Egypt and the Pharaohs... Hurghada

departure

I leave from Milan's Malpensa airport on a torrid July afternoon with the Egyptian flag carrier, Egyptair….. Egyptian hostesses obviously and decent food….. the flight lasts more than 4 hours, we leave late and arrive in Hurghada (towards the centre-south of Egypt, on the east coast, Red Sea) in the evening. Hurghada is an Egyptian city and a renowned tourist destination on the Red Sea. The city was founded at the beginning of the 20th century, and until the eighties it was enlarged several times by American, European and Arab investors. Holiday villages and first-class hotels were built to encourage tourism in the area. Hurghada stretches for about 40 km along the coast, never going too far inland into the desert.

The resort is a destination of holiday packages offered by European travel agencies, in particular Russian, Czech and German ones, but until a few years ago it was still a simple fishing village. Today, however, it has almost 40,000 inhabitants and is divided into three main areas: Downtown (El Dahar) is the oldest part, Sekalla is more modern, and El Korra Road is the most recently developed. Sakkala consists of some mid-range hotels; in Dahar there are the bazaar, the post office and the bus station. The city is served by Hurghada International Airport, with air traffic from Cairo and all over Europe. Hurghada has become an international centre for water sports such as windsurfing, sailing, deep-sea fishing, swimming and, above all, snorkelling and scuba diving.

The lush seabed is one of the most beautiful in the world, well known among divers, ideal for the activity thanks to the mild water temperatures and its clarity. They open the aircraft door to let the passengers out and… a strong wind of scorching air hits us full in the chest….. it's so hot!!! I get off, thrilled and curious in every cell of my body….. I'm in the land of the pharaohs and of the world's most talked-about tombs, I'm in Egypt!!! In a minibus, after passing the strict airport checks, they take us to the fantastic 5-star resort… the Desert Rose Resort, unique and inimitable. We arrive and immediately they offer us something to eat even though it's eleven at night….. they're warm and friendly, they take us to our room and I start examining my room. Cosy, in shades of white, blue, light blue, gold…….

comfortable bed and very heavy curtains at the window; the sun rises around 4 in the morning…… time zone 1 hour ahead of Italy. Very spacious bathroom, everything available, fluffy and enormous bath towels, shower gel, comb, shoe polish, shampoo, soft and scented monogrammed towels…. In the room the air conditioning is very high; I turn it down to avoid headaches and ailments resulting from excessive use of air conditioning, which, to be honest, is indispensable down there given the torrid heat but… it's dry and breezy so you survive!! In the room there's a sitting area with armchairs and a small table, an envelope with some information documents inside, the map of the resort, brochures, satisfaction questionnaires etc…… The room is truly luxurious….. at the resort I have full board and the following morning I have a meeting with the local staff for some information.

I go to bed at an outrageous hour, I'm so excited…..

first day like pharaohs

The first real day, all to be lived, in Egypt…… continental breakfast in the large restaurant hall with colourful wooden tables, friendly waiters and big windows to let the sun into the room. You breathe in the smell of lunch mixed with spices mixed with…. camel….. the restaurant has a strange smell, it's typical. After breakfast I set off to collect my beach towel, which they provide to all tourists; Egyptians are truly helpful and are witty and kind people; tourists are treated like pharaohs and the resort at first glance is superb!! I do an inspection among the carefully tended, verdant flowerbeds, the thousand little paths of the resort that lead everywhere, the night lamps at the side of the paths shaped like desert roses….. it's a 5-star resort but I'm left open-mouthed.

