FEBRUARY 6 - NMEC, LUNCH AND THE KHAN EL-KHALILI BAZAAR

When planning our trip, it was most important that we visit the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, and, although it would be available to visit on an upcoming plan-your-own-afternoon, we didn't want to take any chance of missing out.  So, in making our arrangements, we planned on arriving two days before the actual "small group journey" began and Carolyn booked us a private tour on Sunday, the 6th, for the Museum.

Over the last two years, I started an online course on Egyptian Civilization which was so incredibly boring I stopped after four classes.  (How anyone, let alone a professor from the University of Pennsylvania, could actually make Egyptian Ancient Civilization boring is beyond me but he did!)  Michael and I also took an online 4-part seminar on Ancient Egypt through Indagare Travel.  During the seminar, we learned the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities was going to move 22 Pharaoh mummies to the newly-constructed National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, the date yet to be determined.  Well, finally, last year we were able to watch The Pharaohs Royal Golden Parade on youtube.  We were so excited that we had to make sure we'd see them while in Egypt.

To say we were excited to finally go to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization would be an understatement.  The cost of admission to the Museum was $12.73 per person or 200 EGP;  an additional $3.18 was paid because Michael had a separate camera. (The Egyptian Pound is worth $.06.) 

 

 

It's a beautiful museum.  It isn't very large so you don't have to stand around for six hours and read every label beside every bracelet or statue.  According to Ahmed, the Museum takes more of a "conceptual" approach to Egypt's history. 

The Mummies Hall (which was the reason for our visit) is in the lower portion of the Museum reached by walking down a ramp.  It was a real treat, but, unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take any photos.  They are wonderfully and respectfully displayed in temperature-controlled glass cases.  

The entire mummification process is a truly remarkable accomplishment for the time.  How the ancient Egyptians figured out how to do this is still amazing to us. 

It was at this Museum that one of my conversations with Ahmed began. I have always had mixed feelings about archeology relating to Egyptian mummies and often questioned whether it's okay to "dig up" these people in order to learn something about the past.  I guess I often wondered, "When will it be okay to dig up our ancestors?" 

I hadn't realized that, with the exception of King Tutankhamen, none of the Pharaohs were found in their tombs.  Ancient grave robbers actually stole what they could and the actual mummies were later found in a "cache" in the Valley of the Kings.  The Deir el-Bahari cache is one such place.  We speculated that much of the grave robbing may have been "inside jobs" by disgruntled architects, nobles, etc.  Who knows?  

What I did learn is that, today, Egyptians are of at least two minds about all this.  Some (and I'm guessing the vast majority) respect their history and realize how important archeology is to their country.  On the other hand, (uneducated) religious fundamentalists would have no difficulty destroying every temple, tomb and museum because they all represented paganism.  

One also has to remember that there is so much yet to be discovered under the desert -- God only knows how much is still hidden.  In our travels in all three countries, excavations continue to occur -- for example, a child finds an ancient scarab in his or her backyard or a hotel groundbreaking has to be halted because a synagogue, for example, had been discovered.  It's never-ending.  

During our travels, we learned temples were built on top of temples, tombs were built on top of other tombs, churches (in later years) were built on top of earlier churches - it all depended on who was in charge and how they decided to recycle the materials used earlier. (In some temples we visited, we could see crosses added to wall carvings of Pharaohs and gods to signify that the Crusaders came through in much-later centuries.)   

We also learned that the Pharaohs' most important concern was the afterlife.  They were not of today's thinking that "you can't take it with you." They prepared for the afterlife by having everything they had placed in their tombs - gold, artifacts, furniture, animals, etc. - thus, the resultant grave robbing that occurred after their deaths.  It's remarkable that the tomb of Tutankhamen contained everything that was buried beside him, but there's a reason for that and I'll discuss it when we get to the Valley of the Kings.  

After thinking about all this over the following ten days, I came to the conclusion that archeology is, indeed, absolutely necessary and actually fulfills the dream of the Pharaohs - IMMORTALITY!  They continue to live thousands of years after their deaths because of the men and women who have dedicated their lives to this important work.

Aside from the mummies, I think one of the most interesting items in the Museum was the first prosthetic toe created about 3,000 years ago (at 50:05 on the video) for a woman who was disabled. At the museum, there was an animated video of a woman walking before and after this device was strapped to her foot with leather.  Pretty remarkable. 

 

After we left the Museum, we went to lunch at Naguib Mahfouz restaurant right in the heart of the Khan El-Khalili Bazaar;  it was at this point when we knew we were in trouble. The food throughout Egypt, Jordan and Israel was unbelievably delicious - hummus and baba ganoush (eggplant) everywhere!  And lots of freshly-breaked bread (Michael's downfall)!  We couldn't resist anything!  In these countries, customers are served at least a half dozen "starters" before the main course.  At one place in Israel, there were actually 14 starters - before the main course! 

Here, I had, for the first time, a lovely drink of lemon juice, water and mint!  It would become a staple for me at lunchtime. 

The afternoon was spent walking through the streets of the Khan El-Khalili Bazaar, reputedly the largest in the Middle East.  According to our itinerary, it was founded as a watering stop for caravanserai in the 14th century and has grown ever since brimming with brassware, copper, leather, silver, gold, perfume and antiques.  

People are really struggling to stay alive.  Tourism is such a big part of Egypt's economy and the lack thereof has really taken a toll on the country.  

I was wearing my Tyvec world map jacket and vendors would approach, point to Egypt on the jacket and say, "I'm here!" I, in turn would say, "Egypt is close to my heart!" Although assertive in their attempts to get us to look at their wares, they were never aggressive to the point where I would feel unsafe.  We weren't in the market for anything other than magnets and Ahmed told me I shouldn't pay more than $1.00 for one.  I managed to get all my magnets throughout Egypt for that price!  A common phrase that was said to us when we politely said, "No," was "Maybe later!" 

Bumper-to-bumper traffic meant that Michael was easily lulled into napping while in the car.  (Actually, driving 70 mph would still lull him into napping.)  In any event, I assured Ahmed that Michael wasn't bored with the information he was giving us but that Michael easily fell asleep when not walking.   

We were hoping that the Grand Egyptian Museum would also be opened.  However, it was the Egyptian government's hope to have Presidents and dignitaries from all over the world attend its grand opening but, unfortunately, everything has been postponed because of the CCP virus and opening day is yet to be determined.