96/10/30 Egypt & Israel – London, Cairo, Aswan, Nile Cruise, Giza, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem
Wed, 10/30/96
This week is the last week of my assignment at SCB. Today I decided to take two weeks off and materialize my childhood dream _a trip to Egypt. I went to a travel agency near the Word Trade Center in the afternoon and met an Egyptian travel agent who said he would take care of my reservations to Egypt and Israel and that he would contact me the following day. He did not call the next day. I called the British Airways and made a round trip reservation for $1256 (NY-London $387 + London-Cairo $869).
Thursday, 10/31
I bought “Let’s go to Egypt and Israel” book and started to read it. I also took a few passport pictures and called the Egyptian Consulate to get information on the requirements for a visa.
Friday, 11/1/96
I went to the Consulate of the Egypt on 2nd Avenue and 59th Street. I had called them the day before and they had told me that they would be open at 9:00am and it would take about an hour to get my visa. I had to wait until 9:30 am till the clerk arrived, was setup at his desk, his tea was brought to him and then I could submit my application. He told me to return at 11:00 am The whole process took a bit over two hours which was not too bad after I saw how slow things could be there.
I had lunch with Trevor Seeney at etc. Jay Maruzewski joined us. After lunch I went to British Airways office to pickup my tickets but their computer was down. I went to American Express to purchase some travelers checks. I had to go through some final issues with Luis Rojas and Christine Sheehee, then said good-bye to my colleagues and left the office at 5.30pm.
Saturday, 11/2/96
I read my travel guide, packed, left messages for Domenica and Greg and talked to Marica. Fred Hood called to say Good-bye and wish me a good trip. I had left a message for him the previous day thanking him for his help on the project and he said he had played it for Al Beck. I’ll miss the old man.
Hiroko called to say good-bye. She called a second time and asked to meet. She came over at 3:00p. We talked for a while and went to one of the neighborhood restaurants and had a civilized dinner. After dinner we came back home, I picked up my bag, took a taxi, dropped off Hiroko at her place and continued to the airport. I went to the ticket office to pickup my ticket; I also changed my return date from Saturday to Sunday 11/17/96. This way I could use one extra day of the weekend. The 8:30 pm flight was over-booked and I had to take the 9:00 pm flight. We took off at 9:30p and arrived at London’s Heathrow airport at 8:00a (+5) after a 5.5 hours flight.
Sunday, 11/3/96 London/Cairo
I exchanged $40 for 23.07 BP (@1.734 rate plus 2.50 commission), bought a one-day underground ticket for 3.90 BP and took a one-hour ride on Piccadilly Line to New Hyde Park. It was damp and drizzling. The bridle path at the park looked beautiful. I purchased a 10 BP ticket for a 2-hour bus tour on “The Big Bus Tour”.
Like a typical tourist took some pictures at the Parliament Square and Big Ben, St. Paul’s Cathedral, London Bridge, Tower of London, Thames, and Buckingham Palace. After a quick lunch of smoked salmon sandwich I walked around for a while and then took the Underground back to Heathrow. The city was very lively and charming - more than what I had expected. We took off at 4.30p, moved the time two hours ahead and arrived at Cairo’s new Airport at 11.30pm, after a 5-hour flight. I spent three hours on the line for passport inspection; exchanged $300 for 1016 EP (@3.388) at Thomas Cook and shared a van with a German who paid 50, two very suspicious Japanese couples who paid 30 and myself who paid 10. Got off at Horris Hotel on 26th of July Street - it was recommended in my guidebook. The rooms were on the 13th floor and the restaurant on the 14th floor of the building. I got a quiet room for 43 EP per night. When I was going back to my room for the second time the elevator got stuck between floors; we waited for about 10 minutes until the staff could open the door from outside and I was asked to jump out. Then they started working on the elevator.
I went to the restaurant to ask for some mineral water and had to wait for about 15 minutes for somebody to go out and get the water. I went to my room, took a shower, sat down in the nice balcony which had a good view of the city and wrote my journal. I can see the tower of Cairo from here. It’s 3:00 am and last night I only dozed for a couple of hours in the plane. It is time to go to bed.
Monday 11/4/96
I woke up rather late at 12:00pm At this time I could hear the chaotic sound of the traffic from my room. Went to the balcony to get my first glimpse of the city in daylight. I could see the roofs of all other buildings; it seemed as if they had been bombed during WWII and never repaired ever since. I walked to Obera Sq., Ataba Sq., Adli St., and Talat Harb to Tahir Sq. and stopped at a restaurant recommended in the guidebook for their “Koushry” but they were out of it. I tried a cheese pizza; it was really Egyptianized (10 EP) and went to American Express and booked a Nile cruise tour from Aswan to Luxor for $416 + $289 airfare.
As I was walking around the city I met Frank, a great salesman. I asked him for an address, he took me to his store _ a perfume shop _ showed me his picture with Mohammed Ali, and started his salesmanship. I told him I might come back the following day. He said that they would be closing the shop the next day for six months to go to his village to make perfume. I ended up buying a perfume holder that had been made by his mother for 20 EP after haggling it down from 25 EP. A person, possibly the store owner who had hired Frank on commission basis, brought a Fanta soda which was so sweet I could not drink more that a few sips. I left the shop before he could talk me into buying a silver necklace. I felt dizzy for a few minutes, possibly from the soda; walked to the Tahir Sq. and asked a cab driver named Hisham for the direction to the Nile. He started talking about himself and the fact that he had taught himself English and that he would take the tourists for tours of the city. He showed me a book he had compiled of recommendations from his satisfied customers; it was a great portfolio. We arranged for a full one-day tour of the city and the pyramids for 100 EP after my return from Luxor. I walked to the Nile and took a boat ride for 10 EP. The captain said they would leave in 5 minutes for a 40- minute ride; I had to wait for 40 minutes till the boat was full and then we went for a 20-minute ride. I was the only single person on the boat and the rest of the passengers were young couples holding hands. It seems the Nile was the hottest dating spot.
