Travel writing thru the Centuries

TRAVEL WRITING THRU THE CENTURIES

Adventures in Egypt and Morocco from the 1600’s to the turn of the 20^th century

Two years ago I was offered a series of books published by the American University in Cairo Press.  The first set of books included poetry and diary excerpts from travelers in Egypt from the 1700’s to the 19^th century.  

WOMEN TRAVELERS ON THE NILE (edited by Deborah Manley) is an anthology of journal excerpts and stories written by women who were brave enough to venture into a world that until then had mainly been explored by men.  Some of them accompanied their husbands., others bravely ventured out alone, in the company of Egyptian guides. Many of them ended up living in Egypt and contributed more insights into Egyptian life, especially from a woman’s perspective.  They learned Arabic and met both the poorer women and the richest.  Some of these women were invited to join groups or to accompany their husbands. Some wrote books about their travels, others made notes in journals. 

I was privileged in 2014 to be invited on a small travel journalist’s tour of Egypt offered by the Egyptian Tourism in Ottawa, Canada.  This was a dream come true for me.  Not only had I been fascinated with Egypt and Egyptian history for years, but I had recently completed on novel about Alexander the Great (SHADOW OF THE LION) which is partly set in Egypt at the time the city of Alexandria was being built by Ptolemy 1^st according to Alexander’s wishes.

Because of my own unforgettable adventures on that 10-day trip, I was fascinated to read the stories of these women who had journeyed, often alone, into the desert by camel and lived in these ancient communities. Seeing Egypt through their eyes was a real pleasure.

The women travelers included Emily Anne Beaufort (1826-1887) daughter of the creator of the Beaufort Wind Scale; Sarah Belzoni (1785-1970) wife of a famous Egyptian explorer; Isabella Bird (1831-1904) one of the greatest Victorian era travel writers; M.L.M. Carey (1860-?) a writer an artist; Eliza Fay (1756-1816) an adventurous woman who also accompanied her husband to India in 1799, Marianne North (1830 -90) one of the most intrepid of the Victorian lady travelers. Mary Whatley (1824-89() who set up schools for poor Egyptian girls, as well as many others. 

ANCIENT EGYPT IN POETRY, is an anthology of Nineteenth Century Verse. (edited by Donald P. Ryan) Intrigued by the history and ancient ruins of Egypt, many writers over the years have visited Egypt, attracted by the adventure and ancient intrigue found in the remarkable archaeological sites and the fascinating desert landscapes. During the nineteenth century Egypt was in particular a popular destination for poets, writers and artists. 

Some of the poets who traveled there whose work is included in the book are Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836-1907), an American poet, newspaper and magazine editor and Civil War correspondent wo visited Egypt in 1905; Charles Dent Bell (1818-98) an Irish vicar who was inspired by nature; Robert Browning (1812-89) one of the greatest literary figures in English language, Lord Byron (1788-1824) one of the greatest Romantic Era poets; Mary Elizabeth Coleridge (1861-1907) noted for her compassion toward the poor and uneducated; John Keats (1795-1821) one of the great Romantic Era poets of England; Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1897-82)one of Americas greatest poets; Herman Melville (1819-91) author of Moby Dick and Typee; Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) noted English poet and Alfred Tennyson  (1809-92) poet laureate of the United Kingdom. 

These two books are pocket-sized, quick-reads, making them handy to take along in your purse or back-pack. 

ARISTOCRATS AND ARCHAEOLOGIST:  An Edwardian Journey on the Nile  (edited by Toby Wilkinson and Julian Platt) is a fascinating journal recording an Edwardian doctor’s journey on the Nile in the winter of 1907 – 1908, complied of a series of letters that give a first-hand account of the three-month trip, sites visited, passengers on board and people encountered along the journey as well encounters with cultural and class differences. The collection of letters was written by “Ferdy”, the great uncle of Julian Platt. During the early 1900’s people often escaped the cold dank winters of England and the many illnesses that often-ravaged Europe and spent the winter months in warmer climes. “Ferdy” (Ferdinand) A.F.R. Platt was a physician who accompanied the wealthy Duke of Devonshire on a journey to Egypt. It’s a delightful read and includes maps and itinerary notes and photographs of all Platt’s adventures as they cruised the Nile.

The most recent book I received from Cairo Press is another tiny gem, A MOROCCO ANTHOLOGY (edited by Martin Rose).  I found this book just as intriguing as the Egyptian books as I have also traveled to Morocco several years ago. It’s a book I’d like to have read before I made that trekking journey into the foothills of the High Atlas from Marrakech.  

