Day 1 - London to Cario
At the start of May we took a 9 day (well really more like 8 day) tour to Egypt. We left on the Saturday afternoon from Heathrow Terminal 3, thinking we were flying BMI, but in the end it was Egypt Air. Luckily, all went smoothly and although the plane was like something straight out of the 70's, we landed in Cairo late Saturday evening after a 5 hour flight. From there we were escorted through what must be the slowest immigration line ever, and once that was over we boarded a coach en route to our hotel about 30 minutes from the airport. It was along this journey that we got our first taste of how randomly different Egyptian life really is. Traffic rules? No, there really aren't any, but everyone makes good use of their horns with constant polite "I'm here, look out" tooting. Once at our hotel/resort it was quite late, and with a bright and early morning start ahead of us we crashed out and went to bed.
Day 2 - Giza and Saqqara
This was to be the first of many early mornings on our Egypt experience, with a prompt and quick buffet breakfast, where met fellow Aussie couple, Sean and Tanya. After a quick munch, we were divided into groups (we were Group "A") with our tour guide, Sherif (pronounced Sher-eef) and then off to see the Pyramids of Giza - which was surprisingly close to our hotel. What we found amazing as we caught our first glimpse of the pyramids, was just how close they are to the city. Cairo is to the east side of the Nile River and Giza is on the west side - they are pretty much joined together. The weather was quite hazy - most likely from all of the pollution in the city, but the experience to actually have these marvels of man-made structures all around us, was just amazing. As we have been adapting to the cooler UK climate, we struggled a bit with the heat, even in the low 30's.
Sherif was a fantastic tour guide, so full of knowledge and, as he is an Egyptian himself, very passionate about his history and culture – not to mention, Sherif is very, very funny. He would have an introduction which as we approached each new location on the bus, he would announce into the microphone - "Ladies and gentlemen, get ready for the time of your lives, you've all been waiting for…" Needless to say, it became a running joke over the length of the tour, and we even asked if he could say it just so we could film it.
We visited all 3 of the Pyramids of Giza, starting with the largest one, the Pyramid of Cheops, we then moved to see the 2nd one, Khafre's Pyramid, which is the one which still has some of the limestone outer layer showing at the top. From here we took the opportunity to take a camel ride, which was certainly a unique experience when the camel decided to run. It was pretty damn hot at this stage as it was approaching 11am, but we decided to follow the line of other tourists inside Khafre's Pyramid. The entrance was tiny, a bit over 1 metre in height which made for a slow, hunched walk down into the tomb of the pyramid. It was a bit of an uncomfortable experience, as it was hot, very humid and dark, and the lack of oxygen made you feel really light headed. Once we got into the tomb there wasn't much to see, but it gave us an opportunity to stand up straight and breathe a bit, before going back up the tunnel again.
We then returned to the bus and headed down a road toward the Great Sphinx of Giza, which is to the east of the pyramids. It was really amazing to see the Sphinx in real life as it is such an iconic image of Egypt.
From here we got back onto the nicely air-conditioned bus, and drove through Cairo to Saqqara - a vast, ancient burial ground in Egypt, featuring the world's oldest standing step pyramid. While in Cairo though we stopped off to get some cash and food supplies in a supermarket. Here we got to see just how crazy Cairo is and now we know where all of the world's old cars go, right here. (I think Cairo would have to have the world's biggest collection of white VW Kombi's). At Saqqara we entered through the Funerary complex of Djoser, and then saw the step pyramid at Saqqara which was designed by Imhotep for King Djoser (c.2667-2648 BC). It is the oldest complete hewn-stone building complex known in history.
That evening we experienced exactly what the term "Egyptian time" meant… We were to catch an over-night train from Cario to Aswan which was meant to arrive somewhere around 8pm. 9.30pm came around, and we were still waiting in the station. As we had 2 litres of vodka in our bags (duty-free from the airport), we decided that it would be a good idea to buy some 7-UP lemonade and make up some drinks. As Egypt is a muslim country, they do not drink, so we had to be quite sneaky about it to help deal with the pain. The station was unlike any other train station we had every been to, and hygiene was certainly not high on the priority list here. It was hilarious to watch people sprinting to catch the moving train, throwing their bags in the open door then reaching for a hand to pull them inside. Like we said, Egypt is pretty random.
Eventually the train arrived and we were allocated our sleeper cabins which were really more like cupboards, but we got by. The room was basically a 2 seater with a sink, and magically (after we ate dinner) it was transformed into a double-bunk bed. Surprisingly we slept quite well and arrived in the morning in Aswan.
Day 3 - Aswan
In the morning we had arrived in Aswan, we left our train and took a bus which drove us through Aswan and the River Nile. We embarked a ferry type of boat which took us to our hotel/resort. We had some time here to chill out, shower up and enjoy some poolside swimming time. The resort was really nice and literally right next to the Nile, as you could see it while sitting beside the pool.
Later that afternoon, we re-grouped and headed off to see the Philae Temple. Sherif made this very entertaining as he involved some of our group to act out the story as he told it - very amusing to watch. The hieroglyphics and wall carvings here were amazing and the temple structures are really massive. Egypt was just getting more and more amazing.
After visiting Philae we returned back to Aswan to embrace the street markets. We were told the markets were better in Cairo, but it was still great to see the markets here. They were quite touristy but there were lots of locals still about, and you were constantly hassled as you walked along the roads, but it can be quite fun and the people were really friendly. It's funny how they try to guess where you are from in an attempt to get you to buy things from them. They says things like "I'll help you spend your money", which can be quite amusing. We were on the look out for some indigo, which is a bright blue powder that is great for brightening your whites in the wash. Matt thought it looked cool, but Anna was quite excited to give it a go. We were a little grossed out by how meat was just left out in the hot weather without any refrigeration, but the locals didn't seem to care much - guess they are used to it.