I walked back to the hotel to make sure I can get back my passport that they had held (possibly for registration with the police) at the reception desk, paid my bill, walked to my room and saw a black cat straying in my room. I had left the window to the balcony open but I could not figure out how the cat got to the 13th floor of the building. I walked back to Tahir Sq. and at a popular restaurant on Talat Harb St. I had a Shawrwa and Koushry - a filling dish made of macaroni, pasta, fried onion, chickpeas, yellow peas, barley and a tomato based hot sauce. I Walked around for a while, stopped at a gahwah (coffeehouse) and visited a couple of small ancient food markets. At one stand I picked up two dates marked for 2 EP for a kg. When I asked the price for two, the salesman said 2 EP; I put them back and kept walking and then went back to the area near my hotel. At 11pm the shops and streets were still crowded, even the barbershop had customers. I walked through another vegetable market that was very lively before going back to my hotel at 11.30pm
Tuesday, 11/5/96 Aswan
I woke up at 1:30 am and could not go back to sleep. I thought it should be a bad omen when I saw the stray black cat in my room. The wake up call I had requested rang at 3:58 am _ not bad at all. I had a 25-minute cab ride to the airport . settled the price at 20 EP before boarding the small Fiat; the car was so tiny I has to squat all the way to the airport to avoid smashing my head on the roof when we got into potholes. The police had sealed off part of the road to the airport so the driver had to take an alternate road. When I arrived at the airport I had to go to four different desks until I was able to get my boarding pass. It was amazing how efficient these guys were in wasting the time. The flight was scheduled at 5:45 am and we took off at 6:00 am We landed at the Aswan airport at 7:00am and left the tiny airport at 7:30 am I negotiated the cab fare to “Presidential Nile Cruise” with a few drivers and brought down the price from 40 to 15 EP. We had a speedy ride to the sailboat, handed a 20 EP bill to driver and the driver, Misham, did not return the change. He said 20 EP is a good fare and added I could complain to the police if I wanted to. I finished my registration quickly and was the first passenger on the boat at 8am I napped on the deck for a while. At about 11:30 other passengers started to show up. At 1:00 pm. we had buffet lunch; it was very good. I had a feast on the delicious organic cucumbers, tomatoes, and lemons. At 3:00 pm we started sailing on Felucca on the Nile to see the mausoleum of Agha Khan, the Nubian village, a Nilometer, Elephantine Island - a name given by the Greeks due to the shape of the rocks in the island which are very similar to elephants. The Felucca is an old fashion speedy sailboat that seats about twenty passengers. We had afternoon tea after returning to the boat. I met Omar H. Tiwana of Pakistan (a lawyer at Asian Development Bank, 6 ADB Ave, Mandaluyong, Metro Manila POB 789, 0980 Manila, Philippines Tel: 632-632-4410) and his wife, Aishe, an educated nice couple. At 7pm in the company of Omar, Aishe, Rita Lockhart and her mother _ Janet Tite of Medina, Ohio _ took a van which Omar had reserved through American Express to a boat and rode to Aglikia Island to see the Sound and Light Show. The temples on the island were removed from Philae Island when the Aswan dam was being built. The island consists of three temples: Temple of Isis _ the Mother of the Nature, the goddess of purity and sexuality and sister and wife of Osiris _ Osiris and Isis’ mother. The show was OK at the cost of 100 EP.
After the show we went back to the boat and had dinner. After dinner I walked on the port along the boats; there were at least one hundred of them on the shore; the Nile Cruise seemed to be a booming business. I met Captain Cook (Hamido) who insisted on selling his services or at least some marijuana; I had to walk away from him.
Wednesday 11/6/96
I woke up at 7:30 am After breakfast I took a bus ride to Aswan dam with the boat group. Fourteen temples had to be relocated prior to building the dam in 1970’s. I visited Aglikia (Philea Islet) again _ the Temples of Isis, a papyrus and perfume shop; it was a sales pitch and a total waste of time. I wished they would stop marketing activities here. Finally after lunch we started to sail. By 4:00 pm we arrived at Kom Ombo temple (45 km north of Aswan) located on the Nile. We toured the temple that was mostly built by the Romans. We arrived at Edfu at about 8pm and toured the town for a while. I was stopped by a young gift-shop owner, Mohammed, 29, who was from Luxor and has three shops in town but was unhappy because he could not find a good wife in Edfu and had to ask the female tourists to have sex with him.
Thursday 11/7/96
This is our third day on the boat. After breakfast we took a bus to the temple of Edfu; It is a huge, well-preserved monument. We walked around the market and as usual were pushed to buy something by many vendors. Omar recommended buying a Gabalay for that evening’s party on the boat; I picked up a white one and paid 35 EP for it. We visited the cemetery. At about 1:30pm we started to sail to Luxor. We passed by the locks where we had to wait for a couple of hours; at peak tourist season the wait can be up to three days. After dinner I took part in the play “Murder on the Nile” with Rita. Tarak, our guide had insisted on having the play. In the practice session I initially had the role of the director and Omar the role of the husband, but since I could not interrupt the play as often as I should have, I took the role of Rita’s husband and Omar played the role of the director. I participated in the potatoes rolling contest in Gabalay dress. A string was tied around my waist with a potato attached to the other end of the string. I had to roll ahead a potato on the floor by shaking and aiming the hanging potato at the potato on the floor. I won the contest. Our guide, Tarak, took my prize _ a bottle of wine that I never saw again. It was a fun night. I also attended in the mummification contest with toilet paper with Rita as my partner; we lost; Rita was too slow to unroll and wrap the toilet paper around me.
