Mt. Sinai

Hey Folks,

Here is the update for the past couple days….
After relaxing, shopping, snorkeling, and resting, we left Sharm el-Sheik on Sunday afternoon for the Sinai desert. We arrived at St. Catherine’s monastery after dark and checked into our “guest house” on the monastery grounds. I was great to sleep at the foot of the monastery – if only for a couple hours. We had dinner – served by some of the 33 monks who live at the monastery. After dinner we went to bed getting a couple hours rest before the 1am wake-up “knock” (no phones, TV, internet or cell phones). We gathered at 2 am and started our climb to the top Mt. Sinai. Every morning between 300 and 1,000 people attempt the climb. Of those, only 60-80 are allowed to stay at the monastery – which makes our experience special.

We began the climb with all 20 of our group and I am happy to report that all 20 made it to the summit of the mountain! (Even better, all 20 made it down the mountain safely.) The climb took about 2 .5 hours leaving us on the top of the mountain for 2 hours before sunrise (several voted that next year we start later! But this is the time they always start). Temperatures were near freezing so people huddled together under rented blankets (from the Bedouin) and shivered until sunrise. Once the sun was up temperatures quickly increased and people were shedding jackets on the hike down. On the ascent we walked up the camel path and on the way down we took the 3500 “steps of repentance.” This allowed us to look at a couple sites important to Biblical history and the path to Safsafa (another possible location of Mt. Sinai)

After getting showers we took a brief tour of the monastery and then loaded the bus for a short ride to Wadi Feiran (Biblical Refadim – Exodus 17). We checked into the Nunnery (Church of Moses) and had a peaceful and relaxing afternoon and evening – most people took naps. Ben had enough energy to climb one of the mountain tops above the nunnery and found the remains of a 4th century Christian Church! The nunnery also dates to the 4th century and the 5 nuns who run the grounds were wonderful and even took into their private church and not just the one for tourists. (A picture of the nunnery guest house is included – I think you will agree it is awesome.)

This morning we load the bus and made the 6 hour trip to Cairo. About half the group stayed at the hotel (a wonderful 5 star resort near the Giza Pyramids) and the rest went to the sound and light show at the Giza pyramids.

Tomorrow we wake up at 6:30am and head to Alexandria (Alex) to visit the new library, the Roman Catacombs, and Roman Theater. I will not have internet at Alex, so I plan to do a final posting on Friday evening before our departure back to the USA.

Talk to you in a couple days.

Bryan

Hello from Sharm!

A quick note to catch you up on Friday’s and Saturday’s activity…by the way I am writing this from the comfort of the Starbucks coffee house at Sharm el-Sheik (free internet and a taste of home).

Friday we started at 6:30am in Thebes and loaded the bus at 8am for our first stop at Deir el-Medina. This the workers village for the artists for the Valley of the Kings (KV) and Valley of the Queens (QV). The site is important because it gives us a glimpse into the daily life of the working and artists class of workers in Egypt (in the New Kingdom and Ptolemaic periods). This is the site of the first organized labor strike(for a higher beer ration) – which was a success. In addition this is the site of a Hathor temple (Ptolemaic period) that shows a fantastic final judgment scene. A last important location at this site is a visit to the tombs of two leaders of the community. It is fascinating that these tombs are perhaps even more beautiful than the tombs of the kings! It shows the workers made time to create their own tombs in off hours.

After the visit to Deir el-Medina, we hiked over the hill to the Valley of the Queens (taking the same path that workers took to go to work over 3,000 years ago. The title Valley of the Queens is actually a misnomer as the Valley of the Queens was not just for Queens but important royal family members (sons of the king and queens). We entered two of the tombs including the royal tomb of Ramesses II son Kha em Wast. These graves are not as large as those of the king, but equal them in artistry. Kha em Wast’s grave has beautiful color and show several artistic features including translucent robes on the prince and an elongated skull (perhaps an influence of the earlier Akhenaton period).

After the visit to the Valley of the Queens we went to lunch across the street form Medinet Habu (our next stop). Lunch Friday was notable because we had a traditional Egyptian “take-out” lunch. A bowl of rice, thin spaghetti, macaroni noodles, covered in grilled onions and a tomato sauce – one of our best meals on the trip!

