Crete

We rode an overnight ferry to Crete on Tuesday night. I hate to say that my experience on Crete is tainted by this ferry ride and my first day here, but I think it is. I got terribly sick, probably from the motion of the ferry, and I spent the entire next day sleeping in the hotel. I could not remember feeling that weak or miserable, and I slept for twenty hours Wednesday and Wednesday night. While I was sick, the group visited Vathypetro, Arkhanes, and Anemospilia. Thankfully the recovery was relatively fast.

I joined the group on Thursday, and I participated in everything except for a short hike during the day and dinner that night. We visited Knossos and the Herakleion Museum. Knossos is the site of a Minoan Bronze Age palace, and it is the only palace that survived the great destruction on Crete in the Late Minoan IB period (LMIB). The palace was discovered and excavated by Sir Arthur Evans during the early twentieth century. He used much of the evidence to do reconstruction and restoration to the palace. These restorations have been controversial because they involve changes to the excavation site which rely on incomplete evidence and Evans’ use of biases and personal interpretations. However, the restorations do allow a visitor to better imagine what the palace looked like. The Herakleion Museum was somewhat of a disappointment since it is currently undergoing renovation. Most of its artifacts were not on display, but we were still able to see some great pieces.

On Friday, we visited Phaistos, Ayia Triadha and Gortyn. This was a cold and very rainy day, so we did not spend as much time as we hoped to at each site. Spiros had actually predicted that it would rain Thursday, so we switched the Thursday and Friday schedules. But then it rained on Friday and not Thursday. Oh well. Phaistos is the site of a Minoan palace that was destroyed in the LMIB period. We also stopped at Ayia Triadha, but the site was closed so we were not able to explore it. Then we stopped at Gortyn and saw the inscription of the Law Code of Gortyn, which we read. The Law Code discusses family matters such as marriage, divorce, adoption, and the handling of property. It is a long list of laws that begins with the invocation “Gods!”

We spent Saturday, Sunday, and Monday nights in Siteia. Compared to Herakleion, Siteia seemed like a sleepy, dead town. The town is actually much bigger and nicer than we first thought, but it still did not compare to Herakleion. On Sunday night, the group enjoyed a dinner together in celebration of Reed’s birthday. The food was delicious, and it just kept appearing on the table. We had all sorts of traditional Grecian food, and I am learning to like feta cheese! Monday was a free day for studying for our four tests on Tuesday. Matt and I tried to have a quick lunch by walking to a bakery that we had been to on our first day. However, neither of us have senses of direction, and we seemed to go everywhere in Siteia in search of this bakery. We never found it and had to find our way back to the hotel by following the shoreline. We then had gyros at a place next to the hotel. It was a long and very good walk, but definitely not anticipated.
On Saturday, we drove to Malia and Gournia, the sites of two more palaces. Malia was closed, but we did explore Gournia. Then on Sunday, we visited the Siteia Museum and the palace at Zakros.

Overall, visiting Crete was a wonderful experience, as I’m sure every visit on this trip will be. There were some unexpected obstacles such as sickness (for me and others), weather, and sites being closed. However, I would return to Crete anytime just to drive along the coast and see the landscape. We drove through mountains on narrow, circuitous roads, and the views of the water, mountains and countryside were breathtaking. The historical aspect of our tour was challenging because so little is known about Minoan Bronze Age civilization. Most of what we and any archaeologist or historian can do on the subject is speculate. But this requires us to think, and that is why we are on this trip.

Half Day in Greece

On Tuesday, January 20th, we left Egypt on a flight from Cairo to Athens. Spiros, our bus driver who will be with us for most of the trip, met us at the airport. Spiros also drove the Classics group that Dr. Krentz led in 2005. We are in a double-decker bus with tables on the first level and a great view on the top.

After arriving in Athens, we drove to Thorakos, the site of an ancient Greek theater. It is not a well-known or particularly important site, and it was completely open to visitors. The area was stunning. The theater is under a hill, and we decided to climb to the top. There was no path up the hill, so we had to climb over stones and make our own paths. Once we made it to the top, the view was spectacular. We could see civilization, countryside, and water for miles, and it was breathtaking. (Though maybe I am biased – my breath had also been taken by the exertion of the hike). ☺ Though the sites we saw in Egypt were beautiful, I could tell right away that Greece is more beautiful and spectacular compared to the Egyptian desert.

