Breakfast before meeting Ramy
We met our guide Ramy and driver Ahmed at 9:30 at our hotel entrance. We headed into the city, but not before stopping at a random street vendor to get a cup of a spicy tomato chickpea soup drink Ramy told us to try. He's great at getting us to try new foods we definitely wouldn't otherwise try! After some more driving, we arrived at the museum. We had to pass through an initial checkpoint, then another before buying our tickets, and finally a 3rd when entering the museum.
Bird in date palm
Street vendor
The soup
Driving towards the Egyptian Museum
Passing by the zoo!
Entering the Egyptian Museum gates
Before entering the museum Ramy took a minute to talk about the history of the museum including when the building was built (1901/1902) and old artifact storage before the museum. Upon entering Ramy went into a great explanation of the Palette of King Narmer. Both Hunter and I were initially horrified at how much Ramy was touching the artifact, and he quickly saw it in our faces, letting us know after the explanation that this was just a replica used for explanations and the real one was over in the middle of the room in a glass case! At the top of each side, you have two images of Hathor, the cow goddess, looking down on the scene. On one side there is King Narmer wearing the white crown of upper Egypt with a small servant to his left and sacrificing an enemy to his right. Also to his right is Horus, the hawk god, with a representation of Upper Egypt. On the bottom, two other enemies lie dead. On the other side, you see King Narmer wearing the red crown of lower Egypt with soldiers marching in front of him and then neatly arranged beheaded bodies of his defeated enemies. In the middle, two servants are controlling two lioness heads which are interwoven depicting authority between upper and lower Egypt and implying the great authority of the king. The bottom shows a bull crushing a person again implying control of the king.
1st side
Other side
The piece Ramy was touching so much
The real tablet
We moved further into the museum with Ramy providing incredible explanations of all the main highlights. I'm going to caption most of the photos rather than try and explain everything in paragraphs. There was definitely a bit of information overload, but we loved every second of it! Of course, Ramy continuously asked us if we had questions, but we were mostly absorbing everything and could never think of a question to ask when asked.
The Ramses II classic left foot forward pose
Ramses II statue, like previously mentioned he has A LOT of statues made
Sarcophagus lid, it was carved to ensure a very tight seal
Description of the sarcophagus above
Statue of King Khasekhem with a number carved into the bottom, 48,205, representing the number of enemies he killed
Another sarcophagus
There are a lot of sarcophagus in Egpyt
Sarcophagus of Rawer III, overseer of all royal works
Burial chamber of Deshri, chief of estate. This is where they would put the sarcophagus with many inscriptions. Ramy told us some of them were showing the foods this person liked to eat. The paint color here is phenomenal!
Description of the burial chamber
An alter where you could leave offerings
Lions carved into a sacrificial altar or libation table
Description of the lion heads
The step pyramid we visited yesterday
Here is the real seated ka-statue of King Djoser from yesterday
Description of the blue tiles behind the king
Up close view
Description of King Djoser, confirming information Ramy told us yesterday (he knows his stuff and we love it!)
The false door of Ty, wab-priest of Ra (sun god) in the sun-temple, but usurped by woman Hemetre
Incredible history! It is so cool to see these carvings and inscriptions in real life.
Red paint
False door description
Pillars with various pictures
Ramy explained to us the procedure of how the carvings and inscriptions were made. Here you can see how they started working on carvings before getting to the fine details.
This is the only statue of Cheops (pronounced like cubes). Initially, only the body was found, and eventually, the head was also discovered. Ramy told us an old story about how a woman would wear the king on a necklace to help her become pregnant and supposedly it eventually worked.
Stormy and Hunter for scale
You can see the top of the head where there was possibly a hook for on a necklace
Statue of King Khafre that was found under his temple (the second pyramid at Giza). The king is seated on a throne flanked by lion heads. The two sides of the throne are decorated with the Sema-Tawy, symbol of the unity of Upper and Lower Egypt.
When looking at King Khafre from the front, you cannot see the falcon, only when you look from the side. The falcon, representing the falcon god Horus, protects the king and legitimizes his royal status
Description of the statue of King Khafre
Triads of King Menkaure (middle of each sculpture), the goddess Hathor (identified by the horns and is on the left on Menkaure), and personifications of 3 different nomes (on the right of Menkaure and nomes are different provinces in Egypt)
Description of the triads of King Menkaure
The head of King Userkaf. He was the first king of the 5th dynasty under the sun god Ra. He is wearing the red crown of lower Egypt. Initially, it was thought this may have been the head of the goddess Neith of Sais, but a tiny mustache proved that it was the head of a king
Statue of Ty, an important official during the Fifth Dynasty. He stands in the traditional pose with his left foot forward and his arms resting at his sides. It was discovered in a serdab similar to King Djoser with small openings for priests to give offerings such as smells from incense.
