Napoleonic Alliance

1998 Tour of Egypt

DEPARTING CHICAGO'S O'HARE Airport, our intrepid travelers boarded a Lufthansa flight for Frankfurt. Early the next morning a few of us traveled by train to downtown Frankfurt for breakfast and a walkabout before continuing on to Alexandria, Egypt.

There the group visited the El Alamein Battlefield and Museum, Aboukir Bay, Aboukir Fort, Rosetta, Pompey's Pillar (which marked the site of Napoleon's headquarters during his attack on Alexandria), and various Greco-Roman sites, at one of which the group discovered two French naval cannon believed to have come from Admiral Bruey's ill-fated flagship, L'Orient, and ended the day with a visit to Heliopolis.

During four days in Cairo we invaded the Egyptian Museum, visited the pyramids, entered the tomb of Pharaoh Chefren, rode camels, bargained in the bazaar, tiptoed quietly into the Mosque of Salah-al-Din, toured the Egyptian National Army Museum, and purchased identical cartouches with the name "Napoleon" in hieroglyphs. The Marriott hotel, a former palace, was a jewel on the Nile. Several members managed to locate some Napoleonic treasures in nearby antique shops, among which were 19th Century ivory portrait miniatures of young Napoleon and of an unnamed artillery NCO wearing the French 1812 uniform.

We then embarked on a memorable five day cruise down the Nile to Aswan. The consensus was that Oberon Philae, our ship's name, must be Egyptian for "incredible luxury." Each splendidly apportioned cabin had its own outdoor patio, and the food was incredibly good. Every day held a new adventure. We were greeted on our very first evening by a full moon rising over the Nile - a sight never to be forgotten. The ship stopped several times during the cruise to allow the passengers to disembark and visit temples along the way. Of particular interest to members of the group were the ruins at Memphis, and the lovely little temple at Philae which included Napoleonic grafiti engraved on the walls by the French.

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