Life in New York

Egypt

Hi all,

13 days spent in Egypt flew by in a blink of an eye, but it was worth it.
I did not go alone, but was accompanied by a lovely friend of mine with whom I had a lot of fun. This was a cultural trip to visit all the important historical sites from Alexandria to Abu Simbel.
Some general information about Egypt. It covers over 1 million square meters of which 6% is cultivated and the rest is desert. Over 70 million inhabitants from which 18 million live in Cairo. The first revenue of the country is the Suez Canal, followed by export of oil, textiles, natural gas and then tourism.
Let's give you all a little recap of our trip. The pictures will follow later.

We arrived on Sunday evening 29 April and embarked on a cruise ship at Luxor.
During the whole trip, we slept little, woke up early and ate like pigs.
The first day (30 April) we visited the following historical sites:
_ The Collosi of Memnon
_ The Valley of the Queens where we visited the tomb of Amunhirkhepshef, the 11y old son of Ramses III
_ Temple of Hatshepsut
_ Valley of the Kings, where we explored the Tombs of Ramses III and IV and Tuthmosis III
_ Temple of Karnak
_ Temple of Luxor
It was an extremely busy day where we received tons of information from our guide.
Thank god, we were well fed on the ship. All meals were in buffet style, so we strecthed our stomachs to the limit.

Tuesday 1 May
We sailed during the night to Esna where we visited the Temple of Khnum and the local souks. There we were harassed by a group of Egyptians who were selling their goods at negotiable prices.
Afterwards we sailed further south on the Nile to Edfu, where we arrived around 3pm in time to visit the Temple of Horus. Here again (just like at other sites) we were overrun by the local vendors.
After the visit, we continued sailing in a southerly direction to Kom Ombo.

Wednesday 2 May
Early in the morning, we explored the temple of Haroeris and Sobek at Kom Ombo, where we learned what kind of medical skills the Egyptians had back then. I cannot recommend any of them...
The rest of the day we were free while cruising south to Aswan. We could then work on our tan.

Thursday 3 May
The last stop of our Nile cruise was Aswan.
Here we visited an unfinished obelisk, the Aswan dam, the Temple of Philae dedicated to the Goddess Isis and a Papyrus factory. A very busy day again in temperatures that were extremely high for this period of the year. That part of Egypt was suffering a heat wave where temperatures in the shade came near 48 degrees and in the sun around 55 degrees. Needless to say that they were sweating and drinking many bottles of water.

Friday 4 May
We ended our cruise on the Nile and embarked on a plane to Abu Simbel, almost.
We were delayed for 4 hours in the airport of Aswan due to a problem with our tickets with Egyptair. After a turbulent flight of 30 minutes, we safely arrived at Abu Simbel where we went onto another ship to cruise on Lake Nasser. Before lifting the ancer, we visited the beautiful temple of Abu Simbel. This site is composed by two constructions, one dedicated to Ramses II and another to his favourite wife Nefertari. That evening we went back to the site to watch the sound and light show, which was amazing. Our guide for the cruise on Lake Nasser was an incompetent fool with a poor level of French. At least, we could make fun of him.

Saturday 5 May
We gently navigated in a northernly direction on the Lake and passed by the Temple of Qasr Ibrim. In the afternoon, we stopped at an oasis and visited the Temple of Amada, the Temple of Derr and the Tomb of Pennut. Although they were some palmtrees around, they did not grant us any shade. Being surrounded by sand and a cloudless sky above our heads, made us drink countless gallons of water. Of course, we were not complaining as our tan improved considerably.

Sunday 6 May
We woke at 5.45am which was hard and but it was to expand our cultural knowledge. We were once again dropped ashore to visit the Temple of Wadi El-Seboua, the Temple of Dakka and the Temple of Maharraqa. These constructions are located in a beautiful area as you will see from the pictures. The rest of day we relaxed and slept a little siesta in the afternoon to recover from the early morning and also to gain some strength for the last part of trip, Cairo.

Monday 7 May
In the morning we were back at Aswan and ended our cruise on Lake Nasser. But before disembarking we visited the following historical ruins, the Temple of Kalabsha, the Temple of Mandulis and the Kiosks of Qertassi and Beit al-Wali.
We waited then for 3 hours before being transferred to the airport for the last internal flight to Cairo. We arrived in one piece and were taken to our hotel right next to the pyramids at Giza.

Tuesday 8 May
The moment I had been waiting for had arrived. I was finally going to have a closer look at the pyramids.
The first one we visited was the eldest, the one called Saqqara - 32km south of Giza. It was built around 2800 BC and was the Tomb of King Zoser. Afterwards we stopped at the Tomb of Titi nearby and the Mastaba of an High Priest. We were taken afterwards to the old capital of Egypt, namely Memphis. This was very disappointing after all we had seen that morning. But after lunch, we got the dessert, the famous Pyramids of Giza, with Cheops, Chephren and Mycerinus as biggest ones. These constructions were built around 2600 BC and are part of 9 pyramids built for the royal family back in those days. You have to know that the first one of Cheops is 146 metres high and the top was covered in gold. In front of those pyramids, we found the guardian of the site, namely the Sphinx. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed by this statue, I always thought it to be more imposing. Anyway, this day was glorious and will be remembered. But the day did not end after Giza. That night we took a little trip through Cairo and visited the different areas. Very colourful.

Wednesday 9 May
We started the day being exhausted and visited the Citadel of Salah al-Din with the Mosque of Mohammed Ali (not the boxer, but the King of Egpyt back in the 19th Century) and the Mosque of Sultan Hassan built in the 14th Century. That afternoon we stopped at the British Museum where we could finally contemplate some of the 150,000 art pieces displayed. The collection found in the Tomb of Tutankhamun was breathtaking.

Thursday 10 May
Our last day and since we are adventurers, we decided not to let this day go by without visiting Alexandria, 220km north of Cairo. A 3.5 hours ride through a traffic unbound by any rules, took us safely to this city at the Mediterranean Sea. Here we visited the National Museum, the Pillar of Pompey, the submerged Royal Quarters, the Amphiteather, Fort Qaitbey and the Bibleotheca Alexandrina. This last one was quite impressive and left me in awe.
If you don't have time to spare, I do not suggest to visit this city. I am glad I have seen it, but it is not worth the 7hour return trip from Cairo.

Our holiday ended the next day. I am quite pleased of this trip. I saw everything I wanted to see, ate some good food, got a nice tan and gained some new unforgetable memories.
As mentioned above, the pictures will soon follow.

posted by Rudi @ 2:34 PM