My last few hours in Egypt.After we returned to the hotel, 6 of us went for a farewell dinner in the hotel. It was such a great trip I would do it again in a heartbeat!
After dinner, I had a very short nap, then downstairs to check out at 1 am. My ride came for me, a Trafalgar representative who spoke very good English, and he escorted me to the airport, got me through passport control, check in and security. Very helpful.
Then into the airport I went! The start of a very long day of traveling.
I got onto EgyptAir at 520 am in Cairo, and flew 5 hours to London Heathrow.
I had a few hours of wandering through Heathrow. I hadn't realized I was a bit uneasy being in Egypt, but it was nice to get to Heathrow and hear English being spoken. Now that is a big airport! Then I boarded Air Canada for my 10 hour flight back to Vancouver.
I got into Vancouver around 4 pm. Man, having a Nexus card, sure gets you through Customs Lickety-split. And the ArriveCan app so you can do your declarations online.
Then a few more hours of wandering and on the plane to home. It was very nice to get home. I was very tired. I think by this time, I had been up for more than 36 hours.
A couple of days and I'm back to normal, and my trip just a memory. But what memories. Thanks for following along with me. It was quite the journey!
There were 6 of us that went to the city of Alexandria. $ of us from the original tour, and 2 others who joined us from a different tour. We were up and at it by 6 am again! I guess I will sleep when I get home!
It was a long journey to Alexandria, up on the Mediterranean Sea. We saw some ancient forts, and the catacombs. The catacombs were weird, they were found when a donkey and cart went through a spot and landed down in a well like area. There were about 700 or more families that were buried there. Some in tombs, some (peasants) were cremated and placed in urns in the catacombs. There was also a spot for families to come 30 days after their member had died. They had a large meal in the catacombs, then broke the dishes, as they did not want to see their family member again. Too ghostly I guess!
We also saw a Roman amphitheater. They believe it was used as a university. There are small classrooms close to the larger seating area, and a section of Roman baths. This was found in the 1970s when someone was digging to build their house. Needless to say, he didn't get to keep his land!
There are also mosaics that are just beautiful. It still boggles my mind that this was just buried under the dirt!
Our last stop before lunch was a museum that is housed in a palace. In this were artifacts that have been found around Alexdrandia. What is mind boggling is the number of treasures they have found under the ocean. There is still about 75% of the artifacts under the ocean. Including temples and statues. I have pictures of some that were brought up from the ocean floor. Imagine the history that is still buried. Egypt would like to do a submarine museum, but they are strapped for cash.
We stopped for lunch before heading back to Cairo.
Today were in the later periods in Egypt, meaning the Mamluks, and the Ottomans. We saw the Citadel where Saladin defeated the Crusaders. Inside is the Alabaster Mosque. Beautiful My pictures cannot capture the grandeur of the place. It has been in use since 1600 AD. Cairo has about 25 million people living in it. There are multiple sections, one part is modelled after Paris as Mohammed Ali studied in Paris and when he returned to Cairo, started to build an additional city. And this area definitely looks European.
We also saw a Coptic Christian church. Very cool, kind of on a side street. Very old as well. Inside are ancient Icons on the walls, and it was modelled similar to the mosques. In the crypt is an area where it is believed Jospeh, Mary and the baby Jesus took refuge when Harrod was looking for the male children to kill.
We went to the Old Egyptian museum. This is where King Tuts regalia is displayed as well as the Silver Pharaoh. Silver in the ancient times was more precious than gold. And the Silver Pharaoh had his sarcophagus made of solid silver We couldn't take pictures in those galleries, but it was spectacular!
The Rosetta Stone was displayed in this museum. Well a copy of it, as England had taken it, but they graciously made a copy for the Egyptians. I hadn't realized what the Rosetta Stone actually was. It was a stone that told a story, written in 3 different languages. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, modern hieroglyphs and Ancient Greek. They were able to decipher the hieroglyphs by comparing to the Ancient Greek.
After the museum, it was back to the hotel. A group of us went for dinner as it was the last evening the larger group would be together. It was a very fun trip.