Later that night we had dinner at a local Egyptian restaurant. It was a little strange that we couldn't order any alcohol with our meals, but instead we enjoyed a local soft drink called Fayrouz. Dinner consisted of a combination of stewed meats, vegetables, rice and pitta bread, which was really tasty and filling too. When we had finished our meals we heard some drums banging and several people entered the restaurant complete with dancers. For the next hour we were entertained and even "volunteered" to became part of the entertainment. In the end nearly everyone in the restaurant joined up and congo danced their way around the room. It was a great night out, even if we were completely sober, which was probably a good thing as we needed to be up at 4am the next morning.
Day 4 - Abu Simbel and felucca cruise
We started the day extra early with a 4am wake up call to catch a plane to Abu Simbel. Abu Simbel is an archaeological site comprising two massive rock temples in southern Egypt on the western bank of Lake Nasser about 290 km southwest of Aswan.
As we were now much further south, the days were getting hotter and hotter. It reached around 40ºC while we were here at Abu Simbel, which was mainly the reason why we left so early in the morning to get there. Even though it was quite early (around 8am), there were still hordes of tourists there, which became annoying all packed inside the temples.
Over time the temples had become more under threat from the rising waters of Lake Nasser, so between 1964 and 1968, the entire site was cut into large blocks, dismantled and reassembled in a new location – 65m higher and 200m back from the river, in what many consider one of the greatest feats of archaeological engineering. Another amazing fact about the Temple of Ramesses II is that the axis of the temple was positioned by the ancient Egyptian architects in such a way that twice a year, on October 20 and February 20, the rays of the sun would penetrate the sanctuary and illuminate the sculpture on the back wall. These dates are allegedly the king's birthday and coronation day respectively. (thanks for Wikipedia for that...)
It was breathtaking to walk around a corner and then be consumed by the massive mountains which contain the two Temples of Ramesses II, a lasting monument to himself and his queen Nefertari. The feeling of open space was amazing here, as everything was just on such a big scale - with the temples on one side and the great Lake Nasser on the other.
After exploring the temples we flew back to our resort in Aswan for a swim and some chill out time. From the airport, we stopped to visit the Aswan High Dam. Located near Aswan, the world famous High Dam was an engineering miracle when it was built in the 1960s. The Dam is 11,811 feet long, 3215 feet thick at the base and and 364 feet tall. Today it provides irrigation and electricity for the whole of Egypt and, together with the old Aswan Dam built by the British between 1898 and 1902, 6km down stream.
That afternoon, we left the resort and were divided up into groups of roughly 12 people and climbed aboard our felucca.
A felucca is a traditional wooden yacht, where the deck is covered with cushions and pillows and is an area where you eat, sleep and relax on. There is also a canopy which stretches over the decking, so you have protection from the sun. All our bags and luggage was stored below the decking beneath us.
We were onboard the felucca for 2 nights and 2 days. It was such a relaxing time, having literally nothing to do but relax. We spent the first few hours zig-zagging slowly down the Nile River (which is a northerly direction), with cool breezes from the Nile helping us deal with the heat of the sun. It was awesome and just what we needed. Many of us simply snoozed or read their books while enjoying a few Stella beers (an Egyptian brand). This trip gave Matt the opportunity to rip into his book which he had barely started, it is Slash's (the guitarist from Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver) autobiography, and it's brilliant.
The first afternoon, all 3 of the feluccas docked on a bank which was close to a local Nubian house. Our crew cooked for us while we had time to explore some of the local farms - well actually the farmers themselves were probably more interested in us. From the outside the Nubian house reminded Matt of the Mexican strip-club in the movie "From Dusk Till Dawn", with its brightly coloured walls and generally simple characteristics. Inside the walls were a series of rooms which lined the outer edges, while the middle section was open for activities and other work. To the relief of many, there were toilets and "showers" here too, although basic they were better than nothing (well nearly - Matt struggled to use them and chose to "wait" instead). After our meals on board our felucca we headed back to the Nubian house for some social time. To the right side was a type of lounge area with many cushions and pillows, where we all grouped up with a few beers from our feluccas and enjoyed some time out and smoked some apple sheesha.
Day 5 - Felucca on the River Nile
The following day was much the same pattern - relax and cruise further along the Nile. In the early evening as the sun was getting lower all of the feluccas were docked again. We were entertained by several locals playing soccer (football to us Londoners), which looked fantastic as the red dust from the sunset was kicked about. There were a few youngsters there too which made for some great candid photo opportunities as you will see from the photos. The sunset was quite captivating to watch as it descended deep into the palm tree lined horizon. Later that evening after dinner, each of our groups were given the task of performing an act which had to be Egypt related. We kind of copped out a bit, and decided to take the piss out of our guide Sherif and imitate him while we reenacted one of the stories he had told us. It was basically one guy in our group, Sean, who pulled it off while the rest of us were moved around like pawns. Still it was very amusing. After that we danced around a fire to the sounds of some Egyptian drummers - it was just fantastic. When the dancing was done with, we played a series of games, including one where Anna was wrapped up like a mummy in toilet paper. Very funny to watch - well for everyone except Anna anyway!
That evening we had to do some sailing in order to reach our pick up point further downstream, so we climbed back onto our feluccas, set up our bedding and set sail. Something really funny also happened when Matt was setting up for bed. He was moving the sleeping bags (which were still rolled up tight) and threw Anna's out the way to clear some space, but her sleeping bag bounced on a pillow and went straight overboard into the Nile. Without thinking about it twice, Matt leapt overboard and saved the sleeping bag from getting too wet. Fortunately it wasn't too deep, but needless to say Matt ended up with the wet sleeping bag that evening, while Anna enjoyed a nice and dry evening…
Day 6 - Kom Ombo, Edfu and Luxor
We slept incredibly well that night as we drifted along quietly down the Nile, when suddenly we were awoken by Sherif telling us to wake up and pack up - it was 6am and time to move on once again. Our bus was waiting for us, so on we went towards our next stop which was Kom Ombo to visit the temple.