Morocco has four ‘imperial cities’ where the sultan’s court settled in past times. This book includes visits to the various cities by adventurers, travel writers and others to these fabled cities. Morocco had a French and Spanish colonial period that lasted 44 years.  Writer Edith Wharton wrote “a country so deeply conditioned by its miles and miles of uncitied wilderness that until one has know the wilderness one cannot understand the cities”.  This little book takes you on a journey to each of these cities and explores the point of view of these travelers from long ago. 

 Some of these contributors include Ali Bey Al-Abbassi (1767-1818) a Spaniard from Barcelona, who visited Morocco between 1803-1805; Ellis Ashmea-Bartlett (1888-1931) a war correspondent who worked for Reuters.;  Paul Bowles (1910-0=99 an American novelist, composer, musician, poet and translator; Walter Harris (1866-1933) a Times  correspondent who traveled in disguise to meet sultans and rebels; Emily Keen, Shareefa of Ouazzane (1850-1941) an English governess who married the Grand Sheikh of Ouazzane’; Pierre Loti (1850-1923) a French navel officer and novelist; Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) a diarist; Edith Wharton (1862-1937) American writer who won the Pulitzer Prize for The Age of Innocence.  

This books takes you on an exotic journey to all of the imperial cities of Morocco and gives some insight into what life was like back in the past from the journals of these interesting writers.

ALEXANDRIA: PEARL OF THE MEDITERRANEAN

I had always dreamed of visiting Alexandria, the fabled city on the Nile delta established by Alexander the Great back in 332 BC. While I was researching my novel SHADOW OF THE LION, I delved into the history of this remarkable city. When I was invited to Egypt last March on a travel writer’s press trip, I told the organizers about my novel and the research I had done about the founding of the ancient city. Because of this I was given a special two-day tour of Alexandria, with an escort of three handsome Egyptian men, one of the highlights of all my travel experiences

Me, Peter from Egyptian Tourism and Magdi the driver

 

Marko, Magdi and Peter, My Escorts

 

 Alexandria is a setting in the story. Ptolemy, Alexander’s illegitimate half-brother returned to Egypt after Alexander’s death to oversee the building according to Alexander’s wishes. Ptolemy Soter became the first of the Ptolemaic dynasties of Egypt that lasted up until the era of Cleopatra.

It is said that Alexander had a dream in which he recalled the lines from Homer’s Iliad of ‘an island, Pharos, by the surging sea.’  Alexander had come to Egypt to drive out the Persians and to him, this dream was an omen. He wanted to build a new city by the sea, and chose this location near a small village called Rhakotis. He ordered his architect and city planner Dinocrates to design and build it but Alexander died before its completion. After Alexander`s death, Ptolemy hijacked the funeral carriage when it was being transported from Babylon to Macedon and brought the body to Egypt where, it is said, Alexander had wanted to be buried. It was interred first in Memphis, then when the temple for Alexander`s friend Hephaestion was completed, Ptolemy had Alexander`s body laid there where it remained at least until the arrival of the Romans, because it was visited by Julius Caesar and Cleopatra.

Under Ptolemy, Alexandria became a center of Hellenism.  It was the home of many Greeks and also home of the largest Jewish community in the world. It took over the trade and commerce of Tyre between Europe and the Arabian and Indian East and soon expanded until it was the largest city in the world, second only to Rome. Over the years, Alexandria was visited by Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, Nelson, Napoleon, and was home of others such as Archimedes, Euclid, Mohammed Ali Pasha and the Greek poet Cavafy.

The ancient Greek city had three regions, The Brucheum, Royal or Greek quarter which formed the most magnificent part of the city. The Jewish quarter formed the northeast and Rhakotis, occupied mainly by Egyptians. The city consisted of the island of Pharos which was joined to the mainland by a mole nearly a mile long. There stood the famous Great Lighthouse, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, 138 meters high, a project begun by the first Ptolemy and completed by his son. The lighthouse was destroyed by an earthquake in the 14^th century and was replaced by an Arab fortress using some of the original bricks.



I was curious to learn how much of Alexander still exists in Alexandria, the city named for him.  As the van approached the outskirts the first thing I saw was a monument of Alexander riding his horse.  At our first stop we were greeted by a young tour guide, Sarah, who showed us around an extensive excavation known as Kom al-Dikka, which has revealed many Roman era ruins including a theatre. We didn`t have time to visit the catacombs which are located near Alexander`s best-known monument, `Pompey`s Pillar. The catacombs, known as Kom al-Soqqafa, are a multì-level labyrinth reached by a spiral staircase where there are dozens of chambers with sculpted pillars and statues, burial niches and sarcophagi.

