This evening Silvi and I went on an excursion to the Sharm al Sheik Museum. Located at the top of the red sea Sharm is a very tourist focussed region of Egypt. I was last here in 2012 and had a very unpleasant time being pillaged by sequential sales and marketing teams. Sharm has grown, a lot more hotels have sprung out of the sand. Cheap LED lighting gives the place a very Vegas aura. The profusion of mostly Russian speaking tourists, means if you are not dressed like an English tourist (badly) you might be mistaken for Russian. With all this rushing past as our taxi driver flouted many rules, it was nice to be on a caper. I wanted to find the source, the pre ancient history of cats, and our fascination with them.

After two security check points we were inside the mostly tourist empty, very modern Museum. It is divided into parts. The largest devoted to the classic Egyptian history that everybody knows something about.

I was lucky enough to record this walking video of the Museum with my steady cam and straight away found the Cat Mummies and this nice plaque. Sadly I left my phone onboard but Silvi as always takes the best photos. Some of my less than good photos are supplementing them.

With the primary objective complete it was time to learn about the ancient way of life and how animals were sacrosanct. It was a remarkably peaceful civilisation. Animals were all revered and given god like properties. Women and Men were equals. I think later religions got it wrong.

Following are a selection of photos from the Museum. You can see the evolution in stone work, wood, metals, integrating colours and what museum would be complete without a tomb.

Descending into the tomb we found these incredibly well preserved sarcophagus and others.

An additional section was devoted to Greek, Roman, Bedouin, and French colonisers. No offence to these cultures but it felt like it was right to be pushed off to one side. With our current civilisation lurching towards catastrophe on multiple fronts. I wonder what will be around in a few thousand years. I might need to take up stone work so these lines are somewhere.

I think we still have a couple of days here in Egypt. I might need to find a camel.