Located in the town of Kom-Ombo, about 28 miles north of Aswan, the Temple, dating to the Ptolemies, is built on a high dune overlooking the Nile. The actual temple was started by Ptolemy VI Philometor in the early second century BC. Ptolemy XIII built the outer and inner hypostyle halls. The Temple known as Kom Ombo is actually two temples consisting of a Temple to Sobek and a Temple of Haroeris. The Temple has scant remains, due first to the changing Nile, then the Copts who once used it as a church, and finally by builders who used the stones for new buildings.
The temple had some interesting things about it that made it unique, such as the wall hieroglyphic of the woman giving birth in an upright, squatting position, and images of fruits on the walls. Also there were mummified crocodile corpses which were pretty cool too. Next we travelled further north in the direction of Luxor, stopping at Edfu to visit the Edfu Temple of Horus.
The Temple of Edfu is an ancient Egyptian temple located on the west bank of the Nile in the city of Edfu. It is the second largest temple in Egypt after Karnak and one of the best preserved. The temple, dedicated to the falcon god Horus, was built in the Ptolemaic period between 237 and 57 BCE. The inscriptions on its walls provide important information on language, myth and religion during the Greco-Roman period in ancient Egypt. Inside the temple's pylons is a large courtyard. Just before the entrance to the first of two hypostyle halls is a welcoming statue of Horus. Inside the hypostyle halls are dominated by a forest of towering columns.
The temple's size was massive and really had a great presence about it. The enormous columns inside the temple rose up towards a high ceiling and were covered with masses of hieroglyphic markings. The lighting inside too was very moody and atmospheric. The shear solidity of the rock made the temples reasonably cooler than the outside temperatures. The photos on the blog probably don't do it justice, but the outside shape of the temple is very recognisable and unique.
From here, we continued to travel northbound and after sometime reached the city of Luxor, where were were taken to our resort/hotel for some chill out time and the chance to finally take a shower and use the 'facilities'!
When we were all cleaned up we spoilt ourselves with some room service and Matt ordered fish and chips while Anna ordered a pizza, both of which were surprisingly fantastic meals! After 2 days eating quite simple food on the felucca, a decent sized Western meal was just what were craving. The afternoon was spent by the pool which was just fantastic. It overlooked the Nile River and the palm tree banks there also.
Later that evening all of us boarded our bus and traveled back into the town to experience the Luxor Temple. If you travel to Luxor (ancient Thebes) then it will be hard to miss the spectacular Luxor Temple situated in the center of Luxor city. The Temple of Luxor was built largely by Amenhotep III and Ramesses II around 1400 BC and its main purpose was to celebrate the festival of Opet. Many rulers built on to the temple yet it always remained a place of worship for Christians and later Muslims. A mosque built inside the temple still exists and is one of the highlights of the site.
It was getting quite dark at this stage and the lit up temples looked absolutely amazing, set against a deep blue sky. For us it was the most amazing temple out of the many that we visited on the trip. We drove past it the next day, but it didn't look half as exciting in daylight, so if you go there, make sure you go at night.
That evening everyone in the group went into the city and enjoyed a banquet style meal at a local restaurant. It wasn't too bad, and was fantastic value really considering what you paid. A recommended jeweler was set up outside the restaurant whom had some wonderful jewellery ranging from necklaces to pendants, to bracelets to rings. We both thought that these would make great gifts and had some custom pieces made for our families, as you could get your own name written on a cartouse with hieroglyphics. Our jewellery would be ready for us in two days at our hotel back in Cario – not a bad turnaround for personalised jewelery. It was another early one that night (well pre-midnight anyway), as we had another 4am morning ahead of us…
Day 7 - Luxor, Valley of the Kings and Queens
So there we were up at 4am to meet down in the lobby by 4.30am in preparation to watch the sunrise while floating around in a hot-air balloon through the skies over the Valley of the Kings. Doesn't sound too bad does it? Well let me tell you, it was amazing - although we could have done with less haze. Our morning journey started in a boat in Luxor where we were briefed on the standard do's and dont's and all the legal jargon that goes on so that if you fall out of the balloon the company is not liable. The boat took us towards the launch area where we were taken to in a van. When we arrived, we were surrounded by fields filled with various crops and found the ground crew inflating the balloons, which made for some spectacular images and looks like a tricky thing to do.
Each balloon basket can carry 30 people, so yes, they are pretty darn big, with divisions in them so that 4-5 people fit into each section. The sides of the baskets were quite high, so even Matt felt safe dispite his unsettling fear of heights. What we weren't prepared for was the intense heat which comes from the flames as they boost up the hot-air. The heat was intense and at times you felt like you needed to feel the top of your head to check if your hair was still all there. Once we got high up in the sky, the views were just incredible. The sense of open space and the huge scale of the surrounding land was just awesome. The skylines were filled with many other balloons, all spread out across the countryside.
Looking down from the balloon you could see life from a very unusual perspective. We even saw inside some man's bedroom as he woke up, as most housing does not have any roofs, because it only rains once every few years. After about an hour of being in the air, it was time to descend back to Earth. Surprisingly, it took quite a while to come down and we were followed by a small group of children who were running along beside us. The landing was just as gentle as was the launch. The basket kissed the ground and only made a few bounces before it came to a halt. After a quick group shot and a Certificate of Participation presentation, we jumped back into the vans and headed off. We also had the opportunity to get a DVD video of the whole experience which we knew would be cheesy and badly produced, but for £10 who really cares.…
Sherif, our guide, decided that to avoid the crowds, we would start with the Valley of the Queens which is a place in Egypt where wives of Pharaohs were buried in ancient times. Exploring the rock and sand mountainous valleys reminded Matt of the Tatooine scenes in Star Wars, where R2-D2 gets taken by the Jawas (nerd…). We looked in 2 tombs here, those being the Tomb of Amenherkhepshef & The Tomb of Tyti. You could feel the heat in the Valley, even though it was still early in the morning, you could tell that it was going to be a hot one. Back into the bus for a short drive to see the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, (sounding like "hot chicken soup") which was just amazing.