Friday 11/8/96
We visited the Valley of the Kings, Ramsses II, Thutmosis III, the Temple of Hatshepsut _ a huge temple not unlike the facade of a modern cement office building. We took some pictures with Omar at the Memnon Statutes.
In the afternoon we visited the Temple of Karnak, a magnificent temple with sphinxes on the road leading to the entrance, followed by halls and yards with a total of 132 great columns and a 150-ton obelisque carried from Aswan in one piece. The temple was built by a series of kings from the Old Dynasty through Romans. This temple had been covered by sand and Napoleon undertook the task of uncovering it. Later on we visited the Temple of Luxor, another impressive monument that at one point had been covered fully by sand over which the Ottomans had built a mosque. After the discovery of the temple they left the mosque intact atop the temple. I went to the mosque and sat there for a while watching the crowd and the site. When I left the mosque a teenager asked me to buy liquor for him from a liquor shop that only sells to foreigners. I took a horse carriage ride back to the boat. At night I went to the Karnak Light and Sound show with Rita, her mom, Omar and Aisheh; the temple looked very impressive under the lights (ticket 60 EP). After dinner we watched a belly dancer dancing on the boat.
Saturday 11/9/96
Today was the check out day. I woke up at 6:00am and took a taxi from the Sheraton Hotel to Hotel Novotel (5) and ferried to the West Bank (5). I then took another cab to the Valley of the Kings (15), purchased tickets for Rita and myself for the Tomb of Nefetari (100); it was discovered in 1904 and just last year was reopened to the public after a long closing for renovations. Only 150 people can visit it each day in order to preserve the site. I walked around; the small village with the surrounding hills in the early morning hours looked very pretty. A few kids approached me and asked for money. I gave them all my small bills; then one of them - an eight-year old girl - followed me until I had to give her a dollar bill. She gave me a small statute in appreciation. Only when I thought it was safe, I saw a two-year old boy chasing me and crying for money; I had to run away to the hills. I came across the Temple of Ramsses III, a great monument which I entered from the back. A self-proclaimed guide finally showed me a real Nilometer. After leaving the temple I passed by a small very scenic village, walked back to the ticket office and waited for a while for Rita, her mom and our guide, Mr. Williams, a 68-year old charismatic Coptic Egyptian from Thomas Cook Tourist Office. They arrived at about 9:00am. We drove to the Valley of the Kings and visited the tomb of Nefetari. It was amazingly well preserved. The colors of the paintings were extremely bright and lively. The artists were able to use the minerals from the mines in the area for the coloring. We then visited the Tomb of Tutan Kanum, another well-preserved tomb; also visited the Tomb of Ramsses II. We drove to the Temple of Hatshepsut that I had already visited. I hiked on the nearby hills while my company visited the temple. The antiquity was apparent all over - it was part of the scenery. I then walked to the main street and as usual was stopped by many vendors. One of them tried to sell me a hand statute for 500 EP that he claimed he had excavated himself. He reduced the price to 100 but when I told him I need to show it to my guide, he backed off and said it would be dangerous. After my company showed up, we drove back to the boats and ferried back to the East Coast. I said good-bye to Rita and others, walked around for a while, stopped at a decent cafe and had lunch, and sat at a coffee shop for a while. At about 4pm I visited the Luxor Museum; it had a small but rich collection of artifacts from the area. I walked back to the boat area. On the way saw a 14-year old American girl who dropped a few post cards in a mailbox, and then prayed for their safe trip to their destinations. I had a few fruit cocktails at Sheraton, picked up my luggage from the boat and took a taxi to Luxor Airport. I settled the fare for 12 EP with the driver. On the way, he asked for 5 EP for a toll that I gave him and then again he asked for a 1 EP toll that I refused. At the airport I gave him a 10 EP bill. He asked for more; I told him to go get a police; he sped away. I checked with someone about the toll and he said there was only a 1 EP toll. The flight to Cairo took about an hour. I took a taxi to the city. The driver, calling me his Moslem brother, recommended I stay at Girsham Hotel on Talat-Harab Street. The hotel was OK but had cold water for most of the time. I went to bed at about midnight.
Sunday 11/10/96
I woke up at 9:00am and walked to Tahir Sq., bought a metro ticket at Sadat Station for .5 EP or 50 piasters (Pt or Irsh, Plural: U-Roosh). I kept the ticket to pass through the turnstile at the destination and got off at Mar Girgis (St. George) station to visit the Coptic Cairo.
Visited the following:
• Coptic Museum, a beautiful collection of Coptic artifacts.
• Church of Mari Grigis, a charming circular church where the Orthodox Christian prayers were in session
• Church of El Mu’allaqa (the hanging church, St. Mari) where the prayers were going on. I met Omar and his wife.
• Walked down a narrow alley to Abu Serga, St. Barbara (Inside: St. Cyprus and St. John chapels). These two churches were restored during the Caliph who did not like this act therefore he ordered the architect to destroy one of them. The architect started walking between the two churches to decide which one to destroy. He could not make up his mind so he walked so long that finally died of exhaustion; as a result the Caliph spared both churches.
• Ben Ezra Synagogue: Well-restored.
• Fustat - City of the Tents: I walked about 500 meters north on St. Marie Grigis to the Mosque of Amr, Egypt’s first mosque, a very huge site with beautiful columns in covered areas all around the yard. On Friday afternoon prayers up to 70,000 prayers attend. Two guides and two shoe keepers asked for bakhsheesh.
• Abu Saffein: I walked about 500m past the Mosque of Amr to Abu Saffein and visited:
Virgin Mari church (El-Dem Shiria): A beautiful, simple, small church
Church of St. Shenouda: Very old, brick walls and wooden ceiling
At none of the churches anyone asked for donations or entrance fee.
