After three nights in Luxor our private egyptologist, Safwat, picked us up at the hotel and took us straight out to see the first temple (I’ll list them later for all you amateur archaeologist). Wowza!
The size and scale is hard to fathom. As we learned the hieroglyphic stories from day to day – characters and symbols began to repeat themselves and we ourselves felt like pre-school archeologists!
*click on photos to enlarge and tap on the blue words to watch a video of the cruise boat and diesel soaked air
Ra, Osiris, Isis, Horus, Anubis, Ramses II, Hatshepsut, Tutankhamun, Nefertiti, Nefertari….. The stories are fascinating. The Pharaohs’ and the Queens’ egos were humongous and their engineering mind blowing. The colors are original. Egypt does not repaint the antiquities.
After the visiting the first temple we checked into our “local” Nile cruise boat – 67 rooms. Over four nights we’d travel from Luxor to Aswan.
Our rooms were large and one up from basic. Meals were buffets and sufficient. The gin and tonics – perfect.
What we weren’t prepared for was the vast number of boats. Oh my! They docked by tying up one boat next to another some six deep. Unless you were the first boat tied up at shore you had to walk through the first, second, third boat to get to your own.
The air was gross and dirty. The result of 60 plus boats burning diesel fuel. The way the boats honked at one another and playfully maneuvered around as if playing tag in the toxic cloud was rather amusing.
If you want to book a Nile cruise don’t waste your money paying for a balcony because when you dock next to another boat (which is the majority of time) your view is into the next room. We went the cheap route and got a sliding glass door which was beautiful when we sailed. However, we spent more time on deck than in the room.
The pace was wonderful. Wake up, eat, tour, back to the boat for lunch, chill, back out to tour in the afternoon or evening, back to the boat, cocktails, dinner and bed.
We saw: Karnak, Luxor Temple, Valley of the Kings, Mortuary Temple of Harshepsut, Colossi of Memnon, Temple of Edfu, Temple of Kom Ombu, The High Dam, Temple of Isis on Philae, and the Unfinished Obelisk. After all this, in Aswan, we took a small boat ride to bird watch on the cataracts of the Nile and visited a Nubian village where Jonel and I got black henna tattoos.
In Aswan, to unwind and luxuriate we are staying three nights at the historic Old Cataract Hotel (built in 1899) on the bank of the Nile. It is decadent. We are on our last night right now.
Agatha Christie wrote Death on the Nile while she stayed in her room 2 doors down. Lady Diana and many dignitaries also spent time here.
We lounged by the pool and walked around town. We even took part in our own death on the Nile by enjoying McDonald’s on the Nile. We split a Big Mac!
Mark and Jonel stayed two nights and are now making their way back home first by flying back to Cairo and visiting the Pyramids in Giza.
And we’re off tomorrow for another quick plane ride…
