Travel Notes | Middle East Tour to Egypt
What I once knew about Egypt
It’s just a description of the four ancient civilizations in history texts;
The legend of the pyramids and the Sphinx in the story;
The beautiful scenery in the movie "Death on the Nile";
The beautiful melody of Zhu Fengbo's "Songs on the Nile".
On 12, 27, 2016, after nearly 12 hours of flight, I stood at the Cairo Airport in Egypt. The three service desks stand side by side; the three mysterious figures on the high wall. The little boy and I looked at each other curiously: What does your mother look like? ;Then where did you come from?
After leaving the airport, it was 3 hours away by bus, and we were going to the beautiful coastal city of Alexandria.
See the street scenes of Cairo along the way. There are many buildings with no roof or exterior decoration. But it's not an unfinished building. People's land is privately owned, and they can build whatever houses they want on the land. If you are happy and not short of money, you can cap it all at once. If you’re not happy or don’t have enough budget, it’s okay to leave a tail. As for exterior wall decoration, it is to spend one's own money to please other people's eyes. The Egyptians think it is not necessary.
Alexandria is located north of Cairo, on the Mediterranean Sea, across the sea from Europe. In 322 BC, Alexander the Great built this city on the isthmus between the Mediterranean Sea and Lake Mario and named it after himself. Historically, this city has been ruled by Rome, Arabia, Greece, and the British.
On the edge of the city of Alexandria, there is a pink granite pillar that has stood for 1600 years. Directly south of the stone pillar, a sphinx crawls under the blue sky, seeming to be guarding the merits of the Roman Emperor Diocletus in rescuing victims and appeasing the people.
This is a seaside castle built on the base of a lighthouse. It is one of the two largest medieval castles in Egypt along with the Ancient Cairo Castle. The size of the castlespeaks to the magnificence of the lighthouse back then. It’s just that the brilliance of the lighthouse has flowed into the long river of history with the waves.
Someone is fishing near the castle. Compared to the castle, the two pairs sitting side by side on the breakwater attracted my attention more. Are they a couple? A lover? unimportant. To be able to sit together quietly like this, lazily enjoying the caress of the sea breeze, is destiny, and it is a beautiful scenery in the world.
The palace of Egypt's last king Farouk, also known as "Egyptian Summer Palace ". It is a beautiful building with a red roof and white walls, Florentine style . The palace is not open to the public, its silhouette melts into the sunset, and only the phosphorescence on the sea tells us about the glory of that year.
This North African port city is said to be the most European city in the Arab world. Its iconic sculpture - the Mediterranean Bride, comes from the story of Zeus seducing the Princess of Europe in ancient Greek mythology, is located in the library opposite.
The setting sun casts a mysterious veil on this Mediterranean bride.
The ruins of Memphis are located on the west bank of the Nile River in northeastern Egypt, about 30 kilometers south of Cairo. In 3200 BC, after Upper and Lower Egypt were unified for the first time, Pharaoh Menes established the city of Memphis as the capital of ancient Egypt. It became the most magnificent and greatest city in the world at that time, with a history of 5,000 years ago. Over the long years, Memphis rose and fell several times, and was finally destroyed in the 7th century AD.
The introduction said that this museum is the place where preserves the largest number of cultural relics unearthed from the ancient capital. The most famous ones are the lying colossus of Ramses II and a sphinx placed in the courtyard.
At the end of the small stall is the museum's gate. When you walked in through this gate, you thought you were entering a farmyard.
The museum has only one room, which only displays this statue of Ramses II. It is precisely because of this statue that this seemingly simple museum exudes an alluring atmosphere in the countryside. Let’s talk about this statue first. It was originally about 14 meters high and was carved from a whole piece of limestone. Although it has gone through 3200 years, the pictograms on the statue still remain intact. The text is still clearly visible. The smiling face and lifelike appearance made people feel that this supreme Pharaoh had not been lying down for many years. Let’s talk about Ramesses II himself, the third generation king of Egypt’s 19th dynasty , ruled Egypt for 66 years, had 8 years in his life A formal wife and nearly 100 concubines. With a total of 96 sons and 60 daughters, was the longest reigning pharaoh in the history of ancient Egypt. His reign was the last powerful era of the New Kingdom of Egypt.