I asked for directions from a Coptic family and they gave me a ride to Nilometer. Nilometer was a charming building on Roda Island, about 20m deep. It is now dry but before construction of the Aswan Dam the water could rise all the way to the top. I took the spiral staircase all the way to the bottom. I then walked around the area for a while but could not find a decent place to have lunch. I found a bakery where ants were walking over loaves of breads in the window shelves; I entered and picked up a loaf on the inside trays but the cashier could not change my 20 EP bill. I walked around in vein for a long time to change the note. Finally I came across another bakery where I could get a few loaves of bread before taking a cab ride to the Islamic Cairo. The traffic was very bad. The driver would shut off the engine after every few yards where he had to stop. An 8-year old girl student was trying to board a bus and a man pushed her aside to get on board. A woman in full Islamic cover had put her child on her shoulder in a way that the child was covering her view from the incoming traffic. She crossed the street with no hesitation, expecting the cars to stop for her.
I visited the following sites at Islamic Cairo:
• Ahmad Ibn Tulun Mosque: A grand, old (879 CE), most sublime building
• Rafaii Mosque: I had to recite: ”Ashhado An La Ella ha Ell-lalla” to get in with no admission. It had a huge interior with four columns in the center and four adjacent to each wall with beautiful artwork on the walls and the ceilings. Initially I mistook the mosque for Sultan Hassan Mosque that was across the street; I went back to Hassan Mosque later on.
• Citadel (El Qal’a):
• Mosque of Sultan En-Nasir Muhammad Ibn Qaaoun, small, beautiful with pharonic and Coptic columns.
• Mosque of Mohammad Ali.
Interior: Alabaster walls with wood on the upper parts and beautiful ceiling with possibly the world's largest chandelier (365 lanterns).
Courtyard: A 17-m deep well in the center of the court with the greatest echo. My shouts resonated for about one minute. Also a pretty ablution dome and then a beautiful French clock on a tower, a gift of King Louis Philippe of France to Mohammad Ali in 1845 in appreciation of Ali’s gift of the obelisque from Luxor Temple that now stands in Palace de la Concord in Paris.
• Museum of Qasr el-Gowhara: Built in 1811 by Ali and named after one of his wives. Ali invited 500 of his mamluk allies and slaughtered them here. In one room there were a few tapestries on the walls. A few of these were presented to Ka’ba in Mecca.
• Suleiman Pasha Mosque: Built in 1527. A charming small garden and a pretty small prayer hall behind the Military Palace.
• I visited the Court of the Military Museum that consisted of a few tanks and airplanes dating from W.W.I.
• I returned to Rifai’s Mosque. The attendant opened the door to the burial chamber of King Fouad, King Farouk who was Egypt’s last king, and the Shah. The tombstone of the Shah read:
Born: Aban 1, 1298.
Died: Mordad 5, 1359.
• Sultan Hassan Mosque (1356 CE), Jewel of the Mamluk architects, built by stones from the pyramids at Giza. In the company of a guide and a group of French tourists I walked to the roof and all the way atop one of the minarets.
I stopped by at the Tourist Police to find out how to get to Tahir Sq. Two policemen and two young civilians had to consult
to give me a bus number and finally one of the young guys walked me to the bus stop.
I stopped at two Egypt Air offices to buy a ticket to Israel and both told me I had to go to Air Sinai, a subsidiary of Egypt Air which was closed at that time. They could not tell me if I could book a flight through a travel agent.
Monday 11/1/96 Giza
I woke up at 7:00am, checked out from the Gresham Hotel and walked to Tahir Sq. to take a bus to the Giza. At the bus stop met Ali _ a law student at the Cairo University who works at a restaurant at nights. The streets were very crowded and the traffic was awful. The bus ride took about 45 minutes. Near Giza Ali pointed to me one of the pyramids few miles away; it was a hazy day and when I looked at his direction I saw a mesmerizing site of the pyramid at a distance with a commanding magnitude. Ali recommended I should also visit Saqqara, and he said since there are no roads between Giza and Saqqara he would take me to a government agency where I could hire a camel or a horse. After arriving at Giza, we went to the second floor of a building with a stable on the ground floor. I paid $80 for a full day trip on horseback with a guide and left the stable for Giza about 2 km away but the horse was too slow and Omar, my guide, mentioned that after visiting Giza I could take a car to Saqqara. I went back to the stable and asked for my money back. We settled at a Giza tour for $40 and a faster horse. The horse, Kanni, was much faster than the first one and I enjoyed the many fast trots on the open vast dessert. I visited Cheops (2250 B.C.E,), 146m high, and Chephren, 143m high. I walked through a long tunnel to the burial chamber. Since I had no camera flash I asked Hirokoni, a Japanese tourist to take a picture of me and gave him my address and 10 EP to mail me the picture. He asked me to pose for a second picture in case the first one was not good. He did not accept my additional 5 EP; I never received a picture from him. I visited the pyramid of Mycerinus and then rode to the Sphinx a few hundred yards away. Omar, my guide, said I could get a cab ride to Saqqara for 60 EP. At Sphinx, a man, Hosni, offered me a car ride to Saqqara. I asked him to give me a price with no haggling. He offered 20 EP. I got in the car and asked Hosni to buy some bread for lunch. He stopped at a bakery and bought bread and cheese at a grocery. The hot bread wrapped in newspaper was really delicious. We arrived in Saqqara in half an hour where I visited the Step Pyramid, the oldest (2630 BCE) and an inspiration for the construction of the other pyramids by the future pharaohs. I then visited the Tomb of Mere-ruka, a tomb with many rooms and some beautiful drawings on the walls. Before leaving I decided to take a picture of one of the walls. While preparing my camera the attendant showed up, waited until I took the picture and then asked me if I had a ticket for the camera. I had to give him some bakhsheesh. I walked to the Pyramid of Titi, a very small one. The guide entered the site, turned on the lights and we walked to the burial chamber. I touched the burial stone and a piece of amber came off into my hand.
