We're now back in the UK after another fearless - well.. almost fearless trip abroad. I dropped my iPod off the balcony from Deck 11 and couldn't believe my luck when the headphone cable, which I managed to grab, didn't unplug itself!
Anyway, despite best efforts, my laptop refused to connect to the Internet via the ship's satellite so without further ado, here is the entry you should have been able to read last weekend...
Like thousands of others we've been watching the antics of the Icelandic volcano over the past week or so with some trepidation. We were due to go off globe trotting last Thursday ourselves on a cruise on the Ocean Village. Anyway, although Miss Franny was convinced we were not going to get out to Crete to pick the boat up and despite all my attempts to cheer her up saying things like "Well... we can go somewhere like Great Yarmouth..." we did actually manage to get out and onto the ship.
As I write this I'm sitting on a tiny balcony off our cabin with a gorgeous view of cranes, containers and lengths of railway line stacked into bundles on the quayside below me. We're in Limassol in Cyprus today and we haven't arranged any trips as yesterday was a long day. The description of the day in Limassol will come tomorrow!
We docked in Port Said yesterday at the mouth - or one of the mouths, as it's a delta - of the River Nile. We did a trip to see a few pyramids and such. The first surprise was the number of gents in suits and dark glasses with guns very obviously sticking out of holsters under suit jackets. Our coach had one such, an affable chap who swapped smiles readily enough and who sat in the front seat, just in front of ours before going to sleep in a position that meant I could have drawn the gun much quicker between the seats than he could have hoped to...
The poverty here is obvious. The occupation of many old men and young boys seems to be collecting alfafa grass which is piled high on carts pulled by donkeys or oxen. I suspect they have to sell an awful lot to make a living.
Our first stop was to be at the stepped pyramid at Sakkara, built by King Zoser a long time before Cheops got cracking with his effort which we would see later. The time scales dwarf our own history in Britain. We were still happily building houses by digging pits and roofing them with grass whilst the Egyptians were building these impressive stone structures.
In fact we would still be doing so for a few thousand years to come... Although here's a quick aside for you! How many of you know how to count to four in (one of) the language(s) that the people who built Stonehenge used? Shall I count to two and see if you can carry on to four? Ok? Eeny, meeny..... Here in Egypt there are soo many tombs and buried structures that they can be spotted with just a few top stones sticking out of the sand, waiting for someone to dig them out.
We got out of the coach to visit one that had been uncovered. It was the tomb of an Egyptian princess, just one of the many mastaba, or tombs of the King's followers and family.
Again there are more of them still hidden. Unfortunately we could not take photos inside the princess' tomb but the hieroglyphics inside were amazing. Very impressive. The ones on this doorway are carved into the rock - in the tomb they were bas-relief. The pictograms stood out from the wall meaning they had been carved around. Hippos and crocodiles were happily sharing the Nile whilst men were fishing or being fished - "Watch out for that croc Achmed... Ooh... that's got to hurt..."
Bas relief carvings stick out of the wall rather than being carved into it - it takes far more effort and skill - try drawing a black sky but leave white space for the moon and stars and see how long it takes before you get fed up... and - oops - you drew over that space where the moon should be... The guide, Manal, was strict about not letting us touch the wall carvings. "Mind your backs, don't let your bags scrape the wall!" she said. "Right, now this scene..." she emphasised her area of attention by banging the carvings vigorously with the plastic handle of her guide's flag...
On the horizon are more pyramids. One with a curved profile at the top. It took the Egyptians a while to perfect a technique of building that would support the weight of a large regular pyramid. The stepped pyramid we have come to see was an early version. The curved top a later one and the perfect pyramid the final triumph.
The stepped pyramid of King Zoser (or Dsoser), built for him by his priest (gulp) Imhotep...! (Ring any bells? No? Watch more films...)
King Zoser got on with the task of building his tomb, studiously ignoring all the tradesmen who were trying to get him to buy plastic models of his growing pyramid. "One euros, souvenir, you take home, stick on mantlepiece, yes?"
The complex was once ringed by walls. This portion has been recreated by archaeologists using as much original material as possible.
We passed through. You can't help looking upwards wondering whether it's going to fall on your head, but of course this is a reconstruction not the original thousands of years old structure. You can't help looking upwards wondering whether it's going to fall on your head...
We came to find several affable guys in full desert gear, robes and heads covered etc., offering to pose with tourists for photos. It was only afterwards they remembered to mention they charge for this service...
We got back in the bus - a relief as I had left my camera bag in it. That wasn't a problem but my glasses case was in the bag with my normal glasses in it, so I'd had to stumble round the dark tomb in sunglasses - a choice of dark or very blurred... Ok, we're off for lunch somewhere and then into Cairo to look at the famous pyramids and the sphinx.
