private guided tour to Sakkara

private guided tour to Saqqara

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Private guided tour to Saqqara

Martine Jardel contacted me to arrange a private guided tour to Saqqara. I asked her if she preferred to do the tour as a full-day or half-day experience. We purchased the all-inclusive ticket to the site since she chose a full-day tour.

Imhotep Museum

We visited the Imhotep Museum which was built thanks to the teamwork of Jean-Philippe Lauer, the French Egyptologist who dedicated a significant part of his life to Saqqara. This museum showcases objects he discovered at the site and highlights the architecture before the time of Pharaoh Djoser. The museum features,  a list of Egyptologists who worked on the site,  along with a map illustrating the various historical eras of the site of Saqqara.

In Saqqara, you can find the pyramids of the pharaohs and the mastabas of nobles and prominent figures who held prestigious titles.

In most of these mastabas, we can observe scenes depicting daily life in that era, notable for their exceptional preservation and the vivid quality of their colours.

We visited the Djoser complex and its iconic step pyramid which had been closed by the Egyptian government for many years but was recently reopened, it now highlights Djozer’s groundbreaking architectural innovation: the first known attempt at large-scale stone construction.

 the Mortuary Temple and Pyramid of Pharaoh Unas

It is considered the “Beautiful are the places of Unas,” dating back to the Fifth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom. It is the first pyramid to be adorned with religious texts.

During this private day tour to Saqqara, we had the opportunity to visit the tomb of the “Two Brothers” Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep, they were royal hairdressers, overseers of manicures at the palace, and trusted confidants of the pharaoh. The tomb was discovered in 1964 by an Egyptian archaeologist Ahmed Moussa.

Next door, we find the tomb of the Butchers discovered in 1940, with its 14 statues.

 

 the Serapeum of Saqqara

We made sure to visit the necropolis of the bulls, which we consider one of Saqqara’s great enigmas due to its exceptional and unique construction, unparalleled anywhere in the world. This site was discovered by Auguste Mariette in 1851 and was later closed by the Egyptian authorities for 15 years for restoration.

The necropolis houses 24 massive sarcophagi made of Aswan granite, each weighing between 60 and 80 tons. This cemetery is dedicated to the cult of the Apis bull, considered the living manifestation of the god ptah, the local deity of Memphis, which was the first capital of pharaonic Egypt.

We marvelled at how the ancient Egyptians managed to transport and fit these enormous sarcophagi into the tombs, curved granite with such precision, and whether these sarcophagi served a funerary purpose or had another, perhaps symbolic function.

We also visited Mehu’s tomb, discovered by Zakie Saad in 1940 and recently opened to visitors. Mehu was a vizier of Pharaoh Pepi I and held 48 prestigious titles. This tomb, dating back to the 6th Dynasty, consists of four rooms, beautifully decorated with vibrant colours and rich scenes depicting the daily life of the time.. Then, Next, we explored the mastaba of Mereruka, discovered by Jacques Morgan in 1892 and opened to the public in 1912. Mereruka also held numerous titles, including Minister of Justice, Prime Minister, and High Priest. As the son-in-law of Pharaoh Teti, he was the most powerful individual after the pharaoh. The tomb features remarkable fishing, hunting, farming, and craftsmanship scenes.

 

We finally visited the pyramid of Teti, the tombs of Kagemni, the tomb of Ti, and the mastaba of Idut.

 

Martine concluded that a private guided tour was essential to fully explore the richness of  the Saqqara site.

private tour guide in Cairo after the coronavirus

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private tour guide in Cairo after the coronavirus

Guide touristique Francophone au Caire après le coronavirusBack to work as a private tour guide in Cairo was a great pleasure for me after this long period of staying home because of coronavirus which had disadvantages and advantages, economic disadvantages. Many people were obliged to stay at home without being paid, others, are already homeless, in addition to the fear of hearing about the number of deaths and infected patients.

On the other hand, the advantages for some people were having the time to reorganize their lives, improve their professional skills, and eat healthy food at home.

This time, I would like to tell you about my recent experience to practice my job as a private tour guide in Cairo after the coronavirus pandemic.

It started when my cell phone rang, I answered, it was a gentleman who spoke French he asked me if I was a private tour guide in Cairo, I answered yes, then he asked about my availability the next day to accompany him as a tour guide to visit the Giza plateau, I answered yes and of course, it was with great pleasure and then, I asked him how he had come to Egypt, as I thought there were no flights to carry tourists? He replied that he was not a tourist and that he came because he works in Egypt.
The next day, I went to meet him in front of the Marriott Mena House hotel because he had his own driver.