Also called The Temple of Deir El-Bahri, it is one of the most characteristic temples in the whole of Egypt, due to its design and decorations. It was built of limestone, not sandstone like most of the other funerary temples of the New Kingdom period. It is thought that Senimut, the genius architect who built this Temple, was inspired in his design by the plan of the neighboring mortuary Temple of the 12th Dynasty King, Neb-Hept-Re. The Temple was built for the great Queen Hatshepsut (18th Dynasty), to commemorate her achievements and to serve as a funerary Temple for her, as well as a sanctuary of the God, Amon Ra.
The temple starts with a climb up 3 levels to the top, and offers amazing panoramic views looking back to the valley. We spent quite some time exploring the amazing colours in the hieroglyphics here, as it is quite rare to find such vibrant colours still there after so many 1000's of years. We were sort of conned by one of the local people here as he offered to take our photo. We knew that he would expect money, but for what we paid him (3 Egyptian Pounds), it was totally worth the photos, especially the one with him posing with Matt. Classic shot.
From here we traveled to visit the Valley of the Kings, which is probably more well know as it contains the tombs of famous pharaohs such as Tutankhamun and Ramesses VI.
The Valley of the Kings is a valley in Egypt where for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th century BC, tombs were constructed for the kings and powerful nobles of the New Kingdom.
The valley stands on the west bank of the Nile, across from Thebes (modern Luxor), within the heart of the Theban Necropolis. The wadi consists of two valleys, East Valley (where the majority of the royal tombs situated) and West Valley. The area has been a focus of concentrated archaeological and egyptological exploration since the end of the eighteenth century, and its tombs and burials continue to stimulate research and interest. In modern times the valley has become famous for the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun (with its rumours of the Curse of the Pharaohs, and is one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world.)
The Tomb of Tutankhamen was not included in the normal entrance fee, and we decided against it as almost nearly everything has been removed and is in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, but in hindsight we regretted the decision. We explored inside the tombs of Rameses I, Rameses III and Rameses V. The heat was quite intense by now and without having enough water Matt was struggling a little bit, mainly inside the tombs themselves as they were really humid and low on oxygen.
Next was lunch and a visit to the Karnak Temple – yes another temple. We never realised how many great temples there are in Egypt. There are a lot of them, but they are all certainly worthwhile visiting.
The Karnak temple complex, universally known only as Karnak, describes a vast conglomeration of ruined temples, chapels, pylons and other buildings. It is located near Luxor in Egypt. This was ancient Egyptian Ipet-isut ("The Most Selected of Places"), the main place of worship of the Theban Triad with Amun as its head, in the monumental city of Thebes. The complex retrieves its current name from the nearby and partly surrounding modern village of el-Karnak, some 2.5km north of Luxor.
The complex is a vast open-air museum and the largest ancient religious site in the world. It is probably the second most visited historical site in Egypt, second only to the Giza Pyramids near Cairo. It consists of four main parts (precincts) of which only one is accessible for tourists and the general public. This is the Precinct of Amun-Re, and this it is also the main part of the complex and by far the largest part. The term Karnak is often understood as being the Precinct of Amun-Re only, as this is the only part most visitors normally see. The three other parts, the Precinct of Montu, the Precinct of Mut and the Temple of Amenhotep IV (dismantled), are closed to the public. There also are a few smaller temples and sanctuaries located outside the enclosing walls of the four main parts, as well as several avenues of human and ram-headed sphinxes connecting the Precinct of Mut, the Precinct of Amon-Re, and Luxor Temple.
The massive columns in the Hypostyle Hall (I think we fit 11 people holding hands around the base of one) and sculptures in Karnak really make it feel like an outside museum. The site too has two huge obelisks, that were carved from one piece of granite and transported up stream to this site. It is really difficult to comprehend how everything was constructed at such a huge scale so long ago. Really impressive.
That evening we were back on our smelly trains on our way back to Cairo. This time though we didn't upgrade to the sleeper cabins, which for £30 we would do in a second. A "seater" is basically a slightly-reclining chair in a train carriage where the lights don't even dim all night, that you have to share with around 30 other people. However, braced with ear-plugs, eye shades, and the fact that we were really tired, we managed to get through the night until around 5am, when some random Egyptian man began to yell at his mobile phone. After initially wanting to stick his phone somewhere rather nasty, we later found out that his house was burning down, so in the end we felt a little sorry for him. The day began with some excitement too as we were awoken from a dazy snooze with "we have 10 minutes until we need to get off", from our guide. Then 1 minute later, it was… "5 minutes guys, hurry up". To then "Oh, no. We have to get off now!". Needless to say, we have never packed up our sleeping bags and belongings faster before.
Day 8 - Cairo & Egyptian Museum
The day began with check-in back at the same hotel/resort that we started our tour at Cairo, which was fine with us as we only had spent a very short time here to begin with.
Our first stop for the day was at the Egyptian Museum, which has the greatest collection of Egyptian antiquities. It's most visited section would be the treasures from Tutankhamun's tomb. Chariots, gloves, jewellery, the famous mask - many of the antiquities from his tomb are displayed here.
Tutankhamun's tomb contained four gilded shrines nested one inside the other. All four of these shrines are on display in the museum. They are lined up in order of decreasing size. The innermost of these covered a stone sarcophagus which remains in the tomb. Inside the stone sarcophagus were three coffins - the innermost being made of 110 kilograms of solid gold. Inside that lay the pharaoh himself wearing the famous gold mask. Tutankhamun remains in his tomb to this day.
Of course there is much more to see here and so much history, and it is amazing to see how well preserved some of the tools and clothing are. We were also facinated by the animal mummies too, as they were in some ways really weird but intriguing also.
