On the Holy Land. Part.3. "This city is the best city in the world..."
I love this city very much. I fell in love with him in absentia when I was collecting materials for the novel "The Roar of Anubis", but I could only describe it when I visited it personally, in 2002. So my excitement before a new trip to Cairo is understandable. How will he meet me? How will I perceive it, for it is not in vain that it is said that one cannot step into the same river twice. . .
The meeting was scheduled for 3 o'clock in the morning. Not yet fully recovered from the most exhausting trip to Jerusalem, I was afraid of a 6-hour voyage to the Egyptian capital. The chariot was delivered on time. It was a small Mercedes van with air conditioning. For 6 people tourists (my family and another family from Kyiv) - that's it. The driver Mustafa (I kept repeating to myself, so as not to forget that his name is one of the names of Ataturk, but sometimes he got confused and almost called the guy Kemal), a young man of about 25, who did not speak Russian at all, introduced us to his friend , also a young guy from the local police, who probably decided to go for a ride to the capital (in fairness, I’ll say that he was very useful to us, because he invariably resolved all situations associated with numerous police posts and checks, and in general the lad is cheerful and harmless ). Go. . .
I tumbled into the back seat and drove comfortably all the way to Cairo. About 1.5 hours before arrival, I was thrown up, and I stared out of the window with curiosity, observing typical Egyptian landscapes. Of the interesting was perhaps the crossing of the Suez Canal through an underground tunnel. We never saw the canal itself : -( The sky was still frightening. Frowning with clouds, without sun. Here is your grandmother and St. George's day, I thought. Was it worth it to go to Cairo to be caught in the rain? The sun came out only after 9 am Mood improved.
An hour later, the suburbs flashed by, and finally, we drove into Cairo. We approached him from a slightly different direction than on my first visit to the capital of Misra. Then we drove through Giza, so we immediately saw the pyramids. Today we drove through the center, on a large bridge. The trip immediately reminded me of Moscow. We immediately got into a traffic jam and moved slowly, like turtles. But we were able to look around.
Yes, Cairo is not Jerusalem for you. Already one population of this giant anthill is impressive. 23-24 million people!! ! Well, this is 30 Jerusalems, 3 Moscows or half of Ukraine! Just think. Huge houses, hung with dishes of satellite dishes and boxes of air conditioners, wide streets not in Arabic, masses of people and a sea of greenery. Here and there you see the minarets of mosques, the spiers of churches, the towers of five-star hotels. And the invariable Cairo "unfinished" houses with protruding channels. In principle, they are quite self-sufficient and comfortable. However, the owners, while the house bristled with channels, report to the authorities about their home as unfinished (in a couple of years, the eldest son will marry, then we will build a floor for him and that's it), receiving a deferment on property tax.
We drove up to the Cairo Museum - a relatively small two-story red brick building built in the 19th century by Auguste Mariette - the first Chief Curator of Egyptian Antiquities (now this post is occupied by Dr. Zahi Hawass). At the entrance we met with our guide, Dr. Hassan. He teaches Egyptology at Cairo University and speaks excellent Russian (because he studied in Moscow for 5 years). Hasan led us through the corridors of the museum, poking at one or another landmark, which we had seen more than once in magazines, books and on TV. Of course, the treasures of the tomb of Tutankhamun left the greatest impression - a mask, a 130 kg of pure gold coffin, etc. However, even without that, the museum has a lot of interesting things. The same animal mummies: crocodile, dog, baboon, cat. A diorite statue of Pharaoh Khafre, papyri. . . It's a pity that the room is cramped and poorly air-conditioned, and that photography is not allowed here. But already on the territory we took pictures to our heart's content. Particularly impressive pool with blue lotuses, Marietta's grave, sphinxes.
Then they went to the necropolis of Saqqara, where the oldest burial places of the Egyptian pharaohs are located. 3rd, 5th, 6th dynasties. As the astonished Dr. Hassan told us, it is rare for Slavic tourists to wander into Saqqara. Along the way, we saw pictures of everyday life. Here is a canal into which a passenger car fell, being recovered by the police and local natives. Sad thin donkeys, dragging boys and luggage on their backs, Arab women with straight backs, carrying multi-kilogram loads on their heads. And now, from behind the turn, a desert appeared with pyramids sticking out in the middle of it. The most remarkable of the Saqqara pyramids is, of course, the first Egyptian stepped pyramid, built by the architect Imhotep for the pharaoh of the 3rd dynasty Djoser. Once it was surrounded by a wall and gates, on the territory near it there was a funeral temple with altars. Little remains of the associated buildings. As if spellbound, we stood in front of the great creation of Imhotep, silent and melting in the sun.
The next stop is the famous Giza plateau with the three pyramids of the 4th Dynasty built by the pharaohs Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure (Cheops, Khafreno and Menkaure), as well as the Great Sphinx. The heat has reached its peak. We were already moving like a turtle, overcome by the sun and local merchants who offered us souvenirs for a couple of dollars: copies of 3 pyramids, papyrus bookmarks, figurines of gods and goddesses. Impressed by the grandeur of the 140 meter Khufu Horizon. We tried to go down to one of the small pyramids, but at the sight of an almost sheer pit 50x50 cm with a slippery ladder, none of us dared to do a feat for the glory of tourist curiosity. From the observation deck, we looked at the entire panorama of Giza and went down to the Great Sphinx, which, according to legend, has a portrait resemblance to the builder of the 2nd pyramid, Pharaoh Khafre. Here I shouted not only at the bored blacks, but also at the stupid and slow, like camels, the English, whose arrogant family, exhausted by the sun, did not yield to anyone a place near the Sphinx, convenient for photographing. He took, you can say, darling : -)
After lunch, we went to the Khan el Khalili bazaar in Cairo. There are no food items here. Since the century before last, Egyptian "antiquities" have traditionally been traded here. A huge quarter of shops and shops, where the counters are bursting with gold and silver, hookahs, carpets and rugs, national clothes, statues and figurines. I bought images of Seth and Thoth here, and my daughter got hold of two shesha hookahs for herself and for a gift.
Tired of the sun and impressions, we moved home.
Until we meet again, Cairo, the heart of Misra!