The site was quite empty, there were almost no tourists. After visiting the Giza plateau, we stopped for lunch in a restaurant in downtown and then, we went to visit the citadel of Saladin with its two mosques, of Mohamed Ali (alabaster mosque) which dates back to the nineteenth century and that of Sultan ibn Qalawun mosque, that dates back to the Mamluk era in the thirteenth century then we stopped for a panoramic photo from the terrace of the citadel. The next visit was old Cairo (Coptic area) where we visited the Hanging Church. We ended up with a stop at El Moqattam hill to see the Fatimid Cairo from the top.

Working and seeing the people who work in the tourist sites that I have always known and met, going out to work and of course earning money for me, was a great pleasure.

In conclusion; working as a private tour guide in Cairo for me is a return to work and a return to life.

The forgotten desert of Faiyum

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The forgotten desert of Faiyum

The forgotten desert of FaiyumThe forgotten desert of Faiyum is located north of Lake Moeris (Birket Qarun), 26 km north of Faiyoum, 80 Km southwest of Cairo, and when I say “the forgotten desert”, I mean that few people know about it, although there was an ancient Greco-Roman city founded by Ptolemy II, 3rd century BC called “Dimeh al siba”.Dimeh al siba

The site is, 2.05 kilometers beyond the edge of the water, there is an unfinished temple in the southern part of the island covers about 9000 square meters, The entire territory is surrounded by brick walls, The remains of the Temple walls and the interior floors of the Temple are made of sandstone blocks, There is a paved road with limestone blocks, begins from the southern entrance of the Temple Complex and extends towards Lake Qarun. Its length is 400 meters and its width is about 8 meters, The magnificent ruins will impress you and give freedom to your imaginations to guess how life was in this lakeside place that gives evidence of inhabitancy dates back to the Neolithic era.

This trip asks us many questions:

  • Is that Ptolemy II provided land by reducing the size of the lake for Macedonian soldiers and their families?
  • Was the city used as a port?
    As it is called “soknopaiou nesos” which means the island of Sobek, the crocodile god,
  • Was the city located on an island?
  • Did the city become a border post in the Roman period?

Qasr El SaghaQasr El SaghaThen, if we continue in the desert 8 km north of Qarun Lake, we will find ”Qasr elsagha”, an unfinished limestone construction discovered by Schweinfurth composed of 7 shrines dating back to the Pharaonic period. Also asks us a few questions, who built it? Was it dedicated to which divinity? Which dynasty? Which kingdom?

The Petrified Forest, The fossilized trees… on their turn asks us a question, what was the Faiyum before?

Cairo opera house

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Cairo opera house

cairo opera house
Cairo opera house is located at Zamalek district, was inaugurated on October 1988, by President Mubarak and Prince Tomohito of Mikasa of Japan, it is a Japanese gift after the visit of the Egyptian president to Japan in April 1983, the construction has begun in May 1985.
It compensates the old Cairo opera house that was built after the order of Khedive Ismail who wanted to construct an opera house to celebrate the inauguration of Suez Canal in 1869, architects were Italians “Avoscani & Rossi”, and the construction lasted for 6 months, made mostly of wood, was opened on 1 November 1869.
Khedive Ismail wanted anKhedivial Opera House opera that represents the ancient Egyptian history, the French archaeologist August Mariette, wrote a heroic story, the Italian music composer Giuseppe Verdi composed the music, the result was the famous opera AIDA, unfortunately, was not played in the inauguration of the old opera house (Khedivial opera house) as the customs and seats could not be transported from France because of the Franco-Prussian war, instead, the Cairo opera house opened with the Rigoletto, Verdi’s opera.
AIDA was played in the ancient opera house in 1871, one century later, this opera house was burned by a fire on 28 October 1971.
Thanks to Yasser Fathy, my dear friend, who helps me to progress in my Italian studies, works in the Italian cultural center, gave me 2 invitations to assist the Italian Verdi opera (un ballo in Maschera), I went with my sweety friend Rasha El Ibiary), we had a wonderful musical Cairo evening.

i should also tell you that it has three theatres:

The big theatre, meanly for classic performances, the small theatre, and the open theatre.