We left the museum and was taken to a flower essence place where an old Egyptian man explained all about how perfumes are made from the same flower essences found here. They smelt just like the real products, but at a fraction of the cost. we bought a pack of them as they would make great gifts too.
That afternoon the group visited a street market in Cairo, where were had about an hour or so to explore and barter on what ever we desired. Matt was after a doll for his mum, and also bought a T-shirt and magnet. It was decided that we should buy a sheesha, as they were so incredibly cheap. We bought the deluxe model which only cost 150 Egyptian Pounds, an absolute bargain. The next problem will be shipping it home without the glass base breaking! The photo here shows the amount of choice in a sheesha shop.
Day 9 - Cairo to London
Our last day of the tour was spent at the hotel before we had to check out. The remaining hours left were spent relaxing by the pool, making the most of the hot sun before we went back to cloudy London. We exchanged contact details with many of the tour group and had transfers to the Cairo Airport. Different people in the group flew back home (most of them to London) all at different times, but ours was at 3pm.
It was a long and rather boring wait after checking-in at the airport. Cairo Airport is what you would call, "basic" and having to kill 2 hours there was quite a challenge. A group of us went to McDonald's as Matt is facinated by the differences in the menus around the world. This McD's even had a special wrap-style burger called a McArabia!
Later that evening we arrived back in London at Heathrow Airport, caught the tube home and rested for a few hours before preparing to go back to work the following day.
As expected Matt went crazy with his camera, taking s
hots of nearly everything there was. (At the end of the trip he totaled somewhere near 1000 photos, which were later culled down to 600 or so). We also had the compact digital too, of which Anna took some very cool shots. Highlights of them can be viewed in the photo column at the top right.
In summary - a fantastic experience that we would thoroughly recommend, and remember that there is so much more to Egypt that simply the pyramids. So if you get the chance to go, take it, you won't regret it.
That evening we experienced exactly what the term "Egyptian time" meant… We were to catch an over-night train from Cario to Aswan which was meant to arrive somewhere around 8pm. 9.30pm came around, and we were still waiting in the station. As we had 2 litres of vodka in our bags (duty-free from the airport), we decided that it would be a good idea to buy some 7-UP lemonade and make up some drinks. As Egypt is a muslim country, they do not drink, so we had to be quite sneaky about it to help deal with the pain. The station was unlike any other train station we had every been to, and hygiene was certainly not high on the priority list here. It was hilarious to watch people sprinting to catch the moving train, throwing their bags in the open door then reaching for a hand to pull them inside. Like we said, Egypt is pretty random.
Eventually the train arrived and we were allocated our sleeper cabins which were really more like cupboards, but we got by. The room was basically a 2 seater with a sink, and magically (after we ate dinner) it was transformed into a double-bunk bed. Surprisingly we slept quite well and arrived in the morning in Aswan.
Day 3 - Aswan
In the morning we had arrived in Aswan, we left our train and took a bus which drove us through Aswan and the River Nile. We embarked a ferry type of boat which took us to our hotel/resort. We had some time here to chill out, shower up and enjoy some poolside swimming time. The resort was really nice and literally right next to the Nile, as you could see it while sitting beside the pool.
Later that afternoon, we re-grouped and headed off to see the Philae Temple. Sherif made this very entertaining as he involved some of our group to act out the story as he told it - very amusing to watch. The hieroglyphics and wall carvings here were amazing and the temple structures are really massive. Egypt was just getting more and more amazing.
After visiting Philae we returned back to Aswan to embrace the street markets. We were told the markets were better in Cairo, but it was still great to see the markets here. They were quite touristy but there were lots of locals still about, and you were constantly hassled as you walked along the roads, but it can be quite fun and the people were really friendly. It's funny how they try to guess where you are from in an attempt to get you to buy things from them. They says things like "I'll help you spend your money", which can be quite amusing. We were on the look out for some indigo, which is a bright blue powder that is great for brightening your whites in the wash. Matt thought it looked cool, but Anna was quite excited to give it a go. We were a little grossed out by how meat was just left out in the hot weather without any refrigeration, but the locals didn't seem to care much - guess they are used to it.
Later that night we had dinner at a local Egyptian restaurant. It was a little strange that we couldn't order any alcohol with our meals, but instead we enjoyed a local soft drink called Fayrouz. Dinner consisted of a combination of stewed meats, vegetables, rice and pitta bread, which was really tasty and filling too. When we had finished our meals we heard some drums banging and several people entered the restaurant complete with dancers. For the next hour we were entertained and even "volunteered" to became part of the entertainment. In the end nearly everyone in the restaurant joined up and congo danced their way around the room. It was a great night out, even if we were completely sober, which was probably a good thing as we needed to be up at 4am the next morning.
Day 4 - Abu Simbel and felucca cruise
We started the day extra early with a 4am wake up call to catch a plane to Abu Simbel. Abu Simbel is an archaeological site comprising two massive rock temples in southern Egypt on the western bank of Lake Nasser about 290 km southwest of Aswan.
As we were now much further south, the days were getting hotter and hotter. It reached around 40ºC while we were here at Abu Simbel, which was mainly the reason why we left so early in the morning to get there. Even though it was quite early (around 8am), there were still hordes of tourists there, which became annoying all packed inside the temples.
Over time the temples had become more under threat from the rising waters of Lake Nasser, so between 1964 and 1968, the entire site was cut into large blocks, dismantled and reassembled in a new location – 65m higher and 200m back from the river, in what many consider one of the greatest feats of archaeological engineering. Another amazing fact about the Temple of Ramesses II is that the axis of the temple was positioned by the ancient Egyptian architects in such a way that twice a year, on October 20 and February 20, the rays of the sun would penetrate the sanctuary and illuminate the sculpture on the back wall. These dates are allegedly the king's birthday and coronation day respectively. (thanks for Wikipedia for that...)