The restaurant stands imposingly with several halls and sphinxes in front of the entrance, a games room and an arena for shows, 3 saltwater pools and a myriad of sun loungers and umbrellas. An Olympic pool, a sandy beach and a bay all to ourselves guests of the resort; on the beach there are umbrellas and sun loungers, the Egyptian sun is deadly…. Everything is in keeping. Soft colours, wood, lots of white and lots of green. Palm trees, few tourists, tennis courts, a wellness centre, a shopping side with shops and workshops where you can find the best of souvenirs, postcards, knick-knacks, food, tobacco etc….. Meeting with the local tour operator's assistant and I immediately decide to book a few excursions; I don't want to rot in a resort with so many beautiful things to see out there! Excursion to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings with a crossing of the Nile and a papyrus factory…..

and a dinner in one of the best restaurants in Hurghada, fish-based…… The warnings from the very kind assistant are the usual ones… bouts of colitis, watch out for the food, watch out for the sun, drink plenty, if you need anything contact him or the reception…. The reception is a sumptuous space furnished in a typically Arab-Egyptian way. Bright colours, heavy drapes, carpets and vases, elegant furniture, dazzling lights, golden decorative objects, wrought-iron tables, a small bar to the side and bulletin boards with various information. The counter has an elegant marble top; no one speaks Italian, I get by with English…. TV and Arab music, scent of spices in the air…. how beautiful Egypt is! I spend two hours on the beach and along the seafront photographing the natural beauties, between the coral reef (very famous) and the very strong wind; I scramble over the rocks and on the beach….

the bay is artificial and the sea has small lilac jellyfish. Passing through a children's play area I go back to the restaurant and, between appetisers, first courses, pizzas, meat and fish main courses, vegetables, snacks and desserts, I delight myself at that pharaonic buffet. There's everything and the desserts are truly a gift from God (or from the chef)…. everything delicious and air conditioning that knocks you out! I spend the afternoon between the pools, with a tremendous sun, and the tranquillity and relaxation of the place. Before evening I take a walk to the resort entrance; the laundry and some spartan buildings are hidden on one side of the resort and the entrance is truly grand…. Dinner is very rich and the atmosphere is good, were it not for the wind and the tiredness….

in the arena they put on shows for adults and children and I go and get carried away by traditional dances, music and ballets with special effects, games for children and karaoke.

a stroll downtown...

After a whole morning in the pool between swims and sunbathing, after lunch I do the crazy thing of leaving the resort and in the early afternoon (around 3:00 pm) I venture into Hurghada to see what's outside the "safe bubble" and, apart from a very first tourist area made up of huge luxurious hotels, public venues like restaurants and pizzerias, a few shops and a few collective taxis on the street….. I end up in a desert area!! Only sand on one side…and on the other…. the sun at its zenith; I reach a small lively centre and, between a couple of workshops and a square with a few survivors taking shelter from the sun, busy smoking the famous Shishà (the hookah, which for them is a true cult), I go into a shop (supermarket), dirty and disorganised; I buy a few bottled drinks; many items are expired and close to going bad…. a carton of Marlboro (9 euros) and a few postcards…..

I go out and return to the resort. It's hot but I don't notice the sunburn on my décolleté. Back at the resort I go to my room and then spend the last hours before dinner in the pool and taking photographs. That outing was useful to see how life goes on outside the tourist resort, what the local inhabitants are like, and what lies beyond the luxury for tourists. That evening there's a celebration at dinner time; they celebrate the tourists with cakes decorated with the flags of their countries; a woman sitting on large cushions on the floor, at the restaurant entrance, makes some very special flatbreads stuffed with vegetables, delicious; outside they grill fish, a big pot of couscous; in short, everyone is celebrating and there's a cheerful atmosphere around.

After dinner I take a walk between the pools and the shops of the shopping area; there are two restaurants, one Mexican and one typical local; I venture into a super-luxury area where I find a jeweller's and a piano bar, a summer veranda, soft music and elegant people; I go into the second reception, the one for the suites, and I find myself catapulted into the luxury of marble, soft colours, silks, drapes and ample spaces, a hanging chandelier and elegant vases, a round sofa, light music, and up on the second floor some numbered doors: the suites… extremely elegant! Outside it's blazing hot and the pools are lit up; I reach the games room and go into the billiard room, pass by the open-air bar, the typical one where you sip strange drinks, smoke the hookah, sit on the floor on large cushions, and the typical music is that of the belly dancers. I stop and join the party.

