Egypt. Part IMapNovember 1525, 2006 To make our trip around Egypt more varied our outgoing flight was to Sharm El Sheikh, but we flew out of Cairo on the way back. Sharm El SheikhMapAt the airport two fellow Russians asked for our help reading what it said on the landing card. These people didn’t know the Latin alphabet at all and couldn’t figure out what “passport” meant. Who would’ve thought there are still people like that out there. Russians fly here to sunbathe looking roughly like this: ![]() You can sunbathe on a wafer-thin strip of hotelized seashore. Apart from that, there’s nothing but the dreary Sinai peninsula desert. It’s even duller than the UAE. ![]() At the town market they use every trick in the book to entice Russians: ![]() 20% discount and cold vodka Three blocks of buildings overlook the bay on one side and abut the cliffs on the other. On the edge of town a man sits on a roof reading a newspaper. ![]() A paddy wagon carrying happy-go-lucky detainees drove past. You see lots and lots of these paddy wagons all over Egypt and they’re all blue. ![]() In the evenings the hotel puts on Arabian nights-themed entertainment in the style of a music video by the all-girl Russian pop group “Blestyashchiye”. In a nutshell, it’s pointless touristy trash. It’s difficult to get out of here. There’s a ship, but it only goes as far as Hurghada (no thanks). It’s roughly six hours by car to the nearest decent town; as for flights, they’re overcrowded. We found a ticket for a midnight flight to Cairo on an “Airbus 332-200”. Never before had I taken such a big plane (it has a capacity of 300 people) to cover such a short distance (half an hour). The plane takes off, flies along for three minutes or so, then begins its descent. The monitors display a Linux error message before take off. ![]() On all the routes flown by Egyptian planes you get given a wedge of citrus sponge cake and an acid reflux- inducing concentrate masquerading as orange juice. GizaMapGiza is to Cairo what Khimki is to Moscow. It takes just as long to get from the airport to the pyramids as it does from the centre of Moscow to “Ikea”. It’s a 20 minutes drive at night, which takes two and a half hours in the daytime. I remembered how all those who’d visited the pyramids had recounted that what left the most powerful impression on them was the five-hour bus journey through the desert to get there. It would appear that all those people set out from Hurghada or somewhere like that. ![]() Just before you drive into the site, hawkers pounce on your car to offer you a little camel or horse. I can only imagine how they importune the tourists approaching on foot. Every other hotel sells views of the pyramids from the city. A cocktail equal parts enjoyment and disappointment. You can also see the city from the pyramids, it’s just that all of the photographers stand with their backs to the buildings in order to show the boundless desert that opens up on the other side (readers can find these photographs in any other story about Egypt). ![]() The Sphinx is the closest site to the edge of the city. It’s not particularly imposing — about knee-height on the famous “Worker and Kolkhoz Woman” sculpture in Moscow. A view of the back of his head: ![]() The tourism ministry pulled off a remarkable feat, banishing hawkers from the immediate vicinity of the pyramids. Here you can buy a soft drink and stroll in the stillness of the sand. ![]() In front of the pyramids there’s a dig, the purpose of which is unclear. This is where I saw real live hieroglyphs for the first time. ![]() Performing my voluntary duties as Russian cultural emissary, I memorialized my visit on the sandy wall by writing a message my readers will be familiar with. It turned out that the right leg of some ancient bas-relief served as the writing material. ![]() F U C K There was half a sarcophagus nearby, just lying there. ![]() AlexandriaMapOne of the most ancient cities in the world, which locals believe is “the Paris of Egypt”. It looks more like Havana than anything else. ![]() The waterfront is 30 kilometres long and built up with rather European- Mediterranean-looking buildings. Behind them the ordinary Egyptian slums begin. ![]() Boats and ships ride at anchor in front of the city, all very picturesque. ![]() In these parts painting your boat to look foreign is considered the epitome of chic. There are “Sprite”, “Winston”, and “Malboro” boats: ![]() A scrawny river with new-fangled bridges over it flows through the residential neighbourhoods. ![]() Alexandria is deemed to be the most cosmopolitan city in Egypt. Given how the locals reacted upon seeing white women, that’s an exaggeration. On the bright side, there are portside hookers here. ![]() The only thing worth seeing here are the miraculously preserved Roman catacombs. They confiscate your camera at the entrance, but there’s nothing they can do to stop you from carrying a spare. ![]() By the way, in Egypt police officers are stationed on every corner and next to the entrance to important establishments, such as museums. A compulsory part of the coppers’ kit is a wheeled gun shield complete with armoured window. The rear wheels are fixed, just like on a pushchair. When attacked, the copper hides behind the shield, holds onto the two handles, and sporadically returns fire. A second person won’t fit behind it, not that he needs to anyway — all of the guards spend their days sitting around on chairs and smoking. ![]() |
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november 2006
Egypt. Part I
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