Gail and John'sTravels: Safaga, Egypt – Gateway to the Ancient Past

After four days at sea and some great, active and very full art classes, we arrived at Safaga, Egypt. This is a relatively large port city, founded in about 275 B.C., on the Red Sea at the base of an extensive mountain range.

Safaga Harbour

On our first day in port, John went on a fourteen hour tour leaving at 7:45 AM. The first part of the tour involved a three and a half hour bus ride along the Egyptian version of a highway, very bumpy, partially complete and very dusty. While it was ostensibly a two-lane highway, there were many times when cars would pass, forcing on-coming traffic to make its own path along the soft shoulders. In the first hour of our ride we saw several Bedouin encampments, and lots of mountains.

Typical Bedouin encampment

During the second hour we entered the beginnings of the Sahara desert, still mountainous but very dry and dusty. After three hours we finally got to cross the Nile River. This huge river provides all of Egypt with its fresh water and all of its agriculture occurs within a few miles on either side.

Crossing the Nile

Life along the irrigation canal

Half and hour later we arrived at the Valley of the Kings. Unfortunately, the local police would not allow us to leave the bus with our cameras. The sights, however, were quite impressive. This is the area where Pharaohs were buried, hoping that grave-robbers would not find their remains.

Valley of the Kings from the outside

After a long walk uphill, we were taken to the tomb of Ramses IX who died about 1350 BC. The burial chamber is about 200 m inside the mountain. The downhill path is quite remarkable. The tunnel is about four metres square and completely covered in pictures and hieroglyphics.

The second tomb was that of Ramses V. This was a warren of tunnels since along with the Pharaoh were buried a number of other relatives and kings. What makes this tomb unique is that it was discovered in 350 AD by the Romans. They used the tomb as a kind of hotel as they travelled through the area. In 380 AD, the tunnels were commandeered by early Christians. Because of this, the tomb contains some very early graffiti, from Roman pictures over Egyptian pictographs to Christian writings (in Latin), sketches of early monks with crosses drawn around them.

We were then taken by bus to the area of the Valley of the Queens where there has been a recent discovery of many tombs of wealthy nobles from some 3500 years ago.

Tombs of the Nobles

There was a photo stop at the Temple of Hatchepsut, the only female Pharaoh of that time. Her temple is a remarkable structure that is three stories tall and was buried by sand for thousands of years. There are also some very interesting ruins near the temple that are just now being excavated.

John at Temple of Hatchepsut

Ruins near Temple of Hatchepsut

Our next stop was at the Colossi of Memnon, the only remaining structures at the entrance to a temple that no longer exists. The birds really seem to love these sculptures.

Collosi of Memnon

We were then taken to the temple of Karnak, which is 65 acres in size and took almost a thousand years to complete. It is enormous in scope, and we only managed to cover about ten acres of the property. This involved a very long walk on a hot and dusty day. A good part of the temple, with construction starting about 1350 BC, had a large roof supported by 109 pillars, each about 15 to 20 m in height. The ceiling, which no longer exists, was beautifully painted. Another remarkable feature of this temple is that the entire 65 acre site was surrounded by a mud-brick wall that was fifteen feet (about 5 m) thick.

At Temple of Karnak

Entering the Temple

Support Columns at Karnak

Protected from the elements, a 3500 year old painting

There was also a road connecting Karnak to the Temple of Luxor that is one kilometre long containing 1000 sphinxes, 500 on each side of the road.

Part of the road from Karnak to Luxor

Our last stop was at the Temple of Luxor. We were quite thankful that this temple was much smaller than Karnak since we were all very tired at this point. This temple is very beautifully constructed, again with a roof supported by many pillars, and many intricate carvings and sculptures.

Inside Luxor

John at Luxor

Support columns at Luxor

This was the temple which Alexander the Great captured in about 350 BC. He then added a wall of pictographs showing himself as a god-like person in the Egyptian style. However, if you look at his depiction, you notice the well-formed ears, musculature, knees and other special features that Egyptian pictographs do not have. He also included a new god of fertility (look closely at the pictograph) along with himself.