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TRAVELLER
35
DISCOVERIES
Three hours after take-off you should
be able tomake out Athens (7), a vast
city of predominantlywhite buildings. We
are nowentering an area that includes
several of the sites known as the Seven
Wonders of the AncientWorld. About
160kmduewest of Athens lies the ancient
city of Olympia (8), where a 12mstatue of
the god Zeus was held, chiselled by the
sculptor Phidias in 432BC. Heading east
to Turkey, the holiday resort of Bodrum
(9) was once home to another wonder,
theMausoleumat Halicarnassus, sadly
destroyed long ago by earthquakes.
Continuing our journey south, we cross
the western side of the island of Rhodes
(10) to the site of yet another one, the
30m statue of Helios, built in 292BC to
commemorate Rhodes’ resistance to a
Cypriot siege – later snapped off at the
knees by another earthquake.
Entering Egyptian airspace, we cross
the coast slightly east of Alexandria (11),
a city famous for the huge lighthouse that
stood there in the time of the Pharaohs
– again, you’ve guessed it, destroyed by
earthquakes. Flying over Cairo always
triggers a frantic attempt by both pilots
to pinpoint the only ancient wonder still
in evidence, but the pyramids (12) are
harder to spot than you might think.
Turning south-east as we prepare for
our descent, we cross the magnificent
engineering achievement that is the Suez
Canal (13). Opened in 1869 after 10 years’
construction, the canal is 193km long, 8m
deep and can accommodate almost any
vessel. Then we begin our descent over
the Sinai Desert (14). This landscape is
biblical in every sense: the terrain truly
breathtaking, reminiscent of the surface
of the moon. At its highest point stands
Mount Sinai, 2,285m above sea level and
widely accepted as the site where Moses
received the Ten Commandments.
SharmEl Sheikh (15) comes as a
welcome oasis as we prepare the aircraft
for landing. While the lucky passengers
disembark into the Egyptian sunshine,
for us it’s just 40minutes on the ground
before we do the whole thing in reverse!
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