The reason why a fake is placed here is that it is a key to unlocking the mystery of Egyptian history. French archaeologist Champollion deciphered the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics through the three characters on the stone. The Rosetta Stone, the key to unlocking the mystery of ancient Egyptian civilization, has three characters on it.
After basically looking at all of them, Yunluo thought that the most impressive thing must be Tutankhamun's golden burial objects. Tutankhamun may not have done anything, but his greatest achievement was to be buried well. Because his tomb was below the tomb of another pharaoh in the Valley of the Kings, he was saved from tomb robbery. The most exquisite of his burial objects is probably his golden mask. If you look closely, you will definitely admire its exquisite craftsmanship: every inch of muscle on his face is so real, down to the angles of the corners of the eyes, eye sockets, cheekbones, corners of the mouth, and chin, all like real people, and you can even feel the texture of the skin on the gold. The young pharaoh died suddenly for unknown reasons, and his golden mask is now displayed in the museum, watching the people coming and going every day.
Due to the time difference, today was actually extended by 6 hours for Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo. It was only after 3 pm when they left the museum, and according to the plan, Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo should take the 8:15 pm train to Aswan, the southernmost city in Egypt. So Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo were arranged to go shopping at a papyrus painting shop and a supermarket. The authentic papyrus painting is indeed quite beautiful. If you don't care about the price of the authentic one, you can consider buying it back as a souvenir. After all, it is one of the most representative cultural products in Egypt. But you must bargain. The original price is hundreds or thousands of Egyptian pounds. Basically, Yunluo feels that it is not a big problem to bargain at 1/3 of the original price. After buying it, the salesman did not forget to ask you for cooling oil and ballpoint pen. They love these small things made in China. The salesman of the papyrus painting shop showed Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo how to make it, and Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo bought this one.
Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo arrived at Giza Railway Station at about 6 o'clock. It has been a long time since I saw such a simple and shabby railway station. In fact, I don't mean to belittle it. Many people who have traveled to Egypt also don't like some people to belittle and complain about Egypt's development. Because there is fun in it. Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo have to wait until 8:15 at the railway station, and it is said that it is normal for the train to be delayed by 1 or 2 hours... Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo sat on the ground and started to kill the Three Kingdoms. They were tired and the train didn't come. In the end, I felt like a migrant worker, waiting for the train to the destination in a strange city.
Image description: Train station platform. Location: Giza. Finally, at 9 o'clock, Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo arrived. The sleeper car has one room for every two people. This is actually much better than the sleeper cars in China, although the space is relatively small. Water, dinner and breakfast are available on the train, but there is no way to take a shower. After a day of tossing in the hot weather, it is really depressing not to be able to take a shower. Dinner is really not good. The chicken is so hard that Yunluo began to wonder if the best meal of the entire trip to Egypt would be the boxed meal of Egypt Airlines.
Since this day was extended for no reason, I was very tired when I got on the train. After eating and cleaning up, I planned to go to bed. But the air conditioner was really freezing. It didn't work even if I adjusted the temperature. Yunluo's bed was still a little damp. It was very uncomfortable. But because they were so tired, Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo fell asleep quickly. It was expected that Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo would reach the southernmost part of Egypt the next morning.
It would be better to go to the pyramids in the afternoon, as the sunset over the pyramids is spectacular, and there is a sound and light show in the evening. It is best not to pay attention to people riding camels, taking photos for you, taking photos with you, and vendors in the pyramids area, as you are more likely to be cheated.
If you have the opportunity to go to Egypt by yourself, you must spend more time in the museum. However, since most of the cultural relics do not have any written introductions, you must do your homework in advance. And you can get free explanations when you get there.
Traffic in Cairo is really bad, with serious traffic jams. It's a different kind of traffic jam. There are no lanes, and cars just cross and weave in and out of the road, which is quite chaotic. But few people honk their horns.
Toilets in tourist areas in Egypt are charged, usually 1 Egyptian pound, and sometimes you can pay with cooling oil, but toilets are free in places where people eat. You must bargain when buying things, even in stores where tour groups take you. But I guess you can't bargain in supermarkets.
As expected, the train was delayed for 2 hours. We arrived in Aswan at around 10 am. Aswan was a quarry in ancient times. Swan is the name of a kind of stone produced there, and A is the prefix of Arabic, which is the origin of the place name.
When I arrived in Aswan, the first thing I felt was, it was hot! The temperature in Aswan in midsummer can reach 40 or 50 degrees. It feels like there is fire everywhere. I regretted wearing short sleeves. It would be cooler if I wore long sleeves and long pants because it can block the sun. I saw women walking with things on their shoulders near the train station. Many people in Egypt carry things this way. They have a great sense of balance.
