Life In The Nile Valley

As I've noticed its letter 'P' today for Sunday Stamps I thought of the pyramids, but hey lucky chance I got some Pharaohs as well :) Took a bit of digging to find out what exactly these were, definitives from 2002: Statue of Pharaoh Sesostris III, Pyramids of Sneferu (Sneferu was a founder of a great dynasty and had three pyramids built in Dahshur, all happening in the 2nd millenium BC), and Mask of the Pharaoh Psusennes I (made of gold and lapis lazuli). 

Postcard received for the wishlist tag - and I guess I had donkeys on my wishlist as usual :) Dear Farah thank you for this card, I haven't seen you for a while I hope all is well x.

 

Tomb Of Nefertari (detail), Egypt

Its been a while since I've received a postcard from Egypt...This is a detail from Tomb 66, one of the largest in the Valley of the Queens, covered with pictures of Nefertari, an Egyptian queen and the first of the Great Royal Wives (or principal wives) of Ramesses the Great. This detail shows a winged uraeus cobra, which protects the queen's cartouche and a shen-sign with its wings. A special addition to my snakes collection, thanks to Mohammad :)

People Of Egypt

A wonderful portrait of a Nubian elder from Egypt. The Nubians are an ethnic group originally from northern Sudan and southern Egypt; in ancient times they were famous for their horsemanship, and skill and precision with the bow. There were a number of small Nubian kingdoms throughout the Middle Ages, but the last one collapsed in 1504.

There is a great shop with egyptian souvenirs in the beautiful district of Zamalek, called Fair Trade Egypt. Not only does it have a plethora of hand-made items for sale, but also the part of the proceedings goes to the artists themselves and supports the traditional crafts. It is where I got this postcard showing craftswomen woving baskets in the Al Fayoum oasis. Sent sometime in November 2008!

UNESCO - St. Catherine's Monastery, Egypt

St. Catherine's Monastery, or Santa Katarina, is one of the oldest working Christian monasteries in the world. It is Orthodox and situated at the mouth of a gorge at the foot of Mount Sinai. It is said that the relics of the eponymous martyr Saint Catherine of Alexandria were miraculously transported to Mount Sinai after her death by beheading in the 4th century.

The place looks amazing, thank you Zane for sending this card from your holidays! :)))

Alexandria, Egypt

We returned to Egypt via Eilat and settled in a nice bungalow in Dahab - which is a great place to chill out, quite touristy but not in a hectic way. Diving in the Red Sea sounded tempting..! But I have my own fears to tackle first :s

We bussed back to Cairo, where we spent another couple of days as I was caught by a cold and had high temperature (boo). But there was not much time to waste so we headed to Alexandria, where we had a day of exploration before catching a bus to Siwa oasis.  Of course we 1st checked the library! The Bibliotheca Alexandrina was inaugurated in 2003 near the site of the ancient Royal Library of Alexandria, once the largest library in the world. This one is quite awesome too!

The 1st postcard shows the El-Mursi Abul-Abbas Mosque, which looked stunning in the moonlight...Alexandria must have looked amazing back in the Ptolemaic days - everything was grand, very much like this lighthouse on the 2nd postcard - the Pharos of Alexandria. With its height between 120 and 140 meters it was for centuries the highest man-made building in the world. Sadly it was devastated in the series of earthquakes. In 1480 the last of its remnant stones were used to build the Citadel of Qaitbay on the site.

In the alexandrian post-office I found new stamps, goodie :)

These were posted on the 13th of December on the way back from the oasis.

Ramesses II And Nefertari, Egypt

The first day in Cairo was a bit of a shock - firstly, the honking of the horns out on the streets never seemed to cease! Secondly, I realised its a gamble to cross the street. It took a little while but I managed to perfect the method of evasion by leaps :)

Soon I realised Cairo is a great city with lots to offer. Of course one of the main sites was the Egyptian Museum, which is so vast its impossible to see all the interesting stuff in one day - apparently some 120,000 items are stored there...Such a rich history and so much left to be seen...