Seated Statues of Rahotep and Nofret. Rahotep might have been a son of King Sneferu and thus a brother of King Khufu (owner of the Great Pyramid of Giza). He held the titles of High Priest of Ra at Heliopolis, General of the Army, and Chief of Constructions. Rahotep's wife, Nofret, is described as "the one acquainted to the king". Notice the different skin colors: reddish brown for the man and pasty white for the woman. This was an artistic convention followed throughout ancient Egyptian history. The colors are very well preserved and the faces have quite realistic expressions.
Group Statue of Seneb and His Family. Seneb was a dwarf who was the chief of all the palace dwarfs and took care of the royal wardrobe. He is seated with his wife, Senetites, and his children standing before him, placed where his legs should be if he wasn't a dwarf.
Statue of Sheikh El-Balad Representing Kaaper chief priest in charge of reciting prayers for the deceased in temples and funerary chapels. It was found in 1860 near the pyramid of King Userkaf at Sakkara. The level of realism with which Kaaper is represented contrasts with the idealism in which kings and members of the royal family were depicted. Sheikh el-Balad, Arabic for the 'chief of the village', was the name given to this statue when it was discovered by the Egyptian excavations of the French archaeologist Auguste Mariette, as it resembled the chief of their own village.
Description of Kaaper
Seated scribe. This is also on the 200LE note (Egyptian currency)
False door of Seshemnufer
Standing statue of Ranefer
Description of Ranefer
The middle kingdom explanation (11-13 Dynasty)
Statue of King Mentuhotep II. He founded the Middle Kingdom (11th Dynasty) when he reunited the country after many years of disorder and hostility. He is wearing the red crown of lower Egypt. Ramy also pointed out that this is a good example of how the art form was changing in the middle kingdom with decreased resources, as the legs are not perfectly symmetrical.
Sphinx of Amenemhat III. Seven sphinxes of Amenemhat were found. Instead of the traditional Nemes headdress, his face is framed by a massive lion's mane that increases the sense of his majesty. The statues rest on a tall and solid base decorated with cartouches of several sovereigns such as the Hyksos king Nehsy, Ramesses the Second, Merenptah and Psusennes, who all, over the centuries, usurped the group of sphinxes.
Amenemhat III bust
Queen Halshepaut
Statue of Sekhmet, the lion-headed goddess. Ramy told us that if a statue has a real face, it's of a king, but if it has an animal face, it's of a god. Sekhmet means "the powerful one" and there are many many statues of her.
Sphinx of woman Pharaoh Hatshepsut. Writing on the chest reads, "Maatkare, Beloved of Amun, may life be given forever."
Akhenaten statue holding the flail and heka scepters. The artist made this sculpture pretty realistic.
Amarna statue of a princess showing an elongated skull and two additional elongated skulls. This may have been an intentional physical modification similar to that with the North American Flathead Native Americans
Head of Nefertiti
Stamps to roll on various words/names
beads
various sarcophagi
The containers to hold the organs for the mummification process
Throne and Footrest of Tutankhamun (King Tut). The throne is made of wood and covered in gold and silver with various stones and glass. On the chair's back, you can see the queen anointing the king with the sun radiating toward them.
Here you can see the falcon and cobra. The falcon Horus is the god of the sky protector of the one who is ruling. The falcon is wearing both the red and white crown showing a unified upper and lower Egypt. The cobra represents the goddess Wadjet who is associated with royalty. The rearing cobra both protected the king and projected his power.
Mummy from the roman period. You can tell because of the portrait on the face.
Infant mummy
Another mummy from the roman period with a portrait on the face.
Statue of the Priest Djedhor
This statue gained a reputation from rumors which say it is under a spell as its completely covered with magical texts that were intended to treat venomous bites of scorpions and poisonous reptiles. Water would be poured over the statue, running all over it and the inscriptions, and into the basin to be used for treatments. It was interesting, and Ramy pointed it out, that this seemingly significant statue had absolutely no other guides around it as they are "afraid" of it and how to best explain it to their tourists. We enjoyed the information Ramy provided and he told us everything, both the real history and the "local" history.
Description of the statue
More sarcophagi
Such impressive structures
Gold coated sarcophagus
Mummified food
Description of mummified food
Statue of a ba-bird. The ba was basically one's personality and was a way of a mummy participating in life outside the tomb, which is from the solar theology of Ra (sun) uniting with Osiris (afterlife) each night.
The coffins and mummies of Yuya and Thuya description. These are the great-grandparents of King Tut
Mummy
Yuya
Thuya, the wife.
One of Yuya and Thuya's bed
Chariot of Yuya
The masks of Thuya and Yuya
Various artifacts
Egyptian tools
The museum is filled with so many pieces, both large and tiny.
