Overview
After a lifetime of thinking about it, we finally pulled the trigger on going to Egypt and visiting this part of the ancient world – and our son Carl was able to join us. We planned the trip 5 months in advance and 2 weeks before our departure, the “war” between Hamas and Israel erupted at the Gaza Strip, just 6 hours from Cairo. We did some research (including talking with someone whose husband is with the US State Department in Cairo), and briefly thought about cancelling, but in the end, we’re so glad we didn’t. We always felt safe.
We started the planning process by reaching out to Insight Guides, a company that connects travelers with hand-picked local travel experts. On their website, we filled out a short form identifying where we wanted to go and described the type of experience we were looking for. They connected us with a Your Egypt Tours and all communication was through the Insight Guide secure message system. Over the course of 5 months, we to put together a trip that accomplished a full set of sites and objectives we had given them and some they suggested. This itinerary changed many times, from the initial draft, to what we ended up with (for what it’s worth, very different from the original itinerary). In retrospect, we had really done it right! Between planning, communication and trip delivery, we were incredibly pleased with Your Egypt Tours and the experiences we had. Our trip included all our lodging, all in-Egypt transportation, entrance fees to pre-chosen tours with a private tour guide and some meals. For the record, we would NOT recommend traveling to this area without the assistance of a tour company & guides.
Day 1: Cairo Arrival
Although we are very experienced with travel in some parts of the world we knew that Egypt was going to present a few new challenges. We are met at the gate by Ahmed who walks us through Egypt’s/Cairo’s process of getting our bag and a travel visa. Ahmed is well known at the airport and having him with us expedites many of the steps. The $25 visa has to be purchased before you leave the airport (oddly, you pay in American dollars). They make sure as you exit the airport that the visa stamp is in your passport. After clearing passport control, we meet our driver Jonny, for the Cairo portion of the trip.
On our way to our hotel, we learn Cairo has a population just over 22 million people! Cairo is the capital city of Egypt and one of the largest cities in Africa with a total area of approximately 111,954 acres. The city of Cairo resides only on the east bank of the Nile river and two islands. The non-living reside on the west bank of the Nile in numerous cemeteries.
Steigenberger Hotel El Tahrir Cairo
We are staying at the Steigenberger Hotel El Tahrir Cairo for 3 nights. It doesn’t take long for us see some of the security in place in Egypt. The security has been there for quite some time and is not new with the recent events in the Middle East. Egypt’s main source of revenue is tourism and they are very serious about keeping tourists safe.
When we get to the turn in for the hotel, we have to wait for a steel gate to slide open. An armed guard comes out to inquire about who is in the van. The van then pulls forward and they start to look under the van with mirrors while bomb sniffing dogs walk around the van. Next, we pull to the entrance of the hotel and go through metal detectors and baggage screening to get into the lobby. Our son Carl landed a few hours earlier and greets us in the lobby. Ahmed talks to the folks at the registration desk and we get early access to our room at 10:30am. Once again, having a tour guide has ensured a smooth process.
Relaxing
Ahmed gives us several pieces of advice and recommendations for area restaurants within walking distance. He assures us it is safe to walk around but warns us the people here are typically trying to find ways to make money from you. He tells us that people will tell you they can do something or show you where something is – for free – but in the end, it isn’t. We walk around the area where the hotel is located looking for a bank to get some Egyptian pounds. The ATM at the hotel wasn’t working so we had to go hunt another location which we soon found not far from the hotel.
The exchange rate for Egyptian Pounds to US Dollars was 31 to 1 which takes a bit to get used to calculating in your head. The largest denomination of bills is 200 pounds and that equates to about $6.40 – so when one draws money from an ATM, it is a thick stack of bills.
On our walk, we are met by a pleasant man who tells us he works at the Egyptian Museum a few blocks away and tells us about a nearby market he highly recommends. We tell him we have a tour guide, and he eagerly tells us that our tour guide won’t take us to this one and we shouldn’t miss it. He offers to walk us there and we decline saying our priority is food. He informs us that restaurants don’t serve food until 1:00pm because they are doing prayers. We finally get away from him and poke our heads into a restaurant only to learn they won’t serve food until 1:00pm – he was right on that one. We later tell this story to Mamdouh and he laughs as he comments that it is highly unlikely that the guy works at the museum and he’s glad he warned us not to go anywhere with strangers. He assures us we wouldn’t have been harmed, just probably would have had to paid money later to get away from him.
