The Sheraton Miramar Resort is a modern wonder in this land of antiquities.

airo is a harmonious blend of the ancient and the modern - a teeming metropolis of 18 million people. While it is not an attractive city, it is exciting and foreign.

City of antiquities

Nothing prepares you for the sheer enormity of the Pyramids. The tallest, made of 2.5 million blocks of stone, soars 137 metres high. Though it is forbidden to climb them (to my son’s disgust and my relief), the more nimble can walk, crawl, or climb along the narrow shaft leading to the burial chamber of Cheops inside the Great Pyramid.

Part of an early Egyptian economic plan, the Great Pyramids took 20 years to build. Besides being a Pharaoh’s tomb, the pyramids are an ancient example of ‘job creation’ for farmers who found themselves out of work during the three-month flood season.

The Sphinx, guardian of the desert, has undergone an ambitious ten-year restoration, and, like the pyramids, it stands, old but challenging.

The Egyptian Museum of Cairo is best visited in the afternoon when other tourists are exploring the city’s many attractions. A museum like no other, it is crammed with antiquities dating, so it seems, to the beginning of time. In spite of its cracked windows and lack of air-conditioning, it is unique, thought-provoking, and sometimes sinister, but always wonderful. The tailor-made museum encompasses every aspect of ancient Egyptian civilization. Its star attraction is the treasure of Tutankhamen - the greatest, priceless treasure ever bequeathed to the world by Pharaohic Egypt. Its importance lies in the fact that it was the only tomb, complete with contents, not to have been plundered.

Felucca sails are a common sight up and down the Nile River.

Religious tolerance

Traditionally, Egyptians have been religiously tolerant and our tour reflected this attitude. We covered three important areas - the Moslem, Coptic, and Jewish. In 1910, Marcos Simaika Pasha, aware of the very specific nature of an art belonging to a period which extended from early Christian times to the Arab conquest in the 7th century, raised enough money to found Cairo’s first Coptic Museum. It now houses antiquities and fabrics dating back to the 4th or 5th centuries as well as painted wooden icons from the 18th century.

Ben-Ezra Synagogue was built on the site of the 8th-century Church of St. Michael, which was, in turn, built on the ruins of an ancient synagogue said to have been founded in 605-562 BC by Jews led back into Egypt by Jeremiah on the very spot where Moses prayed in the 13th century BC. In 1115, the Coptic patriarchate returned the land to the Jewish community and they rebuilt the synagogue. Its recently restored, relatively simple, exterior contrasts with the intricacy and richness of its interior 12th-century decor.

We walked through the Old Testament into the New as we passed the house that was home to Mary and Joseph who fled to Egypt to safeguard the life of their infant, Jesus.

Quickly, we stepped into modern Cairo as we drove to the Citadel, magnificent in its towering, outward sign of strength. It offers superb panoramic views of the entire city, and on a clear day, you can see the pyramids. Besides being the ‘home’ of various Governors of Egypt, the Mameluk sultans made it their headquarters. They built many structures including the vast Qasr El-Ablao Palace and a huge aqueduct with four pumping stations.

During the Ottoman period, the Citadel became a real city as the main residence and seat of government of Mohammed Ali after whom the Alabaster Mosque is named.

Cairo has numerous mosques, Mohammed Ali being the most famous. It dominates the city from the site previously occupied by the Mameluke Palace. Mohammed Ali’s main purpose in building such a place of worship to the glory of Allah was to have his name remembered in history. It is also interesting because, inside, it has two pulpits and, outside, an impressive clock presented by the French in the last century which has never worked. Since then very few Egyptians have bought French watches preferring to rely on the Swiss and Japanese to help them tell the time!

Once buried in sand, the Sphinx stands watch over the desert.

Several international airlines connect Canada with Egypt. The most satisfying way of seeing Egypt is to retain the services of a guide and chauffeur. Our eight-day itinerary covered three days in Cairo, three nights on a Nile cruise and back to Cairo again for the last two nights. We stayed in Sheraton Egypt Hotels and Resorts.

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