At the end of the cruise we had gone to see the Captain. All of the riverboat Captains come from one village, and as they have children, they bring their sons with them to learn how to navigate the Nile. There are always 3 captains on board so they can spell each other off. The porters and deck hands are also related to the Captain. I found it very interesting.
At the Luxor museum before we headed back to Cairo, all of the items were found in Luxor. Beards were false on the kings as they had to shave every 3 days to get rid of the lice. Ewwwwww. Even now, most Egyptians are clean shaven. Some of the pictures show a scribe, and he is well off, as you can see the rolls of fat. LOL. my goodness, did the carvers have to so detailed in their carving.
This was the 18th dynasty and this was the first time you see wheels and horses. Egypt had been defeated by people who came with horses and chariots. Egyptians retreated for 10 years, had captured some horses and chariots, and came back and defeated their enemies.
Egypt is trying to move people from the Nile river valley to the desert. Egypt has been building new cities, and giving away homes. However, the young fellow who took me to the airport, said that he had a condo given to him, but he doesn't live there. He said it is too far away, about 30-45 minutes to the city. He also said that developers were wanting the land, not necessarily for agriculture. Interesting to hear the different views. You see all sorts of new building going on in the desert, I guess eventually more services will be available, but people like where they live, have a connection to the community and don't want to move .Egypt is known for its welcoming inclusive culture and consequently have about a million immigrants every year.
Egypt is mostly self-sufficient for its food stuffs, not necessarily for wheat though. Major exports are fruit and vegetables and cement.
We went to see the Dandera temple before heading back to Cairo. The temple apparently resents a volcano, all of the temples were surrounded by walls. The temple was built on a site of an even more ancient temple. Christians lived in the temple for about 300 years, thus lots of smoke damage. Plus holes at the bottom of the pillars where they sharpened their knives. This is one of the best preserved temples, with the colours vibrant. They are slowly removing the smoke damage. This is truly an ancient land.
Awwwww. It is my last day on the Nile River cruise. It has been fantastic. Have to pack my suitcase tonight, and am sure hoping everything fits.
Yesterday was a lovely relaxing day. This morning I was up early, sat on the top deck watching the city of Edfu. It has a population of only about 60,000. Edfu is where we had docked for the night. We didn't get off and we were moving again while we were having breakfast.
The part of Edfu we could see from the boat looked quite old and there were a lot of horse and carriages on the street as we were not the only boat docked there. I guess they were waiting for the tourists to get off.
There were lots of military type people with their rifles. Im hoping to keep people from getting ON the boats and not OFF! LOL
I would highly recommend this cruise for anyone, so much history in this ancient land, and such a different culture. Very thankful to see even such a small portion as I did.
It's a bit smoggy, smoky or dusty this morning. There is a definite haze in the air. My weather app says it's 32 above, but in the shade and with the breeze from the boat moving, it is very comfortable.
The Nile River truly is the giver of life, there is such a narrow band of habitable land by the river and there is a sharp demarcation where the Sahara desert takes over. Ive seen a house that is danger of being buried in sand, so it is no wonder some of the temples and tombs have been lost to the march of time.
This has been a quieter day as you can see, have been catching up on my writing. This morning we were up early and went for a boat ride on the Nile, through grass islands. Saw lots of different birds, water buffalo and then we stopped at a beach. I waded in the Nile No there are no Nile crocodiles, they are a protected species. After the dam was built, they caught all of the crocodiles in the river and placed them in the large lake, which is 500 km long. There is 35-40,000 crocodiles in the lakes. So I would not want to go swimming in that lake.
We also stopped at a small temple, that they are just excavating. Lots of old stone steps, read worn and uneven. This site not as pristine as some of the other sites, but still really interesting stuff they have found. They had a little carved ivory brush that was used for mascara. This evening we had another party and an Egyptian dinner.
So far this trip has not disappointed. I am in awe each and every day.
A verrrry long and busy day.
We were up early and off to Aswan airport to fly to Abu Simbel. This is right on the border of Sudan, so a very heavy military presence, and lots of guns.