In the center of the front yard of the museum sits this huge alabaster sphinx dating back 3,800 years. It is said that it was excavated from the mud that was buried after the Nile River flooded. The statue has smooth lines and beautiful shape. It is the second largest Sphinx in Egypt. It is also regarded as an extremely precious art masterpiece in Egypt .
Although the broken tiles and ruins in the dust are gone, they cannot erase the arrogance of the past. I am not interested in archeology, but those all-powerful past are frozen into the stone statues in front of me. Even though they are peeling off and incomplete, they still make me awe and sigh...
This tower was built around 2700 BC. It is the earliest mausoleum built with stones in the world and the earliest pyramid in Egypt. It is also the only stepped pyramid . There are also ruins of temples and underground chambers near the pyramid. Compared with the overall integrity of the Giza Pyramids, this one feels lonely. It has stood alone in the desert for 4700 years. Although only parts of many buildings remain, the original glory can still be roughly sketched through the foundations and remaining pillars.
The locals enthusiastically helped me tie the scarf on my head in their own way, so I dressed up as a character in "Alibaba and the Forty Thieves".
The capital of Egypt is also the largest city in Africa and the Arab world. It straddles the Nile River and is the political, economic, cultural and transportation center of the entire Middle East. It consists of Cairo Province, Giza Province and Qalyoub Province. Composed, commonly known as Greater Cairo.
Saladin Castle is located on a hill on the eastern outskirts of Cairo. It was built by Saladin in the 11th century to fight the Crusaders' eastward invasion.
The temple is very solemn and solemn, with believers praying.
On the side of the mosque is the Ali Temple, with a small pavilion in the middle, but it looks grand when shot with a super wide angle.
Because Saladin Castle was built on the Muqatam Mountain on the eastern outskirts of Cairo, from the platform outside the corridor, you can see the panoramic view of Cairo from a high position. But the city of Cairo in the distance is also surrounded by PM2.5. Cairo is known as the "City of a Thousand Towers". There are more than 1,000 mosques in the city. The towering minarets of the mosques look like tall factory chimneys in the haze.
It is said that the Islamic market maintains its original appearance five hundred years ago.
Egyptian men who believe in Islam are not allowed to visit prostitutes, gamble, or drink alcohol. Their biggest pastime is smoking hookah. The hookah parlor also serves as a local press center. If something happens in one place, the whole city knows about it. 
The pyramids are the tombs of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs. Just like "If you don't visit the Great Wall, you are not a true man", it is a must-see attraction during your trip to Egypt. The Giza Pyramid Group is the most representative among them. The largest and most famous are the three generations of pyramids - the Pyramid of Khufu, the Pyramid of Khafu and the Pyramid of Menka. The 4,600-year-old memory carries the expectations of the Pharaohs' resurrection; the stack of two million boulders conceals mysteries that scientists have not yet solved.
The "Sphinx" Sphinx entrenched in the south of Khafre's Pyramid was built by Khufu's son Jedevra in memory of his father. What animal walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs at night? The answer to the riddle is "people". This is the mystery of the Sphinx. It manifests itself on a deeper level as "fear and temptation", i.e. "real life". The reality in front of us is full of fear and temptation, and the mausoleum behind us buries poverty and wealth.
ThisSphinx stands in the wilderness, facing thousands of years of wind and sand. Watching the clouds roll in the sky and people gathering and scattering in front of me, I remain unmoved. What a state of mind!
The Egyptian Museum, completed in 1881, is a treasure trove of relics of ancient Egyptian civilization with a history of more than 3,000 years. The orange-red walls are particularly gorgeous under the sunlight. Statues at the door: On the left and right sides are the "Nile Goddess" holding lotus and papyrus respectively, which represent Upper and Lower Egypt; on the top is the head of "Isis", the goddess of love.
The dead soul will surely be reborn on the other side of the world.
For the ancient Egyptians, human birth was preparation for death, and death was both the end and the beginning. They painted in the temple, depicting a happier and brighter Egypt after death. 