Mummy with Osiris mask
How they mummified the mother of Buchis Bill of the god Montu
Animal mummies description
Canopic jars (for organs and such) for Mnevis Bulls
Mummified crocodile
It was probably 20+ feet long before shrinking due to mummification
Pet and food mummies
Mummified dog
Fish
Snake and its X-ray
Cats
Funeral boat sailing
One of the many large museum halls. This one has Amenhotep III and Tiye statues at the back that are massive at 23 ft tall and 14 ft wide. Interestingly, Tiye's height is equal to that of Amenhotep III which shows her prominent status.
Ramy providing tons of information about everything we are looking at!
Sarcophagus
Shrine for canopic jars, part of King Tut's area
The canopic jars from inside the shrine. There is no jar for the heart as it was left inside the body
At the end before leaving the museum we got to see the King Tut exhibit. They do not allow photos inside and it's heavily enforced. We watched someone get their phone confiscated and made to delete the photos and go into theie trash folder and permanently delete it, so our phones were kept in our pockets.
Anubis god of the dead represented by a jackal
Grand staircase before we left the museum.
After the museum, we got back into the car and headed to Khalili Bazaar, the oldest open-air market in the Islamic district of Cairo. Upon driving into the area you could see the vastness of this market and the old structures. We then got out of the car, walked through some tunnels, and were into the market walking down one of the main streets: al-Muizz Street. Various times the tourism police stopped to ask Ramy questions to see his tour permit, how many people in his tour, what our names and nationality were, etc. Hunter and I were both so happy to have a local with us to take care of all these details and to help fend off some of the merchants! We walked and walked and walked seeing all the shops containing various items including clothes, souvenirs, antiques, and food. My favorite comment while walking past some merchants was "Hello there, tell me how can I take your money".
Waiting for the car to pick us up after leaving the museum
Starting to get into the market
Heading into the tunnel to cross under the road
Welcome to the market!
Cats!
The Qalawun complex. It contains a hospital, a madrasa, and a mausoleum. It is one of the major monuments of Islamic Cairo and of Mamluk architecture
A cool merchant with antique phones, cameras, and typewriters.
One interesting thing in Cairo is the crazy loaded trucks and motorcycles!
Ramy told us they make up this side street to take you back in time to how the market would have been like in the past. You can see some mannequins on the balconies.
Trash isn't always managed properly here, but it didn't seem to be that much of an issue for the locals.
After walking we then stopped for lunch at a literal hole in the wall! It was a little daunting but we trusted Ramy to pick excellent options and he did just that! We had a local dish called hawawshi which is like a quesadilla and we absolutely loved it. We also had Egyptian sausage sandwiches which were tasty, as well as pickled veggies, tomatoes and potatoes, fries with cheese, and hamburgers (way too much food for us)! It was lovely.
Waiting for Ramy to order lunch
Cats visiting us
Ramy picked all the dishes for us ensuring we got to taste the local food, plus some "American" food.
Kitty in the window
All the foods imaginable! We were stuffed after this.
After lunch, we headed to Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Hassan. It is an amazing and huge Mosque built in 1357 by Sultan Hassan at 22 years old. It's pretty crazy to think way back then a 22-year-old built this massive 8000 square meter (over 86,000 square feet) structure! We entered through the entrance portal to the entrance vestibule which had intricate details on the inside. Ramy went into a big explanation of the use of the mosque and its history for Hunter and I which we appreciated. He told us that it was a place of prayer, a school, and a hospital. We then moved to the central courtyard where we could see the 4 schools for the four rites. These areas were used for teaching by the madrasas that were part of the foundation. The four iwans are said to have each been devoted to the teaching of one of the four maddhabs (schools of thought) of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence: the Hanafi, Hanbali, Maliki, and Shafi'i maddhabs. In the courtyard, you could also see the beautiful fountain in the center (being renovated). Ramy then showed us the main wall facing Mecca and the Mihrab. Behind this wall was the mausoleum chamber with another incredibly intricate domed ceiling. There was also a prayer, the Shahada, inscribed around the room that Ramy translated. It's an Islamic oath. Our whole time in the mosque was very peaceful and relaxing as it was empty. It felt like we had the whole place to ourselves and we could easily stay there for hours and hours just being calm.
Minarets in the afternoon light
The two mosques, the left is the mosque of Sultan Hasan and right is the mosque of Al. Rifai
Infront of mosque of Al. Rifai
Mosque of Al. Rifai
Details of mosque of Al. Rifai
Details of mosque of Sultan Hasan
More details
THe roof inside the mosque of Sultan Hasan
The hospital
The courtyard
Mosques always have such intricate and beautiful geometric tiling patterns
Standing in front of the mihrab, niech in the wall pointing towards mecca
More incredible geometric stonework
Back outside the mosque
Kitties having some milk
A palm tree cell tower!
