We spent 3 nights at the Hilton in Cairo followed by 4 nights on a cruise up the Nile from Luxor to Aswan. Overall it was great and a definite must for anyone. The Nile cruise was magical and the highlight of the trip.
In Cairo we stayed in the downtown region which is rather noisy, dirty and incredibly congested. With 18 million living in the city it's not surprising. We did have a glorious view of the Nile from our balcony though and once you get used to the 24/7 hooting and music you can begin to enjoy Cairo nightlife.
View from Balcony in Cairo:
With only 3 nights there (or 2 full days) we managed to visit the Egyptian Museum (a breathtaking collection that is unforgivably haphazzardly displayed. Hopefully the new museum they are building will be better), some mosques in Islamic Cairo, Memphis, Saqqara and the Pyramids and Sphinx in Giza (which is actually just a suburb in the centre of Cairo!)
A Mosque in Islamic Cairo:
Dad in front of the Sphinx and the Pyramid of Khufre in Giza
From there we flew (first class nogal) to Luxor to board our boat - the Nile Adventurer - for our lazy river cruise . On landing in Luxor we quickly dumped out things and headed off round the Valley of the Queens, the Valley of the Kings and the temple of Haptetshut. Then lunch and off to Karnak Temple followed by Luxor Temple on the East Bank. The sheer size of these buildings is absolutely incredible. It's an absolutely awesome experience to imagine that these buildings were first erected over 4000 years ago. Quite an accomplishment since I don't know how many of the skyscrapers being built in Dubai at the moment would last as long!
The Nile Adventurer - home for 4 nights:
Outside Tutankamen's tomb in the Valley of the Kings:
Dad and me in front of the entrance to Luxor Temple showing the statues of Horus guarding the entrance:
Pillars of Karnak Temple:
The next day was a free day where we lounged by the pool on the boat and generally caught up on sleep, ate ourselves silly, lounged by the pool and ordered long egyptian beers. The following day after another punishing breakfast, day we were off to Edfu and Esna temples. Possibly the thing that made the cruise mosty interesting was that we had a really clued up guide (Osama) all to ourselves. His knowledge of all things egypt both current and ancient was truly impressive.
Dad admiring Edfu Temple (who's an engineer then?):
Day 4 and we hit Kom Ombo - a temple devoted to celebrating the crocodiles that used to bask on the sand at the river bend followed by the beautiful temple of Philae on an island out in Lake Nasr. This also gave us a chance to ohh and aah at Aswan Dam (one of the highest in Africa).
Osama, Dad and me in front of Kom Ombo:
Philae Temple from the boat on Lake Nasr:
Initially promised a sunset felluca ride, the winds had picked up and the police in Aswan insisted we downgrade to a shuttle boat ride - I was more that happy when I saw some fellucas that had tipped over in the wind with their passengers soaked and unimpressed!
Felluca's in the sunset on the Nile:
Dad and Osama - dry and safe on the shuttle boat!
The above pictures are a very small sample - anyone visiting myself or my dad in the near future should be warned they will be required to look through all 419 pics I took!
1 comment:
the only thing I can think to say is...Wow, egypt? That's awesome
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