Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Permissions
- List of Illustrations
- List of Abbreviations
- Glossary
- Introduction
- 1 The Mamluk Rulers of Egypt
- 2 Egypt Imagined and the Realities of the Voyage
- 3 The Maritime Port of Alexandria
- 4 Sailing Upstream to Cairo
- 5 Cairo: ‘Meeting Place of Comer and Goer’
- 6 Venetian Diplomacy and the Arrival of the Ottomans
- 7 Exploring the Pyramids and Mummy Fields
- 8 Pilgrims to the Monastery of St Catherine
- 9 Adventures with the Mecca Caravan
- 10 To the South
- Europeans in Egypt in the Reigns of the Mamluk Sultans up to 1517
- Europeans in Egypt in the Reigns of the Ottoman Sultans after 1517
- Bibliography
- Index
4 - Sailing Upstream to Cairo
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Permissions
- List of Illustrations
- List of Abbreviations
- Glossary
- Introduction
- 1 The Mamluk Rulers of Egypt
- 2 Egypt Imagined and the Realities of the Voyage
- 3 The Maritime Port of Alexandria
- 4 Sailing Upstream to Cairo
- 5 Cairo: ‘Meeting Place of Comer and Goer’
- 6 Venetian Diplomacy and the Arrival of the Ottomans
- 7 Exploring the Pyramids and Mummy Fields
- 8 Pilgrims to the Monastery of St Catherine
- 9 Adventures with the Mecca Caravan
- 10 To the South
- Europeans in Egypt in the Reigns of the Mamluk Sultans up to 1517
- Europeans in Egypt in the Reigns of the Ottoman Sultans after 1517
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
When I came to Alexandria, a city of Egypt, I, longing for novelty (as a thirsty man longs for fresh water) departed from these places as being well known to all and entering the Nile arrived at Cairo.
Ludovico di Varthema, Travels in Egypt, Syria and ArabiaOnce travellers left the bustling decaying port of Alexandria they were absorbed into the atmosphere of the countryside, where the fellahin had followed the daily round according to the rhythm of the Nile since the time of the pharaohs. No matter which conqueror had invaded the land, later to recede as the tide, the life of the native Egyptians kept to its inexorable pattern, varied by the levels of harsh taxation levied to enrich the rulers.
On 5 October 1382, after a week of rest and sightseeing, Lionardo Frescobaldi and his companions prepared to set off for Cairo. Presumably the wine granted to them as a favour during their audience at the house of the chief amir had all been drunk, since the Tuscans asked the Venetian consul to fill up their barrel of malmsey for the journey.
Having paid an exit toll from the city of four ducats each, they were committed to their Muslim guide and interpreter, who with his son would conduct them to the Grand Interpreter, a Venetian renegade and high official at the court of the sultan Barquq. Sa‘id was then an old man of 70, and Simone Sigoli thought that he was, for a Saracen, quite a good man. He told Simone that in his life he had accompanied the pilgrims who went to St Catherine's and the Holy Sepulchre 67 times. One of the pilgrims he had so carefully looked after in 1347 was Niccolò di Poggibonsi on his journey to St Catherine's monastery (see Chapter 8 below).
The party rode away from Alexandria on asses with camels to transport their baggage. The road afforded a good view of the high walls, punctuated by towers and surrounded by moats. About a mile or more from the city, ‘in very great and immeasurable heat’, they reached Fuwa, the port on the canal that supplied the sweet water to Lake Mareotis and Alexandria.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- How Many Miles to Babylon?Travels and Adventures to Egypt and Beyond, From 1300 to 1640, pp. 97 - 111Publisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 2003