Art Treasures of the Louvre

What a treasure trove, bewilderingly huge, I took a tour of the highlights then wandered off to the little visited apartments of Napoleon. I love this picture of the rabble trying to get a snap of the Mona Lisa, you want to cover her up and give her a bit of a respite. What intrigues me is im sure none of these people could tell you why its famous, it just is - its as famous as can be in the art world and therefore we are drawn to it, we have to see it, to be near it, to say we have seen it, and to show other people we have seen it, but it no longer has anything to do with the painting itself as an artistic endevour

Sinai

Nat and I were saying earlier that Egypts one country were not sorry weve left - even though theres amazing stuff to see there that I wouldnt have missed for the world, the hassle and various methods of trying to make a fast buck combined with the heat and dirt wear you down after a while.


We spent the last couple of days in the Sinai peninsula. Nat and I opted not to climb Mount Sinai itself, no regrets there. St Catherines Monastary, however, really was worthwhile. 1700 odd years of continuous useage and a charter from Mohammed himself protecting it, presumably because the pilgrimage sites are sacred to Muslims as well as Christians. The Burning bush is still alive if not burning within its grounds, apparently its the only one of its species anywhere in the world. There were hoardes of tourists at first but they did trickle away leaving it a bit quieter. The museum contained icons and bibles dating right back to 6th and 7th Centuries. Again despite not holding strong religious beliefs myself you cant help but be moved by such a long period of devotion and feel the aura of the place. Where does fact and fantasy diverge though - do they really still beleive that St Catherines body was brought to Mt Sinai by angels after her martyrdom in Alexandria. Surely its more than possible she was taken there by someone but not on flights of angels wings. It made an intreresting contrast to muslim Egypt and the level of devotion to Islam shown by everyone. Its hard to comprehend as an outsider to both faiths and raises questions of how much upbringing and indoctrination by the state influences your belief sytems. Im actually very curious now traveling through this region to find out the actual facts of what is documented historical fact about the events relating to both Jesus and Moses'lives - which actually seems easier said than done, as if you google just Jesus Facts, at least the first 2 pages are still religious sites with their own spin. Im sure with more perseverence ill find some good info.

We drove through some dramatic mountainous scenery, we also spent a night at a basic but relaxing beach camp by the Red sea where I spent half the night sleeping under the stars and full moon to catch a bit of breeze. Im struggling quite a bit with the heat. I can just about manage if I can escape into some air con, but if dodgy air con or none I really struggle.



We have now taken the ferry across to Jordan - i did have a small panic, switching between being British to Australian in order to be in Jordan using the passport which has my Syrian visa in but so far so good, hopefuly they let me into Syria ok! Dont fancy being left behind when they dont understand someone with dual nationalities. Jordan allready seems really nice - i think Aquaba might be a little bit of a special case but so far its very relaxed and friendly.

Wadi Rum tomorrow and then Petra, Hurrah!

Cairo-a-go-go

I have been in Cairo since the 25th now, together with the day or so at the start of the trip I am more than ready to move on. What an overwhelming city, hot and caked in dust, noisy and with no real centre, home to over 20 million people. Everything seems an effort and you need your wits about you to fend off people trying to rip you off or get somne backsheesh for doing nothing in particular. Apparently during Ramadan you are unlikely to have something flat out stolen from you but that wont stop them coercing you into giving it to them willingly. I must say Egypt in general has been hot and hard work with v few attractive towns. Luckily theres a whole lot of amazing historical sites to keep things interesting.

The last 3 days were also helped nicely along by a 5 star luxury splurge at the Marriott where my good friend Natasha joined me. I wish we could take those beds and pillows with us on our journey onwards from here through Jordan Syria and Turkey. We are both fans of the siesta!. Did some late night pool time there too.

