* Pictures are noted from bottom to top - Our train from Cairo (picture 1) was more comfortable than we anticipated, especially in comparison to our overnight train experience in Vietnam. Even though we left Cairo an hour late we surprisingly arrived on time in Luxor.
Since we didn't see our contact we had to take our luggage through the crowds on the platform, down 2 flights of stairs, then up a flight of stairs to the front of the station where we waited for our contact to show up. While he showed up, we were sitting ducks for the 'touting frenzy' that took place by a crowd of desparate, pushy taxi drivers, each in our face begging for customers.
Finally Memo (our Luxor contact) 'saved us' by his arrival. Over the next half hour he quickly reviewed the schedule for our time in Luxor, got our tourist passes for the day trip to Abydos and Dendara (which he couldn't do in advance since he needed to present passports), and instructed us to get food (not much available besides big bags of chips) and water from the street market since there were no places or time to stop for lunch or snacks.
So with no time for a shower or toilet we started our 7 hour day driving 3.5 hours through the Nile Valley filled with farms of sugar cane, corn, cabbage in rich soil fields (picture 2) which then lead to brown, very dry, barren hills to our first and farthest stop, Abydos.
Besides being the cult center of Osiris, god of the dead, Abydos was considered the holiest of Egyptian towns during the Pharonic times and home to the beautifully intact Cenotaph Temple of Sefil built between 1294-1213 BC (picture 3). For the next hour we walked through the 7 chapels (picture 4) each adorned with remarkable, colored reliefs (picture 5). We were in constant awe and wonder as to how all this splendor could still exist from so long ago (over 3,000 years).
After our visit to Abydos we were back in the car for another hour stopping at Dendara, Hathor's cult center from pre-Dynastic times, where the popular Hathor supposedly gave birth to Horus' child, the god, Ihy. The pylon-shaped facade (picture 6) opened up to a dramatic hall crowded with 18 large columns all topped with Hathor in her human form (woman's face with cow ears, picture 7). Again colored reliefs adorned the interior store rooms, chapels and crypts. Surrounding this huge complex was a Roman wall that included, besides the Temple of Hathor, a sacred lake (pool), Temple of Isis, sanatorium, and the Roman Mammisi (small temple celebrating birth of Hathor's son). Beautiful site especially as the sun was setting which seemed to make the exterior reliefs come to life (picture 8).
We returned to the car for our 1+ hour ride to our hotel in Luxor in the dark which was a little scary given how Egyptian drivers don't use their headlights to see, only flash them to let on-coming traffic know where they are. We safely arrived to the hotel by 7 pm. Once settled into our comfortable room we gratefully took a shower, had a quick dinner at the hotel with views of the Nile, and returned to our room for some down time and an early night.
Next day Memo met us (again late) at the hotel and drove us to check into the 'Mirage 1', our Nile River cruise boat and 'home' for the next 4 nights. After following him through the lobbies of 4 boats, we enjoyed a delicious cold drink of hibiscus tea, then was able to settle into our cabin which was nice - large, comfortable bed, TV with CNN in English (though no internet), and good-sized bathroom.
Since we arranged for our driver to meet us in a half hour for a drive to the famous Valley of the Kings (about 1 hour away), we immediately went to lunch, our first meal on the ship. A large buffet with lots of cold and hot options were offered. Food was good, not gourmet, but tasty and plentiful so it worked for us.
By 1 pm we met our driver as planned and started our trip to the Valley of the Kings. Once through security we found ourselves in the large, modern visitor's center with a huge model of the site, informative displays and interactive computers. As we started to feel a little overwhelmed and unsure as to what the best strategy would be for a successful visit, the 'travel gods' gave us this wonderful security guard who proceeded to propose 3 tombs (limit of 3 per visit) that were the most interesting to see and not necessarily the most popular (ie. crowded with other tourist groups) - Queen Tawsert/Sethankht (#14), Ramses III (#11), and Ramses IV (#2). He also suggested instead of paying for the Tutankhamun Tomb which we were planning to do, he suggested the Ramses V and VI tomb instead since he felt the tomb/reliefs were more engaging and besides the mummy of Tutankhamun, the rest of his tomb was less interesting and would be much more crowded (also we had already seen his coffins, death mask, etc. at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo).
He encouraged us to watch an interesting short (15 minutes) DVD (narrated by Egyptian actor Omar Sharif) which gave us some background of the site and a few of the tombs. By the time it was over he was back with a book filled with pictures and information about the reliefs and site (since no cameras were allowed anywhere) that would help during our visit. He also escorted us to the area to buy tickets for the site as well as the trolley where he saved us two seats in the front. Needless to say we tipped him, but it was money so well spent.
