Land of Ancient Gods

Imagine Egypt, and what do you see? A line of camels, laden with treasure, ambling across the sand, past monuments built by ancient civilisations that remain a mystery to us even today. In the distance, where the desert ends, sunlight sparkles on the surface of a kaleidoscopic underwater world. Air Astana has recently launched charter flights to this extraordinary country.

FIRST STOP

Almost every first-time visitor to Egypt will set off straight away to visit the pyramids at Giza. The Cheops pyramid, the larger of the three, is one of the seven wonders of the world. Close up can you almost see the breath of antiquity emanating from these monumental tombs, and even though they are crumbling in places they show a majestic determination to resist the passage of time.

Before you go you should know what every traveller learns, which is that the local Bedouins can be rather sly. When your guide leaves you free to wander around, they will immediately bring up a camel and offer you a ride for, let us a say, a dollar. Many a happy tourist has posed for photos from the height of a camel’s back only to discover that their return journey to the ground will also cost them, often ten times more than it cost to get up in the first place. And believe me, you can’t get down on your own as camels are very tall and trained to do exactly what their owner says.

Pitfalls aside, the pyramids are truly majestic and you really should see them once in your lifetime.

Generally trips to the pyramids include a tour of the Egyptian Museum, where you can admire, amongst other antiquities, desiccated mummies.

In all honesty, this delight is not to everyone’s taste. You will also be taken to a factory that produces essential and aromatic oils. These are classic Egyptian souvenirs and don’t be intimidated by the sheer range of possibilities. Choosing the one you want to buy is a special joy. Take at least one small bottle and it will last for many years.

LESSER-KNOWN LUXOR

When you have seen Giza, make your next event a trip to Luxor. Your first port of call will be the Theban necropolis and the famous Valley of the Kings. The pharaohs have now been removed and the sepulchres are empty, but it is hard to express your sense of awe as you descend to the mortuary temples. The walls are covered with hieroglyphs and pictures that reveal how educated these ancient rulers were. You might not believe in their divine origins or any other fantastic descriptions of their arrival in this world, but when you see the picture of an astronaut in a space suit or a helicopter over a city it is a little scary.

After that you will find Luxor is waiting for you, a magical place that looks as though it housed giants many years ago. How else can you explain the size of everything around you? Karnak is a huge open-air complex that makes you wish there was more of it left to explore. You may feel that nothing could surprise you by now, but Luxor Temple will prove you wrong. One thing to remember is to close your mouth from time to time as you tend to find your jaw has dropped open. No photo can capture that sense you get of being at the feet of a seated pharaoh, who though he may not have been a god, was surely a near relative of one. Your brain struggles to comprehend how people living thousands of years ago managed to create all this.

This is where you start to understand the strength, grandeur and power of Ancient Egypt. Luxor is easily as breathtaking as the relics of other ancient civilizations like the Maya or the Incas. It is magnificent.

IF HISTORY IS NOT FOR YOU

If you have already experienced these wonders, or are simply looking for somewhere to bask in the sunshine, there is still the grandeur of nature to enjoy. The Red Sea is considered to be one of the best places in the world to go diving and snorkeling. The underwater world here is much more beautiful than the earthly one. Shoals of multi-coloured fish whisk around corals and playfully swim alongside. If you’re a nervous beginner and not ready for scuba diving, then grab a mask and set off to find the Nemo of cartoon fame as there are many of these fish here, as well as a variety of surgeonfish that are similar to Dory, Nemo’s friend.

It is amusing to swim close to the shore among these small fish. But if you swim out a little further a chasm opens up beneath you. This is where a fear of heights could become a fear of depths. You feel as though you are on top of a mountain and looking into an abyss. There, far below, live fish that are far larger than their coral-dwelling cousins. The deeper you go the bigger the fish. They swim slowly, moving their tails almost reluctantly. You begin to see that everything in Egypt is outsized, both living and dead.

Why is the Red Sea so perfect? To start with it’s very warm, as even if the air temperature is 16-17oc, the seawater will be 21-22oc. This means you can stay in the water for hours, watching the fish flitting through the coral. Don’t forget your special swimming shoes to protect your feet and avoid getting a splinter from a sea urchin.

THIS IS EGYPT

It may sound trite, but if you haven’t visited a market, you haven’t really seen Egypt. Go there even for no better reason than curiosity. You are unlikely to come back emptyhanded. A good tip is don’t buy gold; two months later it will turn a dull greyish-yellow rather like Cinderella’s coach after midnight.

Market traders take pleasure in pouring you a drink of aromatic sweet hibiscus tea while at the same time extolling their goods and explaining that they have exactly the same across the street but of course the quality is much worse. You can buy here the same aromatic oils as in the factory in Cairo. Kaffiyehs (traditional headdress) are extremely popular in the evenings as in the desert the cold comes as fast as the

darkness. With spices, sweets and trinkets this is a proper oriental bazaar, and what do people do in one of these? They bargain. If you accept the price offered by a seller, you will fall badly in his estimation. They increase the real price on purpose to give them the chance to bargain as it is what makes the interaction such fun. The longer the bargaining lasts the more tea you will be offered and the more of the seller’s respect you will earn.

You can’t fit the full story of

Egypt into any travel article. How can you fit in the Sphinx and Nile River cruises, underwater tours in bathyscaphes and hotels that look like royal palaces, beautiful deserts, narrow Cairo streets, and the people who live in this extraordinary country? If you are still wondering whether you should book a flight to Egypt, then make the decision to go right now and you won’t regret it.