Egypt and it's sites require little introduction, the pyramids and sphinx are probably two of the most distinctive icons in the world (below). The engineering involved was very impressive, only the touts constantly pestering detract from the ancient monuments.
Probably the most famous Pharaoh is Tutankhamun, not because he was a particularly impressive Pharaoh, but because his tomb and the spleandours within were discovered intact as opposed to the robbed and desecrated tombs of the other Pharaohs. Tutankhamun's death mask (below) is a beautiful sculpture in solid gold that has become another recognised image.
Most of what people go to see in Egypt is the ancient stuff, although there are some more recent creations that are also noteworthy, for example the Muhammed Ali Mosque (below), nothing to do with the boxer.
Luxor and Karnak hold an impressive wealth of ancient buildings and tombs. The scale of construction is generally beyond comparison. The Obelisks in single pieces of pink granite (photo 1) are beautifully carved with hieroglyphics and appear brand new. There are temples as grand if not grander than anything constructed in the past thousand years. Even the homes of the artisans remain intact to a limited extent (photo 2). What many fail to appreciate is that these edifices would all have been very lurid colours in their heyday, not the sandy colours depicted in Hollywood films. This can be seen on some of the ceilings and in the tombs. The hieroglyphics were not just symbols but colourful pictures (photo 3). The Pylons at the entrance to the temples was of a massive scale (photo 4) humbling all those who entered the temple through these magnificent gates.
In Aswan there are many more interesting sites and also the opportunity to take a Felucca ride on the Nile.
Several years later I was back in Egypt just to do some diving and here are some of the photos from that trip. Firstly some of the views of the alps as we flew there.
These are of the place I was staying in Marsa Shagra, near Marsa Alam, in the far south of the country.
The place put on a surprisingly good spread for Christmas, particularly when you consider no-one cared about celebrating it and we were in a Muslim country.
These photos are not anything fantastic, but not bad considering I was only using disposable underwater cameras.