I left the site at 2:30pm and arrived at Memphis in about 30 minutes. The site consisted of the following:
• Ramsses II statue _ about 18m long lying down; it was the main piece at the site.
• The temples of Ptah, Apis, Hathor, Ramsses, sarcophagus of Amen Hotep and Sphynx of Ramsses.
We drove back about 20 km to Giza. After saying good-bye to Hosni who seemed to be a nice Egyptian man. He said the next time I’d go back, I could be his guest at his home. I took a bus to Tahir Sq. at 3:30pm. At one stop six men boarded the bus and five of them were smoking. I went to the American Express office at the Nile Hilton and booked a flight to Tel Aviv for tonight at 10:30 pm for 1180 EP ($350).
I tried to contact Omar by calling information to get his phone number at Ramsses Hilton but the operator hung up on me. I went back to the Nile Hilton and got his number but he was not in his room. I left a message for him and rested for a while at the Hilton and wrote my journal. On the way to hotel I met Adel, a sergeant in the army who invited me to dinner. I told him I was in a rush to go to the airport therefore made plans to meet after my return. He complained about the low pays and he also knew about the perfume salesmen trick (Frank about whom I wrote before). He told me that Egyptians think of foreigners as wallets who have to be turned over and shaken.
It seems the friends can get very intimate to each other here. It is very common to see two men _ with big mustaches _ walk hand in hand and they do not have to be gays. Basically the scene of men walking hand in hand or arms around each other's is very common. It seems that the sense of touching is very strong here and since until just recently people of the opposite sexes could not touch each other in public, touching among the people of the same sex has become commonplace.
Another interesting scene is the bus scene. The buses are so full that people have to hang up to three layers from the doors. There are no official bus stops therefore it is common to see people jumping on and off the buses at each corner. The drivers do not even have to slow down. The most common sound is the sound of the horns of the cars. In high traffic intersections there are five to ten policemen who control the traffic, otherwise in other intersections the red light has no meaning. It is amazing a people who have so little value for the time can get in such a rush when sit at the wheels. Passers-by have no fear of the cars and they jump in front of any car to cross the streets.
I stopped by at a restaurant that Adel had recommended. Inside looked sleazy, with two ugly waitresses. I asked for the menu; there was none. I asked for a Stella beer, the national Egyptian beer. The male waiter said they just ran out of it and tried to give me an export Stella at three times the price of the local one. I did not have to be surprised; I left the place. I went to a clean restaurant for dinner and after dinner since still had a long time before my departure I went to a cafeteria for a cup of tea before going back to the hotel to pick up my luggage. I was not in the mood to haggle with the cabdrivers and had enough time therefore I took bus #27 at Tahir Sq. to the airport. The bus must have been one of the busses taken from the Axis _ possibly Italy _ at the end of WWII. At least these people do not have to impress the tourists with anything since their monuments do the trick. The bus was filled with fumes. After few minutes _ sharp at 9:30p _ the bus driver started the trip. I arrived at Terminal 1, the old airport, and at that point I found out that the bus does not go the New Terminal (#4) that is mostly for international flights and the sales agent had told me that my flight would take off from that terminal. I took a cab to New Airport and asked a guard for El-Al Terminal and he said it was at terminal #1. My cab driver, Mahmood, drove back to terminal #1 as if in a suicide mission and he did ask for a big tip. When I finally arrived at the security desk at 10:30pm the guards said the plane had taken off. I went to the office of El-Al and a clerk OK’ed my ticket aboard air Saina which had a flight the following night. We I left the terminal I saw Mahmood waiting outside. He drove me back to the city. The salesmanship started as usual; he said I should go to Magie Hotel that is a much better hotel than Horris. I told him I was too tired and just wanted to go back to my own hotel to rest. He did add that if I go to Magie hotel, to tell Mr. Mokhtar that Mr. Mahmood from the airport has sent me and to ask for ‘special discount’ that in my guidebook was translated as “rip-off”. I arrived at the hotel and checked in. I went to the restaurant across the hotel to get a soda, but the boy at the counter said they were closed. I went back to the restaurant of the hotel and asked for a soda to take out and they said they have no take out service. I went back to my room and left my luggage and went to a juice shop and had two mango juices and a mineral water. Four people had to collaborate to come up with the price. After a very long day I went back to my room to sleep.
Tuesday 11/12/96 Tel Aviv
I woke up at 8:30am and after breakfast at the hotel went to American Express and changed my ticket. I will be flying tonight on El-Al and return on Saturday on Air Sinai. I went to Egyptian Museum at Tahir sq. The building does not look enormous from the outside but inside there is an endless array of artifacts from Ancient Egypt; there should be at least one million different pieces on display. If one spends only a minute to view each item, it should take about three years to go through all the items at the museum. The were no descriptions for majority of the objects on display but the task of collecting all of these artifacts under one ceiling should have been a tremendous effort. It seems that everything ever made by the ancient Egyptians have been excavated and gathered here. Some of the most interesting pieces were the elaborate horse carriages, the huge (20’ x 30’) wooden and golden burial chambers, the tools used in daily life and of course the Royal Mummy Room (separate admission of 60 EP). In the room there were eleven mummies and some of them were extremely well preserved with all parts of the face, hands, teethes, eyelids and ears still intact. They were the Mummies of Ramsses II (about 4’ long), Amen Hotep I, Thumosis IV, Seti I, and Ramsses V. By this time my legs were sore from yesterday’s riding. I left the museum at 1:0pm and took a cab to Fatimid Cairo.
