Less than 24 hours had passed since I arrived in Egypt, and I was already in complete awe of the historical scale of this incredible land. If you haven’t already, read about the first part of my Egyptian adventure here. After touring the Pyramids of Giza, the Great Sphinx, and the Pyramid Complex of Dsojer in Saqqara, my guide and I made our way to other sites. And although I had the day’s itinerary in hand, I could not have predicted what was to come.
Memphis Open-Air Museum
A short drive from our prior stop at Dsojer’s Complex in Saqqara, we arrived at the Memphis Open-Air Museum as the temperature crept up to 39°C (102°F). I was grateful for an ice-cold water from a small cooler in our driver’s car, gulping down most of it while viewing the first few sculptures in this museum.
It looked like a random collection of giant statues that were placed in this plot of land with little rhyme or reason. We strolled through a stone garden of ancient limestone statues in varying states of damage; giant, broken temple blocks; fragments of sphinxes that used to line temple roads; and cracked granite sarcophaguses. Memphis used to be the capital city of ancient Egypt. But as I walked through this field of fallen statues, it was difficult to picture its former glory.
This place was called a “museum,” but with extremely limited signage and minimal organization, it felt more like a field of ruins. The most powerful-looking statue I saw was one still standing: a medium-sized Ramses II statue. And at one end of the museum, horizontal and heavily damaged, lay the Colossus of Ramses II, the face still intact to stare at the gawking tourists circling above from the simple pavilion surrounding this statue.
The Egyptian Museum
The following day, our tour continued, starting off with the Egyptian Museum (not to be confused with the Grand Egyptian Museum). A pale coral facade, embedded with a statue-lined archway over an elegant, large wooden entrance door welcomed us. Once inside, I enjoyed the mild coolness from weakly blowing air conditioning as my guide took me around to see this 120-year-old museum’s highlights.
As an amateur linguist and a lover of all things language-related, I was thrilled to see a full-scale replica of the Rosetta Stone. Thanks to the trilingual decree written on the Rosetta Stone, we’re able to actually read Egyptian hieroglyphics. The Rosetta Stone is the reason that, on my trip, I could actually learn and understand what was written at all of these Egyptian sites.
Walking through the Egyptian museum felt chaotic, and the museum’s age was evident in outdated displays and dusty corners. We wove through hallways that were packed with tourists and historical items in glass cases. After standing before tombs and temples whose meanings felt just out of reach, the Egyptian Museum became the place where stone finally learned to speak.
Nearby the museum is the Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Hassan. We stopped in to admire the intricate architecture before also stopping by another nearby mosque, Al-Rifa’i. The darkness inside these mosques was welcome to me. Light only filtered in through artistic screened windows lining the stone walls. Yet again, I felt like an intruder here, stepping in to view a spiritual place that embodied a religion that was not mine, that housed daily activities and prayers that I’d learned about only briefly.
Mosque of Muhammad Ali
Full from a delicious lunch of Egyptian mezze platter with falafel, eggplant dips, and soft cheese, my tour guide and I continued on our tour through the Cairo Citadel. We shifted perspectives; we’d seen iconic landmarks from ancient Egypt, and now it was time to see some of the more modern sites.
Our next stop was the Mosque of Muhammad Ali, a gigantic and impressive structure from the outside—and even more stunning on the inside. It rose above the surrounding city, its pale stone surface glowing under the strong sun. Inside, rows of hanging lamps and polished floors made this mosque feel less intimate and more regal.
The feeling of more modern authority continued when we went to Abdeen Palace, exquisitely decorated in every room we saw. It was easy for me to imagine royalty walking those halls and sitting on those gold-embellished thrones during Egypt’s monarchy of the 19th century. By the time we exited, down a grand stairway and back out into the late afternoon heat, my head was bursting with all of the information and sights I’d seen in this complex, historically-rich city.
Cairo: The Start of My Trip to Egypt
By the end of the day, I was exhausted, my feet tender from sweating in my sandals all day, and skin a little pink from the sun. And in just two days, I could tell that Cairo isn’t a place that you can discover all at once. The array of ancient tombs under the sand and medieval mosques rising from crowded streets demand more time than I had in my calendar.
As I packed that night to prepare for an early flight to Luxor (my next stop in Egypt), I knew that I would need to return someday to experience more of the significance Cairo offers. But, in that moment, I was looking forward to visiting another spectacular wonder: the Valley of the Kings in Luxor. Read more about my Egyptian adventure in part three.