We head back to the hotel. It’s warm out and we are still hungry, so we head to the pool and order a sandwich. They take our order but won’t serve us until 1:00pm. We see a “club sandwich” on the menu and order it, but when it comes, we realize it’s not quite the type of club sandwich we are used to. Instead of bacon or ham and white meat turkey, it has a hardboiled egg and dark meat turkey – it dawns on us that pork isn’t available in Egypt.
We chill by the pool all afternoon in the nearly 100˚ weather before heading down for a huge buffet dinner. We have several jam-packed days ahead in our itinerary and head to bed early.
Day 2: Hitting the Ground Running!
Mit Rahina Museum
We get up bright and early to beat the heat, our tour guide Mamduoh meets us in the lobby and our first stop is about 20 miles south of Cairo. The Mit Rahina Museum is an outdoor museum that preserves the remnants of ancient Memphis. The museum centers around a colossal limestone statue of Pharaoh Rameses II but there are numerous artifacts both inside of the museum and spread out throughout a large outdoor area. Memphis was the capital of Egypt for over 2000 years and there is a large archeological dig site nearby where excavations continue. Mamduoh gives us our first lesson in cartouches, an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text/hieroglyphics enclosed are a royal name. Each king/queen had a unique cartouche and Rames II had his stamped everywhere! We also learn that Egyptian royal statues are well-known for having their left foot placed forward. It acted as a representation of the king’s power, alignment with the cosmic order, and portrayed movement in the statue. We were here about 90 minutes before moving on.
Saqqara Archaeological Site
We move on to Saqqara, an ancient Egyptian site and UNESCO World Heritage Site that served as the necropolis (burial location) for the ancient capital city of Memphis. It’s located about 17 miles south of Cairo and covers an area of over 4 square miles in size. No fewer than 17 pharaohs are known to have chosen Saqqara as their final resting place and royals, their family members, sacred animals and important officials continued to be buried there for more than 3,000 years.
We got a chance to visit a handful of some of the main sites that are open to the public.
The Serapeum of Saqqara
The Serapeum of Saqqara is a subterranean complex that was the burial place of the sacred Apis bulls, believed to be incarnations of the god Ptah. These bulls were identified by the following description: “black and white with a white belly, it had to have a white triangular mark on its forehead, an eagle with spread wings on its back, a crescent moon on its side, a scarab-shaped mark under its tongue and a tail with long hairs parted in two.”
The Serapeum dates back to the Eighteenth Dynasty (1549 to 1292 BC) and was expanded by later pharaohs. The bulls were mummified after death and carried to the Serapeum to be buried in stone sarcophagi (primarily black granite) that weigh up to 80 tons each. The outside of the boxes wasn’t precise and did not generally contain carvings (except for 3), but the inside had precise 90˚angles and was ultra-polished. This bull burial practice lasted for over 1,300 years, only ceasing in 30 B.C. In the “Great Vault” area there are 24 tombs and there are about 40 others known to be buried under the sand nearby. The oddest thing is that when it was discovered in 1850, all the sarcophagi were empty, yet there was no evidence of previous tomb raiders.
It was not available as part of our pre-chosen tours but was a mere 100 Egyptian pounds cash each ($3.20 US) to the ‘keeper’ at the entrance and we highly recommend this add-on. We were the only people in this vast underground system of tunnels. The guard had to come and unlock the door for us to go in and then turn the lights on.
The Tomb of Ty
The Tomb of Ty is a tomb of a high official and his family from the Fifth Dynasty (about 2500 BC). It is not a pyramid, but a mastabas, a rectangular mud-brick tomb with a flat roof and sloping sides. It is decorated with exquisite reliefs that depict scenes of daily life, agriculture, hunting, and fishing. Ty was the supervisor of a number of pyramids and temples in the Saqqara area. This tomb is famous for its writings and inscriptions that illustrated the daily life of the ancient Egyptians, as well as the presence of a group of funerary scenes.
Again, we were the only people here when we visited. To get inside you had to stoop through a small opening and then proceed hunched over through a tunnel to get to the interior.
The Step Pyramid of Djoser
The Step Pyramid of Djoser is part of the oldest complete stone building complex in the world, built by the architect Imhotep for the Third Dynasty king Djoser around 2630 BCE. The Step Pyramid consists of six mastabas stacked on top of each other, forming a stepped shape. The actual chambers of the tomb, where the king’s body was laid to rest, were dug beneath the base of the pyramid as a maze of tunnels with rooms off the corridors to discourage robbers and protect the body and grave goods of the king. When completed, the Step Pyramid rose 204 feet and was the tallest structure of its time. The surrounding complex included a temple, courtyards, shrines, and living quarters for the priests covering an area of 40 acres and surrounded by a wall 30 feet high.
