Picture This: Saturday, Jan. 24 – The Land of Goshen

Note: Please see Ferrell’s Travel Blog for the biblical significance of the places we visited today. Today we have a full day of bus travel (yippee) into the eastern Delta region of Egypt. We will visit the ancient land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived during the time of their oppression. It takes us quite a while to get out of Cairo, as usual, and we have to stop a couple of times to “check” in with the authorities. What seems strange now, is just the beginning of today’s adventure. As I mentioned before, we always have an armed guard with us, but today the take it up a notch. We pass through a military compound and have two armed cars escort us- one in the front and one in the back. As we cross from Cairo’s providence (there are 28 in Egypt) into the next (like crossing county lines), we have to stop at a checkpoint. Oswan had to get out of the bus, and spent a significant amount of time talking to the authorities about our route and where we are gong today. Apparently our agenda is not standard for tourists. In fact our bus driver has never been on these roads, so this should be interesting! Oswan came back to the bus for water to offer the “Governor” and there is no telling what else he had to do to make it happen (someone mentioned bananas), but he came through again. They agree to let us go, but the Governor is coming with us! Wow, we are thinking we are pretty important at this point. We have 3 escorts in front and 2 in back…and don’t forget, the Governor is in one of the cars…Ferrell says this is as close to being at the center of a funeral procession as we can get, and now we know how it feels. It’s been about 2 hours and I bet we haven’t gone more than 20 miles! When Oswan returns, we also learn that there are many more military workers than there are jobs, so the fact that we being so heavily monitored, really doesn’t mean much. They just need something to do this afternoon!

We are well protected. There are three more of these in front of the bus.

As we drive into the delta region, we observe life as it must have been for years. We pass beautiful, green fields on both sides of the bus and see the locals tending and harvesting crops, transporting crops either by donkey drawn cart, single donkey, or just on top of their heads. One of the most fascinating observations are the “fertilizer” factories. Every farm has one…or two…or more. They park their cow, bull, or donkey in front of a stack of hay and fertilizer is deposited of the other end. The fancy ones are even shaded under straw huts. Jane are you sorry you asked me to blog on this trip? We sure do miss you and Olen.

Did I mention that the armed cars sound their sirens as we pass through these tiny villages. You’d think “Omaba” was coming through.

Our first stop is the scattered ruins of Bubastis, which was the ancient capitol of Egypt. It is near the modern city of Zagizig - we remember the name because it sounds like a zig-zag, but backwards. It is located 48 miles north of Cairo. This is the ancient sight of Pi-beseth (mentioned in Ezekiel 30:17), which is the house of Bastet, the cat-goddess. Bastet was the daughter of Ra, the sun god.

Becky (l) and Katherine (r) examine a pottery shard at Bubastis.

We are quite shocked to learn that there is no WC (water closet - or restroom to us) at the site, since they are building a new museum. The WC on the bus is also out of order, and it has been a long time since we boarded the bus. We put in a request for a rest stop and Oswan promises to see what he can do. You really can’t appreciate what an outrageous request this is. There just aren’t pubic facilities, especially ones to accommodate a tour bus, in the middle of nowhere, which is close to where we are! Oswan sees a public medical facility and they graciously allow us to invade the facility. We are much happier travelers now!

Next stop is the ancient royal city of Tanis (biblical Zoan, Numbers 13:22; Psalms 78:12, 43). In movie legend,Raiders of the Lost Ark, this is where Indiana Jones' character recovered the Ark of the Covenant. Tanis was Egypt's capitol during the 21st and 22nd dynasties. The tombs (empty sarcophagus) of Sheshong III, Psusennes I, and Osorkon are located at this site, as well as 14 (pieces of) pink granite obelisks, and a number of statues of Rameses II.

Stacy has been keeping an incredible journal on this trip. She is even sketching some of the images, hieroglyphics, and statues inside the tombs and museums.

We continue into the rural delta area and are fascinated by how much these scenes still reflect life as it was in ancient times. Contrast that with the fact that we have had cell phone coverage almost constantly. We pass orange orchards, fruit stands, and even car part shops. Especially amusing, since the cars on the road don’t appear to ever receive any mechanical attention. We even saw two camels riding in the back of a truck. There just seems to be something wrong with that picture.

I bet you thought I was kidding about the camels!

Tell el-Daba is currently identified as Avaris, the Hyksos capital, and is thought to be the Rameses of Exodus 1:11. Ramses was one of the treasure cities (along with Pithom) that the Israelites built. Tell el-Daba is not open to tourists at this time so we just drive past it. I did get a picture of the canal that follows the Pelusiac branch of the Nile.

We saw two significant sites in the regions we are currently in, known as the Wadi Tumilat. First, we approached Tell el-Retebah which is possibly Pithom, the “house of Atum,” from Exodus 1:11. Because we have this caravan of military escorts, we are not allowed to stop and take pictures. Oswan told us to ready the cameras and that the “Tell “ (an unexcavated archeological site) could be seen just as we passed over the bridge. We all aimed and shot out the window, but I’m not sure I got anything other than a hill of dirt! About 10 miles south of Pithom, we approached Tell el-Maskhuta, which is thought to be the biblical city of Succoth (Ex. 13:20; Num. 33:6). Succoth was one of the places the Israelites camped after leaving Egypt. Over the years various Scholars have flipped-flopped between the identification of these two cities. Both sites are located in the east end of Wadi Tumilat. The Land of Goshen is in what is referred to today as the Wadi Tumilat. We are pretty weary at this time so the jokes are pretty bad. Someone suggested that this area is the “Tell of Two Cities.”

Stacy, Margaret, Sara, Ferrell Jr., Judy, Lacey, and Michael anxiously await the "Tell" sighting.

Our final stop today is at the hotel Mercure, a very welcomed rest stop on Lake Timsah (at Ismailia). Lake Timsah is a part of the Suez Canal system. We rushed outside the hotel to the shore of the lake to see the Suez Canal before dark. Several of us plunged a hand or foot into the water, so we could say we had touched the Mediterranean and Red Sea at the same time. The regions is thought by some scholars to have been the place of the crossing of the Yam Suph (Reed Sea). Other scholars place the crossing of the Sea between Lake Timsah and Lake Ballah.