We arrived back in Cairo close to noon and we went straight to the Egyptian Museum where they had a vast amount of artefacts on display. Our bus dropped us off by the entrance gate and we made a bee line to the end of the queue. It seemed like lining up under the bright sun and hot temperature didn't deter the people. We each were given an audio device that allow us to hear Michael's voice through a head set. It was difficult to make out what he was saying though...
The museum was packed. Not only with visitors but also artefacts on display. I think they tried to display too many items in a building that size. At the moment, they are building a brand new museum much larger than this one right by the Giza pyramid complex.
The museum's ground floor were divided into Old, Middle, and New Kingdom sections. We saw different statues of the pharaohs and we were taught how to differentiate whether a statue represents the living version or the afterlife version of the person. Statues representing the afterlife would usually have their arms folded and also have a beard that's bent at the tip.
During the Old Kingdom, the statues carved would represent the best version of a pharaoh or royalties and nobles. Muscular, smooth, and well proportioned. On the other hand, starting from the Middle Kingdom they were more realistic with the statues. Some would show an ageing person, others would show a sick person.
We saw numerous sarcophaguses in different sizes. Most of them were made of granite.
In the picture below is a statue of a seated scribe, his hand is shaped as if holding a pen. This was how a scribe would sit and write whatever his lord tells him to. He would fix his sight on his lord and would write without looking down. He wears a wig that fans out, leaving his ears unobstructed. His eyes were made of glass, giving it a life-like glow.
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| Khufu of the great pyramid |
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| Bed and headrest |
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| Statue of nobles. The paints are still original! |
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| Queen Hatshepsut who was thought to have suffered from Elephantiasis |
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| More realistic style... with bags under his eyes |
On the second floor, they had a lot of mummies and other artefacts ranging from jewelries, footwear, headrests, to toys.
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| King Tut's throne |
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| Mummified infant |
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| The paintings were very advanced. |
We finished the museum tour in the afternoon and we went to tourist market called Khan El Khalili. It's a market where you can test your bargaining skills.
After the market we went back to our hotel. I was glad I requested a non-smoking room this time, it was much better! It felt cleaner, and smelled much better. Miss Kiki found out later on that they had flamingos at the hotel and the caretaker let her in the cage! She was very happy about that.
We rented a car for a few hours from the hotel to take us to a mall nearby because I wanted to visit Carrefour and buy souvenirs and the yummy Egyptian feta cheese. The supermarket had a huge selection of feta cheese I decided to buy a whole bunch.
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| Supermie and Indomie! |
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| Yogurt, anyone? |
At 3 pm we were driven to the airport and that marked the end of our adventures in Egypt. It was an amazing, eye-opening, and educational visit. I was so glad that we went.
Thank you for sticking with me through all 13 posts. Until next time!
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