Fatimid Cairo - Visited the following sites:
• Madras of Sultan El Ghouri where they have the dance of the Whirling Dervishes on Wednesdays and Saturday nights. Omar had seen this dance and highly recommended it.
• Mansion of Gamal ed-din (16th Cen.), spacious with many rooms for him and his three wives.
• Mosque of El Muayyad, 1415, very old with original interior, beautiful alabaster multi-color walls
• Bab Zuweila, one of the three remaining gates of the Fatimid Cairo
• Mosque of Sahib Tala, 1160
• Street of the Tent Makers and Saddle Makers
• Al Azhar Mosque: It was not as magnificent as I had expected. Part of it was closed and under reconstruction due to a fire. The guide “butcher” Mahmood Mohammad walked me inside and to one of the minarets. As he was showing me around, he was trying to sell copies of Koran to western tourists. I wanted to see the famous library but after talking to a guard, a sheik and a translator did not succeed and had to give up.
• Mosque of Sayydinn el-Hussein, Cairo’s most venerated Muslims' shrine. It was beautiful. I did manage to take a picture.
I took a quick tour of the Northern El Muizz St. and then took a cab to the Nile Hilton were I relaxed for a while and then went to Restaurant El Haty near the Horris Hotel and a dinner of pigeon - a delicacy here. It was a large, well-decorated, clean restaurant but throughout the dinner there was only one more couple at the restaurant. I went to Horris, picked up my luggage, took a cab to the airport and arrived there at 9:00 pm thinking I had to waste 1:30 hours until my departure time. When I arrived at El-AL ticket booth, a young woman asked me to follow her, asked for my passport, and I think once she saw the country of birth in my passport she was sure that I was a terrorist on a hijacking mission. For the next one hour a team of five people were questioning me and inspecting my luggage. It seemed that I would miss my flight again in which case I had to forget about going to Israel. Throughout the questioning everybody was rather polite except at the very end, when I thought I was cleared, they walked me to another room for a quick body search where a new woman told the Egyptian staff “ Search this man” while pointing to me. At this time I was ready to start cursing but I resisted the temptation. They searched me from over the clothes and I did not even have to take off my sneakers - that surprised me. I was also surprised that they had to use Arab staff for the body search. I was finally finished by 10:15pm; boarded the bus to the plane and took off at 10:30pnm. It was a short and convenient flight. We arrived at Tel Aviv at 11:30pm. At the immigration desk I was the second person in the line. I noticed the clerk, a young oriental girl, stamped the passport of the passenger in front of me. When it was my turn, I asked her if she was going to stamp my passport and she said yes. I asked her to let me talk to her supervisor. She asked if there would be a problem with stamping my passport. I nodded and she just stamped the card that was handed over to me on the plane and I was finished in less than twenty seconds _ I thought of Cairo's Immigration where I had to wait for three hours even though I had a visa. I stopped at the Information Desk to inquire about transportation to Jerusalem. The clerk said I could use a ‘sherut’ (van). I found a sherut where a college professor from Ohio was waiting. I waited for some time for more passengers. I checked again with Information for a hotel in Jerusalem; the female clerk called a hotel and confirmed a room for me. I waited for a bit longer until six passengers showed up but since the sherut had the capacity of eight passengers, we agreed to pay 34 shekels (normally 30) so that the driver would not wait any longer. We departed for Jerusalem at 12:30am.
There was such a huge transformation in just a one-hour flight from Cairo to Tel Aviv; an organized airport, transportation and decent highways. The grass around the airport was being sprinkled. We arrived at Jerusalem (60 km) at 1:30am. I found a hotel with the help of a few young men who were hanging around. I checked in at Hotel Arcadia at 57 Jaffa St. Tel: 972-02-6221998, a clean nice room for $50 a night. I went to bed at 2:30 am
Wednesday 11/13/96 Jerusalem
I woke up at 7:30am and showered; the water pressure was even better than that in New York. I noticed the pins were pulled out from my brush and holes made in my soap bar during the search at Cairo’s Airport. After having breakfast I walked to the Old City and booked a walking tour at Zion Walking Tours at the Citadel (Jaffa Gate). We started the tour at 11:00am. Our guide, Stanley, was an American College professor who had also served in the Korean War. We visited the Armenian Section, the Ruins of the New Church, Cordo (corridor, Latin: heart), Mount of Olive and the Western Wall. The first temple was built here by Solomon in the 10th century BCE. It was destroyed by Nebu Chadnezzar in 587 BC. The second temple was built in 516 BCE and in 70 CE, the fourth year of the Jewish revolt; Romans destroyed it again. The Jews believe that the Holy Ark was located closest to the Western Wall, making this wall the holiest site in Jerusalem. After Omar and Moslems arrived in the 7th Century, the Umayyadd Caliphs built the two Arab mosques that still dominates the Temple Mount: the silver-domed Holy Al Agsa Mosque (built 715) and the magnificent Dome of the Rock (691). It was one of the more quite days at the Wall and there were not too many people praying there, nevertheless one could feel the extremely spiritual sense of the site. I entered the prayer hall, left a wish in the stones which were full of other prayers left by the people _ they are removed every year _ wondered around for a while and by the time I went back to join my tour group, they had left leaving me behind. I walked out of the Old City through the Dung Gate and passed by a long stretch of land which was the Moslem’s Cemetery by the walls of the Old City at the Golden Gate and St. Stephen’s Gate. I reentered Old City through the Damascus Gate. In front of the “Dome of the Rock” two Israeli police officers asked me to show them my passport to confirm that I was a Moslem from Iran since the 7:00-13:00 visiting hours were over. Inside the mosque a Moslem man again made me show my passport to make sure that I am a Moslem. My trying to proof my religion by reading a verse of Quran did not work. I finally entered the mosque; It was indeed magnificent, I sat down for a while to absorb and praise its beauty. Anything more than this would possibly have been perfect and therefore blasphemous at the time of construction since perfection