Cairo opera house is considered now as the mean cultural activities center in Cairo 

Le Sérapéum de Saqqarah

The Serapeum of Saqqara

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The Serapeum of Saqqara

The Serapeum of Saqqara is one of the most enigmatic places in Saqqara.
The Serapeum of SaqqaraAt the time of Ramses II, the long driveway was discovered and throughout its 80m on each side, one could stop to pray and give offerings in multiple chapels covered with votive offerings that bordered it.
The temple overlooking the graves is now completely ruined, but thanks to the foundations, it is estimated that with columns, pylons, narthex, and nave, he had measured nearly 300m wide, it is at the entrance of the Serapeum, Graves sacred bulls APIS.
On the left side, we pass one of those huge vats of granite that we tried to get out, but even with modern means, it was impossible!
In these long corridors dug in the rock is indeed 24 granite sarcophagi where were buried sacred bulls, nothing in the world looks like this necropolis.
We think that it is under Amenhotep III around 1380 BC, was inaugurated this huge burial and funeral rites are found still under the rule of the Ptolemies, hence the Greek name for Serapeum.

The cult of the sacred bull goes back before the Pharaonic era since traces were found in prehistoric caves like in Qurta near Kom Ombo in Upper Egypt specifically Aswan.
Apis was already venerated at the time of Narmer, the unifier of Upper and Lower Egypt around 3200 B.C.
At the time of ancient Egypt, Apis was considered as the living manifestation of the god Ptah, the demiurge, the creator.

The young bull was not randomly selected, the selection criteria were very specific, the Apis bull was black and had a white triangle-shaped spot on the forehead, a white spot in the shape of vulture at the back, and the hairs of the tail were doubled.

At his death, his spirit reincarnated in another young bull that the high priests searched for throughout the country.

When the French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette, following writings of Herodotus and Strabo, discovered this cemetery in 1851, his stupor was great because at the beginning of the processional, he discovered a large chamber containing twelve-size statues of the biggest Greek philosophers and poets. (What we can see today a part of it on the site and the other at Egyptian museum of Cairo).

All the tombs were looted over the centuries, only one remained intact.

It seems that it was Mariette who made a wide breach in it (with explosives are told).
He discovered an intact mummy (now destroyed) and numerous objects and princely jewelry, a gold mask, and amulets bearing the cartouche of Pharaoh Khaemwaset.
These huge sarcophagi made out of Aswan’s granite or out of basalt, each weight between 60 and 80 tons, (even almost 100 tons), Just a lid alone weighs 25-30 tons.
The body of the Apis was deposited there had been mummified for 70 days like pharaohs.
It was covered with a linen strip and was presented in the Sphinx position with the front legs folded.
Two of these mummies are still in the Agriculture museum of Cairo.

Each tomb consisted of a ramp leading to a burial chamber

The vague line of hieroglyphics seems to be dating not even the 18th dynasty.
One can read some writings of both Amasis 26th dynasty, Cambyses 27th, and Khababach, 333 B.C.

In the small underground, other bulls were entered, but in wooden sarcophagi that have not survived at their discovery and of which, only a few traces left today, they date back to the 18th dynasty

One of these sarcophagi still bore traces of the Cartouche of Tutankhamun and Horemheb.

The use of The Serapeum of Saqqara is amazing,
The Serapeum of Saqqara is always an enigma.

  • Text: Gérard Chareyre
Saqqarah visite

Saqqara visit with your private tour guide

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Saqqara visit with your private tour guide could be done in A full day visit, or a half-day visit.
Saqqara is the first necropolis in Egypt, as it was the necropolis of the first Egyptian capital, Memphis, Located about 30 km south of Cairo city, 16 Egyptian kings built pyramids at Saqqara,

 

Saqqara visit

And it has been designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979.

Of course, Saqqara visit  with your private tour guide, allows you to visit different sites,
the first visit could be Imhotep museum, where you can have a brief idea about the architecture before the time of Imhotep (the architect of the first step pyramid of Saqqara), sarcophagus, objects that were found by the French Egyptologist Jean-Philippe Lauer

And then, we drive up to the Saqqara site, we can visit the Mastaba of Kagemni, old kingdom, 6th dynasty, where we enjoy seeing the daily life scenes, (fishing, feeding gees, giving offerings), then we visit the pyramid of Ti Ti.

Then we can visit the serapeum of Saqqara, the mystery of Saqqara, which is exceptional in the world, it was discovered by the French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette in 1851, 24 Sarcophagus for the bull Apis made out of granite that comes from Aswan quarries or out of basalt.

we continue to visit the complex of Saqqara, the oldest complete stone building complex,
The step pyramid ( Pyramid of Djoser) (or Zoser), was built during the 27th century BC by Imhotep, consists of six mastabas, 62 meters tall.