Scarce oases, vast deserts, and a lonely river formed the Egyptian civilization, and an ancient ship carried thousands of years of history.
Tutankhamen, whose tomb has never been stolen in three thousand years, has a mysterious incantation engraved on the door of his tomb: "Whoever disturbs the Pharaoh's sleep, death will spread its wings and descend on his head" - when After Tutankhamun was rediscovered, people involved in the excavation of the tomb began to die one after another under the "curse of the Pharaoh."
The young Pharaoh under the golden mask has a solemn and slow gaze. As soon as he raises his eyes, he is already a thousand years old...
Egypt, a mysterious country, a city on the tomb.
The heavy ancient civilization drags down the pace of modern civilization
The main religions in Egypt are Islam and Christianity. Our tour guide graduated from the Chinese Department of Cairo University. He is a Christian and very competent. Tour guides are a high-income group in the local area, and civil servants are paid poorly. They usually don't work much in the afternoon and work in a second job. The Egyptians are very friendly and happy to take photos with us.
"A Russian Kogalym Airlines passenger plane crashed on its way from Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt to St. Petersburg, Russia on October 31. " This news on November 1, 2015, let me know There is such a place in the world called Sharm El Sheikh. Less than two months later, with the shadow of the plane crash still hovering in the sky, we arrived here by plane.
"On one side is the sea water and on the other side are the police", this is how Egyptians describe Sharm el-Sheikh. This place known as the "City of Peace" is located at the southern tip of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, where the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba meet. Although we have experienced terrorist attacks and horrific air crashes here, the warm sea breeze only gives us a pleasant feeling. We stayed at the Hilton Hotel, and outside the balcony was the Red Sea, sunshine and sandy beaches.
I once studied Ba Jin's "Sunrise on the Sea" when I was a child: "The sky was still light blue, very light, very light. In the blink of an eye, a red cloud appeared where the sky and water met. The range of the red cloud slowly expanded. , getting brighter and brighter. I knew the sun was about to rise from the horizon, so I looked there intently. Sure enough, after a while, the sun's small face appeared there, very red, but not there. Bright light. The sun rose slowly, vertically and hard, like it was carrying a heavy burden. At last, it finally broke through the clouds and completely jumped out of the sea. In an instant, the color was so cute. The crimson round thing gave off a dazzling light that hurt people's eyes. The clouds next to it suddenly became bright. "
St. Catherine's Monastery is located in the hinterland of the Sinai Peninsula and at the foothills of Mount Moses. It was built by the Eastern Roman Emperor more than 1,400 years ago. It is named after Catherine, a beautiful and talented woman from Alexandria, Egypt in the 4th century AD, to commemorate her fight against idolatry. A feat of martyrdom. It is now a world cultural heritage.
The parking lot next to the monastery, at first glance, seems to be a parking spot for scrapped vehicles. There are many such seemingly scrapped vehicles running around in Egypt.
This can also be said to be a parking lot, where the most suitable means of transportation in the desert is the camel.
After leaving the monastery and traveling through the Sahara Desert along the TABA Highway, we will reach the next stop of our Middle East trip, Israel.
Baidu said: The Sahara Desert was formed about 2.5 million years ago. It is the second largest desert in the world (after Antarctica) and the largest sandy desert in the world.
Back then Sanmao walked into the desolate and monotonous Sahara Desert with his luggage and wrote "The Story of the Sahara", leaving behind the sentence " Every time I miss you, a grain of sand falls from the sky. , and the Sahara was formed from then on. "
So it was thought that the desert was made of sand, but the desert that the TABA Highway crosses was made of stones. The rugged stone hills under the blue sky and white clouds show the power of nature.
The sand is the most helpless thing. Whether they are stable or wandering, they just let the wind stop and the wind rises, and the desert takes them in. This stone hill is their support, allowing them to take a nap in the warm sunshine.
I was struck by the lone tree in the wilderness. The strong winds in the desert prevent it from growing a straight trunk, but it creates a beautiful crown. Stone is so indifferent, but life is so tenacious.
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