is only for the God. Every square centimeter of space was a world of wonders and art. The symmetrical and asymmetrical patterns on the columns and the walls were just magnificent. A stone that looked like raised rocks covered one side of the pillars. I had to touch them a few times to feel smoothness of marble. The walls all the way to the ceiling were covered with beautiful drawings and Arabic writings. At the center of the mosque, a few steps under the ground the huge 8x8 m Rock was located. Finally the guardian showed up and this time he did not ask for bakhsheesh, bust asked for sadaghe (a different form of bakhsheesh) for the sheik; I refused to give him money in this holiest site. I left the mosque and walked around the courtyard. Every small pillar or altar was built extremely tastefully. I walked to the Al Agsa Mosque that is on the same Courtyard and sat there for a while to enjoy the visual beauty of the site. The task of building these two mosques was nothing less than pharonic. I circled around the Islamic and Jewish sections until 7pm. The beautiful all stone walls and roads in the Jewish Section were restored between 1948-1957. The white stones give the area the impression of an ancient city. By this time my legs were sore. In the Islamic Section a young shopkeeper, Ayer, son of the owner, invited me to his clean restaurant. He complained about the discrimination of the American tourists who do not eat at his restaurant. The customers were mostly Germans. Another shopkeeper invited me to his shop and reduced the price of saffron flowers from NIS30 for 10 grams to 20 for 50 grams. I went to my hotel to sleep early so that I can get up earlier to use more of the daylight. I was very fascinated with what I’ve seen today and glad I was able to make the trip. It’s been a great visual and spiritual experience. The city is a great historical site; it’s peaceful, very spiritual and the crisp fresh fragrant air is very uplifting; it’s the perfect place for the resurrection of a prophet.
Thursday, 11/14/96
I woke up at 6:30am and after breakfast took Jaffa Road to Jaffa Gate, took a walk around, sat down at the Citadel and read my tour guide until 9:00am when my tour started. At exactly 9:00am I heard the owner of the tour company, an interesting 72-year old man, calling me from down the block. I started the tour with a group of ten people and our knowledgeable and dedicated tour guide, Ellen, an American who had immigrated to Israel. We strolled on the rooftops of the Old City’s Market. The highlight of the tour was the walk on the underground passage of the Western Wall. The tunnel runs for about 1km and exposes the many facets of the ancient cultures, the Herosd’s Road, his bridge, and the Wall (one of the rocks weighs 500 tons and measures 42’x10’x10’. In one of the chambers we could see the ashes left behind after the Romans burned the city. I left the tunnel from the new exit. This new exit was completed about two years ago but the old government delayed opening it to avoid any confrontations with the Arabs. After the opening by the new government of Netanyahu there were some serious protests by the Arabs claiming the exit would deteriorate the structure of the Dome of the Rock, but in reality the exit was far enough from the mosque not to affect it in any way. The tour was a great observation of the ancient history of the city. After the tour I lunched at Cordo Culinaria, a restaurant decorated in the fashion of the old Rome. As the customers entered, the waiters would start playing their trumpets and then clad them in robes and put headbands on them and after sitting them fanned them with long straw fans. The olives were great, the pea soup was delicious and the main dish, chicken and grilled squash was mouth watering; it was a fun experience. At the end of the meal, taking a picture of the customers lying down on a sofa with the waitresses feeding them grapes was in order.
I walked to the Islamic section one more time and entered the Dome of the Rock. I entered the prayer hall but the afternoon prayers were in session and a big crowd of men and women were praying. I was the only one not praying which looked awkward therefore I left the place hoping to go back there the following day. I walked to Damascus Gate and at the bus terminal took Arab bus #75 to At Tur Village atop the Mountain of Olives. The fare was NIS 1.50 but I had only 1.40 of change. The driver accepted my change. I got off at the Jewish cemetery. There was a beautiful view of the city from the hilltop. I climbed higher to the Chapel of Christ’s Ascension; it was closed. I walked down the hill and visited the Church of Pater Noster (also called Elona, Greek for ‘Olive Grave’). The prayers were written in 77 languages on tablets all over the church. I visited the Church of Gethsemane and then another fascinating church that looked like a deep dark dungeon with many lights on. I walked down, looked around and tried to ask about the church from an orthodox Christian but he did not stop reading his prayer book.
I started walking back to the Old City. On the way met Ellen, my tour guide, who stopped and gave me a ride to Jaffa Gate. She was a godsend; my legs were in pain from all the walking and the soreness from the riding at the Pyramids. On the way to my hotel I met Suki, a Korean girl who was studying Judaism for one year in Jerusalem. I also met Owen from Rochester who said he was going to the Dead Sea on a one-day tour. I inquired about the transportation for Saturday’s trip back to Tel Aviv and then registered for a tour to Masada and the Dead Sea at Benyehuda hustle, on Benyehuda Street and King George, starting at 3:30am the next day, Friday. I had a quick dinner on Benyehuda. An eight-year old Arab boy asked me for money or my pen while smoking. He reminded me of another six-year old boy I had met at the Valley of the Kings who was smoking and asking for money. I went back to my room for an early sleep. Tomorrow I will see the sunrise from Masada at the Dead Sea. It is 450m below the sea level.
Friday 11/15/96
I woke up at 2:45am and walked to Benyehuda hustle. The van arrived at 3:30am. I was the only passenger. We drove to Jaffa Gate and picked up the rest of the passengers who were mostly staying in Moslem Section where there are many inexpensive hustles. We arrived at Massada a little past 4:00am. I started hiking and arrived at the hilltop at 5:00am. I waited until sunrise appeared at about 6:15am. It was a time of silence to absorb the density of history of the site and the fresh air. It was a bit cloudy yet the sunrise was just perfect. The patches of the dry and colorful ground at the Dead Sea were glowing under the sun.