I decide to go to bed, passing under the portico guarded by kind sentinels; the next day we're going to Luxor, I'm electrified.

Luxor & Co.

It's hard to explain the excursion to you… it's all imprinted in my mind, the joy, the wonder, the charm and the happiness….. curiosity, admiration, tiredness and emotion. We leave very early by bus with Italian-speaking escorts; there are many of us and we arrive in the area where you pick up the armed escorts to go around. (After some attacks on tourists, the Egyptian state has taken more than adequate security measures and every tourist convoy must compulsorily have an armed escort during excursions; tourists are subjected to very thorough checks at the airport, and much more…..) Once we've picked up the escort we set off for the Valley of the Kings…. Hussain is our guide and our Egyptologist, omniscient, incredibly likeable, talkative and brilliant…..

We first arrive at the Colossi of Memnon and behind them the valley…… beautiful! In front of the colossi I felt small, insignificant and terribly young….. the photos and information were endless, I was petrified and kept looking around, so many people, and in the background the rocky, cream-coloured hills of the Valley of the Kings. Back on the bus I listened to all the explanations of the Egyptologist, who was like a river in flood: interesting narratives, history, art, mythology and legends…. fascinating!! We finally arrived in the valley, famous and beautiful in its simplicity: the Valley of the Kings. Midday, torrid heat, the air shimmered with the heat exhaled by the ground, a rocky and dusty area, hills hiding within them the famous royal tombs of pharaohs and important figures. A road wound between the tombs, information signs, few tourists and about 50 degrees in the sun.

We went into the tomb of 2 pharaohs to appreciate their secrets, the hieroglyphs, the preservation of the funerary paintings; Hussain's explanations were more than exhaustive on every characteristic and everything preserved in the tombs. The air inside was heavy and laden with humidity, a walkway along the tomb, and the chance to admire things from 4000/5000 years ago; the emotion was sky-high. Royal treasures, sepulchres, colours, paintings, sarcophagi and stones; the atmosphere was tangibly tense with interest and emotion. The name Valley of the Kings is used to indicate a geographical area of Egypt, located near ancient Thebes, today's Luxor, whose access is less than 3 km from the west bank of the Nile, of significant archaeological importance.

For a period of almost 500 years, from the 18th to the 20th dynasty, it was chosen as the burial place of the rulers of ancient Egypt, those who, starting precisely from the 18th dynasty, would take their name from Per-Aa, that is, the "Great House", from which comes our term Pharaohs. The valley is known in Arabic as Biban el-Moluk, that is, the valley of the "gates of the kings", and in its tombs - to date 63 have been found - only the rulers of the country are buried, while another nearby area, the so-called Valley of the Queens, was destined for royal consorts and princes. I would have liked to visit other tombs, funerary goods and crypts in Hussain's company, but many were not accessible to tourists; when we left the Valley I felt as though I had been filled with an enormous cultural baggage, lucky, and I felt I was leaving an important and mystical place.

From here we crossed the Nile by tourist boats to the other bank…. to then go and have lunch in a nice restaurant in the tourist area…. After lunch on the banks of the great god Nile, we headed to the sumptuous and magnificent temple of Karnak, a temple near Luxor, beautiful and visitable, full of fascinating historical riches, where Hussain illustrated to us the history and legends of every single room, stone and wall inscription. It was here that I could relive the times and stories of ancient pharaohs and inhabitants of Egypt, within the walls of the temple and with plenty of imagination. The Egyptian temples are the main attraction of el-Karnak to the point that, commonly, the name "Karnak" is generally associated more with the archaeological site than with the village. It was a breathtaking visit, between the heat of the early afternoon and the number of tourists present.

