We returned to Cairo, ending our official G Adventures tour. Now, we were on our own. Our plan was to go see some of the older pyramids and tombs that tell of the lessons learned during construction and also visit what was once the original Memphis.
Tour of Bent Pyramid
In Dahshur, we visited the Bent Pyramid and were the only people there. Astonishing to walk up to that massive structure with no one else in sight. Just the sound of the wind and our footsteps in the sandy gravel. We walked all the way around the large pyramid, observing the angles.
This one had been started at a steep 54 degree angle in the 2600s BC, but it is believed that an earthquake toppled a nearby pyramid…and lesson learned. Halfway up, these designers changed the angle to a more gentle 43 degrees and continued to build. This gives the pyramid it’s name, the “Bent Pyramid”. The outer limestone casing is still somewhat intact. With no one there, we lingered. Gazing west to the Sahara and wandering around the edges of the pyramid to see it from varying distances and angles. It could have been 2020 or 1020 or 1020 BC.
Tour of Red Pyramid
This pyramid looked imposing from a distance. It is red and smooth. Began around 2590 BC, it is believed to be the first smooth-sided pyramid. And it is big–in fact it is the 3rd largest pyramid behind the two big ones in Giza. This one used to be covered in a polished white limestone, which they say was taken for buildings in Cairo.
There were many steps up to the entrance, and once again we marveled at the lack of crowds. As we stopped to catch our breath on the way up to the doorway, we looked out over the plain and could see an older couple beginning the climb down below. Next, we went 145 steps down into the tomb. We were the only ones in there. We looked up at the perfectly stacked stones, considered how far into the ancient pyramid we were, and boom. Anxiety. We scurried up 145 steps lickety-split. Fresh air never felt so good. The older couple sat at the entrance, preparing themselves to go in after the exertion of getting to the top. They asked questions about what they’d see and waved bye as they began their 145 step descent.
Tour of the Step Pyramid
Next we visited the Step Pyramid in Djoser. This is the oldest known stone monument, began around 2650 BC. This complex had more visitors, but still much lighter than in Giza. The skies were perfect, but the sandy wind made for a bleak feeling as we walked around.
First was an walled entry facade, then a walkway flanked by giant columns, which at last, opened onto a view of the pyramid. This one is smaller. It has 6 tiers and though there are chambers inside, the structure has been closed for ~18 years because of earthquake damage. It is believed the pyramid will reopen to receive guests in March.
Check out this link to see a fascinating and interactive diagram comparing all the Pyramids in the world today
Tombs of Saqqara
We had a brief stop in Memphis to see the giant Ramesses statue, an alabaster Sphinx, and a few salvaged building remnants. We were more interested in the hungry dogs roaming the area. Why don’t people care for the animals? It sickens me to see these sweet faces on skeletal bodies just hoping a tourist will give them a cracker or a crumb. Of course, we emptied our bags of any snacks for the pups. It wasn’t enough to go around. Poor souls.
Next, we spent some time wandering around the tombs. I was mad at humans. Walking around these tombs, remembering the dead and what’s left behind, gave me a strange melancholy. We are nothing. Never will be. We take nothing with us but our soul. We may leave behind giant pyramids, a tomb carved with reliefs of the things we loved in life, or only our bones and the bones of the animals we ate.
I’d later learn that in area near here they recently uncovered a tomb with 8 million dog mummies. WTF? Ancient Egypt or modern places, humans disappoint me. I don’t understand people and I guess I never will.
Saying Goodbye
We rode back to Cairo along a channel for the Nile. The fertile fields of the Nile Valley as green as green could be. Fields and fields along the way. And trash piled into the irrigation channels. Life goes on and on and on here.
Our flight to Heathrow left Cairo just after dawn on January 25, the anniversary of their 2011 revolution. From the plane window, I could see the brown land below, and the patches of green lining the Nile. Same as it was in the times of the Pharaohs, or the dictators. Goodbye Egypt.
Thank you for reading
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Carol Fletcher is a traveling, dog-loving, tree-hugging, coffee-addicted, Nashville born-and-raised photographer living in Chicago. To see more photo essays and projects, please visit www.carolfletcher.com.
That last morning in charming Alexandria, I sat at the tram station, camera in one hand and a sweet tea with milk in the other. I like this city: the colors, the mood, the food, the sea air, the breezes, the old buildings, and the fantastic old trams. It was alive and vibrant, yet old and historical. Today we were returning to Cairo via El Alamein and Wadi el Natrun–a cemetery and a monastery–places with very different moods than beautiful Alexandria.
El Alamein
Along the Mediterranean Coast line, we passed decadent homes and hotels, perched there in the fringes of the desert by the sea. We were headed for El Alamein, a memorial cemetery that commemorates the 11,866 Commonwealth force soldiers who died during World War II. The place is peaceful and stark there at the edge of the Sahara–surrounded by warm walls to keep the desert sands at bay. Names and names and names are engraved in the warm walls and arches. They are so very far from home.
Wadi el Natrun
After a quiet, contemplative hour at the cemetery, we got back on the bus and headed southeast.
Our next stop was at the Coptic Orthodox Church’s Monastery of Saint Bishoy in the Wadi el Natrun valley. Founded in the 4th century, it is today a large parcel of land containing five churches, the Well of the 49 Martyrs, plus poultry, cattle breeding and dairy facilities, retreat houses, a papal residence, reception areas, an auditorium, and conference rooms.
A Coptic monk gave us a tour and explained that the rolled-up cloth in the chapel contained the uncorrupted body of St. Bishoy. The story goes that once, an old monk asked Bishoy to help him climb a mountain, so Bishoy carried the old man on his shoulders up to the top. Turns out, the old monk was Jesus, who then told Bishoy that, for his love and kindness, his body would never corrupt.