Djoser saved the country from famine by re-building the Temple of Khnum, the god of the source of the Nile River, who was thought to be holding back his grace because his shrine was in disrepair. Once Djoser restored it, the famine was lifted. Djoser was so proud of his complex that he broke precedent of having only his own name on a monument and had Imhotep’s name carved as well. The entire complex consists of the Step Pyramid, the House of the North, the House of the South, the Serdab, the Heb Sed Court, the South Tomb, Temple of Djoser, the Pyramid of Unas and the Northern Mortuary Temple.
The Temple of Djoser is our first exposure to the hypostyle design of architecture we will see throughout many ancient sites. The hypostyle has interior space whose roof rests on pillars or columns. The word means literally “under pillars”.
The Pyramid of Unas
The Pyramid of Unas is the smallest of the Old Kingdom pyramids, built for the fifth dynasty King Unas. This was also the pyramid our guide recommended we tour because of the large number of inscriptions throughout the interior. This is the first pyramid to have texts inscribed on its walls, known as the Pyramid Texts.
The Pyramid Texts are the oldest large collection of religious writing known in Egypt and there are a total of 283 “spells” out of at least 1,000 texts that appear in the tomb. The reliefs and texts in Unas’s burial chamber were meant to assist the deceased pharaoh in the afterlife. The other texts inside the pyramid depict the transport of granite blocks from Aswān (over 500 miles south) for the king’s temple and contain the first Egyptian relief of a battle scene.
Again, we had to hunch over to get into the tomb but this time we found it to be crowded and we had a hard time getting photos without hordes of other folks in the picture. We were, however, able to walk around through the various chambers enough to get a good flavor of what it had to offer.
The Pyramids of Giza Complex
It is time to visit perhaps the most well-known and iconic wonder of the ancient world. Sitting on the west bank of the Nile River on the other side of Cairo is the world-famous Giza Pyramid Complex. You can see the Pyramids as you drive downtown in Cairo! Earlier we mentioned that Egypt’s main industry is tourism and they go to great lengths to protect and maximize it. As we drive and the Pyramids come into view, Mamduoh tells us that the Egyptian government is working to clear the area surrounding them to make the complex more visually appealing. The government builds new housing, relocates residents to the new and improved buildings (sometimes people get indoor plumbing for the first time) and then demolishes the old structures.
The most famous and largest pyramid in the complex is the Great Pyramid of Giza, also known as the Pyramid of Khufu. It is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World that still survives today. It was built with approximately 2.3 million limestone and granite blocks, each weighing an average of 2.5 tons, and covers an area of 13 acres. It originally stood at 481 feet tall but has lost some of its height due to erosion and vandalism. Granite is not available in the Cairo area but was imported from Aswan over 500 miles to the south.
Contrary to the view so often held, the great monuments of Egypt were not built by Hebrew slaves nor by slave labor of any kind. Skilled and unskilled Egyptian workers built the palaces, temples, pyramids, monuments, and raised the obelisks as paid workers. Mamduoh tells us many workers farmed their land during part of the year and then worked on these monuments after harvest.
We wander around the site for a while to get a number of great photos and to take in the sheer size and majesty of these ancient wonders. Although we had plenty of opportunity to take a “camel” ride we decide that wasn’t really for us. There are really 3 viewpoints you need to go to take it all in. The first is the area right next to the pyramids to get an up-close view. Then a little bit away is a hill with a panoramic view of the pyramids. Lastly, you need to travel down to where the Sphinx is for another perspective.
The Sphinx
So let’s talk about the Sphinx, a mythical creature with the head of a human and the body of a lion and is a common figure in Egyptian, Asian and Greek mythology. Facing directly from west to east, the face of the Sphinx appears to represent the pharaoh Khafre, the son of Khufu. It measures 240 ft long from paw to tail, 66 ft high from the base to the top of the head, 62 ft wide at its rear haunches and is made of limestone bedrock. Researchers estimate it would have taken 100 people 3 years to carve the Great Sphinx out of a single mass of limestone. The Great Sphinx was eventually forgotten, the body suffering from erosion and its face became damaged as well. The Sphinx was buried in sand up to its shoulders until the early 1800s, when a team of 160 men attempted (and ultimately failed) to dig out the statue. It wasn’t until the late 1930s that Egyptian archaeologist Selim Hassan was able to finally free the creature from its sandy tomb. Today, the Sphinx continues to deteriorate thanks to wind, humidity, and pollution. We learn the nose of the Sphinx was not broken off by Napoleon’s troop’s canon fire. In fact, its absence is depicted in artwork pre-dating Napoleon.