It was breathtaking to walk around a corner and then be consumed by the massive mountains which contain the two Temples of Ramesses II, a lasting monument to himself and his queen Nefertari. The feeling of open space was amazing here, as everything was just on such a big scale - with the temples on one side and the great Lake Nasser on the other.
After exploring the temples we flew back to our resort in Aswan for a swim and some chill out time. From the airport, we stopped to visit the Aswan High Dam. Located near Aswan, the world famous High Dam was an engineering miracle when it was built in the 1960s. The Dam is 11,811 feet long, 3215 feet thick at the base and and 364 feet tall. Today it provides irrigation and electricity for the whole of Egypt and, together with the old Aswan Dam built by the British between 1898 and 1902, 6km down stream.
That afternoon, we left the resort and were divided up into groups of roughly 12 people and climbed aboard our felucca.
A felucca is a traditional wooden yacht, where the deck is covered with cushions and pillows and is an area where you eat, sleep and relax on. There is also a canopy which stretches over the decking, so you have protection from the sun. All our bags and luggage was stored below the decking beneath us.We were onboard the felucca for 2 nights and 2 days. It was such a relaxing time, having literally nothing to do but relax. We spent the first few hours zig-zagging slowly down the Nile River (which is a northerly direction), with cool breezes from the Nile helping us deal with the heat of the sun. It was awesome and just what we needed. Many of us simply snoozed or read their books while enjoying a few Stella beers (an Egyptian brand). This trip gave Matt the opportunity to rip into his book which he had barely started, it is Slash's (the guitarist from Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver) autobiography, and it's brilliant.
The first afternoon, all 3 of the feluccas docked on a bank which was close to a local Nubian house. Our crew cooked for us while we had time to explore some of the local farms - well actually the farmers themselves were probably more interested in us. From the outside the Nubian house reminded Matt of the Mexican strip-club in the movie "From Dusk Till Dawn", with its brightly coloured walls and generally simple characteristics. Inside the walls were a series of rooms which lined the outer edges, while the middle section was open for activities and other work. To the relief of many, there were toilets and "showers" here too, although basic they were better than nothing (well nearly - Matt struggled to use them and chose to "wait" instead). After our meals on board our felucca we headed back to the Nubian house for some social time. To the right side was a type of lounge area with many cushions and pillows, where we all grouped up with a few beers from our feluccas and enjoyed some time out and smoked some apple sheesha.
Day 5 - Felucca on the River Nile
The following day was much the same pattern - relax and cruise further along the Nile. In the early evening as the sun was getting lower all of the feluccas were docked again. We were entertained by several locals playing soccer (football to us Londoners), which looked fantastic as the red dust from the sunset was kicked about. There were a few youngsters there too which made for some great candid photo opportunities as you will see from the photos. The sunset was quite captivating to watch as it descended deep into the palm tree lined horizon. Later that evening after dinner, each of our groups were given the task of performing an act which had to be Egypt related. We kind of copped out a bit, and decided to take the piss out of our guide Sherif and imitate him while we reenacted one of the stories he had told us. It was basically one guy in our group, Sean, who pulled it off while the rest of us were moved around like pawns. Still it was very amusing. After that we danced around a fire to the sounds of some Egyptian drummers - it was just fantastic. When the dancing was done with, we played a series of games, including one where Anna was wrapped up like a mummy in toilet paper. Very funny to watch - well for everyone except Anna anyway!
That evening we had to do some sailing in order to reach our pick up point further downstream, so we climbed back onto our feluccas, set up our bedding and set sail. Something really funny also happened when Matt was setting up for bed. He was moving the sleeping bags (which were still rolled up tight) and threw Anna's out the way to clear some space, but her sleeping bag bounced on a pillow and went straight overboard into the Nile. Without thinking about it twice, Matt leapt overboard and saved the sleeping bag from getting too wet. Fortunately it wasn't too deep, but needless to say Matt ended up with the wet sleeping bag that evening, while Anna enjoyed a nice and dry evening…Day 6 - Kom Ombo, Edfu and Luxor
We slept incredibly well that night as we drifted along quietly down the Nile, when suddenly we were awoken by Sherif telling us to wake up and pack up - it was 6am and time to move on once again. Our bus was waiting for us, so on we went towards our next stop which was Kom Ombo to visit the temple.
Located in the town of Kom-Ombo, about 28 miles north of Aswan, the Temple, dating to the Ptolemies, is built on a high dune overlooking the Nile. The actual temple was started by Ptolemy VI Philometor in the early second century BC. Ptolemy XIII built the outer and inner hypostyle halls. The Temple known as Kom Ombo is actually two temples consisting of a Temple to Sobek and a Temple of Haroeris. The Temple has scant remains, due first to the changing Nile, then the Copts who once used it as a church, and finally by builders who used the stones for new buildings.
The temple had some interesting things about it that made it unique, such as the wall hieroglyphic of the woman giving birth in an upright, squatting position, and images of fruits on the walls. Also there were mummified crocodile corpses which were pretty cool too. Next we travelled further north in the direction of Luxor, stopping at Edfu to visit the Edfu Temple of Horus.
The Temple of Edfu is an ancient Egyptian temple located on the west bank of the Nile in the city of Edfu. It is the second largest temple in Egypt after Karnak and one of the best preserved. The temple, dedicated to the falcon god Horus, was built in the Ptolemaic period between 237 and 57 BCE. The inscriptions on its walls provide important information on language, myth and religion during the Greco-Roman period in ancient Egypt. Inside the temple's pylons is a large courtyard. Just before the entrance to the first of two hypostyle halls is a welcoming statue of Horus. Inside the hypostyle halls are dominated by a forest of towering columns.
The temple's size was massive and really had a great presence about it. The enormous columns inside the temple rose up towards a high ceiling and were covered with masses of hieroglyphic markings. The lighting inside too was very moody and atmospheric. The shear solidity of the rock made the temples reasonably cooler than the outside temperatures. The photos on the blog probably don't do it justice, but the outside shape of the temple is very recognisable and unique.
