The Delta : Excursions From Cairo

The loveliest place in the immediate vicinity of Cairo lies 15km north at the Nile barrages in the town of Qanater. Decorated vividly with turrets and arches, the barrages were constructed in the first quarter of the 19th century in an attempt to regulate the flow of water into the Delta. Avoid visiting on a Friday when the crowds burgeon into absurdity. Small bridges connect the islets next to the barrages, where the Nile reaches one of its widest points.

Qanater marks the official beginning of the Delta. Bus#2l4 sputters there (15pt) from the front of the Nile Hilton at Tahrir Sq. A small passenger ferry runs along the Nile between Cairo and Qanater hourly 6am-6pm (2hr., LE2). Catch the ferry on the west bank of the comiche, north of the Ramses Hilton and in front of the Television Building. It’s also possible to hire a. felucca, but the journey to Qanater from Cairo voraciously consumes time, as the mast of the boat must be lowered for each bridge. Farther north lie the flat agricultural lands of the Nile Delta, “the pharaoh’s breadbasket,” lauded as the most fertile agricultural region in the world.

It was primarily in Lower Egypt that the Old Kingdom thrived, and many looming monuments were erected in the Delta throughout the pharaonic period. Due to the looseness of the soil, the deployment of irrigation canals, and the natural fanning out of the river, almost all of the major pharaonic sites in the Delta have been lost. Southeast of Zagazig (SOmin. from Cairo via any train bound for Port Said or lhr. by service taxi; both about LE3), between Moustafa Kamel St. and Bulbais Rd., are the ruins of Bubastis, one of Egypt’s oldest cities and the most accessible of the Delta’s pharaonic sites. Take a taxi from the station (LE1-2). The name means “house of Bastet” and refers to the goddess of felinity to whom the main temple was dedi-

cated. The festivals here in honor of the cat goddess attracted over 700,000 devotees who would dance and sing, make sacrifices to the goddess, and consume egregious quantities of food and wine. Herodotus marveled that “more wine is drunk at this feast than in the whole year beside.” He described the temple as the most pleasurable to gaze upon in all of the Delta’s pharaonic sites. Today it is not, as the sanctuary has become a scattered pile of kitty litter. Two hundred meters down the road, explore the winding underground passages of the Cat Cemetery, where numerous celebrated bronze likenesses of Bastet have been unearthed. In Zagazig, the small Orabi Museum displays local archeological finds. (Open Sat.-Thurs. 8am-2pm, Fit 8am-12pm. Admission LE3, students LEI.50, camera privileges LE5.)

The region’s most worthwhile pharaonic site is located some distance from Cairo in the northeastern comer of the Delta’s fertile triangle (4^hrs. by service taxi from Cairo’s Ahmed Hilmi Sq., LE7; no buses). Just outside of the village of San al-Hagar, at the junction of Bahr as-Sughir and Bahr Facus, the ruins of ancient Tanis sprawl over an area of about four square kilometers. The site includes a royal necropolis, the foundations of several temples, a small museum, and a pair of sacred lakes. (Museum open daily 8am-2pm; the ruins are accessible at any time. Admission into the site LE8. students LE4.) The ruins of Tanis are impressive, but not quite as impressive as the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark would have you believe.