Temperatures are above 100˚ today yet we dress in long sleeves and long pants. Dessert heat is dry and as such, it is easier to handle than these temperatures in a more humid environment. Keeping the sun off your skin truly helps to lessen the intensity of the heat.
Egyptian Late Lunch
By the time we get done touring the Sphinx, it’s late afternoon and we are hungry. For the record, our schedule every day involves touring from morning til 2:00pm-ish, then lunch, then touring again in the evening after things have cooled down, then dinner after 7:30pm. Mamduoh suggests a nearby restaurant called The Pyramids, so we load up into the van and head over. The restaurant is a lot bigger than it looked on the outside and there are plenty of open tables as our waiter seats us and gives us a menu.
As we look over the menu, our waiter brings us a variety of amazing appetizers, dips and a salad. To get a flavor of a number of things, we order 3 meals and the restaurant serves it “family style” so we can split it. Our meals come with soup and Mamduoh suggests we try the Pigeon Soup. It was delightful and sort of tasted like chicken soup. The main meal included an Egyptian style of grilled chicken wings & thighs, kafta (ground beef, parsley, onions and a blend of Middle Eastern spices), lamb, grilled vegetables and rice.
They ended up bringing us a huge portion of food which we couldn’t finish – all for about the equivalent of 30 US dollars.
Day 3: More Amazing Sites in Cairo
The Citadel
The Citadel of Cairo is a historic fortress and UNESCO World Heritage site that was built by the Muslim leader Saladin in the 12th century and served as the seat of government and the residence of the rulers of Egypt for nearly 700 years. We walked around and visited the Mosque of Muhammad Ali and the Mosque of al-Nasir Muhammad (shoes left outside). There is also a military museum there, but it was closed the day we were there.
In the courtyard of the Mosque of Muhammad Ali there is a French clock gifted to Mohammad Ali in 1845 by French King Luis Philip in exchange for the obelisk that now stands at the Place de la Concorde in Paris.
The fortress part of the citadel has 4 gates and about 13 towers and surrounds the entire complex which sits up on Mokattam Hill overlooking the city. It’s a bit foggy the morning we are here, and the view is hazy, but we are told on a clear day you can see the pyramids from here. In our opinion, this is a must-see site when visiting Cairo.
Saints Sergius, The Bacchus Coptic Church and The Ben Ezra Synagogue
One of the more interesting facts that our guide shared with us is that about 10% of the Egyptian population is Coptic Christain. “Coptic” is derived from a Greek term meaning “Egyptian.” The Coptic Church split from the Catholic Church in AD 451, has about 19 million followers worldwide and claims its own pope and bishops. The pope of the Coptic church currently resides in Cairo and is currently established in Saint Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral.
Around 30BC, the Romans, under the emperor Agustus, built a fortress city that became known as Babylon Fortress. Within the fortress’s enclosure are the Coptic Museum, a convent, and several churches, including the Church of St. George, Saints Sergius and Bacchus Church and the Hanging Church. The Hanging Church is named for its location above a gatehouse of Babylon Fortress.
As you enter the area where you tour the churches you walk by the ruins of the Babylon Fortress.
Saints Sergius and Bacchus Church is traditionally believed to have been built on the spot where the Holy Family, Joseph, Mary and the infant Jesus Christ, rested and hid at the end of their journey into Egypt. They may have lived here while Joseph worked at the fortress. As we toured the church, we descended into a small lower level to see the area they are thought to have inhabited.
The Egyptian government reopened the Ben Ezra Synagogue on 31 August 2023 following a decade-long renovation. The renovation was completed by the Drop of Milk Association that works to preserve Egyptian Jewish heritage. The synagogue’s ceiling was reinforced to prevent collapse, the library was heavily restored, and the building was further cleaned and insulated.
Papyrus Factory
Mamduoh surprises us with something not on our itinerary: a visit to the Papyrus Factory, a museum and shop that showcases the ancient technique of papyrus making. We are led to a room and treated to a cup of hot hibiscus tea while a man demontrates how papyrus was and is made. He warns us there are many shops that sell imitation art made from banana leaves. It was quite interesting, however, the place is a bit of a tourist trap. As soon as the demonstration ends, we get high pressure sales to buy painted papyrus. Prices start high, but we methodically negotiate the prices down, especially when we bundle our purchases. Carl purchases a picture he has customized with his name in both Arabic and hieroglyphics. We both buy a painting of an ancient Egyptian calendar.