Saint Bishoy was also said to have been visited by Jesus at this monastery. When the monks learned that Jesus was coming, they gathered to see him. But earlier, an old man had asked these monks for help, and they ignored him. When Saint Bishoy saw the old man, he helped him and washed the old man’s feet. Once again, turns out that the old man was Jesus.
Unconditional kindness bestowed upon strangers. Seems like we still struggle with the concept in these times too.
The guide monk asked us to promise…”one minute in the morning for god”. I made the promise. I think of it as daily moments for unconditional kindness. That is god.
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Carol Fletcher is a traveling, dog-loving, tree-hugging, coffee-addicted, Nashville born-and-raised photographer living in Chicago. To see more photo essays and projects, please visit www.carolfletcher.com.
We left Hurghada via EgyptAir early one morning. The TSA man was not amused with my slow fingers opening the suitcase lock. “One hour!” he barked, thumping his watch. “Now, sir! You exaggerate…it’s not been an hour. Don’t be dramatic, it’s barely 3:30 a.m., I’ve got old eyes, it’s low light in here, and I haven’t had coffee.” He blustered on, and then barely glanced once opened.
Our 5 a.m flight landed in Cairo 50 minutes later. We piled into a bus about the time the sun was rising. The pyramids shimmered in the distance as we drove out of Cairo in light morning traffic. Our “security escort” settled in for a long nap on this 3-hour drive to Alexandria. Grassy islands in the delta bayou of Egypt’s Nile and pigeon cote towers dotted the landscape.
“Pearl of the Mediterranean”
Legendary Alexandria…imagined by Alexander the Great in the 300s BC, a featured character in the Caesar-Marc Antony-Cleopatra love triangle in the 50-30s BC, home to a Wonder of the Ancient World (the Lighthouse) and the first Library, ravaged by earthquakes and tsunamis, and rebuilt in a grand style in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The city buzzes with a cosmopolitan air and a sea breeze.
Our Egyptian guide says that Alexandrians are “tougher” (“the women will hit you if you get out of line”) and their traffic makes even the chaos of Cairo streets seem tame. That last part, I know to be true.
Of all that history, it was the gorgeous but rundown Belle Epoque buildings with Islamic features, sitting along a malecón corniche to the Mediterranean Sea, and the colorful trams ding-dinging their way down grassy tracks that made me fall fast for Alexandria.
A special room
We broke into groups of 3 to go up to our hotel on the 11th floor of Alexandria’s main street. The ancient elevator held 3–or a skinny group of 4. Once in, you close the door behind you, shut the gate and only then pushed the button. Floors pass and air rushes by as the elevator ropes pull and drop through the shaft.
Lucky us, we got a big room with a bigger bathroom, and a giant balcony overlooking the Mediterranean. What a view up there. What wind out there!
The Essence of Travel is…
What is it about a boiled egg, steaming hot tea, and the sounds of a strange city at breakfast? About that first glimpse out the window on the first morning in an old world city? What is it about eating street food while walking? What is it that wraps around me in old cities like this? That pulls me in, rattles me to a quiver, and lights a mood that is the very essence of travel? I wish I knew. I’d do that drug every single day.
Around today’s Old World Alexandria: Trams and Trianon
The trams had my attention from the moment I saw them. Red ones, green ones, yellow ones, blue ones. They ran on grassy tracks, and passed close-enough-to-touch right by our bus window, men hanging out the doors. They made a sound, of shuttling and whirring. I stopped and stared–transfixed–whenever one passed. One morning, I went out early to photograph at the station before meeting Bryan in Trianon, an old world cafe featuring colorful murals, elegant woodwork, and delicious teas, coffees, and cakes.
Around Ancient Alexandria: Library and the Lighthouse
There once was a Lighthouse –a 300+ feet high Lighthouse– where the Citadel now stands. And across the bay, a Library housed 40,000+ scrolls. That was around 200 BC. Today a new library, designed to look like eyes, holds 8 million volumes.
Living alongside the Antiquities
We took a day to visit museums and Pompey’s Pillar. Lovely day walking under a blue sky. The surrounding homes get a daily look at these ancient places. Time compresses and stretches.
Our days in Alexandria had sun and cold wind. We used all the blankets and listened as the shutters banged through the night. We ate well, and snacked on pistachio yummies with hot tea. Alexandria–you are a different Egypt and I’m smitten!
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If you’re interested, select photos are available for sale on Etsy.
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Carol Fletcher is a traveling, dog-loving, tree-hugging, coffee-addicted, Nashville born-and-raised photographer living in Chicago. To see more photo essays and projects, please visit www.carolfletcher.com.
We’ve been to the Red Sea before, the Jordan side in Aqaba. On that trip, I longed to see the Sinai desert in Egypt. Twelve years later, and I still long to see the Sinai. But here we are in Hurghada, Egypt, a beach resort town known for diving and coral reefs. A day vacation from a vacation.
Sure, it’s always nice to spend a day on a beach in the sun listening to the lapping waves. But here we were –at a beach in ancient Egypt, with the Sahara desert and her strange beauty nearby, the Suez Canal not far, and the Sinai across the water. What I would give for another week, another month, wandering in those exotic places. One day.
My stomach recovering, I enjoyed the slow day staring out to sea. I was delighted with the Egyptian mojitos, second only to the ones in Cuba. I waded, found a piece of beach glass and a lovely bit of shell. The wind tangled my hair. I dozed in a sunny chair by the water, listening to the voices of the many Germans or Austrians (or other?) tourists.
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Carol Fletcher is a traveling, dog-loving, tree-hugging, coffee-addicted, Nashville born-and-raised photographer living in Chicago. To see more photo essays and projects, please visit www.carolfletcher.com.
After our night on the Nile, we loaded into a van and took the “shortcut” to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings…faster, less traffic, but with about 5,000 speed bumps they said. No exaggeration…I had a bruise on my head from sitting with my face too near the window watching the Nile Valley go by.