Abu Simbel was a fantastic temple. It was moved in order to protect it. I can't imagine how they did it. It was carved into a mountain. UNESCO gathered people from around the world to figure out the logistics. They did a great job.
By this time the heat was getting to me and I considered $1 USD a bargain to get a golf cart ride up the mountain and back down. The temperature was 42 or 43 and no shade in sight.
We stayed a couple of hours here and wandered around, my last bit of time was spent at the market sitting down and drinking cold water.
This was where my innate haggling skills came to the forefront. I saw a nice baseball hat with Egypt on it, and thought I could get that. jWell the first guy said $35 USD, I'm afraid I laughed and said no. He then said oh just for you - $30! I started walking, he went down to $25 then $20. I kept walking out of the market stall. The next guy in the very next stall came up to me, and said $5.00? I said sold and walked out with a $5 hat.
We flew back to Aswan and back on the ship for lunch. Then we went on a falluca ride. It is the traditional sailboat on the Nile. That was fun, and I didn't have to walk anywhere.
Then a few of us decided to go to the market. We really got to see what the old part of the city looked like. We went on tuk-tuks. That itself was an experience, but fun. I was surprised with all of the garbage lying around there was no smell. However, there are a large number of street dogs so perhaps they eat all of the smelly stuff.
I bought some spices from the market, just a mixture, so will figure out what to cook with them. The tug-tuk ride was a hoot - you just suspend all thoughts of safety and ride along!
Back to the ship of dinner then off to a light and sound show at Philae temple. That was OK, I was very tired so I kind of dozed through it. once I got to a spot where we could sit. Hahaha. I did sleep well that night.
This morning we went to the temple of Philae. It's in Aswan, a city of 1.3 million and it is called a frontier city as it is close to the border of Sudan. There is a large military and police presence here.
The temple was deserted as we were the first ones there. Very nice not to be in a crowd. This temple had been underwater for 40 years after the dam was built in Aswan. Italy was given the honour of moving the temple, as the temple is for Isis, goddess of healing and magic. The Romans also worshipped Isis. In 1970 they built a coffer dam and then moved the entire temple piece by piece to another island in the Nile. This island was built up even higher to ensure the temple would not be under water again.
The dam was built in 1960 and flooded the entire country of Nubia. Now Aswan city is mostly Nubians, as they were given free land, free electric etc for losing their homes and country. They had a choice of moving to Egypt or Sudan, most chose Egypt.
The temple was originally ancient Egyptian but was recycled and used as a Greek-Roman temple. The walls were carved to look like an unfurled scroll.
The temples were used for worship but also for education, with each wall being like a page in a book. there are multiple images of people giving amphoras of oils . In this area of Egypt it gets very hot - like 50 above Celsius in the summer. It was only 43-45 when I was there. People needed to put oils on their skins so this is an area where there are a lot of essentials oils..
We visited an oil place, where they fabricate the essential oils that go into the perfumes such as Chanel, Joy and others. The oils are very fragrant and do not dissipate. In King Tuts tomb they found containers of lotus oil, which was 3-4000 years old. We were able to sniff lotus oil, but it is not allowed to be removed from Egypt.
We also stopped at a papyrus store, where they showed us how they made the paper. Fascinating, so of course I had to bring some home!
We got off the ship and went to a temple at Kim Ombo. It was both a temple and a medical clinic. I have a picture of the types of instruments they found, and they look remarkably similar to those in use today. There were little rooms at the back of the temple that were used for examination or consultation rooms.
In the waiting area for the clinics, there were carvings of the martyrs of Egypt, The soldiers who died during fighting. I was considered lucky or respectful to rub the face of the soldiers as you passed by. Thus today, there are holes in the wall where the faces have been rubbed so often, there is nothing there any longer. There are also games carved into the stone, I guess they had long wait times at their clinics too!
This was a temple for 2 gods. Sobek the crocodile god - who was considered 'bad', but also the god of fertility., Treatment for infertility at this temple was to eat crocodile genitals. Yum. : (
initially the temple didn't do well, as no one wanted to worship the bad god. Apparently the priests talked the king into dedicating an additional temple to Horus, the falcon god. This created much more business for the priests and thus were able to make a living. Horus, was also known for healing.