 

KOM AL -DIKKA

 

 

Our next stop on the tour was the Qaitbay Citadel, built on the site of the ancient lighthouse, and established in 1477 AD by the Sultan Qaitbay.  It was one of the most important defensive strongholds on the Mediterranean coast.

Unlike Cairo which is densely packed between the Nile River and the vast expanse of Sahara desert, Alexandria sprawls out along the seacoast, a sparkling bright city surrounded by the verdant Nile Delta, the ancient’s ‘Land of Goshen’. 

The Nile Delta

 



 It is the second largest city in Egypt. The city is divided into six neighbourhoods, each with a large population. Alexandria is an important industrial area and Egypt’s largest seaport with two harbors, one facing east, the other west.

There is evidence of the ancient harbour on the edge of the island of Pharos, but little else remains except what the underwater archaeologists have discovered under the sea. Some of these finds can be seen in the Alexandria Museum and on display outside of the new Alexandria Library.

Outside the Museum: Peter, Sarah, me and Marko

 

The Alexandria Museum contains a number of exhibits dating back to the Ptolemaic dynasty as well as Roman. What I found most interesting were some of the relics that have been brought up by the maritime archaeologists in the harbor which reveals details of the city both before Alexander’s time and during the Ptolemaic dynasty. Where is Alexander`s tomb?  Most likely at the bottom of the sea. Evidently they have discovered parts of Cleopatra`s palace and in the front of the new library is a tall weather-worn statue of one of the Ptolemys brought up from the seabed.

After my tour of the Roman ruins and museum, I was taken to my hotel by the seaside, surrounded a beautiful 350 acrew park of palm trees and flowering bushes, the Montazah Palace Gardens. The elegant Helnan Palestine hotel was built in 1964 to accomodate guests of the Second Arab Summit. It is on the grounds next to what was King Farouk`s summer palace. Farouk became king at the age of 16 and lost his throne at the age of 32 in 1952.  It made my visit even more special to know I was on royal territory.

The Hotel Helnan Palestine

 



Night View from My Hotel Window

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Hotel_Review-g295398-d302365-Reviews-Helnan_Palestine-Alexandria_Alexandria_Governorate.html

 The Bibliotheca Alexandrina

 

 

The next day was the highlight of my visit when I was taken to the New Alexandria Library, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, which opened Oct. 16, 2002.  It`s an immense cylindrical shaped modern structure separated from the University of Alexandria by a wide concourse where I posed under a bust of my hero, Alexander.  The library is spectacular in its design with constant light filtering through the specially curved domes.  It houses over 8 million books.

The first Library of Alexandria was created by Ptolemy I Soter in the 3^rd century BC. Most of the books were papyrus scrolls on great value. It was dedicated to the Muses and functioned as a major center of scholarship. Many of the most famous thinkers of the ancient world studied here. It was in Alexandria where Euclid devised geometry and Herophilus discovered that the brain, was the seat of thought, not the heart. A wealth of works from the classical world were housed in the old library, including those of Aristotle and Plato, original manuscripts of Sophocles, Aeschylus and Euripides, Egyptian treatises on astronomy and medicine; Buddhist texts, original Hebrew scriptures and many of the works of the lyric poet Sappho.

In 48 BC when Julius Caesar laid siege to the city, a fire was set and the library was partially destroyed. Later there were other attacks until finally the library was in ruins and thousands of ancient works were destroyed.  I wondered what Ptolemy would think now, if he saw this amazing work of art which has replaced the library he first created.

The new library features a museum dedicated to science and history. There is also a large planetarium at the entrance. There are all the modern amenities such as Internet Archives, several specialized libraries, academic research centres and various permanent exhibits. It is also the home of several institutions including The Arabic Society for Ethics in Science and Technology, the HCM Medical Research, the Anna Lindh Foundation for Dialogue Between Cultures and many others.

There is an international spirit in the Bibliotheca just as there was back in Ptolemy’s time. Italians and Egyptians work together preserving rare manuscripts; Greeks help with antiquities; French are in charge of the science museum and Americans are the computer experts.