From here, we continued to travel northbound and after sometime reached the city of Luxor, where were were taken to our resort/hotel for some chill out time and the chance to finally take a shower and use the 'facilities'!
When we were all cleaned up we spoilt ourselves with some room service and Matt ordered fish and chips while Anna ordered a pizza, both of which were surprisingly fantastic meals! After 2 days eating quite simple food on the felucca, a decent sized Western meal was just what were craving. The afternoon was spent by the pool which was just fantastic. It overlooked the Nile River and the palm tree banks there also.
Later that evening all of us boarded our bus and traveled back into the town to experience the Luxor Temple. If you travel to Luxor (ancient Thebes) then it will be hard to miss the spectacular Luxor Temple situated in the center of Luxor city. The Temple of Luxor was built largely by Amenhotep III and Ramesses II around 1400 BC and its main purpose was to celebrate the festival of Opet. Many rulers built on to the temple yet it always remained a place of worship for Christians and later Muslims. A mosque built inside the temple still exists and is one of the highlights of the site.
It was getting quite dark at this stage and the lit up temples looked absolutely amazing, set against a deep blue sky. For us it was the most amazing temple out of the many that we visited on the trip. We drove past it the next day, but it didn't look half as exciting in daylight, so if you go there, make sure you go at night.
That evening everyone in the group went into the city and enjoyed a banquet style meal at a local restaurant. It wasn't too bad, and was fantastic value really considering what you paid. A recommended jeweler was set up outside the restaurant whom had some wonderful jewellery ranging from necklaces to pendants, to bracelets to rings. We both thought that these would make great gifts and had some custom pieces made for our families, as you could get your own name written on a cartouse with hieroglyphics. Our jewellery would be ready for us in two days at our hotel back in Cario – not a bad turnaround for personalised jewelery. It was another early one that night (well pre-midnight anyway), as we had another 4am morning ahead of us…
Day 7 - Luxor, Valley of the Kings and Queens
So there we were up at 4am to meet down in the lobby by 4.30am in preparation to watch the sunrise while floating around in a hot-air balloon through the skies over the Valley of the Kings. Doesn't sound too bad does it? Well let me tell you, it was amazing - although we could have done with less haze. Our morning journey started in a boat in Luxor where we were briefed on the standard do's and dont's and all the legal jargon that goes on so that if you fall out of the balloon the company is not liable. The boat took us towards the launch area where we were taken to in a van. When we arrived, we were surrounded by fields filled with various crops and found the ground crew inflating the balloons, which made for some spectacular images and looks like a tricky thing to do.
Each balloon basket can carry 30 people, so yes, they are pretty darn big, with divisions in them so that 4-5 people fit into each section. The sides of the baskets were quite high, so even Matt felt safe dispite his unsettling fear of heights. What we weren't prepared for was the intense heat which comes from the flames as they boost up the hot-air. The heat was intense and at times you felt like you needed to feel the top of your head to check if your hair was still all there. Once we got high up in the sky, the views were just incredible. The sense of open space and the huge scale of the surrounding land was just awesome. The skylines were filled with many other balloons, all spread out across the countryside.
Looking down from the balloon you could see life from a very unusual perspective. We even saw inside some man's bedroom as he woke up, as most housing does not have any roofs, because it only rains once every few years. After about an hour of being in the air, it was time to descend back to Earth. Surprisingly, it took quite a while to come down and we were followed by a small group of children who were running along beside us. The landing was just as gentle as was the launch. The basket kissed the ground and only made a few bounces before it came to a halt. After a quick group shot and a Certificate of Participation presentation, we jumped back into the vans and headed off. We also had the opportunity to get a DVD video of the whole experience which we knew would be cheesy and badly produced, but for £10 who really cares.…Sherif, our guide, decided that to avoid the crowds, we would start with the Valley of the Queens which is a place in Egypt where wives of Pharaohs were buried in ancient times. Exploring the rock and sand mountainous valleys reminded Matt of the Tatooine scenes in Star Wars, where R2-D2 gets taken by the Jawas (nerd…). We looked in 2 tombs here, those being the Tomb of Amenherkhepshef & The Tomb of Tyti. You could feel the heat in the Valley, even though it was still early in the morning, you could tell that it was going to be a hot one. Back into the bus for a short drive to see the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, (sounding like "hot chicken soup") which was just amazing.
Also called The Temple of Deir El-Bahri, it is one of the most characteristic temples in the whole of Egypt, due to its design and decorations. It was built of limestone, not sandstone like most of the other funerary temples of the New Kingdom period. It is thought that Senimut, the genius architect who built this Temple, was inspired in his design by the plan of the neighboring mortuary Temple of the 12th Dynasty King, Neb-Hept-Re. The Temple was built for the great Queen Hatshepsut (18th Dynasty), to commemorate her achievements and to serve as a funerary Temple for her, as well as a sanctuary of the God, Amon Ra. The temple starts with a climb up 3 levels to the top, and offers amazing panoramic views looking back to the valley. We spent quite some time exploring the amazing colours in the hieroglyphics here, as it is quite rare to find such vibrant colours still there after so many 1000's of years. We were sort of conned by one of the local people here as he offered to take our photo. We knew that he would expect money, but for what we paid him (3 Egyptian Pounds), it was totally worth the photos, especially the one with him posing with Matt. Classic shot.
From here we traveled to visit the Valley of the Kings, which is probably more well know as it contains the tombs of famous pharaohs such as Tutankhamun and Ramesses VI.
The Valley of the Kings is a valley in Egypt where for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th century BC, tombs were constructed for the kings and powerful nobles of the New Kingdom.
The valley stands on the west bank of the Nile, across from Thebes (modern Luxor), within the heart of the Theban Necropolis. The wadi consists of two valleys, East Valley (where the majority of the royal tombs situated) and West Valley. The area has been a focus of concentrated archaeological and egyptological exploration since the end of the eighteenth century, and its tombs and burials continue to stimulate research and interest. In modern times the valley has become famous for the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun (with its rumours of the Curse of the Pharaohs, and is one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world.)