Valley of the Kings
Eternity was to the West, toward the setting sun. Ancient Egyptians believed a paradise awaited them past the shadows of death and the Day of Judgment. Egyptians preserved and mummified the body, and with their belongings, encased the dead in tombs to prepare for the journey.
Cut into rock, the tombs in the Valley of the Kings tunnel under and around the pyramid-shaped peak of al-Qurn. Possibly because of the resemblance to the man-made pyramids of the Old Kingdom from the 2500-3000 BCs, Egyptians began royal burials here around 1500 BC. The Valley’s isolation also resulted in reduced access, and less tomb raiding of the necropolis.
There are 63 known tombs in the Valley, some tunneling down into the mountains hundreds of feet and containing 100+ rooms or chambers. In 1922, Howard Carter found the still intact tomb of young king Tutankhamun here. Today, all of the tombs are empty. However, most of the ramps and tunnels have colorful paintings telling of the dead’s passage to eternity as depicted in the Book of Gates. The tourism board opens a selection of tombs each year, rotating which ones receive guests in order to protect them from too many tourists.
Temple of Hatshepsut
Hatshepsut was the second female pharaoh (that is confirmed). She used her bloodline, education, and an understanding of religion to rise to power. She was the daughter, sister, and wife of a king and used those connections plus her wits to establish herself in the stories as a god’s wife. Hatshepsut was a successful pharaoh, reigning through war into a long peace, reopening trade routes, importing trees and incense, and building extensive and innovative architecture.
Sitting on a series of cliff terraces once covered with gardens, her temple complex “the Sublime of Sublimes” is a colonnaded and perfectly symmetrical building, built one thousand years before the Parthenon. The temple is considered to be significant advancement in architecture.
While no one managed a coup during her reign, someone tried to obliterate her accomplishments after her death. Her cartouches and images were chiseled off walls, leaving “very obvious Hatshepsut-shaped gaps”. Numerous statues were torn down, and smashed or disfigured. At Karnak, there was even an attempt to wall up her perfect obelisk. It is not clear why.
In 1997 on this site, six gunmen killed 62 people, mostly tourists, mutilating many of the women victims.
Lunch with family
As part of our G Adventures tour, it was arranged for us to meet and have lunch with a Luxor family. One of the best meals–home cooked and filling. After lunch, I befriended the girls of the household and made photos of them, and the family.
Colossi of Memnon
Built at the entrance to a large temple complex, these guys are all that remains today.
Behind them–on the other side of the mountain–is the Valley of Kings. On this side of the mountain is a village that sprouted up with the intention of tunneling into the mountain and raiding the tombs. Luckily, the authorities finally figured it out and the village is abandoned and fenced.
Karnak Temple
Karnak is a vast open-air complex, built by each successive Pharaoh adding a little something for more than 2,000 years. There is the Hypostyle Hall with 134 grand columns, a pool, obelisks, reliefs…Like a giant’s playpen full of blocks left in disarray.
Slowly, we walked through the crowds and the pieces in the late afternoon, shadows playing at the edges. My stomach churned and I sat for awhile staring at the ancient stones. Imagine a jealousy so strong that a pharaoh walled up a more-perfect obelisk built by his predecessor, but not strong enough to defy a presumed god and destroy it.
Olden Days
Later, we’d spend some time in the fantastic old library at the Winter Palace Hotel. I had a tame meal of croissants and tea served in a cast iron teapot. It is from the steps of this place in 1922 that Carter announced he’d found a tomb intact…and the world came to know the story of the boy King Tut.
The little bookshop called Gaddis and Co. is not far from the steps to Winter Palace. A bell dinged on the door as we walked into 1922. The ladies dressed like Greeks in black knee-length skirts. They sold black and white postcards from the early 1900s, and ancient-looking books upon books about tombs, hieroglyphics, the pharaohs, and the Nile. It was like stepping back into time there–maybe a modern time by Egyptian measures–but a distant time to me, where life felt unhurried, calmed, and quiet.
Thank you for reading
If you’re interested, select photos are available for sale on Etsy.
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Carol Fletcher is a traveling, dog-loving, tree-hugging, coffee-addicted, Nashville born-and-raised photographer living in Chicago. To see more photo essays and projects, please visit www.carolfletcher.com.
Egypt is confusing. The Nile runs north, so up (going North on the map) is down (sailing with the river’s current). Upper Egypt is down South. Lower Egypt is up North.
A satellite image of Egypt clearly shows the Nile valley flowing all the way through the country until it empties into the Mediterranean. Orange fills the map–the Sahara, the world’s biggest desert. And the Nile, the world’s longest river, is a green stem cutting through Egypt. At the top, the fertile delta fans out like a papyrus leaf.
The Nile (and her two major tributaries the White Nile and Blue Nile) stretches 4,130 miles through eleven African countries: Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sudan, and Egypt. And the Nile shows up in the Bible as the setting for Moses, Joseph, plagues, and the exodus. To touch the water of the Nile is to touch ancient history and the African lands so far away.
The Felucca
Old etchings and photos of the Nile almost always show the little sailboats with the large triangular sails…feluccas. A boat seemingly from another era, ancient times.
We boarded a felucca in Aswan for a day of sailing the Nile. We’d also spend the night on “The Jewel of the Nile”. Our small boat held 8 passengers and 2 crew. A platform of colorful kilim bed cushions filled the platform and our suitcases were filed under. A tarp overhead made it impossible to stand up (good idea to stay seated anyway), and it shielded us from the hot Egyptian sun. Shoes off and into a plastic laundry basket, our important items placed down the center line of the boat, and we pushed off.
Sailing on the Nile: Life in another time
I was ready for the quiet. Observing life on the green banks. Birds, horses, cows, kids, farms…does life along the Nile look much the same now as it did 3,000 years ago? The river is wide and clean. Slow moving.
