Travel - Pharaohs and falafel…

In the hustle and bustle of our tech-savvy modern lives, where images of spectacular sights can viewed with the click of a mouse, it’s all too easy to underrate the experience of seeing something truly magnificent in person; of slowly soaking it all in: the history, the grandeur, the significance.

When I recently stood before the Great Pyramid of Giza, the sole remaining Wonder of the Ancient World, I realised no amount of facts, figures or photos could ever truly do it justice. With eyes squinting in the midwinter sun, I gazed upwards at the eroded peak of the tomb of Khufu (Cheops), soaring 139m into the sky. Think the Majestic Centre plus another six floors, with the bottom of each side the distance from Te Papa to Courtenay Place. Built 4,500 years ago with ancient techniques but amazing precision, it is truly breathtaking and worth travelling half the world to see.

Two other massive pyramids rest nearby (one just a shade smaller), as does the massive human-headed, lion-bodied Sphinx. Experiencing the real-life grandeur of such iconic sights, my annoyance at bustling crowds and pestering hawkers melts away. As does the surreal fact that such history is located alongside the crumbling outskirts of the largest city in the Arab world.

Cairo is a sprawling megalopolis that assaults the senses. Packing four times the population of New Zealand into an area half the size of Auckland, the city’s rampant contradictions create many ‘Cairos’. The one(s) you experience depend on where you look. Luxury hotels and cruise ships line the Nile. Smog-clogged streets are crammed with donkey-drawn carts and horn-crazy motorists. Thousands of ancient treasures are housed in the world-famous Egyptian Museum, including the solid gold mask of Tutankhamun. Mosques and churches speckle the city, highlighting other aspects of its rich history, while unfinished slums underline its modern-day mix.

But just like Auckland isn’t New Zealand, Cairo is in no way Egypt. The southern city of Aswan combines a relaxed pace and pleasant (smog-free) climate, with status as a gateway to impressive sights. Just down the road is the gargantuan Aswan High Dam, which created a manmade reservoir 10 times the size of Lake Taupo to help power the country. The beautiful ruins of the nearby Temple of Philae, an island sanctuary to the goddess Isis that mixes Romanesque pillars with deeply-etched hieroglyphics, were relocated block-by-block to higher ground to escape the rising waters.

A few hours’ drive down the reservoir, we see the results of an even bigger reclamation project: Abu Simbel. Standing before four colossal statues of Ramses II that guard a temple cut right into the rocky mountainside, it’s staggering to think that these 3,000-year-old monuments were relocated in their entirety in the 1960s – a remarkable feat of engineering bringing them well above the waterline.

Entering, I can’t help but think all the effort was well worth it; beautifully intricate hieroglyphics cover walls, doorways and columns, depicting everything from battles to offerings to the gods (including the Pharaoh himself). As we ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’, our guide whispers that as beautiful as the temples remain, we should remember that they have suffered three millennia of vandalism, grave-robbing and weather damage.

In my mind, I try to envisage some Cairo Museum treasures placed throughout; the hieroglyphics vivid with colour. Even drained of hue and treasure, such temples remain spectacular – I wonder how ostentatious and stunning they must have originally been.

Some answers can be found north up the Nile, near Luxor. A great way to travel there is by river cruise – either a modern luxury liner or traditional felucca sailboat. The latter is not only more authentic, but far more comfortable than I imagined. Feluccas are basically half mattress, with an area at the back where our Nubian crew slept and cooked us simple but delicious meals such as lamb kofta and falafel. It’s a superb way to spend a couple of days, watching the lush riverside world drift by.

Near Luxor is the world-famous Valley of the Kings. Seemingly a barren wasteland, dozens of vibrant royal tombs lie beneath its sun-scorched surface. From 1600 BC, Pharaohs sought to defeat grave robbers with crypts deep within the earth. The underground tombs, and the fact some were covered up or well-protected for centuries, means modern-day tourists can still see plenty of colourful decorations on the walls. The vividness of the ancient dyes is truly astonishing, and brings hieroglyphics even more to life.

In hindsight, I would have travelled to Luxor to see the vibrant passageways and murals of Ramses III’s tomb alone, but there is so much more to experience in both the Valley of the Kings and the wider area of Luxor: the Temple of Hatshepsut, the powerful Pharaoh Queen, with its altar to the jackal-headed god Anubis; the colossal Karnak Temple with its 120-hectare complex of sanctuaries, sculptures and obelisks; and the downtown Luxor Temple, built in parts by several Pharoahs and Alexander the Great, bathed in golden light each night. Add in bustling markets and delicious food and you’ve got a travel destination worth savouring.

In the end, Egypt may house the only remaining Wonder of the Ancient World, but it is the country as a whole that is truly breathtaking, and well worth travelling half the world to see.