The Djoser complex is surrounded by a wall of  Tura limestone 10.5m high, the northern funerary temple was on the north side of the pyramid of Djoser and faced the north stars.

The Heb-sed court is rectangular and parallel to the South Courtyard, and it was for a festival that celebrated the continued rule of a king, even when the capital moved to Luxor, the Heb-sed festival was celebrated in Saqqara.

And then, we go up to enjoy seeing the desert, with the view of the pyramids of Abousir and the pyramids of Dahshour.

Then,  we go back to our car from the parallel way, where we can visit Idut’s mastaba and admire its colors.

Akhenaton pharaon de l’Égypte

Akhenaten Pharaoh of Egypt

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Akhenaten Pharaoh of Egypt

Akhenaten Pharaoh of Egypt
Akhenaten pharaoh of Egypt, the first call to monotheism, his first name is Amenhotep IV (Amun is satisfied), son of Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye.

At the Pharaonic time, Egyptians, believed in many gods, we can say that the gods for them is a responsible, the goddess Nut; “the sky goddess is responsible for directing the sky”, Geb; “the god of earth, is responsible for the earth”…. And also every city had its protective triad, and then, the Egyptians could worship several at the same time.
Amenhotep IV began to revolt, he said, many gods, this is not possible, it cannot be possible, there is only one god.

He starts looking the strongest force in Egypt, he finds that it must be the strength hidden behind the solar disk which directs it, he changes his name, instead of being Amenhotep (Amun is satisfied), it becomes AKH- n -Aten (the faithful to Aten).

He cancels the existence of all other gods, he destroies the temples of god Amun in Luxor (Karnak and Luxor), so that, he can no longer stay in the capital Thebes (Luxor) where there is the power of the priests of Amun god, he goes down the Nile, and installs his capital Akhet- n -Aten (the horizon of the god Aten) now called tell el Amarna.

Akhenaten was married to Nefertiti, they had six daughters, and he, with another woman had his son Tutankhaten who later becomes Tutankhamun.

The era of Akhenaten creates a new artistic style, realism or naturalism.
The artist is free to represent the pharaoh in a real representation, apparently, he could Also exaggerate, and for the first time in Egypt, he can present the Pharaoh with his family on a family representation.

Even the daughters of Akhenaten had a strange representation.

Several explanations for the strange representation of Akhenaten, some Egyptologists say that he was sick and he had more female hormones than the male hormones, others find that he wanted to unify the two sexes in a single body, a third Group guess that it was the beginning a whole new artistic style (caricature) .

Akhenaten Pharaoh of Egypt

Akhenaten remains in Egypt as a pharaoh for 17 years; he neglected everything except inviting Egyptians to believe in one God, EVERYTHING else was totally ignored.

The Egyptians showed a belief, but we discovered that they made statuettes of their former divinities; of course, it was very difficult to have a quick change of beliefs and habits after centuries of adoration to their former gods.

After Akhenaten‘s death, the priests of god Amun said that he was a heretic, they got a revenge of him, erased his name, destroyed his monuments and rebuilt the temples of Karnak and Luxor again, worship and offerings to multiple divinities back again, and they said; we should cancel the name of Akhenaten from the Egyptian history.

There are many books and studies to know the truth of Akhenaten, such as “Akhnaton” is a play by Agatha Christie. It was written in 1937
Some Egyptologists said that he was really a believer and mystical because when we read his prayers for Aten, they are much like the Bible and the Quran.

Other Egyptologists found that he was a wise because the Egyptians gods were adored only by Egyptian, and so we wanted a worldwide one so that the whole empire would worshiped him

A third group thinks that he did not have the physical strength like the other pharaohs, and that’s why he invented this new religion to impose his existence.
Or, we can consider Akhenaten as a prophet came to prepare the mind to receive monotheism before the arrival of Moses.

Akhenaten Pharaoh of Egypt

Who was Akhenaten!!  what was Akhenaten?!! believer?!! smart?!! prophet?!!

he left and his truth left with him, but he left us a very important spot in the Egyptian history, the first call to monotheism.