We also visited the Temple of Poseidon and the dismantled Temple of Athena. They were each on hills overlooking the Aegean Sea, and again the view was beautiful. The Temple of Athena is completely dismantled and only contains stone formations. Dr. Krentz had us explore the site and try to formulate a plan of how the temple was constructed. This was interesting but also challenging since evidence was lacking and we had only just seen our first Greek temple – the Temple of Poseidon.

Cairo

On Sunday, January 18th, we spent our first full day in Cairo. We saw the Pyramids and the great Sphinx, and we visited the Cairo Museum. We climbed the great pyramid, and that was a life-changing experience. We climbed stairs up a tiny portion of the outside and then entered a small corridor to go into the pyramid. Then there was a long hike to the top. Parts of the climb were easier than others, but all of it was through narrow passageways. This is a claustrophobic person’s nightmare! For much of the climb we were bent over walking because the ceiling was so low and the hike steep. The taller a person, the harder the climb because of how low the ceiling gets. You also go along the same path up and down the pyramid, yet there is barely room for two people to stand side by side, so letting others by slowed down the process of reaching the top or bottom. At the top of the pyramid was a small, very hot, and echoing chamber. In it was a large (empty) tomb in which the pharaoh was buried.



As I was climbing the pyramid, I knew that in the unlikely event that this structure suddenly gave way or if someone had a heart attack, then there would be little to no hope for their survival. However, I realized that these fears were unreasonable and should not stop anyone of good health from climbing up. Climbing the great pyramid was an eye-opening experience that, in that moment, allowed me to live life to the fullest. It was exhilarating and wonderful.

Our visit of the Cairo Museum was also very interesting. The museum is built like a Western building, so it didn’t seem to fit in Cairo as it would have in Western Europe. The museum is massive, and it would take days or weeks to see everything. However, many members of the group were disappointed in the museum since so many artifacts were not labeled. I would have loved to learn the historical significance of everything that was there, but we mostly could only look and wonder. One of the most fascinating exhibits, of course, was King Tut’s treasures. We saw his gold masks and the huge amount of stuff that was found in his tombs. The amount of treasure found is remarkable, especially since the area around his tomb is not very big. (Last week, we saw where he was buried at the Valley of the Kings). At King Tut’s burial spot was not only gold, jewelry and other valuable objects, but also everyday objects such as his sandals and underwear. Anything that was important to the king was saved. Our tour guide reminded us also that King Tut is so well-known precisely for the reason that he is not known. He lived to be a maximum of twenty-two years old, and he reigned for a short period. If his tomb contains all this treasure, then we can only imagine what some of the great pharaohs’ tombs, such as Rameses’, contained.

In Cairo, we stayed at a very nice hotel, the Marriott. It is a five star hotel, and is apparently the largest hotel in the Mideast. It has over one thousand rooms, a huge courtyard, many shops and restaurants, a casino, and more. The breakfasts were also remarkable. However, the unfortunate thing was that several peoples’ suitcases were broken when we arrived at the Marriott. We don’t know if this was the fault of the porters there or if it happened on our multiple bus rides or on the flight from Luxor to Cairo. My roommate at the Marriott, Sarabeth, had a broken suitcase. We had quite an experience taping her suitcase with yellow duct tape.

I have spent some time in New York and Chicago, whose streets and drivers are supposed to be terrible and frightening. However, those tame American cities are nothing compared to Cairo. Hesham told us multiple times that the driving rule in Cairo is that there is no rule. This is so true. There are some traffic lights, but when they turn red, the drivers do not stop. We even saw our bus driver run a red light. There are some police officers on the streets, and only with their presence do drivers seem to respect anyone else on the streets. Crosswalks also do not mean anything, and crossing the streets as a pedestrian in Cairo was crazy. Cars will not stop for you, and if you see an opening, you have to sprint across the street. I was amazed by how many cars also did not use their lights at night. Flashing lights were used as a menace, especially towards pedestrians. The sounding of horns is also constant. By spending time in Cairo I realized how flawed the system of beeping is, especially there. If everyone constantly sounds their horn, then there is no way to know what a beep means or who it comes from. It’s like the boy who cried wolf—every sounded horn means less and less. Finally, parking spaces also mean nothing. If someone wants to stop, it seems like they just their car and get out. If they block someone in a parallel spot next to them, no bother. Very strange.