A breeze. The sun. The smell of water. Distant sounds of people and animals along the banks. And some restless and bored people on board who chattered and stayed on their phones for much of the ride.
We stopped for lunch and some swam. A sandy beach, a stray dog. I watched a man so very carefully spreading a towel on the beach and displaying his jewelry and Egyptian knick-knacks for sale. Back on the boat, we settled in again… this time with the quiet. Writing, sketching, napping, watching life go by. Absorbing the time.
Docked for the Night
The sunset. Golden. After, the Nile horizon turned soft pink and periwinkle. At last, the stars. Black night, dark water, lights on the opposite shore. Large boats–floating hotels–cruised by.
We docked, alongside a couple of other feluccas of tourists and a “service boat” where we would dine and could shower. I took my journal and headed for a quiet space. The sails on the felucca pulled against their ties, like horses against their reins, bucking in the waves.
The slow day had left me restless instead of calm, irritated with the young and the loud, dismayed at aging–at “progress”–in general. I sat with my journal contemplating my frustrations. I wanted to absorb the antiquity, life as its always been on the river, to slow it down to catch it, to feel it.
Bryan came to rescue me from my sad melancholy. My big sweet hero. He brought a bottle of water and a deck of cards for scoreless cribbage. We sat chatting and staring out at the water. A memory that will be time immortal.
Sleeping on the Nile
Cold night, hard pillows, the occasional splash of fish, buzzing bugs, a barking dog, voices on the bank, and finally snoring on the boat. I awoke in the pitch-black morning and sat looking at the stars and the moon.
Eventually, the smell of coffee, rallied me up and over to the service boat. Dawn was coming. I stood with my coffee and watched the sailors prepare the boats. We would leave the felucca this morning, and they’d return to Aswan.
Earth as Designed, or Progress?
There is an eternity to the Nile, the waters push onto the banks, nourishing the valley, and helping to produce food for millions. But now, the dam at Aswan and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile. What happens to this fertile valley when countries upstream build dams and fill reservoirs? What happens to the world when we progress to fighting for nourishing water, for more and more electricity, for flood control?
The Sun and Moon over Kom Ombo
Kom Ombo is about 35 miles “below Aswan” (North of). We’d sailed most of that distance, and now we drove to the Temple of Kom Ombo. It was still early morning–the light soft and warm, and the moon still shining down on us. Humming REM, “Egypt was troubled by the horrible asp…yeah yeah yeah yeah. Moses went walking with his staff of wood…yeah yeah yeah yeah…Andy did you hear about this one…If you believe, they put a man on the moon…” 🙂
Kom Ombo temple was built ~100-200 BC. It is a symmetrical double design to accommodate two gods and thought to be the first place efficiently designed for multiple gods. Worshippers chose which door to enter to convene with their god.
Duality…Sobek & Horus
The southeastern half of the temple was dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek, god of the Nile, fertility, and creator of the world. Sobek is represented as the aggressive crocodile, which once populated the banks of the Nile. He is also considered a protective and nurturing healer for Egypt–like the mummified crocodiles who have been found with baby crocodiles in their mouths and on their backs; crocodiles diligently care for their young often transporting offspring in this manner.
Meanwhile, the northwestern part of the temple was dedicated to the falcon-headed god, Horus the Elder, god of the sky and protector of the king. It is said that the sun is his right eye and the moon his left, and that they traverse the sky when he, as a falcon, flies. The moon is dimmer because his left eye was plucked out in a battle with Seth, god of chaos and the desert. Power-hungry humans tied their lineage to Horus, as explanation and justification for pharaonic power as a divine right. Horus has a dying-and-rising story too…but let’s not go there today.
These two, Sobek and Horus, represented duality…both universal and local stories, spiritual and material. Two priesthoods likely shared the space. Worshippers chose the door they entered based on their need at the time.
The Writing on the Wall
The hieroglyphics… you could spend days reading them all, like books written on a wall. Thousands of illustrations…whales, jackals, incense, medical tools, ankhs, flowers, women giving birth (!), a calendar. It is said that women came here for fertility and contraception, and for predicting the sex of their child. Urinate on barley & wheat…if the barley grows, it’s a boy. If the wheat, it’s a girl. One recipe noted the mix of sour milk or honey plus a mystery ingredient to prevent pregnancy.
Hijinks
Kings and Pharaohs also came to one of the two black stone altars to request help from the gods. In a hidden wall beside and below the altars, the priests could secretly listen to the king’s private request of his god. The priest then quietly entered the stone chamber hidden beside the altar–which served as an echo or amplification closet–and spoke as god to advise the king/pharaoh. In this way, priests ruled the kings. Once again, religion and politics traveled hand-in-hand. Nothing is really new, is it? Religion is too often political. Up is down.
Progress?
The temple has been shaken by earthquakes, its columns and stones salvaged by builders for other temples, and its artwork desecrated by Christians despising and fearing others’ gods. Today, its antiquity is protected. And today, little birds nest in the walls, in the deeply carved hieroglyphics or where chunks have fallen out. I love that.
After our walk through the temple, we lingered. Thank goodness. We sat and enjoyed this soft, slow morning. Music, tea, coffee, and shisha. And the happy little birds, birds singing and us smiling.
Thank you for reading
If you’re interested, select photos are available for sale on Etsy.
Finally, if you liked this post and would like to stay in touch, please…
Carol Fletcher is a traveling, dog-loving, tree-hugging, coffee-addicted, Nashville born-and-raised photographer living in Chicago. To see more photo essays and projects, please visit www.carolfletcher.com.
It was still night at the Happi Hotel in Aswan when we took coffee, and picked up breakfast/lunch boxes with boiled eggs and snacks. On the way out of Aswan, we stopped for our “co-pilot”–more like a bus/road marshall or security officer–as we were headed into a border area considered risky for tourists. Some slept on the bus as we waited in a line of traffic to cross the old dam. More night. Finally, red highlighted the horizon. It took over three hours driving through the desert to reach this place called Abu Simbel, just 12 miles from Sudan.