The Tomb of Tutankhamen was not included in the normal entrance fee, and we decided against it as almost nearly everything has been removed and is in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, but in hindsight we regretted the decision. We explored inside the tombs of Rameses I, Rameses III and Rameses V. The heat was quite intense by now and without having enough water Matt was struggling a little bit, mainly inside the tombs themselves as they were really humid and low on oxygen.
Next was lunch and a visit to the Karnak Temple – yes another temple. We never realised how many great temples there are in Egypt. There are a lot of them, but they are all certainly worthwhile visiting.
The Karnak temple complex, universally known only as Karnak, describes a vast conglomeration of ruined temples, chapels, pylons and other buildings. It is located near Luxor in Egypt. This was ancient Egyptian Ipet-isut ("The Most Selected of Places"), the main place of worship of the Theban Triad with Amun as its head, in the monumental city of Thebes. The complex retrieves its current name from the nearby and partly surrounding modern village of el-Karnak, some 2.5km north of Luxor. The complex is a vast open-air museum and the largest ancient religious site in the world. It is probably the second most visited historical site in Egypt, second only to the Giza Pyramids near Cairo. It consists of four main parts (precincts) of which only one is accessible for tourists and the general public. This is the Precinct of Amun-Re, and this it is also the main part of the complex and by far the largest part. The term Karnak is often understood as being the Precinct of Amun-Re only, as this is the only part most visitors normally see. The three other parts, the Precinct of Montu, the Precinct of Mut and the Temple of Amenhotep IV (dismantled), are closed to the public. There also are a few smaller temples and sanctuaries located outside the enclosing walls of the four main parts, as well as several avenues of human and ram-headed sphinxes connecting the Precinct of Mut, the Precinct of Amon-Re, and Luxor Temple.
The massive columns in the Hypostyle Hall (I think we fit 11 people holding hands around the base of one) and sculptures in Karnak really make it feel like an outside museum. The site too has two huge obelisks, that were carved from one piece of granite and transported up stream to this site. It is really difficult to comprehend how everything was constructed at such a huge scale so long ago. Really impressive.
That evening we were back on our smelly trains on our way back to Cairo. This time though we didn't upgrade to the sleeper cabins, which for £30 we would do in a second. A "seater" is basically a slightly-reclining chair in a train carriage where the lights don't even dim all night, that you have to share with around 30 other people. However, braced with ear-plugs, eye shades, and the fact that we were really tired, we managed to get through the night until around 5am, when some random Egyptian man began to yell at his mobile phone. After initially wanting to stick his phone somewhere rather nasty, we later found out that his house was burning down, so in the end we felt a little sorry for him. The day began with some excitement too as we were awoken from a dazy snooze with "we have 10 minutes until we need to get off", from our guide. Then 1 minute later, it was… "5 minutes guys, hurry up". To then "Oh, no. We have to get off now!". Needless to say, we have never packed up our sleeping bags and belongings faster before.
Day 8 - Cairo & Egyptian Museum
The day began with check-in back at the same hotel/resort that we started our tour at Cairo, which was fine with us as we only had spent a very short time here to begin with.
Our first stop for the day was at the Egyptian Museum, which has the greatest collection of Egyptian antiquities. It's most visited section would be the treasures from Tutankhamun's tomb. Chariots, gloves, jewellery, the famous mask - many of the antiquities from his tomb are displayed here.
Tutankhamun's tomb contained four gilded shrines nested one inside the other. All four of these shrines are on display in the museum. They are lined up in order of decreasing size. The innermost of these covered a stone sarcophagus which remains in the tomb. Inside the stone sarcophagus were three coffins - the innermost being made of 110 kilograms of solid gold. Inside that lay the pharaoh himself wearing the famous gold mask. Tutankhamun remains in his tomb to this day.
Of course there is much more to see here and so much history, and it is amazing to see how well preserved some of the tools and clothing are. We were also facinated by the animal mummies too, as they were in some ways really weird but intriguing also.
We left the museum and was taken to a flower essence place where an old Egyptian man explained all about how perfumes are made from the same flower essences found here. They smelt just like the real products, but at a fraction of the cost. we bought a pack of them as they would make great gifts too.That afternoon the group visited a street market in Cairo, where were had about an hour or so to explore and barter on what ever we desired. Matt was after a doll for his mum, and also bought a T-shirt and magnet. It was decided that we should buy a sheesha, as they were so incredibly cheap. We bought the deluxe model which only cost 150 Egyptian Pounds, an absolute bargain. The next problem will be shipping it home without the glass base breaking! The photo here shows the amount of choice in a sheesha shop.
Day 9 - Cairo to London
Our last day of the tour was spent at the hotel before we had to check out. The remaining hours left were spent relaxing by the pool, making the most of the hot sun before we went back to cloudy London. We exchanged contact details with many of the tour group and had transfers to the Cairo Airport. Different people in the group flew back home (most of them to London) all at different times, but ours was at 3pm.
It was a long and rather boring wait after checking-in at the airport. Cairo Airport is what you would call, "basic" and having to kill 2 hours there was quite a challenge. A group of us went to McDonald's as Matt is facinated by the differences in the menus around the world. This McD's even had a special wrap-style burger called a McArabia!
Later that evening we arrived back in London at Heathrow Airport, caught the tube home and rested for a few hours before preparing to go back to work the following day.
As expected Matt went crazy with his camera, taking s
hots of nearly everything there was. (At the end of the trip he totaled somewhere near 1000 photos, which were later culled down to 600 or so). We also had the compact digital too, of which Anna took some very cool shots. Highlights of them can be viewed in the photo column at the top right.In summary - a fantastic experience that we would thoroughly recommend, and remember that there is so much more to Egypt that simply the pyramids. So if you get the chance to go, take it, you won't regret it.
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