The temple has been used continuously, but went from Egyptian, to Greek to Roman to Christian. The different artwork in various parts of the temple tell the story as it went from one peoples to another as the artwork is distinctive. The Romans faces bulged, the feet were different and our Egyptian guide believed the Romans artwork was of a lesser quality.
The temple was under sand until the 1860s. There were holes drilled into the walls, which were used to tie camels to, as the temple or ruins, were used asa a market.
The Egyptians believed there were 3 seasons, flood, planting and harvest. They believed there were 10 days in a week, 3 weeks in month and 360 days in the year.
There is a large well on site, and this was used to calculate taxes owed. If the water in the well was high, the Nile was flooding and therefore good crops and more taxes. If the well was low, p0oor crops and less taxes.
I should start at Thursday. Last evening, just before dinner we went to a temple that was actually a spa! The temple of Luxor was used as a rejuvenation place for both people and the gods they worshipped.
The figures were covered up to their shoulders in sand until the 1900s and the city was a flood plain. Pretty amazing what they found when they started digging them out. This was the first time anything had been discovered about King Tut. It was in this temple that his name was first seen, which contributed to the discovery of his tomb in the 1920s.
Some of the pictures I have show one part of the temple being used as a mosque. You can see from how high the door is, how high the sand was when it was first used as a mosque. It's considered to be the oldest mosque, from 1280 AD. It is still in use today.
Another part of the temple was used as a christian church and has a picture of the last supper. That's considered to be from about 320 AD. Amazing how they can reuse these ancient buildings.
They brought the Gods (carved statues) and the Kings to the temple to be rejuvenated. So a modern day spa! Which apparently rejuvenated the King as he had numerous wives and concubines, I guess he needed the rest.
Last night after dinner, I was done! Went to bed early and finally had a good sleep. Up at 415 this morning to be downstairs by 5 am to go for a hot air balloon ride.
I don't have the words to describe how incredible that was. Watching the sun rise over the Nile, over temple ruins. It was awesome! Of course, graceful that I am, we had to climb into the basket and it was chest high on me.
So up I go, and kind of stumbled down into the basket, all was good except for one leg that was sticking straight up. So I needed help to get that leg into the basket. Hahaha. Much easier getting out I must say.
Then the bus picked us up at 7 am and we joined the rest of our tour group and went to the Valley of the Kings. Pretty hot by that time. We went to 4 different tombs, one of which was King Tuts. The only thing left inside the tomb was his mummy, as it was too degraded to move.
The hieroglyphs inside were phenonomal. The tombs were started when the person first became King so it was ready when he died. King Tut died when he was only about 18 years old, so his path into the mountain was short. One of the Ramses, #3 I think, had a very long and elaborate tunnel to his tomb, so he obviously lived quite some time. I couldn't get over the colours inside the tombs. The pictures were almost like they were done a few days ago, not thousands of years. They used ground up stones and oils and animal fat to make the colours
Then we went to an alabaster shop where they showed how they worked the alabaster, and the difference between the hand worked, and the machine made. Very, very different! quite beautiful. I had to buy a ring, it is an antique, meaning old but not an antiquity, which is ancient! It is silver with a carved alabaster scarab.
Then we went to another temple and had to hike up a mountain!!! They took us part way up with a golf cart. Not far enough for me though!
I thought I was done in, it was 40 above and I was sweating like a pig. Didn't drink enough water (only had about 2 to 2 1/2 litres. Saw the temple and walked back to the bus so I could get cool.
Then we stopped at a village - it looked like a back alley to me. We got to meet a farmer and his family, go into their house, eat some sun bread and got served tea. The sun bread is baked in a brick oven outside which is heated by the sun only. That's how freakin' hot it gets!
We looked at his animals, sheep, camels, a donkey, horses and some pigeons. And his tiny fields he cultivates. He is able to get 3 different crops off his land. He had just harvested his wheat, to grind into flour, and had planted okra, eggplant and pumpkin . It was very interesting to see inside his house to see how people live. Then back to the ship.
