Winter has finally caught up with us and we have exchanged the heat of the desert for the cool winds and storms of the sea at Alexandria. Fay dipped her hand in the Mediterranean with some difficult (photo) adding to her list of seas and oceans she has touched.
Today, the last day of our short tour of Egypt, has seen us visit the National Museum of Alexandria (photos - statues of servants to serve the king in his afterlife and rude jar) and the Monastery of St Macarius in the desert half way between Alexandria and Cairo.
Christians in Egypt in the first Century AD were persecuted by the Roman rulers into fleeing into the desert and forming communities, one of which became the Coptic Orthodox Monastery of St Macarius. The monastery was originally built in 360 AD and rebuilt many times over the Centuries. The present structure was restored from ruins excavated in 1970 (photo). This was a quiet and inspiring place but one dedicated to rituals and practices with which we could feel little empathy.
This is the last day of the Egypt tour. We’ve said goodbye to members of the tour group, we’ve all gone on our separate ways and we leave the land of:
• Pharaohs and Pyramids, Tombs and Temples,
• Crazy traffic (4 cars across two marked lanes, drivers driving with their horns and little buses and cars stopping whenever and wherever they feel like it)
• Small trucks loaded very high with goods often with people perched precariously on top – photo),
• Donkey and horse drawn vehicles,
• Dust storms and flooded streets,
• Unfinished buildings and
• Dirt, dust, litter in the street and pollution.
We’ve enjoyed friendship, fellowship, shared experiences in an exotic land and loads and loads of information about ancient material we’ve been exposed to since school days.
We will probably never be back but we leave having enjoyed every moment of the experience. Next stop (via Tel Aviv) is Bangkok for a few days and then home.
Day 26 – 27th February 2010
Today, the last day of our short tour of Egypt, has seen us visit the National Museum of Alexandria (photos - statues of servants to serve the king in his afterlife and rude jar) and the Monastery of St Macarius in the desert half way between Alexandria and Cairo.
Christians in Egypt in the first Century AD were persecuted by the Roman rulers into fleeing into the desert and forming communities, one of which became the Coptic Orthodox Monastery of St Macarius. The monastery was originally built in 360 AD and rebuilt many times over the Centuries. The present structure was restored from ruins excavated in 1970 (photo). This was a quiet and inspiring place but one dedicated to rituals and practices with which we could feel little empathy.
This is the last day of the Egypt tour. We’ve said goodbye to members of the tour group, we’ve all gone on our separate ways and we leave the land of:
• Pharaohs and Pyramids, Tombs and Temples,
• Crazy traffic (4 cars across two marked lanes, drivers driving with their horns and little buses and cars stopping whenever and wherever they feel like it)
• Small trucks loaded very high with goods often with people perched precariously on top – photo),
• Donkey and horse drawn vehicles,
• Dust storms and flooded streets,
• Unfinished buildings and
• Dirt, dust, litter in the street and pollution.
We’ve enjoyed friendship, fellowship, shared experiences in an exotic land and loads and loads of information about ancient material we’ve been exposed to since school days.
We will probably never be back but we leave having enjoyed every moment of the experience. Next stop (via Tel Aviv) is Bangkok for a few days and then home.
Day 26 – 27th February 2010
Happy Birthday Rob!
ReplyDeletethanks - lost it somewhere in the travelling!
ReplyDelete