Néfertiti reine de l’Egypte

Nefertiti Queen of Egypt

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Nefertiti Queen of Egypt

Nefertiti Queen of EgyptNefertiti Queen of Egypt, “which means the beautiful is coming” is a legendary beauty, she is the wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV), and the stepmother of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun, because of her name, there is a doubt that she is a foreigner.

she played a religious and political role in Egypt during the 18th dynasty, 14th century B.C.
Nefertiti Queen of Egypt, changes with her husband the cult, they searched for a unique god, they searched for the greatest force in Egypt, they found that it must be the force hidden behind the sun disk which directs it, they canceled the existence of all the other gods and they changed the capital and went down the Nile to create and build their new capital “Akhet-n-Aten” (horizon of Aten) today called “Tell El-Amarna” that they established the first stage of monotheism in Pharaonic history, Nefertiti shared power with her husband Akhenaten, seen to beat the enemies, she was also the priestess of God Aten.

Nefertiti Queen of EgyptNefertiti and Akhenaten created a new artistic style; absolute freedom was given to the artist, he could go inside the palace of the pharaoh and represent him in a real representation with his defaults (it was exceptionally) you can see them as a family with their daughters under the protection of the sun disk which sends its rays ending with hands that give life, Nefertiti and Akhenaten are intermediaries between this life and the people.

Nefertiti head Egypt

 

The bust of Nefertiti, which is located in the Museum of Berlin in Germany, made her famous, she has another unfinished bust at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, and both of them are considered as masterpieces of the Egyptian art.

 

 

 

 

Her end is like her origins, UNKNOWN…

We don’t know yet where does the legendary queen sleep?
A lot of secrets are expected to be discovered by her UNFOUND mummy!!!

and here’s a video “Nefertiti and the Lost Dynasty” worth watch

Cairo and Alexandria visits with a private tour guide in Ramadan – EgypteAbir

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Cairo and Alexandria visits with a private guide in RamadanCairo and Alexandria visits with a private tour guide in Ramadan are still interesting and possible to be visited; you can still visit the touristic attractions such as Memphis, Sakkara, Giza pyramids, the Egyptian museum etc…, you just have to take care about the timing because all the touristic sites close one hour earlier, it means at 15 O’clock, instead of 16 O’clock.

I spent a very interesting week with Mohan and Diana’s family during Ramadan Month, Disna and Mohan, from Sri lanka, residence in Cairo since 17 years, wanted to organize a program for their relatives and let them know about Cairo’s points of interests.

The program was interesting and varies because it covered the most important touristic sites in Cairo and Alexandria as well.

The first day, we went to visit Memphis, the first Pharaonic capital of Egypt, Sakkara, the Giza pyramids and the sphinx with the solar museum. The next day, they took the airplane to go to visit Sharm El sheikh to enjoy spending time on one of the nicest red sea resorts, After they came back to Cairo, they wanted to see the sound and light show in Giza pyramids, it begins at 21 o’clock in Ramadan, and it lasts for one hour, the following day, was a rich day of visits, we went to visit the Coptic area or old Cairo, it was a Sunday, so we could attend the mass in the hanging church, saint serge church, we also visited Saint George church and the syna gouge  of Beni Ezra, and then we went to visit the citadel of Saladin with Mohamed Ali’s mosque (the alabaster mosque), Egyptian museum at El tahrir square where we find the treasures of king Tut Ankh Amun, we ended our day with the visit of the cave church (saint Simon).

Monday, was our visit to the pharanoiac village, it was still open in Ramadan’s day, less tourists, you can go any time from 9 o’clock to 16 O’clock, and they begin their program to make you travel through centuries to live in the Pharaonic time, we admired the copy of the tomb of Tut Ankh Amun (the original one is in the valley of the kings in Luxor, we visited also the Islamic museum, president Sadat‘s museum and the ladies museum.

After noon, we went to El Azhar, to visit Khan El Khalili bazzar, Mohan’s family made a tour in all its shops, all of them benefited.

Visits of Alexandria with a private tour guide

Tuesday, we went to Alexandria, the second important city in Egypt, where we visited the Catacombs of Kom El shokafa, Pompey’s pillar, the royal gardens of king Farouk on the sea shore, the roman theater and Quait bay fort from the outside.
The family wanted to visit a modern area, so that they went to Cairo festival where they bought some of Ramadan oriental sweets.

We ended our trip with a cruising diner on the Nil with Egyptian music I think that Mohan’s family could cover most of the important attraction in Cairo and Alexandria in Ramadan.

It was a very nice time that I spent with Disna and Mohan’s family, it was my first time with people from Sri lanka, I can tell that they are a very kind people.
So, i thank Disna, Mohan and their relatives for the nice time that we shared together.