Egypt - Visitor

Pillars and Ceiling at Dendera Temple

I finally had a friend over to visit. Lena managed to squeeze in a week to come over and Egypt smiled upon her by giving us the best weather we’ve had in all the time that I’ve been here during this stint. One day, the temperature on my balcony recorded something like 37 degrees. I can’t believe that could possibly be true, but it was easily 25 or 26 degrees most days.

We spent most afternoons on the beach, but at the weekend we explored further afield.

One trip was to the Dendera (or Dandara) Temple Complex. It’s not so far from Luxor, actually, so if you’re ever having a holiday in Luxor, you should make the effort also to visit Dendera.

Although Dendera isn’t as well known as Karnak Temple in Luxor or all the tombs at the Valley of the Kings, it is nevertheless one of the best preserved temples in Egypt. They’ve restored part of the ceiling in one place and it’s incredible – half of it is black and you wouldn’t think anything was underneath it, but where they have managed to remove the dirt, the colours and paintings are vibrant.

The temple is stunning even by today’s standards (although I sometimes wonder if we have any standards today, when you see what they did in the past!), with decorations covering every inch of available space, so it must have been even more awe-inspiring all those thousands of years ago.

In addition, there are lots of passageways to the side, or up or down, so there’s more to explore in there than you might imagine. Because it’s not so well known, I was expecting us to be on our own there, but actually there were quite a few people milling about.

Esmat took us there and back and I spent the journey learning to read the road signs (most of them seemed to be saying “slow down”!). He has the wooden-slatted covers for the seats which help to keep you cool as the sun beats down on you as you are driving through the mountains. The roads are pretty good, but drivers don’t generally like to go through at night for fear of bandits hiding away and ambushing. During the day, there are police checkpoints at various places; we had to report our nationality at each one and there’s always the possibility that you’ll also be asked for your passport. Drivers usually have to show their license.

We spent another day in El Gouna. Unlike with Geraldine, where we had El Gouna included as part of a boat trip, we went by taxi. I spent ages online trying to find out when the lagoon trips took place, but to no avail. In the end, we just missed the last one on Saturday (at noon, I think) and it turned out that they took place (in English) only on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Next time!

I was a bit shocked at how expensive El Gouna had become, but the marina area was pretty busy with plenty of people walking around and enjoying what life had to offer. As usual, impressive-looking boats were moored, with quite a few from Panama. Some arrived as we were there and you could watch them reverse in to their mooring space, just as if it were a car.

We grabbed a tuk-tuk to the town centre (this isn’t like a European town centre; it’s a set of cobbled roads with touristy-type shops and a couple of supermarkets which are small compared with European supermarkets). Lena haggled over some sandals and guava tea and also shopped in a store selling items where the money was to go to help various women’s initiatives in Egypt.

We went back to the marina for dinner. Here, and where we had a coffee, we were asked if we lived in El Gouna (I like to think that this means I look like a resident these days!). Whenever I replied that I lived in Sahl Hasheesh, they always laughed and said that El Gouna was better than Sahl Hasheesh.

A week goes by too quickly and, once Lena left, I myself only had one week left in Egypt. I am already entering my mourning phase as I think about having to leave this place that I love. But I know when I leave Zurich, I’ll be mourning for the loss of Zurich. It’s a bitter-sweet existence.