We had some sharp impressions as we landed at Alexandria and went through the immigration and landing procedures. The Mediterranean ports were behind us. It seemed now that except for Tangier, they were really not so “foreign”. They were, in many respects, especially insofar as the dress of the people and the looks of the buildings were concerned, somewhat like our own country.

A Profound Shock!

A.M.S…
Egypt, judged from our first look at Alexandria, was indeed another world! As the immigration officials boarded the ship along with an assortment of various other characters, our quick reaction was one of shock. Some were comparatively neat and officially garbed, but others, stationed at various points on the ship presumably to prevent illegal entry of people or goods, were the most shifty, ill-garbed, thug-like characters we had ever seen except in the movies.

We hoped our staterooms would be locked during our absence for five days from the ship. Mr. Nasser's minions, as we saw them on the docks and en route to the airport, were without doubt the most disreputable looking humans we had ever seen; all garbed in filthy, nightgown-like affairs (gallibayas) which looked like one big rag with holes for the head and arms.

As we drove to the airport through parts of Alexandria, one was continuously conscious of the contrasts between the Egypt of yesterday and the Egypt of today. Side by side walked men and women in their traditional Egyptian dress or in modern Western garb; new buildings in the modern style, both commercial and residential, were literally intermingled with poor adobe-like hovels; trucks and automobiles sped down the same streets as did animal-drawn vehicles.

The truth, we suppose, is that under Nasser, they are coming a long way from the poor Egypt of yesterday to a better Egypt of today and that what we see is the transition from the old to the new with much of each still readily visible.

As we look down from the plane, we again see contrasts. The rich, green, fertile fields bordering the Nile abruptly ending and merging with barren desert where the waters of the Nile don't reach. The need for the Aswan Dam becomes evident as one views mile after mile of desert.

Our DC-3, which is perhaps the best known and most widely-used plane in the world, was piloted by a competent Englishman. The rest of the staff (Egyptian) were neat, polite and apparently very efficient. We are just now dropping down for a landing at Luxor, a few thousand feet above the Nile. The flight, uneventful but quite bumpy at times took about 2¼ hours from Alexandria.

Luxor

Uninspiring Hotel & Food

A.M.S…
Without fuss or delay we were soon at our room at the “Winter Palace”. This hotel, acceptable for a one night stay, was no doubt a fine hotel in its day, which I should judge might have been about 1890-1900; but by modern standards, it is second or third rate.

Service, all by male Egyptians dressed in gallibayas, was quite satisfactory. The food, if it could be so called by our standards, was horrible! We drank bottled water; ate unbuttered rolls; once tried one bite of the meat and vegetables.

That was all we or most anybody else managed, except for one order of fish which, after the “goo” it was cooked in was scraped off, could be managed without relish. For a day and a half, it didn't really matter. When the trip is over and in the years to come, we will not remember the “Winter Palace”.

Here is the Temple of Luxor with statue after statue of Ramses II, the stupendous temple at Karnak, and Valley of the Kings where the fabulous tombs of Tutankhamun and many other past Egyptian kings have been located; and here, too, is the Valley of the Queens.

Perhaps there is nowhere in the world (at least West of India) where the traveller can go with comfort and without hazard and look so far back into antiquity. Yet, how lacking one feels in ancient history to fully appreciate what one is privileged to see.

After-Life Preparation

A.M.S…
We went below ground into Tut's tomb and into more spectacular tombs of other kings. Here, in passage after passage, were the Egyptian hieroglyphics and paintings, much as they were made in 2500 B.C. Many of them quite undisturbed and, we were told, in their original colours.

Here were the tombs and the rooms for the storage of the dead kings’ possessions: food, clothes, vehicles, and anything they might need in the hereafter. It's no use trying to describe all this; one's descriptive ability would be wholly inadequate!

The facts would hardly be correct because guides don't agree, and furthermore it would take pages and pages to record. Still, to say that we were deeply interested, deeply impressed, and felt the Luxor trip most worthwhile is rather understating than overstating the fact.

However, the temple at Karnak, or rather the ruins of that temple, for sheer majesty, beauty, size, and engineering skill must rate as a sight worth the entire trip to Luxor. I doubt that we shall be much more impressed by any physical structure anywhere.

Generations of Pharaohs lavished the wealth of an empire on the building and enlargement of the temples of Karnak which are incomparable as architectural marvels. The main temple chamber - one chamber (the Great Hypostyle Hall), is almost equal to the entire area of Canterbury Cathedral.

The entire Temple area, if it could be set down in London, would stretch from Piccadilly Circus to Hyde Park Corner. Each of the many, many columns in the structure are 69 feet high and 12 feet thick. Within the walls of the temple itself there would be room for St. Peter's at Rome, the Milan Cathedral, and Notre Dame in Paris.

Karnak Tops Our 7 Wonders!

A.M.S…
Some would say it is not architecturally beautiful; that it does not have the perfection of proportion of Greek or Roman temples, but this would not be perceptible to us. It does have overwhelmingly impressive massiveness, and an almost terrifying feeling of power.

The carvings and inscriptions, everywhere, tell of ancient conquest. Three hundred and fifty names of conquered people and cities have been deciphered - and dynasty after dynasty had been added to its walls and to its story. In our own list of the “seven wonders of the world” that we have seen, Karnak would, up to this point, have to head the list.

Here we had a wonderful guide who miraculously got us ahead of the main group so that we could view, hear and photograph without the annoyance of those “darned tourists” with their so often stupid questions and observations.

We shall hope that perhaps one negative may somehow have caught the awesome magnificence of Karnak, but we doubt it very much. We had seen many pictures of Karnak before we arrived, but none had quite been able to prepare us for what we saw.

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