Nile be there
PROFESSOR ALICE ROBERTS TELLS INSIDE TV HOW SHE’S LEARNING MORE ABOUT ANCIENT EGYPT IN A NEW SERIES…
ANCIENT EGYPT BY TRAIN WITH ALICE ROBERTS Channel 4 9.10PM
Hello, Alice! So this was your first time in Egypt? It was! It was a dream job for me. I’ve wanted to go to Egypt for a very long time. A pioneering Egyptologist called Amelia Edwards wrote an incredible book about her own journey called A Thousand Miles Up The Nile. So in making this programme, I’ve almost done that – although she travelled by boat…
How much time did you spend on the trains?
We did it over the course of about three weeks. I love travelling by train. Everyone should should arrive in Cairo by train: the station is beautiful. It’s kind of art nouveau, with a sort of upside down obelisk in the centre, and palm-like decorations on the floor and ceiling. It’s mind-blowing. And travelling by train also enables you to look at the way the landscape changes. You can see how the fertile valley on either side of the Nile quickly turns into desert as you move away.
Tell us about the first episode, in Alexandria… It's an absolutely beautiful city, stretching along miles of Mediterranean seafront. And you’ve got the site of the famous Lighthouse of Alexandria, which is really impressive. I so appreciated going to all of these places and speaking to the local experts; I learned so much. It’s an interesting period when Egypt was ruled over by the Mamluk Sultanate: people who were previously enslaved ended up being an elite class of their own. I didn’t know much about that, so it was fascinating.
And what was it like going underneath the Taposiris Magna temple? It was a bit Indiana Jones! But I had good boots on, so I thought I would be okay if there were any scorpions down there! It’s always slightly nerve-wracking when you’re going into a tunnel that's only recently been excavated – but it’s also incredibly exciting to explore!