Egypt, Land of the Pharaohs
EGYPT, lying at the South Eastern corner of the Mediterranean, enjoys a balmy year-around climate that has been the praise of travellers since the most ancient times. Its combination of sunny desert and the ultra-fertile but narrow valley of the great Nile, together with its six-thousand-year pageant of exciting history, art and culture are the wonder of Mediterranean travel lands.
During the 1961 Great World Cruise. the Caronia will remain five full days in Egyptian waters, from Sat. 25 February to Weds. 01 March, during which time passengers can travel to Cairo for a visit to Egypt's capital city, with pre-planned hotel and sightseeing arrangements.
There will also be tours to Luxor and Aswan far south on the Upper Nile.
THE GREAT PYRAMID
Truly an architectural marvel, it is estimated that the Great Pyramid of Cheops took some 30 years to build. Work on its construction could only progress when the Nile was in flood, allowing heavy stone blocks to be floated on wooden barges to the base of the edifice.
Some 2,400,000 different blocks, many weighing over 20 tons, were needed before its completion. Today, the Pyramid stands as a lasting tribute to the Pharaoh Cheops, whose mummified body was entombed in a stone sarcophagus deep within the monument almost 4,000 years ago.
THE SPHINX
The Sphinx, having the body of a lion denoting courage, and the head of a man representing wisdom, is the traditional symbol identified with protecting the holy places of the Pharaohs in ancient Egypt. There are many Sphinxes in Egypt, but the one at Giza near the Great Pyramid has a special significance.
Many centuries ago, between the paws of this huge statue, King Thothmes dreamed that the Sphinx spoke to him — complaining of neglect and asking for protection against the encroaching sands of the desert. The King immediately had the statue repaired and built an alabaster temple, a portion of which is still intact, at its base to honour the mysterious occurrence.
MUSEUM OF ANTIQUITIES
The principal attractions in this impressive building in the heart of Cairo are the treasures taken from the tomb of King Tutankhamun. Here, there are statues of the King in hunting and court attire together with chairs, beds, weapons, toilet articles and costumes—all perfectly preserved.
The supreme thrill, however, occurs when one steps into a steel-barred inner room of the museum, which contains the very cases which enclosed the mummy of King Tut. Each mummy case, designed to match the contours of the body and fit faultlessly inside an outer case of the same shape, is made of beaten gold and adorned with exquisite design.
The museum contains what is unquestionably the best collection of art from the great age of Egyptian history.
THE GREAT MOSQUES
Standing on a Citadel rising above the eastern edges of Cairo are the great mosques of Hassan and Mohammed Ali. The Mosque of Hassan, a huge, fourteenth-century structure, is venerated in the Muslim World. The Mosque of Mohammed Ali, named for modern Egypt's founding monarch, has walls of alabaster, priceless carpets and exquisite chandeliers.
The mosques stand in the centre of the Arab world where veiled women, befezzed men, minarets and bazaars are perfect samples of the way of life found everywhere in the Middle East.
SAKKARA
The drive to this small village on the Nile is a complete change of atmosphere from northern Egypt. Here, we enter “Upper Egypt” where native life is most easily observed. Water is raised from the river by the most primitive implements into irrigation canals and farming is accomplished in the same way as it was centuries ago.
Sakkara stands on the site of ancient Memphis, once the resplendent capital of the Pharaohs. In a palm grove one can see the site of a fallen colossus of Rameses and on the desert rises the primitive step-pyramid of King Zoser. This was the first of all the Egyptian pyramids and dates from 2500 B.C.
LUXOR
Lying to the south of Cairo, some 650 miles ‘up’ the Nile, is the modern resort city of Luxor, built on the site of ancient Thebes. In the year 1800 B.C. an unknown group of invaders overran the delta of Egypt, forcing the Pharaohs to relocate their capital city.
Thebes became the new capital and flourished for centuries as the centre of Egypt's “Middle Kingdom”. Today, across the Nile from Luxor, are the amazing remnants of this civilisation — the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens.
Here, one may view the tombs of fifty Pharaohs dug into the rocky walls of the cliffs and, nearby, the three-tiered temple marking the burial place of Queen Hatshepsut. Luxor is also noted for the soaring columns, exotic carvings and mystic avenues of sphinxes adorning its magnificent temples; which bear silent witness to the greatness of the religion and culture at the dawn of our civilisation.
[ Text from Supplementary Shore programme / Great World Cruise 1961]