Mythic in Scale
Abu Simbel is mythic in every way. For it’s sheer scale and construction–monumental seated statues carved straight back into a mountain along the banks of the Nile. Ramesses II ordered the building of his temple in the 1260s BC to warn, impress, and awe anyone entering Egypt via the Nile. One can only imagine the fear and wonder sailors felt when they first saw it from the river.
Mythic for the Ancient Architects’ Precision
Mythic for how the ancient architects figured out a precise solar alignment so that the first rays of the sun reached all the way into the inner chamber on two days each year (February 22 and October 22–said to be Ramesses II’s birthday and coronation date).
And finally, Abu Simbel is mythic because the entire temple was MOVED in an engineering miracle in the 1960s to avoid being submerged by the Aswan Dam’s Lake Nasser. Impressive photos of cranes lifting away the statues in pieces, of a magic mountain built with similar chambers– 213 feet up and 656 feet back from the water. A feat as audacious as Ramesses II’s building of the temple in the first place. What must have the locals felt when witnessing the disassembly and movement of so ancient a monument?
Second Temple for Nefertari
Did I mention there are TWO temples? Just to the right of Ramesses II’s temple to himself is a smaller temple to his favorite wife, Nefertari. Its sanctuary, also carved into the mountain, is filled with bas reliefs of the king and queen making offerings. This temple is one of very few in Egyptian art where the statues of the king and his queen are carved in equal size.
Thank you for reading
If you’re interested, select photos are available for sale on Etsy.
Finally, if you liked this post and would like to stay in touch, please…
Carol Fletcher is a traveling, dog-loving, tree-hugging, coffee-addicted, Nashville born-and-raised photographer living in Chicago. To see more photo essays and projects, please visit www.carolfletcher.com.
From a moving train, an overnight trip heading south to Upper Egypt:
We left Cairo at night. Boarded, found our cabin (car 11, bunks 7/8), and settled in. The swinging – swaying motion of the train, a glass of red Omar Khayyam Bobal 2016 “vin d’Egypte” and I was comfortably numb in my little bunk. Wound up and tucked in happiness at the very thought of being on a train, moving up the Nile Valley, at night, many many miles from home.
Awake to a tiny bit of light, the Nile glistening. The Nile! The valley is never more than 13-miles wide–a green strip in the middle of the largest desert on earth.
As the sun rose, how verdant green the valley appeared. Palm trees abundant like Cuba. Scarecrows in fields wore sheet dresses over sticks. Small boats paddled along the Nile, the Sahara just steps away.
The windows are double-paned with blinds in-between. They clamor as we pass junctions. My window was dirty, but it cast a fitting strangeness over the scenery. Diffusing the light, blurring the edges.
Breakfast arrives at our door. A tray with tea in a little blue cup, a boiled egg, some bread. Simple. Welcome. And made delicious by the environment.
A white dog lays in a patch of white in a green field. Donkey carts and their white-gowned men wait to pass the tracks. The sun rises. This part of the trip will soon be over and I want more of it. Maybe an eternity of it. Maybe the afterlife is an never-ending ride through the world–to see its beauty, its ugliness, and all the things between.
Welcome to Aswan, Upper Egypt
I’m happy when we check in to the Happi Hotel in Aswan. A man greeted us in the lobby with a white metal tray full of little tulip shaped glasses filled with a deep red Hibiscus tea. Delightful.
Up in our room, we overlook a little market. A mosque calls to prayer. And then, what are they doing down there? There are bamboo cages of pigeons. Pigeons fly down from the buildings to have a look and grab a bite of the treats the women throw down. They are captured. I watched in horror and disgust as she wrings one’s neck. He writhes for a moment–the wings fighting for flight. And then she begins plucking his feathers out. He’s grilled. This happens a hundred times a day. The birds come to stillness. Why don’t the caged pigeons warn them? They too are wrung, plucked, and grilled before nightfall. The market closes and empties. And pigeons still coo from buildings around. I want to shout at her–and the people who eat animals. I want to tell the pigeons to fly far away from here. Escape. Instead, I cry.
Opposites…Nile & Sahara
After breakfast overlooking the Nile, we embark on a cruise on the Happy Day boat.
There’s a Nilometer! Farmers built steps down to the river 5,000 years ago to try and predict the Nile’s rise and fall…would there be feast or famine? A Nilometer as described by Mark Twain in the 1860s: its “business is to mark the rise of the river and prophesy whether it will reach only 32 feet and produce a famine, or whether it will properly flood the land at 40 and produce plenty, or whether it will rise to 43 and bring death and destruction to flocks and crops.”
Bulrushes and long-legged birds! Trying to picture a baby Moses in a basket floating among the reeds.
The cataracts! A shallow spot of the Nile, broken by large boulders. There were six cataracts along the Nile between Aswan Egypt and Khartoum Sudan. One is submerged now because of the Aswan Dam.
The Old Cataract Hotel where Agatha Christie dreamed up “Death on the Nile”. Built in 1899 for tourists, it reeks of old worldliness. And sand dunes right down to the water’s edge.
To Elephantine Island
In the late afternoon, we disembark on Elephantine Island, one of 10 remaining Nubian villages.
Nubians are a group of people living in Northern Sudan / Upper Egypt. There once were 22 villages in Egypt, but 12 were flooded with the building of the Aswan Dam in the 1960s. Our guide told us that given a choice to be Sudanese or Egyptian, the Nubians chose Egyptian.
Tasty and filling dinner of rice, and cast-iron pots of potatoes and peppers, and carrots, potatoes, and tomatoes. And delicious Hibiscus tea 🙂
Walking back to the Nile in the pitch black night. Burning trash. Sounds of birds flying free. Soft voices in the narrow alleys. Singing…from a mosque? Cats cats cats. Boys on bikes. Then the eternity of the Nile. The lights of Aswan glowing across from us. Another place–of colorful narrow alleys and quiet life–where I’d like to spend more time.
