Around The World With Sara

EGYPT FEBRUARY 2015

#ONE

The flights to Egypt were smooth and pleasant. Even the transfer from British Air to Egypt Air worked like a charm. I needed to go out through customs, collect my luggage, check it in again and go back through security. Fortunately I was able to check in on line and get my boarding pass, so it was just a luggage drop off via a kiosk. Due the weight of one piece of my luggage I opted to take a cab for the long ride from terminal 5 to terminal 2. Thirty-five dollars later…… But then I was not charged for my overweight suitcase so it all evened out.

Seeing Hassan after two years was so good and when we got to his new flat I was greeted by the rest of the family who always makes me feel so welcome. Doaa, who got married in August, was home from Dubai for a visit. I thought I would not see her, so I am delighted beyond measure she is here. Her husband found work in Dubai, so that is why she is living there. She has just been offered a position with Audi and is very excited about the opportunity. You know how one should never say never? Here is a great example: once I visited Dubai I said I would never return, but now that Doaa lives there…..

The new flat is so beautiful and big. The room where I am staying has its own bathroom!!!! In fact there are 3 1/2 baths in this flat as opposed to 1 1/2 in the old one. When you buy a flat in a new just-built-building in Egypt it is totally unfinished and I mean unfinished. Here is a picture of a flat waiting for build out on the same floor as Hassan’s.

Interior Unfinished Flat

Entering Unfinished Flat

So he designed the layout, the flooring, walls, fixtures, ceilings, windows, everything. He did a fantastic job. The flat takes my breath away. He actually combined 2 flats to form one big one.

Pillar Between Salons and Dining

One Salon - There Are Two

Hassan, Doaa (daughter) and Safaa (wife) and I piled in the car leaving Hossam and Zayed (sons) at home. Our first adventure was to Alexandria to see the newly refurbished and reopened jewelry museum. The building itself is an old palace and is an architectural marvel. Stained glass windows from Italy, frescoed ceilings, tiled walls, marbles floors, and even an intact bathroom with very innovative fixtures for the early 1900’s. The palace was built by a member of King Farouk’s family and houses his and his wife’s collection of jewelry, boudoir sets, desk sets, gold cups and other such articles. Fascinating stuff all around. No pictures allowed inside and the palace behind its fence was too massive to photograph from such a short distance.

After our fill of opulence we had a short visit at the new library and then off to eat at the local fish restaurant where we had, calamari, shrimp, and mullet as well as mezzas of humus, babganoush, a garlic potato mash, spicy cream dip and the ever fabulous pita bread. YUM!!!

Today, 9 February, we were headed to the modern art museum only to find it closed for renovations. I said as long as we were out we should go to the Egyptian Museum by Tahir Square.

Egyptian Museum With New Tahir Square Foreground

I have not been there since the revolution and it has changed dramatically. They have built an underground parking garage under what was Tahir Square and on top is a a walking area with astro turf and cement squares. That part is still being finished. The parking garage is very modern and well constructed just like ours in the states.

Tahir square, to refresh your memories, the place where the revolution took place as well as other demonstrations and actions since then. There is a former government building

Burned Out Government Building

that was burned out and still is in that condition.

On the way to the museum we passed the site of an obvious vehicle fire where many police were gathered. A few blocks away we passed a totally burned out bus being towed by another bus. Hassan said it was the work of the Muslim Brotherhood. Looked fairly recent to me as well.

The museum was fabulous as always. Safaa was with us and was enthralled by the artifacts. Hassan said she didn’t used to be interested in the ancient history, but now she is. King Tut’s golden coffin still gives me the goose bumps. Maybe some of you have read about the beard on King Tut’s mask falling off and the controversy over the bad repair job. As usual the media skewed the real facts. The beard was off the mask when Carter found it!!! It has been glued back over the years as the glue failed or new and better glue was found. It IS true, however, that the latest glue on job is less than satisfactory and there are scratches in the gold around the beard where excess glue was scrape off that can be seen. Hassan and I also noticed some dents in the gold in several places that neither one of us remember being there.

A visit to the museum would not be complete without going into the mummy rooms which Safaa and I toured with much interest. A new addition to the collection is the supposed skeleton (yes bones only, not a mummy) of Akhenaten, the Pharaoh who believed in one god and by doing so was going against the religion of the time. Anyway, I say “supposed” because I have read there is controversy about the authenticity of these bones.

Tourism is beginning to come back with loads of buses of Chinese visitors both in Alexandria and Cairo.

Fruit Wagon on Streets of Cairo

Some other nationalities are about, but only in small numbers. Now is the time to come before the big resurgence this fall.

Hassan has had some small work in the past few months and is now booked out for this October and November with Odyssey Tours, an American tour operator. I am so happy for him because he has not worked since 2012 and has been selling family land in the delta to make ends meet. He had already contracted for the new flat before the revolution.

As I am preparing to post this blog on February 10, the winds called the Khamsin have blown in filling the sky with sand. Best to stay inside with the windows closed today.

If you want to see Egypt, NOW is the time!!!! Or at the latest, this fall and next winter.

Much Love To You All,

Mom/Grandma Syrup/Sara