I close this travelblog with the quintessential picture of Egypt. Yes, that is a golf course in front of the pyramids. And the greenery does not extend to them, they are surrounded by desert. But it is a wonderful picture. The bus driver took us the wrong way down a one way street to get to the prime lookout spot from which to take this picture.
This summer we are going to take a river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam. We've done the Budapest to the Black Sea portion so now it is time to cruise the rest. The Danube, the Rhine-Main Canal and then the Rhine. It's been more than 20 years since we've been along the Rhine and Moselle so it will seem like seeing it for the first time.
On our return to Cairo we passed miles and miles of deteriorating substandard housing - but the buildings sprout satellite dishes. When we began to cross north of Cairo we saw acres and acres of new apartment blocks. Wonder how long before they too deteriorate.
We will stay overnight in a hotel near the airport and depart for the US in the morning. About half our group are going on to Petra but I am ready to go home. Egypt is exotic, very foreign. While it has been a splendid trip, Egypt is not a place I want to visit again.
Brother Nicodemus was our guide through the monastery. He is very connected to the outside world. Merrily took a picture of him and he gave her his email address and asked her to send the picture to him.
The hood has 12 stars, six to a side, which represent the 12 apostles. The stars can be either gold or silver, there being no special meaning to the choice of color.
This is the ancient Coptic Monastery of Anba Bishoi, part of a complex of about 6 Coptic monasteries in the western desert. The massive buildings are very recent as the monastery has grown with many new monks. To become a monk you must be a college graduate, have completed your mandatory military service, and be over 26 years of age. Despite these strict requirements, the number seeking to become monks continues to grow. This is in line with the increasing turn to religious observance of Muslim youth. Both faiths find solace from difficult economic and social conditions in religious faith.
The last picture is the shrine of St. Bishoi and that is supposed to be his uncorrupted body, hundreds of years after his death.
This was an interesting side trip. One tends to think of Egypt as Islamic but about 20% of the population are Coptic Christian and other Christian faiths. And the western desert (along with the Sinai) is the site of some of the earliest monastic communities of the Christian faith. The tourist guides make much mention of the story of Mary, Joseph and Jesus and the Flight to Egypt and point out ancient Christian sites.
As for military service, it is mandatory for men. If you are functionally illiterate and/or did not graduate from secondary school, you serve 3 years. Two years of this are classes designed to make you literate. If you graduated secondary school, you serve two years. And if a college graduate, one year or less. It is easy for college graduates to buy their way out after serving only a few months. In a way the military is used to compensate for the deficiencies of a deplorable educational system. And it provides work for what would otherwise be unemployed young men. The masses of T&A police come from the ranks of the military.
It was a tedious bus trip back to Cairo with an interesting stop at a Coptic monastery (of which more later). The part of the drive we missed in the dark wasn't worth seeing - mostly an industrial area. There is a lot of empty desert land which has walls, a gatehouse and a sign for development but no houses have been built. Mahmoud says most of this projected development is Saudi speculators.
The trip was made a bit more exciting by this accident. In the US the road would have been closed for hours and hours. In Egypt, two and even three lanes of traffic simply swerved off the side of the road around the site of the accident and continued on its way.
We are ready to leave Alexandria and I, for one, am ready to head for home.
It was unusual to see clouds in Egypt but along the Mediterranean, they are common. Gulf Arabs, especially Saudi and Kuwati come to Alexandria for summer vacations to escape the heat of the Persian Gulf area. Blocks and blocks of unoccupied luxury apartments occupied only a month or two in the summer sit empty the rest of the year while there is a great housing shortage for everyone else.
Alexandria has solved the problem of left turns along the corniche. There are no cross streets. You keep going in your direction until you reach a roundabout, go through it and merge into oncoming traffic and head off in the other direction.
This was the palace built for King Farouk, last king of Egypt. He had his own private yacht basin and lighthouse just down the hill. The British did not let Farouk rule so what else was there for a monarch to do but become a dissolute playboy.
The building is a mishmash of styles. A little Moorish, a little Italianate, some Egyptian. Notice the tower minaret on the left. Today it is used as a guest house for visiting dignitaries and for meetings.
The original Library of Alexandria was destroyed more than 1500 years ago. This is its replacement. Yes, getting building permits can take a long time. While it is a beautiful building - it puts the vaunted new Seattle Public Library to shame - the collection is paltry and dated. In the sections I looked in most books were in English although a few national histories were in their native language - French, German, etc. They really need to build the collection but I'm sure funding is a problem. What they need is to become a national depository library like the Library of Congress and the library of the British Museum. Wonder how one does that...
The library charges students to enter and use the facilities. Since few books appeared to be in Arabic, I suspect most students come to use the internet computers which are everywhere.
Recent Comments
-
Jiyoungkim said:
[this is good]I love the colour of light through amazing window. read more
on P1000236_2.jpg -
Jiyoungkim said:
[this is good]It's a really great picture. Is this a classcial place in Kairo? read more
on P1000183.jpg -
Laura said:
[this is good]Mihrab is the correct term for the niche that marks the direction of Mecca. Wikipedia has some useful information here. read more
on Inside the Mosque -
I don't know why, but I feel it seems to be looked sadly. read more
on P1000110.jpg