Not only were we relieved to 'have a plan' but also we totally enjoyed the tombs he suggested which made our visit more satisfying than it would have been without his invaluable help.
After wandering through the site for a few hours we found our driver and raced to the Hatshepsut Temple (18th Dynasty) before they closed. Since it was close by we got there just in time. The approach to the temple was dramatic with it's avenue of sphinxes and rising terraces, but once inside it seemed more underwhelming than we had expected. While there were beautiful, large statues of Hatshepsut (picture 9) and a wonderful birth colonnade, the large crowds made walking around very frustrating. So we removed ourselves from the madness and left.
On our way back to the ship we stopped to see the Colossi of Memnon, two enthroned statues of Amenhotep II, which measured 60 ft tall and were originally placed to guard Amenthotep's mortuary temple, formerly the largest in Egypt before it was later plundered for building materials by later pharaohs (picture 10).
Once on the ship we relaxed before going to dinner, then returned to our cabin to get some rest before an early wake up call the next morning for our tour of Karak with the Temple of Amun, built in 19th Dynasty by more than 80,000 men and the Luxor Temple completed mostly by Amenhotep III in the 18th Dynasty and included the Abu al-Haggag Mosque built on the accumulated silt next to the temple in the 13th century (picture 11). Incredibly both are located right in the center of the bustling town of Luxor. These sites were not just physically large (picture 12), but scope of each including the reliefs, (picture 13) and spaces were just as amazing (pictures 14, 15, 16). Except for some trouble finding our driver at Karak and then not seeing him at all after our tour of Luxor (we got a taxi), we returned to the ship in time for the 11 am sail up the Nile to Edfu, halfway between Luxor and Aswan.
After lunch we took advantage of some pool (picture 17) and river gazing time (picture 18, 19) on the top deck since we gratefully had the rest of the day 'off' from temple touring. Our relaxing day turned into a peaceful night and included a beautiful full moon that we enjoyed viewing from the top deck after dinner.
Our 5.30 am wake up call the next morning rattled us out of a dead sleep and into a horse-drawn carriage by 6.45 am that we pre-arranged as an add-on to one of the tour groups on board (picture 20). The morning air was very cool but within 10 minutes we were at the entrance to the Temple of Horus (Falcon God) built in 237 BC and buried for 2,000 years in sand. The huge pylon entrance and colonnade (picture 21) with two elegant black falcon statues of Horus (picture 22) were imposing. As the largest and best preserved Ptolemaic temple in Egypt, the visit to this site was very impressive.
We returned in the horse-drawn carriage to the ship within the allotted 2 hour time period so it could take off for our afternoon stop at Kom Ombo. By mid-afternoon we docked at Kom Ombo and disembarked for the 15 minute walk to the site of The Temple of Kom Om which was surrounded by agricultural lands filled with sugar cane and corn. This temple, built in the 2nd century BC, was beautifully situated overlooking the Nile (picture 23) which gave a wonderful backdrop to the structures and reliefs with many including the crocodile god, Sobek (picture 24).
It was sunset and tea time when we returned to the boat which we enjoyed after a quick dip in the cold water of the pool on the top deck and watched a wonderful sunset (picture 25). After dinner we enjoyed a quiet night and fun English-speaking classic movie on TV. Later that evening the boat arrived in Aswan to dock overnight.
By 9 am the next morning we disembarked and met our driver who took us to the Unfinished Obelisk which dates from the New Kingdom and lies semi-finished in an ancient quarry just south of Aswan (picture 26). After walking around the quarry viewing existing granite as well as areas dug out by ancient craftsmen, we drove on the High Dam. This massive structure was built between 1960-1971 and measures 12,562 ft across, 364 ft high and 3,214 ft wide at its base. We also saw the large lotus-shaped tower at the western end that was built to commemorate the Soviet Union's help with the dam's construction (picture 27).
We then continued to the docks for a wonderful boat ride with Ali, a local boatman we found who took just the two of us to the wonderful Temple of Philae, an important place of pilgrimage for worshippers until long into the Christian era. After the building of the Aswan Dam (1898-1902) the island temples were partly submerged in water making it necessary for visitors to see these sites by boats. From 1972-80 UNESCO led an international project to move these 4th century BC temples to the nearby island of Agilika which they also landscaped to look like the original island of Philae. Just remarkable and so beautiful - the site, structures, blue waters, clear blue sky, and intoxicating breezes (pictures 28, 29).
