As we drove away from Giza and to the South, all along the Nile, life is bustling. If you come on a cruise, you'll probably only go to the Giza pyramids. If you come on an organised tour, again, they probably only bring you to the Giza pyramids. The amazing thing about independent travel, though it is much harder, is you'll get to see all this. You get to see how life is really lived, especially away from the city. This area is around Saqqara. The Nile has its origin in Ethiopia, in the Nile falls. I saw a rerun of 'Africa trek' the other evening that showed the origins of the Nile. It supplies water to both Egypt and the Sudan. We can only imagine what life is like in the desert. People here long for the lush growth found in Northern Europe. Just like us, Southern Californians, we go go go gaga when we visit the North West or the North East. Everywhere you see billboards advertising some new housing development and it depicts lush lawns, waving trees and a European looking family in Western clothing. It is sort of strange to see how they clamor for a Western style of civilisation and a western lifestyle.
The Imhotep museum is down below and now we are headed up to the step pyramid. I did try to read up before I left for Cairo but there was so much information. Now as I'm working on putting out these postings, I'm reading up again and have more information and greater appreciation about what I saw in Cairo and its environs. I did not understand why we had to visit this museum first. We are so bombarded with information about the Giza trio that we don't understand the significance of Saqqara. I will elucidate the importance of Saqqara in the next posting.
As we drove away from Giza and to the South, all along the Nile, life is bustling. If you come on a cruise, you'll probably only go to the Giza pyramids. If you come on an organised tour, again, they probably only bring you to the Giza pyramids. The amazing thing about independent travel, though it is much harder, is you'll get to see all this. You get to see how life is really lived, especially away from the city. This area is around Saqqara. The Nile has its origin in Ethiopia, in the Nile falls. I saw a rerun of 'Africa trek' the other evening that showed the origins of the Nile. It supplies water to both Egypt and the Sudan. We can only imagine what life is like in the desert. People here long for the lush growth found in Northern Europe. Just like us, Southern Californians, we go go go gaga when we visit the North West or the North East. Everywhere you see billboards advertising some new housing development and it depicts lush lawns, waving trees and a European looking family in Western clothing. It is sort of strange to see how they clamor for a Western style of civilisation and a western lifestyle.
The Imhotep museum is down below and now we are headed up to the step pyramid. I did try to read up before I left for Cairo but there was so much information. Now as I'm working on putting out these postings, I'm reading up again and have more information and greater appreciation about what I saw in Cairo and its environs. I did not understand why we had to visit this museum first. We are so bombarded with information about the Giza trio that we don't understand the significance of Saqqara. I will elucidate the importance of Saqqara in the next posting.
I read a guide book once where the author said, 'promise me that you will read up before you go and again when you come back'. That's exactly what I do, read up before I go and reading up after I return. So each trip holds its fascination for months after I return and I will turn up information I didn't before the trip. I will find other tidbits that would enthrall me and say to myself, 'how did I miss that' and I vow to return again some day.
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