Visits to Egypt
©Carolyn Relei 2023
Visits to Egypt in 1961 and 1965 inspired this blog post. It’s been many years since those visits. I am sure that Egypt has changed a lot in the past 55 years, just as everywhere has changed. Though I’ve spent most of my travel time in other locations, I would love to go to Egypt again. Because I love to travel, visit museums, read history and prehistory, and admire beautiful buildings, Egypt is a choice destination. Egypt has all that and much much more.
Egyptian people forged their identity long ago, long before the Arabs swept through to disseminate the religion of Islam and the Arabic language. While Arabic is the main language of Egypt, our Egyptian friends explained that they consider themselves to be “Egyptian” rather than Arab.
The Nile is the source of life in Egypt
The annual flood cycle enabled agriculture in a rainless desert. During my visits to Egypt, farmers still used the shaduf – a human-powered device that transfers water from the river to the fields. The beautiful green along the Nile contrasted greatly with the beige desert beyond. Away from the Nile River, the land was extremely dry. You can see how barren and dry the ground is in the picture of barefooted young men, taken at Luxor, 1961.
Cairo is a gigantic city
Cairo had over 4 million inhabitants in the 1960s when I was there. Because I stayed in a hotel above Midan El Tahrir (Tahrir Square), I was close to the Egyptian museum and a short walk from Nile.
You must visit the Egyptian Museum
When you go to Cairo, visit the Egyptian museum! The museum houses thousands of years of artifacts – statues, jewelry, and the fascinating small models of everyday life that were placed in the tombs to accompany the deceased and serve them in the afterlife. Although styles somewhat changed over the millennia, the elements of design remained recognizably and consistently “Egyptian”.
Hire a Guide!
To get the most out of your visit to the monuments, it’s a good idea to hire a guide. We found that the guides in Egypt take great pride in their work and are knowledgeable in explaining the monuments and the rich history of Egypt.
During our time in Luxor, my mom and I had an amazing guide who spoke seven languages and captivated us with his extensive knowledge and fascinating stories about each monument and their builders.
Cairo has an impressive university
Cairo is the home of what has been claimed to be the biggest university in all of Africa, the Al-Ahzar University and Mosque complex. Students from all parts of Africa and the Muslim world study there. We met students there from countries south of the Sahara, including South Africa.
A few more memories of my visits to Egypt
During Ramadan, in the winter of 1965-66, we found the streets alive after sunset. I remember going out for food at 3am. Everything was alive with color and sound and people were everywhere. That night we ate fatira, a kind of thin pancake with a sweet sauce.
From the hotel room windows we had a view of Midan el Tahrir square (which is really a circle) right below. Buses, cars and carts passed by day and night. The sounds of the clip clop of horses, harnessed to the their flat bed carts, were common. One day, walking along the street near the square, we were offered a ride and we accepted. This was my first and only ride on the slow moving horse drawn cart. It is but one example of the kind and open generosity that we experienced there.
Looking in a different direction from El Tahrir square we could see the extent of the city. The view below is of the closely packed buildings as they were in 1965.