Thank you for reading
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Carol Fletcher is a traveling, dog-loving, tree-hugging, coffee-addicted, Nashville born-and-raised photographer living in Chicago. To see more photo essays and projects, please visit www.carolfletcher.com.
I write too much. It’s too much to read, even for me sometimes. Who cares? What–if anything I create–will last so long? And does it even matter if I leave a trace on earth?
So I’ll write just the words I wrote at the time–things to remember, to bring back the sounds, smells, and atmosphere of the moment. From this cool morning in January 2020 in Cairowalking through Islamic and Coptic Cairo.
Al-Nasser Mohammed Ibn Kalawoun, Mosque of the Citadel
“Shoes off please”, as we walked into the open air mosque. Shade. Intense quiet inside these walls. Sunbeams by the mihrab. East goes the qibla.
Cold stones and still-dewey rugs. A momentary smell near the middle, something dead? Sounds of sweeping, sweeping, sweeping. A breeze. Lanterns swaying on long chains. Imagine them candlelit! The corinthian columns…so many, all different. Salvaged from other churches, other mosques, other forgotten or fallen-out-of-favor buildings. One column with a sundial–now in the wrong place to work. This one with crosses, also useless in a mosque. Some white marble columns, some red granite, a few of black stone. These ancient columns from the Pharaohs, the Byzantines, the Copts. How did the architects in 1300 figure out how many bricks to use to even out the different heights and level the ceiling, the arches?
Out onto the patio. On a clear day, we’d have seen the Pyramids for the first time. Today, we gazed into the distance, and saw only haze. A sandy smog blowing in from the Sahara. We looked out over the Cairo neighborhood. Down there was the Madrassa, and the mosque where the Shah of Iran is interred. The stone floor of the Citadel patio–two overlapping squares form an 8-pointed Islamic star. A manicured tree keeps watch at the precipice. Sunshine, and the faint sounds of Cairo’s traffic below.
The Alabaster Mosque of Muhammad Ali Pasha
A mosque made of alabaster? Can it be true? Imagined silky cold white, translucent, glowing. Didn’t imagine the Sahara’s sand.
Oh my. The many minarets. And then inside the great hall…the chandeliers! Oh my at the chandeliers. Ghost like in their dusty elegance. I remembered the words of Mark Twain on his visit to Cairo in 1867:
“the little birds have built their nests in the globes of the great chandeliers that hang in the mosque, and how they fill the whole place with their music and are not afraid of anybody because their audacity is pardoned, their rights are respected, and nobody is allowed to interfere with them, even though the mosque be thus doomed to go unlighted.”
Oh to hear bird songs here. Is this the same dust that Twain saw? Many visitors sat on the floor–I wished to linger too, maybe for hours. I wished to sit…no, lay on the floor and stare up at that ceiling, at those chandeliers. Hours, yes.
Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hassan
Red carpet entry into a vast courtyard. Four nooks representing the four sects of Islam–presumably where each sect sat for learning their spin on the scriptures. The floors, the light, the ablution fountain, and the unbelievable height of the arches, and length of the lantern chains. What scale!
Intermission
Lunch at Aikhan Cafe = soft gooey rice with a ramekin of stewed eggplants and peppers. Tea, tahini, babaganoush, pickled veggies and a pita. Filling, light, and wholesome. Next up, Coptic Cairo.
The Hanging Church
Coptic Christians represent about 10-15% of Egypt. The hanging church hangs over a former fortress. Mosaics line the courtyard entry–telling the story of Simon the Tanner and moving a mountain. Inside it’s cozy, close together pews. The vaulted ceiling frees the eyes upward, built to resemble Noah’s ark. The pulpit’s 15 columns–1 for Jesus leads the way, 14 others follow. One each per disciple, plus two followers who were not titled “disciples”. A black column for Judas, and grey ones for Doubting Thomas, and followers Mark and Luke.
Candles danced before St. Luke’s “Mona Lisa” painting, now an icon, respected, visited. I lit a candle there…for hope, for grace, for art that survives so long. I tried reading the notes and prayers left in a glass box by St. George’s icon. I studied the 40 faces of martyred nuns in another painted icon. A column here is said to weep and have images of Mary materialize. Fish are carved into the wooden pews. Incense burns. And that ark ceiling lifts the eyes up. Are we gathered two-by-two?
St Sergius & St Bacchus Church
Jewish Cairo? “No Jews are left in Egypt”, says our guide.
No photos are allowed in Ben Ezra Synagogue. But what beautiful moments sitting and sketching the windows, shaped like the ten commandment tablets (as if I know the shape) with old glass of warped clear, blue, and yellow. Intricate alabaster, mother of pearl, and carved woodwork filled the center of the main room. Many religious texts survived because they were hidden and preserved here. Throughout history, what is saved and what is destroyed? What is lost and what is found? And what paths have we set out on as a result of these edits?
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Carol Fletcher is a traveling, dog-loving, tree-hugging, coffee-addicted, Nashville born-and-raised photographer living in Chicago. To see more photo essays and projects, please visit www.carolfletcher.com.
We booked Egypt in the summer, when things were happy and light. In the fall, things dimmed. I caught a cold in September, and coughed viciously into November. A heavy snow fell in early October. How odd it looked, the still green leaves collapsing into the snow. The holidays came and went. And suddenly, it was Egypt time. We should have been elated. But Trump started saber rattling, taunting Iran. Would there be a war? Would we be targets in Egypt? Was it safe? Things felt ominous, imminent. Dark clouds gathered on the horizon; ill winds stirred. I reckoned it was a cocktail of worry for my parents, for us in our old age, for the environment, for the world consciousness.
