We stopped at a few shops during the course of our tours– in Cairo, we stopped at a papyrus shop and a cartouche shop; in Luxor, we stopped at an alabaster shop; and in Aswan, we stopped at a cotton shop. These places are 100 percent tourist-y and I would guess there is about a 100 percent chance our guides get commissions for taking us there. For the most part, I did NOT enjoy stopping at these shops…even if things were locally-made, it felt like visiting a factory. The papyrus shop near Giza was such a hustle, it was truly a sight to see. Nine or ten salespeople greeted were each at their respective tables, giving short presentations on the history of papyrus in a handful of difference languages. They’d take a papyrus stalk, strip it, show how it is soaked in water, pounded flat, and pressed. Our salesperson ran through the presentation so quickly, I’m not even certain she was actually speaking English.
The alabaster factory was the same kind of show. We walked up and these guys were outside, waiting and ready to show the tourists how it’s done. Don’t get me wrong, it was great, because otherwise I’d think alabaster just came out of the ground all translucent and magnificent. Here is step one, chiseling.
Hollowing out the center:
Eventually, the whole thing is sanded and smoothed and looks something like this (when illuminated):
Mom/Tom and Severin bought several gifts here. I was a mostly unenthused shopper because I’d been having tummy troubles since the previous morning…so I drank two and half bottles of water while sitting and watch them futz. I was moderately annoyed that we were burning some of our paid private tour time to shop at this place, but then again, the bathrooms were clean, there was air conditioning, people got some good stuff, and we recharged our batteries in the midst of a very long day of sightseeing….so all in all, it was probably a good stop to have made.
Alabaster, while pretty neat, is quite expensive– I don’t remember how much exactly, but it seemed like a lot. I did love how each piece of alabaster was so unique, and you could really see the different attributes of each piece. I might have considered getting something, but I just couldn’t figure out how we’d illuminate them. Once we got on a the boat a few days later, I figured out what the trick is– you buy a vase that has no bottom, then you place the whole vase on top of a pillar candle on a small plate.