We returned to the boat close to sunset and enjoyed our last evening on the Nile River as it stayed docked overnight in Aswan. Next chapter - Nubia, Egypt.
Since we didn't see our contact we had to take our luggage through the crowds on the platform, down 2 flights of stairs, then up a flight of stairs to the front of the station where we waited for our contact to show up. While he showed up, we were sitting ducks for the 'touting frenzy' that took place by a crowd of desparate, pushy taxi drivers, each in our face begging for customers.
Finally Memo (our Luxor contact) 'saved us' by his arrival. Over the next half hour he quickly reviewed the schedule for our time in Luxor, got our tourist passes for the day trip to Abydos and Dendara (which he couldn't do in advance since he needed to present passports), and instructed us to get food (not much available besides big bags of chips) and water from the street market since there were no places or time to stop for lunch or snacks.
So with no time for a shower or toilet we started our 7 hour day driving 3.5 hours through the Nile Valley filled with farms of sugar cane, corn, cabbage in rich soil fields (picture 2) which then lead to brown, very dry, barren hills to our first and farthest stop, Abydos.
Besides being the cult center of Osiris, god of the dead, Abydos was considered the holiest of Egyptian towns during the Pharonic times and home to the beautifully intact Cenotaph Temple of Sefil built between 1294-1213 BC (picture 3). For the next hour we walked through the 7 chapels (picture 4) each adorned with remarkable, colored reliefs (picture 5). We were in constant awe and wonder as to how all this splendor could still exist from so long ago (over 3,000 years).
After our visit to Abydos we were back in the car for another hour stopping at Dendara, Hathor's cult center from pre-Dynastic times, where the popular Hathor supposedly gave birth to Horus' child, the god, Ihy. The pylon-shaped facade (picture 6) opened up to a dramatic hall crowded with 18 large columns all topped with Hathor in her human form (woman's face with cow ears, picture 7). Again colored reliefs adorned the interior store rooms, chapels and crypts. Surrounding this huge complex was a Roman wall that included, besides the Temple of Hathor, a sacred lake (pool), Temple of Isis, sanatorium, and the Roman Mammisi (small temple celebrating birth of Hathor's son). Beautiful site especially as the sun was setting which seemed to make the exterior reliefs come to life (picture 8).
We returned to the car for our 1+ hour ride to our hotel in Luxor in the dark which was a little scary given how Egyptian drivers don't use their headlights to see, only flash them to let on-coming traffic know where they are. We safely arrived to the hotel by 7 pm. Once settled into our comfortable room we gratefully took a shower, had a quick dinner at the hotel with views of the Nile, and returned to our room for some down time and an early night.
Next day Memo met us (again late) at the hotel and drove us to check into the 'Mirage 1', our Nile River cruise boat and 'home' for the next 4 nights. After following him through the lobbies of 4 boats, we enjoyed a delicious cold drink of hibiscus tea, then was able to settle into our cabin which was nice - large, comfortable bed, TV with CNN in English (though no internet), and good-sized bathroom.
Since we arranged for our driver to meet us in a half hour for a drive to the famous Valley of the Kings (about 1 hour away), we immediately went to lunch, our first meal on the ship. A large buffet with lots of cold and hot options were offered. Food was good, not gourmet, but tasty and plentiful so it worked for us.
By 1 pm we met our driver as planned and started our trip to the Valley of the Kings. Once through security we found ourselves in the large, modern visitor's center with a huge model of the site, informative displays and interactive computers. As we started to feel a little overwhelmed and unsure as to what the best strategy would be for a successful visit, the 'travel gods' gave us this wonderful security guard who proceeded to propose 3 tombs (limit of 3 per visit) that were the most interesting to see and not necessarily the most popular (ie. crowded with other tourist groups) - Queen Tawsert/Sethankht (#14), Ramses III (#11), and Ramses IV (#2). He also suggested instead of paying for the Tutankhamun Tomb which we were planning to do, he suggested the Ramses V and VI tomb instead since he felt the tomb/reliefs were more engaging and besides the mummy of Tutankhamun, the rest of his tomb was less interesting and would be much more crowded (also we had already seen his coffins, death mask, etc. at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo).
He encouraged us to watch an interesting short (15 minutes) DVD (narrated by Egyptian actor Omar Sharif) which gave us some background of the site and a few of the tombs. By the time it was over he was back with a book filled with pictures and information about the reliefs and site (since no cameras were allowed anywhere) that would help during our visit. He also escorted us to the area to buy tickets for the site as well as the trolley where he saved us two seats in the front. Needless to say we tipped him, but it was money so well spent.