Waiting for the el the night we left, we debated whether or not to even go to O’Hare. Walking onto the plane, we considered a different final destination–maybe Paris, or maybe just stay in London. We stood in the Harry Potter shop at Heathrow examining the wands and joking how it felt like the death eaters were hovering. We needed a Patronus charm to protect us. But, we said the important things on calls home, and got on the overnight plane to Cairo.
We landed at the empty Cairo airport at 3:25 a.m., Egypt time, on January 9. It would be a day of rest after 20+ hours of travel and many days of worry.
After a nap, we headed to the banks of the Nile on our first walkabout. The life-sustaining, illustrious NILE. The longest river in the world! The storied River Nile–market of nations, where a touch of a staff turned the river to blood, where 14 cows walked forth–seven fat and seven gaunt–predicting feast and famine years, where Moses was pulled from the bulrushes. The NILE…IMAGINE!
The River Nile
Yet, I did not imagine the traffic, the pollution, the haze from the Sahara’s sand, the congestion and chaos of a 3,000-year-old city inhabited by 17 million people. It is said that “he who has not seen Cairo has not seen the world.” That magical sentiment missed me. Cairo is like every other big city. Cars. Trash. People. Fast food. Desperate stray animals. Noise. Pollution. Crime. Concrete high rises shade the beautiful old buildings with turn-of-the-century craftsmanship.
We crossed 4 “lanes” of traffic along the corniche and a sidewalk chalked with 100 years of dust, to stand at the river’s concrete barriers. Trash collected beneath trees and bushes all the way down the bank to the brown water. We walked up the chipped concrete steps of the October 6 Bridge –an overpass highway built in a massive circle around the city–above the narrow streets and alleys that for eons defined the madness and majesty of old Cairo. And there, we could see an expanse of the river, the notorious, nourishing Nile. I felt sorry for her. Dammed, tamed–ORDINARY. I had expected something grand and profound–like I’d felt at the Ganges. This could have been Tennessee’s Cumberland River.
Expectations and Reality
We made our way back to the cafe next door to the hotel. Middle Eastern techno music tingled our table as I watched an Egyptian girl nurse a hot tea, read her book, and smoke sweet-smelling shisha. Christmas decorations still lit the front of the cafe. I took hot tea with mint and lentil soup, warm and comforting in its foreignness.
Months before leaving, I’d absorbed the 1860s Cairo of Twain, the 1900s Cairo of Mahfouz, and the 1920s Cairo of Carter. Magnificent tales of early eras. I’d expected to see the Nile of the Pharaohs. Of course, those days are gone. The world IS Babel–more homogenous, more McDonald’d every day. Fading away are the days of “exotic” travel–where the imagination’s romantic notions aren’t interrupted by “progress”. It occurred to me that weird night, that perhaps I’m best left to the type of traveling done in an armchair, time traveling of sorts.
But, here we are. In the real life Cairo. Time to dust off, adjust my attitude to the “see” position, and carry on.
First Impressions of Cairo
A welcome taste of the past at the Egyptian Museum
I’d read that the Egyptian Museum was relocating. The grand old place was said to be in need of modern security, better lighting, some organization and labeling, and more space for her collections spanning thousands of years. The desert rose-colored building, opened in 1902, holds unmarked ancient relics in hundreds of original wooden curio cabinets, stacked and jammed into dimly-lit rooms. Sarcophagi and statues crowd into other rooms, lit by dusty sunbeams. The old museum is a treasure trove to wander through, and thousands more artifacts are said to remain packed away in basement rooms. I’d read that the fancy new museum was opening soon near the Giza Pyramids. When we discovered that the legendary old pink lady was still receiving guests, well…you can imagine what that meant to me and my romantic travel notions. It was like stepping back in time.
Finally, if you liked this post and would like to stay in touch, please…
Carol Fletcher is a traveling, dog-loving, tree-hugging, coffee-addicted, Nashville born-and-raised photographer living in Chicago. To see more photo essays and projects, please visit www.carolfletcher.com.
On a spring day in 2017, I stood in my closet and counted my shoes. When did I accumulate so many shoes? I was getting ready for work and it was way past time to go. My mind was elsewhere. I’d just read an email that a website where we’d parked our travel diaries for 10+ years was closing shop. It was going to be a lot of work—in not-a-lot of time—to move the entries before the site closed. I had thumbed through our posts, like pages of a magazine. There we were in Iceland, in Portugal, Jerusalem, Cuba, Antarctica, in Easter Island ten years ago. There I was in front of the moai—camera in hand, hair blowing, eyes closed, and a beaming smile. Where had the time gone?
A lot had changed in 10 years, yet the days and weeks never really varied. Work, eat, clean, TV, sleep, and talk-talk-talk about traveling the world. I had sat there staring, turning off the computer in a numb daze. Now I stood staring at shoes. Would we ever go on the trip we’d saved for, dreamed of, talked about?
Portents
Not long after, I had a vivid nightmare. In it, I couldn’t move. My legs wouldn’t listen to my head. I was trapped listening to some banal TV show and was too far from the room’s small window to even look outside. My time for walking in the big, wide, wild world had passed. I was bored. Claustrophobic. Angry. I awoke—scared and sad and anxious.
One morning a month later, I was sitting in my kitchen drinking a cup of coffee when we learned yet another in our circle had died. He was only a few years older than us. And on this summer morning, he had dropped dead in his kitchen while drinking a cup of coffee.
Chilling. My stomach soured and my nerves tightened. Gripping fear. We had to go. GO NOW. ASAP. We’d talked about going for years, saved for it, dreamed of it. Why were we waiting? What were we waiting for? We’re healthy. Our families are healthy and independent. How much longer would we have the time and the vigor to go?
And that was that.
We made the decision that morning to go, to quit our jobs, to take a break. Pent-up dreams of places far away starting spilling out. We jotted down cities, countries, rough plans to hit the road for an extended period of time. Travel light. Sleep cheap.