The famous burning of the ancient Library of Alexandria became the symbol of the irretrievable loss of knowledge, but the new Bibliotheca Alexandria has revived that legacy and the staff works together to maintain this great Temple of Learning.

http://www.bibalex.org/aboutus/overview_en.aspx

http://www.bibalex.org/aboutus/message_en.aspx

After our library tour Sarah took us to a pleasant seaside restaurant so we could relax, enjoy the beautiful shoreline view and taste some delicious Egyptian cuisine.

 Marko and me

We had a dinner guest.

Not only was this two-day visit to Alexandria, one of the most memorable times of my visit to Egypt,  but I enjoyed the company of my Egyptian travel escorts and especially the lovely young woman who was my tour guide, Sarah Ibrahim. I felt such warmth from her that we immediately bonded. She had read all about me on the internet and knew an amazing number of stories about me from my blogs.  So I would certainly love to return there someday to see my new friend and visit more of this wonderful country that is so rich with history and its warm, friendly people.

 

 

 

MORE TREASURES OF ANCIENT EGYPT: SAQQARA AND MEMPHIS

 

SAQQARA

Most of the remnants of ancient Egypt lay scattered on the desert plateau south of Cairo. After visiting the amazing pyramids of Giza we went to see the amazing necropolis at Saqara and the Step Pyramid of King  Djoser that was 'built to last til the ends of time'. This is the largest necropolis in Egypt, extending for almost five miles. It's a collection of pyramids, temples and tombs including the Mastaba tombs where the high officials of the Pharaohs were buried. These are comprised of several chambers with walls covered with reliefs that detail scenes of hunting and fishing and everyday life in ancient Egypt.

 

Step pyramid

The step-pyramid  is the oldest pyramid found in Egypt, over 2,000 years. What was amazing to me is that it reminded me of the type of pyramids you find in Mayan ruins in Mexico, with steps leading to the top. Although the third dynasty began with the Pharaoh Sanakht the real founder is considered to be Djoser, a name derived from "geser" meaning "sacred"  Just as Ramses II is associated with Abu Simbel, Djoser is identified by Saqqara's architectural monument. It is the oldest structure in the world build entirely of stone. It is 62 metres high and the base measures 109 by 125 metres. The burial chamber of the Pharaoh was located at the centre of the pyramid at the bottom of a large vertical shat 28 metres deep. From here a labyrinth of rooms, corridors, chambers and passageways protected the tombs

Cobras decorate the roof

Burial chambers

MEMPHIS

 

You know that song "We're going to Memphis"? Well Memphis, in ancient Egypt was once the capital city. According to legend it was founded by pharaoh Menes around 3000 BC and was the capital of Egypt during the Old Kingdom, remaining an important city throughout history. During the 6th dynasty it was a centre for the worship of Ptah, the god of creation and artworks. There is an alabaster Sphinx guarding the Temple of Ptah that is a memorial of the city's former power and prestige.

 

 

alabaster statue of Ramses II

 

 



I was particularly interested in visiting this ancient city, because it was where Alexander the Great came after he had successfully driven the Persian out of Egypt.  Part of the mystique of Alexander is his connection to Nectanebo II, a shaman pharaoh of Memphis who had fled to Macedon to plead with Alexander's father Philip II to help drive the Persian out of his country.  Rumours abounded for most of Alexander's life that he was Nectanabo's son because during the Pharaoh's stay in Macedon, Alexander's mother, Olympias, then a young bride of Philip, may have had an affair with the pharaoh. She was reputedly told by him that she would be visited by the golden snake of Ammon and give birth to a miraculous son.  After Philip was assassinated and Alexander became king, he led his army south down the coast of Asia Minor, across Gaza and successfully vanquished the Persians. He was honored by the Egyptians and crowned pharaoh in the Temple of Ptah, ushering in the Hellensitic period. . From then on he wore the Horns of Ammon on his helmet. After his famous visit to the oasis shrine of Siwah where he would consult the oracle about his birthright, he learned information that he wouldn't even indulge to his best friend but said he'd wait til he got back home to discuss it with his mother.


Alexander wanted to establish a city in Egypt. Memphis was too far inland, south of the delta, so he chose the site by the sea that is now Alexandria. When Alexander died in 323 BC, his illegitimate half-brother Ptolemy came to Egypt to establish the city of Alexandria. For a time he kept Alexander's body at Memphis but it was later moved to the new city. This began the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt. Ptolemy established the cult of Serapis in Egypt at Saqqara.

Memphis thrived until the arrival of the Romans when it lost it's importance in favour of Alexandria.

 

NEXT: At Last, ALEXANDRIA!