I met Asami Honda of Nagoya, a young girl who is a part -time waitress and more of a full-time traveler. I took some pictures. After the sunrise I walked around and visited the remains of the fortress. I descended the hill at 7:00am and arrived at the van at 7:30am. We drove to the Dead Sea and arrived there at 8:00am. I swam for about an hour. It was an interesting experience; the water is so heavy filled with the minerals that one cannot sink in it, but it was extremely bitter and acidy. After the swim I showered but Owen, the student from Rochester left the thick layer of minerals all over his skin. After breakfast we drove to a nearby site and took a nature walk. We drove to Jericho and visited a monastery and the Jericho Wall. Had lunch and stopped at Qumran to see the excavations at the site of the Dead Sea Scrolls. We drove back to Jerusalem and arrived there at 2:00 pm It was a great trip even though our driver, Mohammad was the least helpful. He would just drive and at each stop would just mention the name of the site and the departure time. He must have been bitter showing the sites of this land that now belong to another people.
I went to the Old City and walked to the Western Wall and back to the hotel to take a shower and a nap. I then went back to the Old City and tried to enter the Dome of the Rock but I was told that they are closed after the evening prayers. I asked for directions from a few Arab kids. They followed me for a few steps and then asked for money. When I told them I would not give them any money they became very offensive and one of them started looking for rocks to throw at me. At this time a few Israeli soldiers showed up and the kids backed off. I walked to the Armenian Section Restaurant. Before I enter I could hear the sound of a magical flute being played. The player, Valodya of Armenia, had come to Jerusalem four month earlier for a festival and had stayed. He was a great master of the instrument. I cried during his playing and had to go to the bathroom to wash up. I sat at his table and tried to talk to him but he spoke no English. I asked Genya, a Russian waitress to act as our translator. I would not forget the sound of his music. Su, the other waitress, was an Australian woman whom I had asked for directions to the Old City on my first day in Jerusalem - it’s a small world. She has studied journalism, came to Jerusalem for political writings and had initially hated the place because of the roughness of the Jews to Arabs but now has adjusted to the situation. The wine was good; the appetizer, Armenian yogurt, cucumber with tomatoes and olive oil was delicious. I had a great time. Tomorrow I will go to Nazareth.
Saturday 11/16/96 Nazareth
Today is my last day in Israel. I woke up at 6:30am, packed, checked out and left my bag at the front desk. I went to Ron Hotel next to Egged Tours on Jaffa St. and asked if I could go on the tour to Nazareth. The person at the desk made a phone call and they sent the bus to pick me up ($54). After a few more pickups we changed to a van and started the trip. Our guide, Yuki (Yukivet), was a very knowledgeable person and did a great job of describing the history of the places we were driving by. We drove by the Judea Mountains and the Bedouin tents.
In Nazareth we visited the Church of the Annunciation and then drove to Capernaum to visit the House of St. Peter. We also visited the Sea of Galilee where we had lunch (a local fish called St. Peter, similar to bass which Jesus fed one thousand of his followers with one of them) and went for a boat ride. We visited another synagogue and a church and a park where the Christian would come to baptize in the waters of the Sea of Jordan. The religious fever was very high.
We arrived at Jerusalem at 6:15pm. I tried to find a sherut to the airport but because of the Shabath there was no service to the airport unless I would get a private ride for $80. I took a sherut to Tel Aviv at 6:30p. The driver was kind enough to stop on a fork on the highway near the airport and let me off. He said I could walk 1-2 km distance to the airport. It was about 7:30p and I had enough time until my departure. I decided to take a shortcut; went down a ramp and walked through a citrus grove for about 20 minutes in the direction of the airport where I could see the bright lights. The smell of the tangerines had filled the air. When I arrived at the other end of the grove I faced a long wire fence; took a detour and walk for another 10 minutes until I arrived at a place where the wire fence was shorter and I could climb a few tree stems to the top of the fence and jump over it. I walked along the highway for about half an hour. When I hailed a cab the driver told me I was on the wrong side of the road. I crossed the road and walked for a while before getting a ride to the airport.
Since I was flying on Air Saina, I thought going through the passport check would be faster but I was in for a big surprise. The checking of the luggage was even more exhaustive than that at Cairo’s Airport. The fist woman involved five other people to find out my motives for taking this trip and to check my luggage. They inspected my luggage for an hour and the inspection of my camera took about 1:45 hours. This time they also checked the sneakers I was wearing. At the end the woman apologized for the delay and walked me through the gates to the departure hall around 9:50p. The flight was one hour late and we took off at 11:30. I took a taxi and the driver started the same familiar act of recommending a cheaper and better hotel. At the hotel asked for a wakeup call at 6a and went to bed at 2 am
Sunday 11/17/96 Departure from Cairo
Today is the last day of my trip. I took a taxi to the airport and arrived there at 7:00a. I was lucky to get to the airport since the cab driver did not know exactly where to drop me. He had to stop near the airport and ask for help from a waiting passenger who happened to work at one of the currency exchanges at the airport and shared a ride with me. At the airport the ticket agent asked if my ticket was confirmed or not. I had all forgotten about it but I had to tell him that I had confirmed it at the American Express. It seemed he had no way of verifying it; I was able to get a boarding pass. I waited at the departure hall for a while, watching the sparrows who had nested there. The flight took off at 8:30a; I took a seat at the business class. We arrived in London where we a 1.5 hours stop over and finally arrived at JFK at 4 pm
At the immigration desk, I was the very first person on the line. An old passenger tried to get ahead of me but the officer who had just finished with his last passenger noticed this and asked me to go thorough the other side of his desk. The officer at the customs said ‘welcome back’ and let me through. I hailed a cab and got home at 5pm.
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