My mother was supportive. She told me that she and and my step-father had always wanted to travel around the USA, yet never made the move to go. He passed away two years ago. “You should go while you can,” she said. Light bulb. It took a month or two, but we convinced her to go with me on a long road trip before Bryan and I left for the around-the-world trip.
People said, “How brave!” when we told them about our plans. “You’re quitting your jobs?” “What about health insurance?” “What will you do when you get back?” We tripped through the answers. We secretly grilled ourselves on these same dead-weight questions and still had no real answers. It felt beyond irresponsible. In the weeks leading up to the gap, we bounced between thrilled, terrified, tingling, sleepless, and frantic—but always with giddy smiles, pounding hearts, and no regrets.
We’ve been on the move—living in the moment. Now, I’ll share some of the memories. Also, please note, that I’ve backdated the blog posts for when they were happening and drafted).
And then?
Well, we’re still figuring that out.
We are going old. But life is too short not to GO. One day, when we become lost in our heads and/or trapped in our bodies, we’ll have our memories to go on—even if they play as random as a box of VCR tapes with the labels worn off.
So here’s to going—and going until we run out of road!
I can’t stop thinking about the little village of Lefkes, and the old dog who found us there. Even now, I check the weather for the village two or three times a day, wondering where the old dog is and how she’s faring in the rain, the sun, the cold nights. Has she eaten? Does she have water? Is she comfortable?
Lefkes, Paros
The village is on the Greek Island of Paros. It’s a traditional place with bright whitewashed buildings, Aegean blue shutters and doors, and narrow lanes that could be public paths or private spaces. There is an organic feel to the architecture here–like the old buildings have germinated from the hillside, squeezing in next to each other, into any empty spits of land. No two are the same shape. The village is a warren of stone paths climbing up and winding down the hillside, each lane hugged tight by these cottages. Stairs and doorsteps rise off of the lanes, varying in width from top to bottom, making wise use of their space. Trees and vines rise up out of tiny bits of open ground.
An Old Soul Finds Us
We arrived by bus one morning. It was pre-tourist season, on a less-traveled-to island, in a village that doesn’t get many tourists anyway. Quiet, but for the buzzing of bees and the wind in the lanes. Fresh with the scent of orange blossoms, wisteria, and the crisp air of a cool spring morning.
After admiring a peaceful cemetery that carried down the hill behind the Church of Agia Triada, I returned to the front courtyard to see that a dog had found Bryan.
She appeared ancient–black and bony, with a proud, gray face and hunchbacked hips. She allowed us to pet her, and then started walking away down the lane, stopping to look back at us with an expression that asked, “aren’t you coming?”. We followed.
Walking through Lefkes
She teetered a bit when she walked, maybe from arthritis or from some ailment that made her shaky and restless. When I stopped to take a photograph, she came back for me. We stopped at a tavern, thinking to buy her some food. The dog watched for a minute, then lurched on without us. I saw a woman make a nasty face and go out of her way in the narrow lane to avoid even brushing against the old dog. Though the tavern door was open, the shop was not serving any food. As Bryan sorted that out, I went to catch up with the dog, and to see if there were any restaurants up ahead. But the dog was gone. Not a trace.
Bells rang. Elderly people stepped out of their little houses, arm-in-arm, heading to a little church in a little lane. I returned to the tavern for Bryan. We sat there, sipping a Fanta and a Coke and talking about that old dog…her pitiful condition and the flagrant contempt we’d witnessed for the old soul. What’s wrong with people? Where’s the empathy for the old, the sick? It tainted the beauty of the place. And I felt sick that we’d given the dog nothing to eat. She was a bag of crippled bones, and we had done nothing to help.
Feeding the Soul
But within the hour, we saw the dog again, up a lane near the center of the village. Bryan ran into a shop and bought what he could find–which was a bag of pizza-flavored bagel bites. I called to the dog and she wobbled towards me. The rattle of the bagel-bites bag got her undivided attention. At first, I worried she might not have the teeth to chew them. But chew she did–crunching one after another. Two mousy cats crept a little closer on the wall where we sat, and called out to us. Of course, we fed them too. Within minutes, the bag was empty and three sets of eyes stared at us, at the bag, at our hands. The dog licked the stones for crumbs. The cats meowed and sniffed around their feet.
Bryan went down the lane to an open shop. He came back a few minutes later with a bread-plate-sized hot pepperoni pie. We tore off small, very hot bites, blew on them, and fed the old dog and the two cats, right there in the middle of Lefkes. They were gentle eaters, and patient. A few passing townspeople looked, but said nothing. We all had to flatten ourselves to the wall several times to avoid the cars on that narrow lane.
After the pie was gone, the cats retreated and the dog stared at us for a long few minutes. I offered her water. She drank from the lip of the bottle as water poured into my palm. And then she walked away, turning again to ask “aren’t you coming?”
Saying Goodbye
We walked with her to the end of town, to a place near our bus stop. I worried that she was too near the busy road, too far from where she’d found us. Could she get back to her safe place? I tried to get her to follow me down the pedestrian lanes back to the church. She turned and walked away, in the direction back to the center, where there were cars. Nothing I did got her attention, and she disappeared down the lane. I cried. Bryan said, “She knows these roads. She’s lived a long time here without you watching out for her. She’ll be ok.”
Since we had a little time before our bus, I wandered again through the town looking again for her. And, somehow I found myself back at the church. And guess who was laying in the courtyard?
There she was–alone in the sun, washing her feet. She looked comfortable, content. I did not want to disturb her, to have her get up in greeting or to walk me back to the busy road. So I did not enter the courtyard. I stood staring at her for a few minutes–wishing for her to have food, water, love and comfort for all the days of her life.
If you go
So, if you go to Lefkes, look for this old lady. If you find her, give her my regards and feed her a pie. I’ve thought of her a thousand times. And I’m quite certain she is an angel in disguise.
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