So... the day starts off pretty awfully. The train ride was abysmal. I hardly got any sleep. And then we were at the train station in Cairo at 5:30 am. Eew...
So we get to our hotel and thankfully we were allowed to sleep for a few hours. I get up, go to breakfast and hop onto the bus to go to the Coptic area of Cairo. They were neat to look at. There were a few places that all claimed to be the place where Christ and his family stayed when they fled to Egypt. In the same area we also went to a synagogue that was fairly neat as well.
After that we went to the Egyptian Museum. AAH!!! It was SO cool!!!! But I couldn't take pictures. :( And we weren't in there NEARLY long enough. But I got to see the Narmer Palette, the Merneptah Stele, famous depictions of Akenaten, King Tut's treasures, a copy of the Rosetta Stone and the mummies of King Ramesses II, Thutmosis II, Thutmosis III and Hatshepsut. It was so neat to be able to see these famous things that I have learned about. But alas, we could not stay but a few hours. It was still worth it. And it was definitely one of the highlights of my trip. :D
After that we dove to the Khan al-Khalili Bazaar. It is the largest bazaar in Cairo. It was ENORMOUS. There were so many different shops and things to buy and places to see and just it was sensory overload.
I ended up getting a soccer jersey and that was interesting. He tried to get me to buy it for 280 Egyptian pounds and I was like heck no! I had gotten two in Luxor for 70! It was the exact same shirt too! So I talked him down and that was fun. After that we went back to the hotel and relaxed and passed out early.
Day Seven: the Citadel: Muhammad Ali-and Sulmaniyya Mosques, crossing the Sinai, Morganland near St. Catherines
So we were allowed to sleep in to make up for our lack of sleep the night before and that was greatly appreciated. After that we packed up the bus and headed to the Citadel before leaving Cairo. While there we got to explore the Muhammad Ali mosque and the Sulmaniyya mosque. They were so beautiful. They are some of the most famous mosques in the world, let alone just Cairo. Which by the way has thousands of mosques. It was some of the most in any one city.
After visiting the Citadel, we headed back across the Sinai. We travelled south along the Suez channel and ended up at Morganland, a hotel near St. Catherine's Monastery at the base of Mount Sinai.
For in the morning we would ascend upon Sinai!
Day Eight: Mt. Sinai, Kibbutz for dinner, back to Jerusalem
So... we got up at 2 am to climb Mt. Sinai so that we could have a sunrise service. I rode a camel up because I knew coming down would mean climbing, and my stupid knee could only handle one of those activities. Well, let's just say that I now hate camel rides. It was TERRIFYING riding a camel, that kept going off the trail, in the dark, going up a mountain with sheer sides. Eep. I was happy to be at the top and just relax.
After that we went to a side level of the mountain and we split into our classes and had a devotional. It was neat to be able to read the scriptures about the events that had happened at Mt. Sinai. It was very spiritual.
After that we hiked down to St. Catherine's Monastery. There are 3,000 steps from 2/3 of the way up Sinai all the way down to St. Catherine's. By the end of it my legs were shaking visibly. But it made me feel better to see that everyones legs were shaking as well.
St. Catherine's was neat to see. It was a very pretty monastery and it had the "burning bush" from Moses. Riiiight. The more "authentic" artifacts I see, the less I tend to believe them.
So after that, we came back, ate lunch and drove back to Israel. The border crossing took a while but then we got through and continued on our way.
We had dinner at a Kibbutz and it was so good! We could eat veggies again!!! Yaay!! And we got Gelato. So it was fantastic. I had Bueno Bar Gelato. It's this wonderful chocolate that they have here that's a German brand that makes this hazelnut creme filled chocolate wafer bars. They are very tasty. :)
After the kibbutz, we drove back to Jerusalem. It was nice to pull around the hill and see the city again. It felt like we were coming home. Jerusalem is fantastic and it's nice to have a place that is familiar in this land that is 6,441 miles from my love and home.
Egypt was fantastic, but I'm glad to be back in Jerusalem. I cannot wait until Galilee and Jordan!
No comments:
Post a Comment