We went straight to lunch as I thought if I got to my room, that might be the end of me. After lunch had a quick shower and rested a bit. Feel much better now as I also drank some electrolytes. We are on the ship now until tomorrow at 4 pm when we get off and walk to a different temple.
The temples are fascinating, the work that went into them from so long ago is unimaginable. Thousands and thousands of years ago. the precision work that was done, down to the millimetre.
The group is good, as you know once you're with a group you start to learn about them...one asks questions continuously, and not very bright questions, one likes to talk about all the things they have done and another just likes to talk! Not sure what they are saying about me! Hahaha. have met some really nice people though.
One thing I learned, lots of the houses look unfinished. It's on purpose. One generation builds a house, and leave the top unfinished, as the next generation will then finish that level, and move in, leaving the roof they built unfinished. The farmer whose house we were in, he was the 6th generation living in that house. There is not a lot of single family homes. And they still build some of the houses with the mud bricks.
That is all for now. I will put in lots of pictures for this day.
well I have an hour on the flight to Luxor so thought I would write a few notes. Very pleasant surprise, when we got on the plane we were seated in EgyptAir first class. So had a nice warm cloth to bathe our hands, then served a breakfast of smoked salmon and cheese. It was on a bun, but we get a lot of bread here. The seats were ginormous. I couldn't even reach the seat in front of me. We are off to Luxor this morning. It's quite funny being part of a tour, the tour director must feel like he's herding cats trying to keep us together. There are only 15 of us in the tours, so a really nice size.
I'm looking forward to getting on the ship and just relaxing. Unpacking my suitcase so I can repack it again. When you rummage through it, it's always harder to close.
The canals that run through Cairo for irrigation are quite the mess There are tons of garbage, and it appears they pull the garbage out and pile it on the side of the road. Not sure if it's ever picked up or what they do with it.
There are no traffic lights in Cairo, the lanes on the road are suggestions only and the number of cars, buses, motorcycles, donkey carts and pedestrians just ebb and flow. There are a lot of people cleaning the streets, but with the wind, sand and garbage it is a never ending battle.
Cairo is very densely populated and most buildings look somewhat decrepit. It is hard to tell if people live in them or not. And everything is the same colour. About 1/4 to 1/2 of the population live in slums and alleys.
We did drive by some villas, but there wasn't many compared to the apartment buildings. Not sure what I am expecting in Luxor, will just have to wait and see.
Thursday afternoon
Well Karnak temple is amazing! It was started 4000 years ago and finished about 2000 years ago. Each King and Pharaoh just added on. It is really amazing. It's a huge site and we were walking for about 2 Horus. My knee is not happy. There is lots of uneven ground and stairs or inclines.
Luxor is a pretty little city, but it's supposed to be between 35 and 40 degrees. I might melt! LOL
The temples at Karnak are very busy, there were a lot of tourists there. It amazes me that such things are so old, and mostly still standing. In some areas there are still the bright colours from when they were first decorated.
Then we came to the ship. I guess the first class ticket should have told me something. If you want to look it up, it is the MS Miriam. It's a very classy ship. we were welcomed by the manager and offered a hibiscus cool drink. Then we had time to check out our rooms and then lunch was served at 1 pm. By that time, other guests were arriving so our 15 member group got kind of lost. We were seated at 3 tables, and there must have been at least 15 or 20 other tables. It's 4 stories high, there are 50 rooms. There is a jewellery store. The ring I liked was $690.00. So guess I will look elsewhere!
We are going out again at 5 pm to look at another temple then back to the boat for dinner at 730 pm. Then I think we start moving up river. Someone just tells us what we are doing, which I like. I may need to do another cruise, as I like the idea of having a home base, and not having to pack the suitcase and move. This afternoon is free so I am sitting in the lounge having a glass of wine ad watching the Nile flow past the window.
