GOURMET TRAVELLER 131where the kings and queens are stored, but there’s
also embalmed baboons, cats, gazelles, and the sacred
ibis, a bird no longer found in Egypt in the wild.
The collection includes Tutankhamun’s death mask,
its gold and lapis splendour instantly familiar and
even more impressive than one would dare hope. But
there’s something plaintive and transporting about
the sight of the dead king’s portable chess set. There
is much to be said for any cultural institution that
devotes an entire display case to small limestone
coffins made for scarab beetles.
All these antiquities and more are destined for
new quarters at Giza, about 40 minutes or two hours
from Cairo, depending on the traffic. When it opens
in 2020, the new Grand Egyptian Museum will be one
of the largest museums in the world.
What can I say about the Great Pyramid? What’s
left in the gap between what’s in the books and the
place where language falls short of the task of capturing
the immensity of the last surviving Wonder of the
Ancient World? On the one hand, there’s the reality of
the reek of pony piss and the stink of camel, a byproduct
of the booming trade in cart rides and camel-driven
photo-ops. On the other hand, I can confirm that
the pyramids do not – perhaps cannot – fall short of
expectation. They loom from miles afar. Up close their
proportions are no easier to comprehend, their lines
magnetic. Some scholars suggest, in the sense that they
were a project that called for the careful marshalling of
vast resources and manpower over many years, that the
pyramids could be said to have built Egypt rather than
the other way around.“A
lexandria. At last. Alexandria, Lady
of the Dew.” Naguib Mahfouz again.
“Bloom of white nimbus. Bosom of
radiance, wet with sky water. Core
of nostalgia steeped in honey and tears.” I didn’t
see much crying in Alexandria, but I saw plenty of
honey. This is the place to put Egyptian food through
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