Once we completed our mosque visit we headed over to the Hanging Church and Cave Church in Old Cairo. The Hanging Church (also Saint Virgin Mary's Coptic Orthodox Church) is built in basilican style and is constructed over the ruins of the Babylon fortress. Walking into the church entrance there is a story on the wall including how the Mokattam Mountain was moved by the faith of Saint Simon the Shoemaker. The short form of the story is that the pope had a Jewish visitor named Yaqub ibn Killis and they got into an argument and the Jewish visitor plotting revenge quoted a bible verse (Matthew 17:20), basically telling the pope if his religion is great he should be able to move the mountain. The pope requested 3 days and in that time Virgin Mary told him about Simon, who had 1 eye because he believed if his body parts weren't being useful you'd remove it to just lose 1 part of your body not your whole body, who could help achieve this. Simon told everyone to go out to the mountain and pray, and the mountain then moved, Simon disappeared, and the Jewish visitor now believe the pope. You can read the full story here, it's a really great one, so you definitely should!
Walking towards the Coptic Cairo Museum. Ramy told us that "coptic" refers to Egyptian, and the word coptic can be placed in front of any type of religion, but tends to be attached to Christianity.
Fortress of Babylon remains
Another USAID site! Cool to see all the things the US does to support historical preservation around the world
Hanging church entrance...sort of. There is more to go through before getting into it.
The church is the background
Simon the tanner in the lower left of the image made of tiles
After this excellent story, and beautiful tile work pictures, we headed into the church. There were various windows in the floor to show the lack of a foundation for the church. Ramy continued to provide plenty of information as we walked through the church including pointing out the shape of the roof being that of Noah's ark. The church is built literally floating on the walls of the old Roman fortress here. Although ground level now makes this seem less impressive you can still see from several angles that it was originally probably 50+ feet over the surrounding ground.
A view to the ground
Seeing some of the original beams and some new supports in the floor with the ground many feet under
Looking way down through the 1000+ year old floor
Ramy told us that before the Nile was rerouted, the river flew through here as seen by the water ring on the old fortress' remains
Relics of St. George the martyr
Impressive stonework around this enclave outside the basillica
After visiting the very cool Hanging Church, we walked through some very thin and deep alleys through a market with books and pictures for sale. Ramy told us that these alleys were close to the Roman street level. Shortly after we arrived at the Cave Church. This was one of the first churches in Egypt founded in the 4th century and according to Coptic Christian oral tradition Jesus and his family hid here after his birth. There was also a well that he and Mary supposedly drank from during their stay in Cairo. The crypt is way down even further from this already cave like church, (technically referred to as the Saints Sergius and Bacchus Church) and frequently floods to this day when the Nile is high. All in all it was an impressive experience and there were religious pilgrams from around the world there as well. Ramy even randomly started joking with a Korean tour group in Korean without missing a beat.
In the crypt
Leaning tower of... the Coptic quarter?
After the Cave Church and Coptic Cairo, we had about 2 hours untill our dinner on a Nile River cruise. We didn't really have time to go back to the hotel, so we went early to the dinner cruise to wait. We got to watch the sunset while waiting on the top floor of the boat and have a soda before the dinner. It was nice to just relax and take everything in from our information filled day. When it got time for dinner, our driver Ahmed met with us and took us to where our dinner would be. He found us the best seat in the house for the dinner cruise, and tagged along on the boat for the 1.5 hour cruise. Dinner was buffet style, with a mix of items. Ramy told us earlier in the day to get dessert first and dinner after because of the lineup frequently being very backed up, and that's just what we did! Once most people had gotten food, the performances started. First a belly dancer came out, then a man in tanoura came out who was truly the star of the show. Tanoura is an Arabic word, which translates to skirt in English and is a traditional folk dance in Egypt where the dancer spins to Arabic songs. He did some pretty crazy things dancing, but the most impressive was at the end when he recited various things in every language someone asked him to! There was not a single language he didn't know, he did languages from one side of the world to the other without missing a beat. I made him do it in French!
Beautiful sunset
We were convinced this coke was orange flavoured, but the internet seems to think its just sponsored by the Orange telecom company, it definitely tasted a bit different though
Music!
The dinner buffet
Desserts!
The Tanoura
Hunter being all cute with the Tanoura guy
Interesting sell on the boat, we preferred the Tanoura dancer
Back at the dock
Once we got back to the dock where our boat parked, Ahmed took us to the car and drove us back to the hotel. We stopped at the lounge to get a drink, but they had left the desserts out, so we had a snack before returning to the room and going to sleep as we have a very early morning planned for tomorrow!
A little dessert after a long day
Date: November 8, 2022
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