Leaving the temple, the avenue of the rams was spectacular, and from there they loaded us onto horse-drawn carriages bound for a small papyrus factory in the slums of the city of Luxor, among rubble and poverty, a basement packed with papyri drawn and painted with images, writing, hieroglyphs and much more…. I inevitably did some shopping!! The term papyrus indicates an archaic form of writing support obtained from the plant of the same name, Cyperus papyrus, a marsh reed that grows to a height of 5 metres, very abundant and still present in the Nile delta but also in Sicily, where there is plenty of water which, with the hot air temperature, aids the growth of the plant.

The first records of the use of papyrus date back to the first dynasty of ancient Egypt, where it was the symbol of Lower Egypt, but the material spread rapidly throughout the Mediterranean basin, in some regions of continental Europe and in the Middle East. The drawings were many and fascinating, bright colours and beautiful idioms surfaced on papyri of various sizes; in the gallery the prices were truly negligible and you could admire the working of papyrus right up to obtaining sheets on which to paint. Bookmarks, calendars, paintings…. everyone made purchases and we set off for the alabaster factory, immersed among countryside and rocky hills; masters and apprentices worked in a sort of dusty quarry, a room dedicated to the sale of statues, necklaces and alabaster jewellery. There they offered camels for me….

blonde with green eyes… I appreciated it and joked with some of the staff selling and working the stone. Here too I bought some very unusual things that I still keep on the little shelf dedicated to travel trinkets. Ecstatic about the outing, the information learned and the infinite riches of Egypt, I got back on the bus bound for Hurghada. We arrived in the evening, very late, and I was fully satisfied…

Desert Rose

In the morning I slept in late since the day before had worn me out, and I skipped breakfast. In the afternoon I visited the beach and the coral reef in the sea again. The day was flat; still full of the emotions of the excursion, I spent the day between the pools and my room. Unfortunately I had some trouble due to the typical bouts of colitis, but I was well stocked with medicines and knew how to handle it. In the evening I treated myself to a light dinner and spent what remained of the evening in the resort's typical Egyptian bar, between flavoured Shisha, traditional drinks and belly dancers.

the last true full day

It was the last real, full day in the land of the pharaohs and I spent it enjoying myself in the sun and in the pool. I bought souvenirs for friends and relatives, until six in the evening when I went to get ready for dinner in Hurghada, booked as an excursion. They came to pick us up around 7:30 pm with a private taxi and took us to the edge of the town. We passed through the lively centre of the city where tourists, locals, venues, music, lights and parties mingled in the streets. We arrived at Felfela Restaurant, a luxury chain restaurant, typical Egyptian cuisine, set on a breathtaking cliff, with a seafront terrace and the whole coast lit up at night in a breathtaking way, distinctive in its interiors and welcoming; inside it had large rustic halls with a big wall serving as a waterfall, and a channel ran carrying water along the whole restaurant.

The outdoor area had a wooden structure, soft lights and a balcony sheer above the sea. We ate fish and typical local dishes, all excellently cooked by the chef. I made friends with other people who had joined the dinner; we were accompanied by an assistant from the tour operator who translated from Arabic into Italian what the waiters said. We got back late, after midnight; it was a pleasant evening and I also got to see the centre of Hurghada; we returned and I knew I had inexorably finished my Egyptian holiday, which had given me strong emotions and great discoveries.

the return

At midday the bus would take us to the airport; I spent the morning packing my suitcase and thinking back on the fantastic places I had been to. I left the room, looking at it one last time, and at reception they came to pick us up a little late. Hurghada airport is tiny and cute; there, while waiting, I met a wealthy elderly couple returning to Milan after a 2-week "holiday" in Egypt; he was Egyptian, she Italian…. I left sad and returned to Italy with all my memories and emotions, the souvenirs and the photos…. even today I tell anyone about my experience with emphasis, and I hope one day to return to Egypt to see what I couldn't see in 2004: the beautiful pyramids of Giza!!