The Idiot delayed the start of his latest walk around the Mediterranean Sea when Alexander the Great sent him on a ten-day mission to “explore my legacy along the Nile before you walk along the sea to the capital city I created at Alexandria.”

Here are some of the things The Idiot saw and did at the behest of Alexander following their conversation in the former Egyptian capital of Memphis:

Alexander asked The Idiot to visit Luxor Temple where he claims to have been coronated by the Egyptians after he defeated the Persians in 332 BC.

The Idiot then, as Alexander requested, visited the nearby Temple of Karnak to see…

…a depiction of Alexander created by Egyptian workers in appreciation of the way the great Greek embraced Egyptian deities and had his troops rebuild the pylons at the temple entrance.

Alexander also requested that The Idiot travel far up the Nile near the current Sudan border to the Sun Temple of Abu Simbel to “pay my regards to Ramses II and applaud him for his monumental impact on Egyptian civilization.”

Paying respects to the gargantuan statues of Ramses II at Abu Simble on behalf of Alexander the Great.
(Photo: Kate Gale)

Alexander the Great then instructed The Idiot to “float down the Nile and visit some of the temples representing the blend of Ancient Egyptian and Hellenistic architecture and religion that I shrewdly promoted to placate the Egyptians — and that my successors in the Ptolemaic Dynasty pursued for more than 300 years until the Romans stepped in.”

That directive led The Idiot to make…

…a reflective visit to Phileae near Aswan with its…

…Greek-influenced courtyard and colonnades. And then, further downriver, to explore…

….Kom Ombo, a temple dedicated to the crocodile deity Sobek, where Alexander asked The Idiot to “take a photograph of a headless Greek”…

…and “take home two mummified crocodiles as an offering to your 97-year-old mother.”

Alexander had told The Idiot it would nearly time to return to the Mediterranean and MedTrek after “you visit an archeological dig at Saqqara to see what they’ve come up with and tell them to quit trying to repair the pyramids.”

“Alexander the Great told me to tell you to quit trying to repair this pyramid!” The Idiot shouted to two workers at the top of scaffolding at the Step Pyramid in Saqqara.

“Alexander the Great wants to know what you’ve found,” The Idiot shouted to workers on a dig at Saqqara.

Then he asked The Idiot to “dress more appropriately and find the right water bottle to accompany you on your MedTrek after dancing with an Egyptian belly dancer on the Nile.”

The Idiot changes his fashion look and finds an appropriate “water bottle” and will resume the MedTrek towards Alexandria…

…after dancing with an Egyptian belly dancer on the Nile.
(Photo: Kate Gale)

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About Joel

Joel Stratte-McClure has been a global trekker since the 1970s. He lived in France for over 30 years, working as a journalist, before he turned his attention to a unique life-time-project of walking the shores of the Mediterranean. The first 4,401 kilometers are explored in his inspirational and entertaining first book "The Idiot and the Odyssey: Walking the Mediterranean." The next 4,401 kilometers are covered in the gods-filled sequel, "The Idiot and the Odyssey II: Myth, Madness and Magic on the Mediterranean,” published on Valentine's Day 2013. The last 4,401 kilometers will be discussed in the last book of the trilogy currently entitled "The Idiot and the Odyssey III: Alexander the Great Walks the Mediterranean."