Around Africa: Part Three

In which I explored the museums and saw the mummies

13.12.2023: Tour Day 2, City 2

I woke up at 6am, got readied for the day, took my luggage to the reception area. I had breakfast at 7am from a plethora of croissants, muffins, pastries, etc. 

Done with the breakfast, luggage was loaded in the bus and off we drove to the capital city, Cairo. On the way, we had the introduction session wherein all the Egypt explorers had to talk about their hobbies and life in short. Mohammed had named our group as Ramesses. You may google on Ramesses the great to know this pharaoh in detail or wait for a couple of next posts on the Egypt series. We reached the first museum at 11am.

The Egyptian Museum, Tahrir Square

It is the oldest archaeological museum in the Middle East, with the largest collection of Pharaonic antiquities in the world. On the ground floor is an extensive collection of large-scale works in stone including statues, reliefs and architectural elements. These are arranged chronologically in clockwise fashion, from the pre-dynastic to the Greco-Roman period. It contains 42 rooms; with many items on view from sarcophagi and boats to enormous statues. 

On the first floor are artifacts from the final two dynasties of Egypt, including items from the tombs of the Pharaohs Thutmosis III, Thutmosis IV, Amenophis II, Hatshepsut, and the courtier Maiherpri, as well as many artifacts from the Valley of the Kings, in particular the material from the intact tombs of Tutankhamun. 

We saw a lot and there was a lot more to see. But we left the museum at 1pm, passing through the souvenir shops. We headed towards the new museum and reached there at 1:30pm. We walked up the spiral pathway to reach the museum and had a group photo.

While Mohammed went to collect the entry tickets, Gopal Dutt Sharma did entertain us, doing a bit acting of our tour guide. He had joined this tour with wife, Manju Sharma.

National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC), Fustat

The Pharaohs' Golden Parade was an event held in Cairo on 3rd April 2021, during which twenty-two mummies belonging to Kings and Queens of the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt were moved from the Egyptian Museum to NMEC. So we first entered the Royal Mummies Gallery.

Photo clicking was not allowed. We passed through a kaleidoscope circle to the underground passage. The list of mummies were: King Seqenenre Tao, Queen Ahmose-Nefertari, King Amenhotep I, Queen Meritamun, King Thutmose I, King Thutmose II, Queen Hatshepsut, King Thutmose III, King Amenhotep II, King Thutmose IV, King Amenhotep III, Queen Tiye, King Seti I, King Ramesses II, King Merenptah, King Seti II, King Siptah, King Ramesses III, King Ramesses IV, King Ramesses V, King Ramesses VI, King Ramesses IX. Then we explored the Main Gallery. 

Minbar Aboubakr Ibn Mizhar

Mahmal from King Farouk

Nazlet Khater Skeleton 

Again here we saw a lot and there was a lot to see. We left the museum at 2:30pm. We drove to our lunch location, Scarabee restaurant which was a boat restaurant parked on the Nile river. 

Done with the lunch, we headed to the papyrus factory and reached at 4:20pm.

Old Cairo Papyrus Museum

The papyrus plant (Cyperus) is a tall, aquatic plant native to the Nile Delta. The ancient Egyptians discovered the plant’s potential as a writing surface, transforming everyday communication and record-keeping. We saw the demo of the transformation of the papyrus plant into sheets of paper, a process that has remained largely unchanged since the earliest days of its inception. 

The stem is cut, the green cover is removed, the stem is sliced and beaten by a hammer to remove water and then rolled on by a wooden roller. Then the sheet is kept between two clothes and under a compress machine for a week. This will result in making a light sheet of paper. When kept for two weeks, the sheet turns dark.

The museum’s collection spans a wide range of exhibits, from the earliest hieroglyphic writings to famous paintings. We further visited the Cotton Factory where clothes were made of 100% cotton and there were souvenirs as well. We reached the last sightseeing of the day at 5:30pm.

Borg El Qahira (Cairo Tower)

It is a 614ft free-standing tower in the Egyptian capital that offers a spectacular panoramic view of the city. There are 16 floors in the building, with a revolving observatory and restaurant at the top. 

It was quite cold walking the path towards the tower. There was a long waiting time, but somehow we managed to surpass the queue. We went up by the lift and exited at the Sky Cafe restaurant. We had to climb a few more stairs to the deck. What a spectacular view it was to watch the city nightscapes and the River Nile. 

It was nothing less than the experience I had at the Eiffel watching the River Seine. Post an hour of experiencing the view and the cold, we descended via the lift and headed for dinner.

We reached Red Elephant restaurant for dinner at 7:30pm. Food was good and there was icecream too. 

Post lunch we reached hotel Radisson Blu at 8:15pm. Even here the Christmas theme was applied, we gave our passports to Mohammed. Not sure why, we had to wait till 9pm to get our room keys. My room no was 528.

I penned down all the points for last two days, prepared for the next day and was about to doze off. I went to the washroom at 11pm and then there was some issue with the flush. The water flow did not stop. Water wastage is not good. I called the reception but no one answered. Then I called Mahendra as well and then went to the reception to report the issue. The plumber came in at 11:30pm and he fixed the issue. Finally I slept at midnight.

Read next: Around Africa: Part Four