Back in France, and trying to sort through my time in Egypt. It has been a little over a month since Hosni Mubarak resigned as president of Egypt amidst massive protests.
I set of to Egypt on a little more than a whim, a possibly naïve desire to see post revolution Egypt, and just maybe be able to tell peoples’ stories and make some sort of difference.
As a tourist I have been warmly welcomed here, but as a tourist and a non-Arabic speaker, most of the people I have interacted with have been in the tourist industry, which has made it difficult for me to get a full picture of views on post-Mubarak Egypt.…
Today Egyptians are holding a historic vote on a number of constitutional reforms, with opinions divided on if the reform package, which includes things like limiting presidential terms, should be passed, or if Egypt should draft an entirely new constitution. When I’ve spoken with people about the January 25 revolution, everyone has expressed support and sense of hope for a future without Mubarak. I haven’t heard that same unity when speaking to people about today’s vote.…
I spent most of yesterday diving, but unfortunately those photos will have to wait, since I was shooting on a film camera (trust me, you aren’t missing much; most of my energy was focused on remembering how to dive, not on focusing the camera).…
“Want some Valium for the bus ride?” Although I politely declined, probably I should have realized then just how bad the fifteen hour trip from Luxor to Sharm el-Sheikh would be. But I didn’t.
When I was in India last year I made the mistake of trying to ride “ordinary” buses in an attempt to see India as a local would. This time, remembering the horrors of the Indian bus experience, I had booked a first class bus ticket, and so full of confidence in the “deluxe” ticket I had secured, I turned down the Valium and headed for the bus.…
I spent most of yesterday visiting the west side of Luxor, which includes the famous Valley of the Kings. The Valley of the Kings is where many of the pharaohs, such as Tutankhamun, from the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt were buried.
The west side of Luxor also includes the Valley of the Queens, several temples, and the village where the workers who built the tombs lived.…
Took the overnight train from Cairo to Luxor, the ancient capital city of Thebes. Luxor is divided into West and East by the Nile. The east side, where I am staying, is home to the new city as well as several of the ancient temples, while the west side is where the Valley of the Kings is located. Today I visited the Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple and tomorrow I am going to the Valley of the Kings.…
I spent today visiting the pyramids at Giza and Saqqara. The Giza pyramids are the most famous ones, and what most people think of when referring to Egyptian pyramids, but they are far from the only pyramids in Egypt.
The Giza necropolis (burial grounds) consists of the three large pyramids for the pharaohs Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure), six smaller queens’ pyramids, and the Sphinx.
Saqqara was the necropolis for Memphis, a capital of ancient Egypt, and is about 10 miles (17km) from the Giza pyramids.…
I headed into Cairo this morning still not exactly sure what to expect. For the most part there is little evidence of the protests that swept the country just weeks ago. The area around Tahrir Square, the center of the protests against Mubarak is still heavily militarized, with tanks and soldiers lining the street near the famous Egypt Museum, and there are army checkpoints in front of most of the more famous tourist sites (although I don’t know if that is new or if if they were put in place after some of terrorist attacks that Egypt experienced several years ago).…
Landed in Cairo about an hour ago. Before you start to wonder if I’ve lost my mind, I did check out all the various travel warnings before booking the flight and it seems with a little common sense travel in Egypt should be fairly safe now. Or at least I hope.
I have a break from French class this week, so I started looking at flights from Geneva, and eventually settled on Egypt.…