This morning I was up at 3 am. We had to be downstairs by 415 am, off to the airport and caught a plane to Luxor. Once we get to Luxor we go to the temples at Karnak. Then we get on our river boat for our 7 day cruise on the Nile. we should be on the boat for lunch and then we have a free afternoon. I may just sit and stare at the river. LOL
After the pyramids at 'Giza we went for lunch at an Egyptian restaurant. Nothing spicy. It was good but.... then we went to an Egyptian cotton place. the tour guy said this was where you bought things actually made in Egypt and from Egypt. So I went shopping! I did purchase a couple of scarves, very nice.
Then we went to Memphis and saw another sphinx This one was made of alabaster and we saw a lying down statue of Ramses. That was pretty interesting. And very hot!
Next stop was a weaving school. They made silk, cotton and wool carpets and tapestries. Qoq, the work that goes into the carpets no wonder they are so pricey. We got to see the silk from the cocoons. Interesting. Then they took us upstairs to the showroom. Man oh man! All sizes and colours. Very gorgeous. I couldn't think of what I would do with a silk wall hanging of whatever size. Besides the littlest ones were about $300 USD. One lady bought a 5x7 silk rug. It must have put her back about $10,000.00
And then we went back to the hotel. It was about 6 pm. Had a quick shower and went for dinner.
This was the first day of the trip. You probably want to hear about the camel ride. Oh my! So they had all these dirty, smelly camels, so of course I said sign me up! I watched how to get on but when it came to my camel, I had one leg in the stirrup, but didn't have my other leg over the came, when the beast decided to get up. Well I felt like I was on a mechanical bull. I was holding on with one hand, flailing the other, one leg hooked over the pommel and I was lying flat going in circles. I did create quite the stir, I had 3 camel guys trying to stop the camel and hold me on. I wasn't letting go for nothing! I was really high up!
Anyway got settled, one leg on each side of the camel like you were supposed to, my heart was pounding and I got my short ride, pictures and then I got off! First and last camel ride for me.
Next onto the pyramids. They are built as they are to facilitate the king's ascendancy into heaven. The details and workmanship is awe inspiring. The 3 pyramids in Giza line up with the 3 stars in Orions Belt in the star system. The engineering is amazing. There are actually 9 pyramids in Giza, as when you look at the sun you see 9 rays. It took 20 years to build one and they were built starting about 4000 years ago.
Then we were off to see the sphinx. All in the same complex.. By this time, the temperature was already in the 30's.
Cairo
Well it was a long day. And here I am in Cairo. Wow! it was a long trip, one which I am happy is over! Frankfurt airport was not too difficult to manage, it had good signage, and easy to navigate. to board the plane to Cairo was quite the experience. We loaded onto about 3 different buses, and I am not exaggerating it took us about a half hour to get to the plane. And we had to climb stairs to get into the plane. it was definitely a local carrier, not fancy like the Air Canada one we were on from Vancouver.
I was very tired when we arrived, I left home at 6 am, flight from Nanaimo to Vancouver is 10 minutes, then left Vancouver at 1 pm. Got into Frankfurt at 8 am the next morning (their time) then had a couple of hours in Frankfurt then off to Cairo for another 5 hour flight. I got into Cairo around 3 pm their time. I was met at the airport by a tour representative and was driven to the hotel. I had an early dinner at the hotel and then went to bed!
I arrived early in Vancouver and wandered around. Trying to stretch my legs and get my knee lubricated. The airline has now started the boarding process so won’t be writing much.
OMG! I am so excited. Went out for a bon voyage dinner with friends last night. That was a great time.
I unpacked my suitcase and took a few items out and repacked everything. Now I have room to bring stuff back My AirTags have new batteries and are in my suitcase and my knapsack.
a good friend did this trip is number of years ago and had some really great tips on what to take, A cooling towel for through the day and a heavier sweater for the evening.
today I am sure I will have to go through the suitcase again and wander around. Go through the suitcase…..lol.
I got my suitcase down, and started to pack. I had bought some packing cubes and filled them up with clothes. Then tried to put them in my suitcase. Hmmm. Do I need another suitcase? Or am I overpacking! Duh. Of course I’m overpacking. And I still need to put my shoes in, and a few other assorted items. And leave room to bring back “stuff”. So, tomorrow I will take everything out and repack! And rethink the outfits I’m taking. And how much handwashing I have to do.
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