The Trip That Keeps Growing

Day 15&16 21-22 Oct 2020 Cairo – Old Cairo and Coptic Cairo and the Trip Home

Today, our last day in Egypt, began with a trip to some of the oldest parts of Cairo and where we learned about the Christian or Coptic sect in the country. Coptic Cairo is the oldest part of the city, with a settlement here as early as the 6^th century BCE. It is considered a complex for the three religions – Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. It is dominated by the Hanging Church that sits above the gatehouse of the Babylon Fortress, the Roman fortress of old Cairo. The church itself does not hang from anything – the name comes from the fact that its nave is suspended over a passageway. It was built in the 3^rd – 4^th century and is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It belongs to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. The Copts (as they are called) are the Middle East’s largest Christian community, making up about 9% of Egypt’s 80 million people. According to Mito, Egypt does not discriminate any form of religion. The Hanging Church was having a service when we first got there, so we enjoyed the beautiful mosaics painted on the walls leading to the church. When the service ended, we were free to visit the church. It was stunning inside. We even saw a family that had just had their baby baptized. Outside the church, we ran into a group of college students who are studying to be tour guides. Of course, we all had to talk with them.

We then walked to the Church of St. Sergius where, in the basement, was a room where Mary, Joseph, and Jesus stayed after fleeing from King Herod’s wrath. Also inside the church was the crypt of St. Bashnouan, a 12^th century monk who was killed because he would not deny his Christian faith. To get to the church we had to walk along a passageway inside the fortress that had the longest bookstore in Cairo. Books of all types and languages lined the walls on both sides of the passageway

Unfortunately, Ben Ezla Synagogue, the oldest Jewish temple in Cairo was under renovation and we were unable to visit it. Once a Christian church it was sold to Abraham Ben Ezra of Jerusalem in 882 AD. At one time the Nile River flowed up to its foundation, and it is said that it was here among the reeds that the baby Moses was found.

Following our visit to Coptic Cairo, we drove to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, the new home of the Royal mummies, which is located in the southern part of Cairo. This museum just opened in April of this year. It is the only museum in Egypt that gives an overview of all the historical periods of Egyptian history, and the only museum in the Arab world that focuses entirely on Ancient Egypt. In a spectacular “Pharaohs’ Golden Parade” on 3 April 2021, 18 pharaohs (including perhaps the greatest pharaoh, Ramses II) and 4 queens were transported through Cairo from Tahrir Square along the River Nile to their new home in the National Museum.

The museum is quite extensive and covers the history of Egypt from the prehistoric up to the present. In the prehistoric section there is a 35,000-year-old skeleton of a young boy. But the highlight of the Museum is, of course, the new Mummy Room. The mummies are kept in glass containers that keep them from deteriorating any further. And in addition to the mummies, the individual rooms also contain the sarcophagi in which they were buried as well as a short biography of each individual mummy. There is very little lighting, and no pictures are allowed. It is truly amazing to be in the company of these pharaohs and queens after all these thousands of years. Queen Hatshepsut is one of the mummies and it was interesting to see how small she really was – just about the size of a 10-year-old child.

Leaving the Museum, we headed to Cairo’s largest park for our luncheon. This was the same park that Dahlia had taken us to on our last day with her. After lunch a group of about 15 of our travelers left to go visit the Garbage City and Cave Church. They were so impressed by our descriptions of them that they wanted to see for themselves. Although not part of our tour, Mito arranged their transportation and also had one of OAT representatives in Cairo accompany them on the trip. That is another of the wonderful things we like about OAT – the trip leaders go above and beyond what you would normally expect. The group really enjoyed this little side trip and hopefully, OAT will find a way to make it a permanent part of the itinerary – it truly is a unique part of Egypt and Cairo’s history.

We returned to the hotel to finish packing and get ready for our Farewell Dinner. Where did the time go? It seemed like just yesterday we were boarding our flight to Istanbul, and early tomorrow morning we will board another flight to Istanbul and then to the US.

We met for the last time in the Ambassador’s Lounge and talked about how wonderful this trip had been. Mito had the results of our Covid PCR tests and we all were negative – so no one has to quarantine before heading home or on to their post-tour of Alexandria. We then walked to the Italian restaurant in the hotel for our final meal together. It was sad as we said goodbye to our new-found friends, but we feel certain we will see some of them again on future trips. About half the group will not even go to bed tonight as they have to leave for the airport at midnight. We are the lucky ones – we get to sleep until 4 AM!

4 AM is way too early, but we struggled out of bed and met our taxi at 5 AM to take us to the airport. There was hardly any traffic on the road and were checked-in and through security by 7AM. Our flight to Istanbul, which left at 8:30, was on time and we arrived in Istanbul about 12:30. We had to go through an International Transfer Security checkpoint and then we headed to the gate for our flight to Chicago. We again had to go through another security check, but this is normal for all flights headed to the US. At 2:30 PM our flight took off and 11 hours later we landed in Chicago. The flight was uneventful, but the food was not exceptional. After three weeks of spicy food, I would have happily settled for pasta and butter! I have had my fill of Turkish and Egyptian food. I think I got about 4 hours of sleep on the flight, but we were both very tired when we landed in Chicago. I breezed through Global Entry – they are now using biometrics, so you do not need to scan your passport. You just let the machine take your picture and take the printout to the customs agent after you get your luggage. At least that is how it is supposed to work and it did for me. But poor Bill, something happened when he used the machine and he ended up having to go through the regular passport control, so it took him about 15 minutes to reach baggage control. Unfortunately, it took the baggage handlers longer than that to unload our plane. And then they must have been following COVID protocols as our luggage coming off the conveyor belt was spaced 6 feet apart. But we finally had our luggage rechecked and we were off the Terminal 1 for our last flight to Denver with about 40 minutes to spare. This flight was also uneventful and by about 11:00 PM we were in the back of our shuttle car on our way home. When we reached home, after 30+ hours of traveling, all we could do was fall into bed. We would deal with luggage and the house tomorrow.

It was a fabulous trip with a great trip leader and wonderful traveling companions. The wonders of Ancient Egypt were unbelievable – it truly was the trip of a lifetime. After watching all the TV shows on Ancient Egypt, it was rewarding to see these magnificent structures up close and personal and to walk where pharaohs and kings walked 3000-4000 years ago. The Egyptian people are warm and welcoming, and while security requirements were in place, we never felt threatened or insecure. Egypt is doing everything it can to bring back its tourism – its economy is dependent upon it. So, if you ever get the chance to visit Egypt, do not hesitate – go – you will not be disappointed!