Not only were we relieved to 'have a plan' but also we totally enjoyed the tombs he suggested which made our visit more satisfying than it would have been without his invaluable help.
After wandering through the site for a few hours we found our driver and raced to the Hatshepsut Temple (18th Dynasty) before they closed. Since it was close by we got there just in time. The approach to the temple was dramatic with it's avenue of sphinxes and rising terraces, but once inside it seemed more underwhelming than we had expected. While there were beautiful, large statues of Hatshepsut (picture 9) and a wonderful birth colonnade, the large crowds made walking around very frustrating. So we removed ourselves from the madness and left.
On our way back to the ship we stopped to see the Colossi of Memnon, two enthroned statues of Amenhotep II, which measured 60 ft tall and were originally placed to guard Amenthotep's mortuary temple, formerly the largest in Egypt before it was later plundered for building materials by later pharaohs (picture 10).
Once on the ship we relaxed before going to dinner, then returned to our cabin to get some rest before an early wake up call the next morning for our tour of Karak with the Temple of Amun, built in 19th Dynasty by more than 80,000 men and the Luxor Temple completed mostly by Amenhotep III in the 18th Dynasty and included the Abu al-Haggag Mosque built on the accumulated silt next to the temple in the 13th century (picture 11). Incredibly both are located right in the center of the bustling town of Luxor. These sites were not just physically large (picture 12), but scope of each including the reliefs, (picture 13) and spaces were just as amazing (pictures 14, 15, 16). Except for some trouble finding our driver at Karak and then not seeing him at all after our tour of Luxor (we got a taxi), we returned to the ship in time for the 11 am sail up the Nile to Edfu, halfway between Luxor and Aswan.
After lunch we took advantage of some pool (picture 17) and river gazing time (picture 18, 19) on the top deck since we gratefully had the rest of the day 'off' from temple touring. Our relaxing day turned into a peaceful night and included a beautiful full moon that we enjoyed viewing from the top deck after dinner.
Our 5.30 am wake up call the next morning rattled us out of a dead sleep and into a horse-drawn carriage by 6.45 am that we pre-arranged as an add-on to one of the tour groups on board (picture 20). The morning air was very cool but within 10 minutes we were at the entrance to the Temple of Horus (Falcon God) built in 237 BC and buried for 2,000 years in sand. The huge pylon entrance and colonnade (picture 21) with two elegant black falcon statues of Horus (picture 22) were imposing. As the largest and best preserved Ptolemaic temple in Egypt, the visit to this site was very impressive.
We returned in the horse-drawn carriage to the ship within the allotted 2 hour time period so it could take off for our afternoon stop at Kom Ombo. By mid-afternoon we docked at Kom Ombo and disembarked for the 15 minute walk to the site of The Temple of Kom Om which was surrounded by agricultural lands filled with sugar cane and corn. This temple, built in the 2nd century BC, was beautifully situated overlooking the Nile (picture 23) which gave a wonderful backdrop to the structures and reliefs with many including the crocodile god, Sobek (picture 24).
It was sunset and tea time when we returned to the boat which we enjoyed after a quick dip in the cold water of the pool on the top deck and watched a wonderful sunset (picture 25). After dinner we enjoyed a quiet night and fun English-speaking classic movie on TV. Later that evening the boat arrived in Aswan to dock overnight.
By 9 am the next morning we disembarked and met our driver who took us to the Unfinished Obelisk which dates from the New Kingdom and lies semi-finished in an ancient quarry just south of Aswan (picture 26). After walking around the quarry viewing existing granite as well as areas dug out by ancient craftsmen, we drove on the High Dam. This massive structure was built between 1960-1971 and measures 12,562 ft across, 364 ft high and 3,214 ft wide at its base. We also saw the large lotus-shaped tower at the western end that was built to commemorate the Soviet Union's help with the dam's construction (picture 27).
We then continued to the docks for a wonderful boat ride with Ali, a local boatman we found who took just the two of us to the wonderful Temple of Philae, an important place of pilgrimage for worshippers until long into the Christian era. After the building of the Aswan Dam (1898-1902) the island temples were partly submerged in water making it necessary for visitors to see these sites by boats. From 1972-80 UNESCO led an international project to move these 4th century BC temples to the nearby island of Agilika which they also landscaped to look like the original island of Philae. Just remarkable and so beautiful - the site, structures, blue waters, clear blue sky, and intoxicating breezes (pictures 28, 29).
We returned to the boat close to sunset and enjoyed our last evening on the Nile River as it stayed docked overnight in Aswan. Next chapter - Nubia, Egypt.
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