Egyptian Museum & Coptic Cairo

Egyptian Museum

We took breakfast at the hotel’s Ibis Café courtesy of Pat and Fiona.  We had a fantastic early-bird room rate which excluded breakfast and didn’t see the need to pay for a breakfast buffet.  The selection was excellent but not quite as good as that at the Concorde in Sharm.

We walked to the Egyptian Museum via the back of the hotel (which may have been the front at one stage).

Egyptian Museum as seen from our hotel.

The crowds at the museum were horrible.  The museum was full of artefacts from the various pyramids in the form of statues, busts, pottery, mummies, sarcophagi etc.  After a quick look downstairs, we proceeded upstairs.  The famous Tutankhamun’s mask, made of gold with blue stripes, was located at the back.

It was all too much to absorb.  Perhaps “less is more”.  They have so much stuff to share with the world and not enough space.  And there’s more in storage.

Kim had forgotten to bring our guide book which had a good guide to the museum.  So, we had to shell out NZD9 for a guide map.

Intermission

We skipped lunch as we had a big breakfast.  Kim and I swam in the hotel pool, a stone’s throw away from the River Nile (with a busy main road in between).

Coptic Cairo

We took a taxi to St George’s Greek Orthodox Church in Coptic Cairo.

Friendly locals on their transport.

This church and others are located within the Babylon Fortress.  The buildings are of various ages as far back as the 7^th Century AD but some have been rebuilt over the centuries and in the 1900s following a fire.

In the monastery’s (convent’s) Chaplet of St George, we saw the chains in which St George was kept and tortured.  Visiting devotees wrap themselves in these chains and kiss them.  I was impressed by the very tall doors which stood about 25 feet high.

We left via the very impressive souvenir shop.  Rather than just trinkets, they sold amazing octagonal mother of pearly inlay tables.

Impressive mother-of-pearl inlay furniture,

Next door was St Sergius and St Bacchus church, one of the oldest in Cairo, dating back to 4AD.  It was built on the spot where the Holy Family, Joseph, Mary and the infant Jesus Christ, rested at the end of their journey into Egypt when they fled from Emperor Herod.  Fiona seemed quite disinterested in the sights (having achieved her objective of visiting Petra) and didn’t want to enter the church.  But she did eventually.

The Coptic museum was closed for renovation so we finished our visit within the Babylon Fortress with the Hanging Church (officially Saint Virgin Mary’s Coptic Orthodox Church).  It’s nickname comes from the fact that it is located above the gatehouse of the fortress.  Because the surrounding land has been built up, this unusual location is now less apparent or impressive.

Again, Fiona sat outside on the steps.  She appeared disinterested but may just have been tired.  She kept saying that everything was “incredible” or “beautiful” but I don’t think she meant it because she wasn’t even going in to look at them.

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Leaving Egypt

We took a taxi back to the hotel and ate at the food court and stayed in until our departure from the hotel.

We have a departure at 0150 after midnight.  We had managed to pay and secure an extra night (for tomorrow night) to ensure the oldies have a comfortable rest before the night flight.  But we were able to organise a late check-out for them at 1800.  They joined us in our room for a few hours before we left.

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The hotel porter summoned us a taxi for EGP50 (USD8) plus EGP5 for airport entry/parking fee.  When we reached the airport, the driver asked for EGP85 but we stood firm.  He relented and must have been just trying it on.

At check-in, our boarding passes were issued for Cairo to Kuala Lumpur and onwards to Singapore.  Strangely he took the flight coupon for only the first leg and left the second, for three of us.  But for Kim, he took both coupons.

I checked with him, and he returned Kim’s second coupon.  From previous experience, it would be normal for him to pull both coupons and have each one stapled to the respective boarding pass.

Airside, there were many men dressed in white towels.  I told Fiona they were using the airport sauna even thought I knew they were flying Saudi Airlines to Jeddah for a pilgrimage.  There were women as well but dressed in white cloth rather than towels.