Week 6: 9–15 February 2025
This Sunday, our week started early in the morning. Many of us left at seven to go to the passport office for our new visa’s. Just like last time, this was an interesting experience. The passport office is always full of activity, and the process is always slightly different than what you would expect. We were very lucky that we got our newly made visa’s after just one hour. Afterwards, many of us went to the Egyptian Museum to consult the database for our papers, and I finally managed to find my museum object in the database, which I was quite happy about. Then we all went our separate ways. I headed home to do some work on my site presentation and my paper for the rest of the day, while others went to study in various cafes and libraries.
Monday was a day of self-study, which we all did in various different places. Samantha and I went to study at Holm Cafe near the NVIC. Afterwards I went to the NVIC to do some more work and some printing, and then it was time to head home and practice for my site presentation.
On Tuesday we went on an excursion again: Saqqara! There was so much to see in so little time, but we still managed to visit a lot of different places. We started out near the Step Pyramid of Djoser, where Marleen gave us an introduction to the site of Saqqara. Then we went into the pyramid. Luckily for us, the descent was much easier than when we went into the Bent Pyramid at Dahshur. Afterwards, we also visited the pyramid of Unas, where we saw the oldest Pyramid Texts. I remember spending many Sundays at home translating these texts, and it was interesting to see them in real life. We also visited the New Kingdom Tombs, including the Tomb of Maya, which had been rediscovered in an excavation in which the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden also took part. After lunch—where some dogs decided to join us—we visited the tomb of Mereruka at the complex of Teti. Then it was finally time for my site presentation at the tomb of Ti. It was interesting to see this site in real life, after all my research on it. When we were done at the tomb of Ti, it was almost closing time, but we could not leave without a quick visit to the Serapeum, which was very impressive.
On Wednesday, we all met at Bab el-Futuh for a lovely walking tour through Islamic Cairo focusing on pharaonic spolia, guided by Radwa Zaki from the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. It was so interesting to see the traces of Ancient Egypt in the buildings we visited. After the tour, some of us went back home, but I stayed together with Ricardo, Yasi, Lisa, and Agnieszka to explore the area some more and have something to eat. Time flew by very quickly and before we knew it, it was time to head towards the IFAO for a lecture by Séverine Marchi on excavations at Kerma and Dukki Gel. The lecture was entirely in French, but luckily I was able to follow a lot of it, and it was interesting to hear about archaeology in Nubia.
On Thursday morning, I joined the Arabic students on a walking tour through Downtown Cairo. It was exciting to learn more about the history of Egypt in the 19th and 20th centuries. We saw a lot of different buildings, which each had a fascinating history. I especially enjoyed the story of the “palace of Champollion”. According to the story, Champollion lived there, but it wasn’t actually built until the 1890’s, about 60 years after his death.
After the tour, I worked on my paper. In the evening, we attended a lecture at the NVIC by Mohamad el-Merheb about the reign of Shajar al-Durr. This was a topic I did not know anything about, but I enjoyed the lecture, and it really showed the importance of a critical reading of historical sources.
Friday was a free day, but because I planned to go to the flea market on Saturday, I had to work on my paper. I tracked down a lot of literature and started writing. In the evening, we all had a lovely dinner together at our place, and Ricardo had made Spanish omelette.
On Saturday, Machteld and I went to the flea market near Downtown Cairo. It was so much fun to look at all the different things being sold. It reminded me of the flea markets on King’s Day in the Netherlands. I managed to buy a gift for my dad, and we found the only hippo on the market, which of course we had to bring home for Samantha. Once home, we were back to studying, and so the week came to an end.
Mayke Winsemius