Next we visited Medinet Habu – Ramesses III’s mortuary temple and sometime palace. This is an important site because it depicts the successful repulsion of the “sea peoples” who attempted to invade Egypt in the 12th c BC. These sea peoples ultimately settled near Israel and became known as the Philistines…a thorn in the side of Israel for much of Old Testament times (in modern times the Philistines are known as the Palestinians). The color of this temple is fantastic and it allowed us to imagine how colorful these temples were in ancient times.

Our last stop in Thebes was an afternoon visit to Karnak temple (A VERY large temple dedicated to Amun-Re). The temple was added to by most of the Pharaoh’s of the New Kingdom and visitors could take days to tour the site completely. Like at many of our sites we explored the site until the guards forced us to leave. There were 30+ tour busses at the temple when we arrived and we were the last bus to leave! It was encouraging to see the students beg for additional time…you would be proud of their enthusiasm.

Leaving Karnak we had a leisurely dinner…Egyptian concept of time is a slower than ours and a 2 hour dinner is not uncommon. After dinner we boarded a plane – arriving in Sharm at 10:30pm. We arrived at our hotel around 11:30 and everyone rushed to bed (well not everyone….)

I was a bit surprised…we all had the option for a day to sleep in (as we have been getting up each morning between 5 and 6am) but 12 people opted for a 7am wake-up call and snorkeling trip. Another 3 decided to go for a horseback ride…leaving 5 to rest by the pool. The day was filled with fun, shopping and relaxing…more of the same tomorrow until we board the bus for Mt. Sinai.

We will be out of internet range for a few days as we stay the St, Catherine’s Monastery and then the Nunnery at Wadi Feiran. More in few days from Cairo.

Bryan

Thursday January 22 - Thebes

January 22 – Thebes
Another great day in Egypt!
Here was the itinerary….
5 am wake up call

5:30am pick up for the balloon ride over Luxor and the Valley of the Kings (optional)

7:00am – 12noon off to the Valley of the Kings and the Funerary Temple of Ramesses II

12-1 lunch at a roof-top restaurant near the Valley of the Kings

1-2 Tombs of the Nobles

2-4:30 Hatshepsuts Temple

5-6 Carriage ride around the city of Luxor

7:30 Dinner

Evening free to go to the market – or just rest
As you can see we are running all day!

Some of the notable events…

Sarah was REALLY excited to see Hatshepsut’s temple which was the subject of her Senior Thesis – we all enjoyed learning about how a woman was one of Egypt’s greatest pharaoh’s.

17 people went on the hot air balloon ride and said it was the highlight of the trip thus far.
We had a great time exploring the tombs of the pharaoh’s and noble’s - most people were struck by the amount of color and artistry present after 3,500 years.

Today was also a great day to see the local Egyptian people and we saw some great scenes for everyday life as well as some very difficult scenes with children working at the age of 5 or 6 – sometimes seeing the children experiencing harsh treatment. More on that this weekend of I have some free time.

Tomorrow is another long day with a 6:30 wake-up call the visiting the Valley of the Queens, Medinet Habu, Deir el Medina, and Karnak Temple…we then board a 9:30 pm flight to Sharm el Sheik – with an ETA at the hotel of 11:45 pm…then we have a day and a half of REST!

More on Saturday,
Bryan

January 21 - Evening at Luxor Temple

Abu Simbel Pictures

Wednesday January 21, 2009 – Abu Simbel and Luxor Temple
Another great day in Egypt!
We started the morning with a 5:30am wake-up call (which is getting to be the norm). Packed and had breakfast at 6am. Then we boarded busses for the Aswan airport. We boarded a plane for Abu Simbel at 8:30 – arriving at 10am (including the normal 30-40 minute delay – another common occurrence in Egypt).
For those that don’t know, Abu Simbel is on the border between Sudan and Egypt and houses a great Ramesses II temple. We spent about 90 minutes exploring the temple then boarded a plane back to Aswan – arriving for a late lunch.
Then we boarded another bus for Thebes (roughly 4 hours north of Aswan). On the bus three students (Kyle, Angela, and Allana) gave presentations about their semester research projects (They all did a great job). Afterwards everyone took naps until we arrived in Thebes at 6:30pm. Upon arrival we went for an evening visit to Luxor temple (for the goddess Mut). After touring the temple we came to the hotel for a late 8:30pm dinner.
As you can see we are going strong all day!
Tomorrow we visit the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple and the tombs of the nobles.
Enjoy the pics

