Hieroglyphics it’s easy to see how some of the hieroglyphs are read — the picture of a cow meant ‘cow’ and that of a bee means ‘bee’. But this is far too simplistic a way of expressing things, and doesn’t cover the intangible things, like emotions and time and action. Hieroglyphs are a surprisingly complex […]

Architecture Most people come to egypt to see the Pyramids and ancient monuments, so it’s worthwhile knowing at least a bit about the styles of architecture and teh different buildings. Mastabas Early kings and nobles were buried in these block-like, above-ground tombs, intially of mudbrick and then of stone. They contain many storerooms and were […]

Naming Perhaps the most common thing that people want to know when they travel is how the pharaohs are named and how to recognize their names on the walls. Most of us are used to seeing the names of pharaohs in the oval, called a “cartouche”. Cartouche is not an egyptian word, it is French, […]

Camels Everyone expects to see camels in Egypt, and see them you do, just about everywhere. While the humble donkey is the preferred beast of burden for most people, there are still camels being used to haul loads to market (often pretty huge loads!) and most of the guards at the remote sites ride them. […]

Afterlife The Egyptians saw death not as a final ending, but as a beginning to a long, glorious afterlife (especialy for the king!). It was a part of life — not a life after death, as so many believe, but instead a continuation fo the current life in another place. Their beliefs fostered the creation […]

Pyramids While pyramids exist all over the world, the spectular monuments in Egypt capture the imagination and represent the whole of Egyptian history. Pyarmids evolved throughout the course of Egyptian history from small mound-like mastabas that morphs into the stepped pyramid in the third Dynasty adn then to various forms of the true pyarmid in […]

Coffee Begone, watery brew from Starbucks…Turkish coffee will kick you into the middle of next week. Any cup of coffee that doesn’ tleave a brown sludge in the cup is wimpy. Our guide said that he could “read the grounds” and tell our fortune from the dregs left in the cup. While I might be […]

Toilets It’s really bizarre, but one of the most common questions we got from people when we got back was , “did they have toilets?”. Strange. I guess people have heard that the bathroom options in Egypt can be…daunting. FIrst off, don’t worry. Egypt has quite modern plumbing. Nearly every place we visited had a […]