.  So she was overwhelmed with emotion when she saw the actual temples she helped save.

“Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt”…attrib. Mark Twain

I would highly advise anyone interested in Egypt, history and ancient ruins to go.  Egypt is very safe, much safer it would seem than the major cities of Europe.  We had an armed guard on our bus at all times and police escorts where ever we went.  This has been a law in Egypt since 1997.  It's a great time to go as a tourist now, as there so few of us there.  Six years ago, 10,000 people visited the Valley of the Kings every day.  Now, there are barely 500 per day.  You will have many of the tombs and temples to yourselves and let me tell you, when you are in the great Hypostyle Hall of Karnak temple and are practically by yourself, it is a feeling that is hard to describe.

For both Amy and me, Egypt lived up to and surpassed all of our dreams and expectations.   We are already thinking and planning about our return in the not too distant future.  There is no place like it and in the two weeks we were there, we couldn't possibly see it all.  In a place with over 3,000 years of history, you need a long time to see everything.

"Egypt is a palimpsest in which the Bible is written over Herodotus, and the Koran over that." - Lucie Duff Gordon...1865

"Egypt Is The Gift Of The Nile"

"Egypt is the Nile...the Nile has created its limits and gifted it with opulence." - Samuel Cox, 1886

The last day in Aswan was another busy and fun day. We started out with a visit to an ancient quarry. Aswan is famous for its red granite, which you can find in most temples and pyramids. The Egyptians would quarry it here and sail it all over the Nile Valley. At the quarry is a huge unfinished obelisk, which would have been 140 feet high. Three sides were carved out and it was when they were about to finish it that a giant crack appeared and they had to abandon it. Just imagine...200 or so workers, pounding away at the granite for over a year and then the crack appears. I wouldn't have wanted to be that overseer when Pharoah got the news. 

David and Heather underneath an unfinished statue...

“Same dog I got too. We call him Egypt.  Because in every room he leaves a pyramid.” - Rodney Dangerfield

From here we went to the beautiful temple of Isis, also called Philae because it was on the island of Philae. But because of the original Aswan dam, It was 2/3rds submerged in water. So in the 1970s it was dismantled into 40,000 pieces and moved to higher ground in the middle of the lower reservoir. It's a very intact temple from the Ptolomaic times. Sometime around the 6th Century or so it was turned into a Coptic church. The Christians, not liking the images of heathen gods on their "church" destroyed many of the Egyptian carvings. They were the Taliban of their day. 

Boyd, Gail and Marsha...

Graffiti from Napolean's army...

“The black rocks of Elephantine, and the sun, and the little boats on the river.  Yes, it is good to be alive.” - Hercule Poirot, (Agatha Christie), 'Death on the Nile', 1937

In the afternoon, we skipped the tour and spent time in the town. We took a horse carriage up to the Old Cataract Hotel, which was featured in the movie, "Death on the Nile". We had coffee on the terrace overlooking the Nile. 

Coffee with a view...$3. 

Enjoying my coffee...

We then walked through the market, the local non touristic market, looking at local life.  Here is a bakery. This man gave us a piece of unleavened tasty bread right out of the oven. Boy, was it god!

"If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might as well stay at home" - James A. Michener

Amy bought a dress in this shop. When we told the owner here that we were on a tour that had Dr Zahi as a guide, he didn't believe it. So we got out the iPad and showed him. 

We were looking at this Bastet statue made out of granite.  The shop keeper said it had been in his store for 25 years.  But the thing weighed about 30 pounds. When I mentioned it was too heavy for us to lug home, Mr Shop Keeper said that it only weighed 6 pounds. When I looked skeptical, we went next door where there was a scale. As he put on weight after weight, finally running out of lead weights at 15 pounds, we said thanks, but no thanks. 

The locals market, where no one hassles you, but everyone has a smile and says, "Welcome to Egypt and thanks for coming". 

In the evening we went back to the Old Cataract for dinner in the 1902 restaurant, known as one of the best restaurants in all of Egypt. This is a very fancy French restaurant with a five course menu. We went with our new friends, Boyd and Gail. The menu was an amuse bouche of a veggie mousse on toast, then a huge grilled prawn with pistachio, then salmon cannelloni was the third course. The main course was a baked saussman (a local fish) with a tasty red sauce or a lovely veal. Dessert was chocolate delice, whatever that is. We washed it all down with a Chablis and a Beaujolais Fleurie. This was followed by a very nice Armangac.  The menu itself was only 450 Egyptian pounds, or about $55!   Besides one other couple, we were only people in the restaurant. Yes, business is a by slow. 

When we got back to the boat after dinner we had a suprise waiting for us. Our boat was undocked and across the river. Was it leaving for Luxor without us?  What the heck!  We had money for a train ride, but our passports were on board. It was just floating out there, along with four other boats that we were docked with. As it turned out, we were one of the outer boats that were docked together and the  one on the inside had to leave, so all the others, including ours, had to undock and get out of the way. After about an hour of us watching this boat dance, our boat came back and we were able to get back onboard.  Whew!!