Aswan, Egypt January 18, 19 & 20

Wow….what a whirlwind of days. This is the first down time we have had in 72 hours! This post is to catch everyone up on the general progress of our trip. I am writing this while the class is over to our room watching the inauguration…it is special watch a new president come into office in the USA while sitting 5,000 miles away in Egypt. On a side note…everyone we speak with here is supportive of Obama and excited to see what he will accomplish for the world.
Since several students are here, I thought they could make postings for our activities over the past three days.

Sunday 1/18 - Giza pyramids and the Cairo Museum: (Addie and Lexy)
In the morning we visited the great pyramids at Giza. As you will see in the attached picture we tried to make our own pyramid and discovered it is harder than it looks! We then went down to see the Sphinx.

For lunch we went to a great local restaurant and some students were able to pet and pictures taken with a baby lion. Some of us even got lion kisses!
After lunch we went to the Cairo museum and students were in awe as they were able to walk through rooms and rooms filled top to bottom with Egyptian history. Our wonderful tour guide Joseph gave us the VIP tour of the museum and led us into the mummy display where we were able to see the mummies of Hatshepsut, Ramesses II and many others. Hatshepsut, first female pharaoh of Egypt, was kindly described in the label next to her mummy as, “An obese woman with bad teeth.” Not exactly a description fit for a king. We also saw King Tut’s treasure, his death mask, sarcophagus, and even his underwear! Unfortunately, we weren’t able to take pictures inside the museum, so everyone back home will have to take our word for it.

Monday January 19 – Saqqara, Memphis, Dahshour – Overnight train to Aswan (Addie, Lexy, and Megan)

Although it was great seeing the pyramids at Giza yesterday, today we actually got to go INSIDE the Red Pyramid (Egypt’s first true pyramid)! It was a long way down, bent in half, climbing down a steep “staircase” behind some very slow French tourists with a frightened child. Once we made it down the shaft, we entered the inner chamber, with an incredible stepped ceiling, showing the ingenious engineering of the ancient Egyptians. It was quite an experience.
We also got to go into the smaller pyramid of King Titi. Though the pyramid itself is far less impressive than the Red Pyramid, the interior is much more beautiful. The walls are lined with inscriptions; spells to protect the mummy within. The sarcophagus, the only object left in the tomb, lies under a ceiling of stars, representing Nut, the goddess of the night sky. Lucky for us, the lid of the coffin is broken in one corner, revealing the inscriptions inside written to protect the mummy.

We also went into one of the many funerary temples. This temple had amazing artwork one all of its walls some of which even still had their original colors still present. Joseph also explained to us all how some of the representations of people were rather contorted. We tried to be a life representation of how the art was represented, this was almost impossible. Getting your feet to be in profile, knees forward, torso facing forward, and head in profile was not an easy task. Either way this was an interesting place to visit and learn about.

We also went to see the step pyramid and Immohoteps building. We did not get to go inside the step pyramid but we did learn a lot about it from Joseph and got to walk around. It was really cool to see how pyramids got developed from the step pyramid.

We then boarded a sleeper train to Aswan. It was an interesting experience. The trains we saw go by were kind of run down and we were all worried about what our train would look like. Our train arrived and it had windows and looked pretty nice. The sleeper cars were small and they were really fun to be in. Some thing most of us had not experienced. We were able to walk around the train and head to the bar cart and all hang with each other and then meet some people from LA touring Egypt. A very fun experience.

Tuesday January 20 – Phillae Island, High Dam, Unfinished Obelisk (Megan, Jenny, Lexy)

Today we arrived in Aswan by train and first impressions gave that it was much cleaner than Cairo and a lot hotter. It was nice to be in a cleaner city but it is definitely different living style of living and culture, very cool to see. We then headed over to the unfinished Obelisk and learned a lot about why it was never finished and what the rocks around it were used for. It is amazing to see such a huge piece of rock in the ground.

Phillae Island was amazing to go see. This island has the temple of Isis on it which has the last carved set of hieroglyphics carved into the stone. This was such a massive amount of rock and had gorgeous scenes but very little of its original color left.