Despite the surprise regarding the streets of Cairo, I had a wonderful time there. I loved exploring the streets (never alone) and eating Egyptian food in some of the street restaurants. Americans are so spoiled by the huge menus at restaurants. At most of the restaurants we saw, there were two options: chicken or meat (beef/pork). However, the food was delicious, if not greasy, and I am so thankful that I did not get sick from any of it. Also, some of my favorite restaurants in the States are what I call “hole-in-the-walls.” The food is cheap and good, and I love the relaxed atmosphere. However, I did not know until I visited Cairo what a true hole-in-the-wall is. Few street restaurants have tables, and they literally consist of a hole in the side of a building with a kitchen and a counter. Awesome.

Something else that was interesting about Cairo—
The city is expanding rapidly, and the population increasing. Many new apartment buildings are being built, yet they seem to never be finished. Almost all of them have pillars on the roofs to allow for further expansion.

Home - Aswan

We are on the cruise ship “Serenade” going up the Nile, which is going south since the Nile runs north. (“Upper Egypt” is southern Egypt and “Lower Egypt” northern. When our tour guide, Hesham, talks about this, he says that America and all those other countries work upside down.) We are spending four nights on the Serenade, traveling on it from Luxor to Aswan. In Luxor, we saw the Karnak Temple and the Luxor Temple. We also visited the Valley of the Queens and the Valley of the Kings, where King Tut’s tomb was found. We saw current excavations taking place there, and that was very interesting. There were many Egyptian men digging, chiseling, hammering, and carrying stone and debris. Most of them were wearing their traditional religious garb. I was surprised at how primitive the process of excavating is, but I suppose that it must be since only human hands can feel an artifact. We have also visited the Edfu Temple, Kom Ombo Temple, and Phile Temple. The Phile Temple, which we visited in Aswan, is on an island in the Nile. However, the island that we visited it on is not the island on which it was built. It was built on a different island and then, because of flooding, had to be dismantled, moved and reconstructed. The temple was moved from 1972-1980.

At the Valley of the Queens, I was particularly moved by seeing the skeleton of a six-month-old fetus in the tomb of Prince Amunherkhepeshef. The remains are well over three thousand years old, yet the skeleton appeared to be in excellent condition. On the feet, I could see the individual formations of every toe-bone. I came close to tears at this sight because it was an undeniable visible reminder that a fetus is a life.

In addition to basic accounts of what we are doing and seeing on the trip, I also plan to include in this blog random accounts of funny, interesting, and unexpected things that happen to us.
On the cruise ship, Mary and I had an adventure washing our jeans in the tiny sink and shower in our cabin. Somehow we both fit into the bathroom to do this, but we still aren’t sure how that worked. This will be the required method of washing clothes on this trip!

There is a little gift shop by the dining room on the boat, and the men who work there don’t seem to have had much business. They are very pushy with their products. Cartouches are the ancient Egyptian symbol for eternity or everlasting life, and they are inscribed all over the temples. The gift shop sells cartouche bracelets, and when we were waiting outside of the dining hall for lunch to start, one of the vendors was advertising the silver bracelet cartouches. He said that they are $25 dollars, or $20, “I don’t mind.” I found it amusing that the price, even on this cruise ship, was so flexible.

Egypt is a predominantly Muslim country, about 85% of the population being Muslim. The call to prayer is sounded through the cities five times a day, and all the Muslims must fall and pray. Though others in the group have, I have not yet seen anybody pull out a carpet to pray during these times. In the store selling the papyrus papers, one of the workers pulled out a carpet to pray when the call sounded, as he was working. Though I am not Muslim, I think there is a lot to learn from this devotion, if genuine, and from the constant practice of the presence of God.

We just got back from the street markets in Aswan. They were selling all sorts of things, and peddling is expected. The vendors chase after you, and you must learn to not make eye contact or stall. Even children run at you, and they are fearless. I would definitely describe these people as confrontational, but it’s not dangerous because there are so many people around. I only bought some needed shampoo, so I look forward to more market shopping in Cairo.