After leaving Aswan Railway Station, Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo went directly to the first attraction, the Aswan Dam. There were several sentry posts along the way because it seemed to be a military zone. The Nile River floods once a year, and the original Egyptians could not do agricultural work during the Nile flood season. As the uppermost dam of the Nile River in Egypt, the Aswan Dam has solved the Nile River flooding and electricity problems for the entire Egypt, but it is also facing threats. Once the Aswan Dam is destroyed, Egypt will be flooded within 16 hours.
On the way to the dam, we passed the old Aswan Dam and took a photo in the car. The glass caused a white arc to form on the photo.
The Aswan Dam is the third largest dam in the world, the first being the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River. Coincidentally, while both of them bring economic benefits, they also face the problem of more than 100,000 people being relocated and cultural relics being submerged. The same thing is that both of them started and completed the construction under such problems. I am afraid no one can tell the pros and cons.
The dam was built during the reign of President Nasser, so the artificial lake created by the dam is called Lake Nasser. It is this lake that may have submerged many temples of all sizes. The lake is azure blue, reflecting the oasis behind it and the desert not far away, forming a beautiful scene of coexistence of life and death.
Among the temples that were submerged during the construction of the Aswan Dam, some important temples were also "rescued", the most famous of which is the Abu Simbel Temple, followed by the Philae Temple. The Egyptians cut the temples into large stones, marked them with numbers, and then moved them to the destination for reconstruction. It is said that the cost was too high and the Egyptian government could not repay the loan, so some of the dismantled temples were directly given to the lending countries to pay off the debt. I don't know whether to say that they don't care or that they don't care.
The Philae Temple was originally on an island, but was later moved to another island, which requires a boat ride. Its main feature is that it includes the styles of three periods - there is a temple from the Pharaoh period, a temple from the Roman period, and most of the buildings are from the Ptolemaic dynasty. There are occasional water birds on the pier leading to the temple, which is quite lively.
It should be said that this was Yun Luo's first contact with a real temple (there is also a temple opposite the Sphinx, but because it is from the ancient dynasty, there are basically no decorations and it is difficult to preserve it intact). The murals in the temple are very Egyptian and full of religious colors. The ancient Egyptians believed in polytheism, and the sun god was the highest god. The Philae Temple is said to be the place where Isis, the goddess of life, resurrected Osiris, the god of death who was killed by his brother Set, the evil god, and gave birth to Horus, the god of revenge, so most of the murals are related to this myth.
It feels very comfortable to walk in the temple. Because it is on the island, the breeze from the lake blows from time to time. The towering stone pillars are full of historical majesty and vicissitudes. The light and shadow between the stone pillars witness the rotation of time day after day. The front of the temple is a bit special. The tower gate is slightly blocked by the colonnade.
One of the famous murals on the outer wall of the tower gate is the god Horus wearing the crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. Inside the temple, the lighting sets off the atmosphere very well - with the lighting, there is basically no need for a flashlight.
Obelisk is a kind of stone monument used for memorial in ancient Egypt. The obelisk is dozens of meters high and is made of a whole piece of stone. It is hard to imagine how this stone was carved out and erected. Fortunately, an unfinished obelisk of Queen Hatshepsut was left in the quarry in Aswan, so people can understand the whole story.
The obelisk is a piece of stone that was carved out of a mountain. The surroundings of the stone are easy to deal with, as they can be carved directly, but the problem is how to separate the obelisk from the ground. The ancient Egyptians chiseled small holes in the stone, stuffed sawdust into them, and poured hot water into them every day. The expansion of the wood would separate the stone from the ground. Then they waited for the Nile River to flood, transported the stone to the destination, and erected the obelisk by digging a hole at the bottom of the obelisk, padding the top with sand, and pulling it with manpower.
This unfinished obelisk is a historical regret, because if it had been completed, it would have become the tallest obelisk in Egypt, and it would have belonged to the only female pharaoh in Egyptian history. But because it was too large and had problems with the selection of materials, it was damaged before it was completed. You can see several deep cracks on the inverted stone. However, it is precisely because of this regret that people are able to understand the method of making obelisks, which may be considered a kind of luck.
There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!
The obelisk was really hot here, with a temperature of 45 degrees and no shelter. From the direction of the shadow, we can see that the sun is basically shining directly, and it feels like the whole body is about to crack. This big stone is the obelisk, and you can see deep cracks.
People say that Egypt is the gift of the Nile River. It is true. The ancient Egyptians lived around the Nile River and developed agriculture based on the Nile River, which gave birth to a brilliant culture that continues to this day. (To be continued...)