Egypt: The Good, The Bad and the Archaeological
Studying Egyptology at the American University in Cairo
I spent 5 months living, breathing, eating and dreaming ancient Egypt. I visited everything from the Great Pyramids to the remote and desolate tombs of Tell-el Amarna to the awe-inspiring statues of Ramses II at Abu Simbel. Here are my stories and adventures – the good the bad and the archaeological.
- Cairo Museum: My Biggest Candy Shop
- Giza Plateau: Welcome to the jungle – Drooling over my favorite pyramids while dodging camel hagglers
- Dahshur: The Bent, The Red, and The Crumbly Pile of Rock
- The Camel Market at Birqash: Where camels meet plain-clothes cops
- Memphis: One of the old capitols of Ancient Egypt
- Alexandria: The City of Alexander the Great
- Saqqara: Djoser’s Step Pyramid and Heb-Seb Court / Teti and Unas’ Pyramids: Pyramid Texts
- Valley of the Queens (plus a few kids)
- The Colossi of Memnon and The Ramesseum: Odes to Two Propaganda Kings
- Tombs of the Nobles: located in, around and under the small village of Gurneh
- Karnak: 5 Acres, 134+ Columns, and More Pharaohs Than One Can Count
- Luxor Museum, Mummification Museum, and Luxor Temple
- The West Bank: Pharaoh Hatshepsut’s Mortuary Temple, Valley of the Kings, and Valley of the Monkeys
- Coptic Cairo: Coptic What? Never heard of it before
- Medium: The Only Pyramid with Character
- Islamic Cairo: Oops! I don’t think I was supposed to see that head….or take a picture of it!
- Bahariya Oasis: Dunes, The Black Desert, The White Desert and The Oasis
- Buto and Sais with Dr. Swanson: Searching the Delta for Old Kingdom Power-house Cities
- Abu Sir and Abu Ghurab: Crashing Dr. Mallek’s Excavation Party; Oogling 5th Dynasty Pyramids and Sun Temples
- Tell-el Amarna: Guns, Stonings, and Akhenaten’s Palace
- Dendara and Abydos: Hidden Chambers and Kings Lists
- Aswan: Where Life Slows Down and the Air is Breathable
- Nile Cruise, Esna, Edfu, Kom Ombo, Philae: Have Mercy, No More Greco-Roman!
- Abu Simbel: The Biggest Edifice to the Male Ego
- The Tombs of Giza and Saqqara with Dr. Ikram
- Heliopolis: Sun Cult of Ra
- Monasteries’ of St. Anthony and St. Paul: Some of the best preserved early Christian art
- New Year’s Eve in a Sultan’s Palace