Although hard and covering quite a large time frame with a fair bit of money spent, we have now more or less covered the interesting sights of Cairo. I took Nat back out to the pyramids. This time walking around the base of the great pyramid, last time i did the second one with Symon. The real highlight was the Solar Boat that they discovered in 1954 and hauled out in pieces, reconstructed and built a museum around. Truly amazing, it was HUGE and well....so ...boat like, for something that was 4000 years old and popped next to the pyramid for Cheops to use in the afterlife. Just perfectly preserved - i suppose we see a fair ammount of statues but not too much wood, so that made it unusual. We went on to Coptic Cairo, a strange little outcrop of orthodox christain churches pre dating the Islamic period and with their own beardy iotollah like Pope. Today we managed to get to the Citadel, again pretty imnpressive - we managed to eat a rip off lunch and by the end of it the sights had pretty much all closed but nevermind. Oh and also on the last day the previous group were together we visited the Al Azhar mosque which was quite incredible - of course some backsheesh was required but worth it

heres the pics..

Temple Mania

Back in Cairo now and ensconced in the Marriott for a touch of luxury after a very 3 star week, Natasha arriving this afternoon ready for our journey Eastwards towards Jordan and up through Syria to Turkey and Istanbul. Symon has apparently arrived safely in Berlin and currently perousing museum island and the Nefertiti head where i was 10 days or so ago.

Whilst i think some of our group got bit templed out over the last week, Symon and I could not get enough, We even managed to squeeze in an extra curricular visit to Medinet Habu on the West bank in Luxor close to the Valley of the Kings. This was our favourite temple when we visited Luxor over 10years ago and still doest not fail to impress. Strangely untouched and seldom visited as if the Egyptians purposely want to keep it a secret, a stones throw from sights that receive daily hoards, Medinet is a large complex of colonnaded courtyards and still retains vivid colours on many of its reliefs. Other favourtes over the last few days were the Greco-Roman Kom Obo and Edfu temples, the latter still retaining its ceiling and with spooky chambers to explore. I almost expected to be able to push one of the hieroglyphics to make a wall slide open and be admitted to a secret passageway. Karnak temple in Luxor, whilst making an impression for its vastness and its clear supremacy for thousands of years as the seat of spiritual power in Egypt, for me on the most part lacks something. That said, I could sit in its forest-like maze of columns in the hypostyle hall contemplating those that had scurried about in there in previous millennia for ages.

Photographically these were a treat, interesting shadows, crumbling walls, deep cut hieroglyphics, ancient colours still visible. I got a little creative with photoshop with some of these, playing with hue and saturation to keep things interesting with so many of them begining to look similar.

Egypt

I've now been in Egypt for 4 or 5 days. Its been quite hard work with temps over 40, a very dodgy Cairo hotel and some long travel journeys, plus a touch of Pharoahs revenge yesterday. Limited internet access too, but uploading pics as we speak from comfort of the deck of a Nile Riverboat, with a dongle attached. Slow but novel!. Feeling chilled and looking forward to a relaxing few days now Ive made it here as wont be needing to unpack and as were the only group on the boat we have all scored our own rooms. Met up with Symon in Cairo and whilst great to be seeing Egypt again together after more than 10 years, the heat and unfamiliarity have caused one or two cranky moments, I think we're settling in now though. Its a great group too.

So far weve been to the Pyramids, seen the Tutankhamun stuff in the museum (more than happy to do those again next week with Nat), we took a night train down to Aswan where we took a boat over to the Temple of Isis at Philae, and this morning a very early drive through the desert to Abu Simbel. All incredible. Such a unique destination for perfectly preserved history.

Heres some photos showing from the Pyramids up to Abu Simbel. Another set to follow once i get better internet, since these ones W'eve been cruising down the Nile at a leisurely pace and visited Kom Obo and Edfu temples which I loved.

An Abundance of Riches

Today was heavy on the feet but easy on the eye. First I went out to Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin's Versailles..of sorts. A relative of the first of the Hanoverian English Kings - George I (yes..when we ran out of English heirs and had to go to Germany for the next one), Queen Sophie Charlotte created a beautiful palace here. Then a couple of buses to the East side and the fabulous Museum Island. A lot of these museums were badly damaged during the war, and quite a bit of the treasures have only managed to find their way back from the former Soviet Union in recent years. The Egyptian museum contains the world Famous Nefertiti bust (unfortunately no photographs in that room) and the Pergamon museum contains the reconstructed Pergamon Altar from Ancient Greece, A Roman gateway and the incredible blue faence tiled processional way from Ancient Babylon. Theres also a museum of Islamic art there, amongst a whole load of other stuff I didnt have time for. All of these places have excellent and informative audio guides. Really incredible stuff.