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Aug. 24, 2005 I lived in Egypt for six months in 1990 and 1991, but I went there primarily to meet Egyptian people and study Arabic, not to visit ancient ruins. Alexandria, the city where I had my apartment, was founded in 332 BC by Alexander the Great, who deposed Nectanebo II, the last of the Pharaohs, so there are no ruins there more ancient than the Greco-Roman period. Still, about a week or so before my flight on Lufthansa Airlines to Frankfurt, Gertmany, I decided to make a quick tour of the pyramids, the Sphinx and the Egyptian Museum. After all, who goes to Egypt without visiting the pyramids? My apartment was in a district called Saba Basha, no more than two miles from Mahattat Sidi Gabar, the nearer of Alexandria’s two train stations, so with a small tote bag, I cycled over thinking surely I could take the bike with me on the train, even if it meant paying extra money, but that was not the case. On my way out of the station, a man in a station wagon told me he was taking fares to Cairo, and since his station wagon had a roof carrier, we could put the bike on top. You will hardly believe the rates that he was charging. He carried seven people in all, myself and six very ordinary Egyptians. He was very apologetic to everyone that he had had to raise his price from 6 to 7 junaihat (guineas or pounds), that is, from $1.80 to $2.10. Since I had a bicycle he would charge me 10 guineas, or $3. The distance is 135 miles. If the man had had seven Egyptians, then, we would have collected $14.70 for all. How can a man and a car go 135 miles for $15? I still don’t know the answer, but go we definitely did. I had considered cycling the whole distance, but was afraid I wouldn’t have been able to find enough water to drink along the way, and I’d been right, as I could see from out the window of the car once we got rolling in near-desert. Along much of the way, though, there were cotton fields, and I could see women and girls picking cotton, while men dealt with those massive bales. In villages, there were many people mounted on donkeys or walking or in older cars or trucks. We passed through Tanta, one of Egypt’s larger cities, and after another hour or so we were in suburban Cairo. The driver let me off in downtown Cairo, I gave him 20 guineas instead of the 10 he’d asked for, and he was very pleased. Asking around downtown, I got instructions on reaching the pyramids. The pyramids are in a city called al-Gizah, which goes back almost 5000 years, but al-Qahira (Cairo) was founded only in the ninth century AD by Muslims, and originially was called al-Fustat. However, today, one is inclined to think of Gizah as a suburb of the world city of Cairo. I cycled out 10 or 15 miles towards the pyramids, but before I entered I felt faint, for some odd reason, and took a room right away, putting the pyramids off till the following morning. I noticed that in the immediate environs of the pyramids, prices are somewhat higher than elsewhere in Egypt, I guess because of the presence of so many tourists. The locals are more venal too, always pressing to be tipped. The next day, I tried again. The view of the pyramids from afar, as you approach on Pyramids Road, is awesome. I rode straight out to the pyramids and the Sphinx, and walked around inside the compound for a couple of hours. I was shocked to see the incredible dunes of the Sahara Desert rolling right up to the pyramids. One could get lost and die there in a matter of days. At one time the sides of the pyramids were clad in marble, but robbers stripped it all millennia ago. Today only the familiar pattern of stones, rising like staircases to the pinnacle, remains. There are further pyramids in Saqqara, about 30 miles south of Cairo, but I opted not to go. On the following day, I visited the Egyptian Museum, right in downtown Cairo. The most memorable collection was the room full of treasures of King Tut. The world famous mask was there, of course, but there were many other implements of gold and jewels. Who ever decided that the Greeks were better artists than the Egyptians? I recall the famous stern-looking statue of the seated Pharaoh Chafre (Chephren) and the collection from the reign of the Pharaoh Ikhnaton, the solar monotheist and transsexual pharaoh from whom Freud claimed Moses got his notions on religion. There was a Ptolemaic collection too. The Ptolemies were 12 Greeks kings and one Greek queen, Cleopatra, who ruled Egypt for 300 years, from the time of Alexander, the founder of the dynasty till the deposition of Cleopatra by Augustus Caesar. There were many othet writings, statues, mummies and curios in the two-story building that must measure 300 x 600 feet. While in Cairo, I also went to the al-Qal’a, the Citadel, built by Salah ad-Din (Saladdin), who fought the Crusaders in the twelfth century. Later, this would become headquarters for the Mamluks (Mamelukes), who ruled Egypt from 1250 to 1517. I crossed the Nile a dozen times on my bicycle, as I cycled aimlessly about the city, seeing what I’d see. Then finally I cabbed back to Mahattat Sidi Gabar in Alexandria, just as I had come, only paying slightly more, then cycled back to my apartment in Saba Basha, and started getting ready for my flight to Germany. I wish I’d stayed in Egypt longer. I may yet return. ------------ About the author Thomas Keyes: I have written two books: A SOJOURN IN ASIA (non-fiction) and A TALE OF UNG (fiction), neither published so far. I have studied languages for years and traveled extensively on five continents. 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