Khan el Kalilli Bazaar
As for shopping, our guide told us to shoot for 20% of the asking price. The store owners are pleasant, but aggressive. They are very eager for a sale and try very hard to make a sale before you leave. They know if you don’t buy at their shop, there are many, many other shops where you can spend your money for similar items. Negotiation is the name of the game. After a few back and forth offers and various bundling offers, including threatening to walk out, it worked like a charm. It is part of the experience. We are really happy with what we bought.
This is very visual and intense experience with lots of people trying to sell you things.
Cairo Museum of Antiquities
We spent a good bit of the afternoon in the Cairo Egyptian Museum. This museum opened in 1858 and houses over 170,000 artefacts. It is the oldest archaeological museum in the Middle East and has the largest collection of Pharaonic antiquities in the world.
Mamduoh informs us they are building an additional museum, the Grand Egyptian Museum, that will be 5 times this size and located closer to the pyramids. Its opening continues to be delayed, but as of our trip, they hoped to open it sometime in December 2023.
The pictures below are just a fraction of what we saw today. We see sarcophagi, mummies, gold thrones, carriages, jewelry, toys, statues – the list goes on. We particularly loved the ancient models of everyday life that are over 3000 years old that were very detailed. We will have to come back sometime to experience a lot more in this museum and to visit the new museum.
Nile Dinner Cruise
Our guide suggested we take a Nile dinner cruise in the evening, so we signed up for this little adventure (an add-on to our tour package). It turned out the entertainment and food were great! We also got to see a bit of Cairo lit up at night from the Nile. We thought it was a worthwhile, fun experience.
Day 4: Transitioning to our Nile Cruise
Flight to Aswan
The second part of our Egyptian adventure took place in southern Egypt starting with Aswan, about 500 miles away. We flew to Aswan, then took a Nile Cruise to Luxor before flying back to Cairo.
After breakfast at the Steigenberger, our driver picks us up and we head off to the airport and get a taste of Egyptian airport security which is a little more complicated than we are used to. First, you pass through airport luggage scanning security just to get into the airport. Then after you get your boarding pass (and check-in any bags), you go through a second level of security where male and female passengers are separated into individual lines and subjected to luggage screening and a fairly robust pat down of your body. Some passengers get swiped for explosive residue which not only includes your hands, but every pocket opening on your clothing. This gets you into a large holding area where you wait until your gate is open for your flight. Once your flight is the next one to leave the gate, you are processed through yet another vigorous screening and pat down.
You finally make it to the gate, but there’s one more step before boarding the plan. After scanning your passport & boarding pass, you board a bus that takes you out to the tarmac to climb stairs to board your plane. Other than the extra security, our plane ride went off without a hitch and landed on time.
Aswan
Our guide for this portion of the trip is Ash. We meet him at the airport and he helps us navigate the simpler inter-Egypt airport arrival experience. We meet our new driver, Osama, and we head out through Aswan to our first destination. Aswan is bigger than we expected, and we learn it has a population of about 275,000. Aswan is home to many Nubians, a race of people from Nubia that annexed with Egypt in the 19th century. Aswan is also the location of the Aswan High Dam, built between 1960 and 1970 to provide flood control, increased water storage for irrigation and to generate hydroelectricity. The Aswan High Dam is the tallest earthen dam in the world. As we visit several temples and historic sites in this lower region of Egypt, we learn many had to be dismantled and relocated to accommodate the new levels of the Nile and the creation of the reservoir, Lake Nassar.
Philae Temple
The Philae Temple complex was dedicated to the goddess Isis, the wife of Osiris and mother of Horus. It was originally located on Philae Island, near the First Cataract of the Nile in Upper Egypt. However, due to the construction of the Aswan dam, the island and the temples were threatened by flooding and a UNESCO project was undertaken to move the temple complex to a nearby island, reached by boat. Ash engages a boat for us at the dock and in about 20 minutes, we are on the island and off exploring with our guide.
What is a cataract? It is a shallower area of a river where boulders rise out of the waters and often create rapids. The Nile River has 6 cataracts.
The main temple is dedicated to Isis but there are smaller temples and shrines dedicated to other deities, such as Hathor, Horus, Imhotep, and Osiris. As we tour, we learn this was one of the last places of Egyptian worship and was only closed and converted to Christian worship in the 6th century AD. Unfortunately, when this happened the early Christians did extensive mutilation to the sculptures of this temple. There is still a ton to see and admire, but it’s a shame so much of it was defaced. As you look through our photographs, you can typically tell what portion of the site is original and which is reconstructed material (plain).
Unfinished Obelisk
The Unfinished Obelisk is an ancient monument that was never completed due to a crack in the granite. It is located in the northern region of the stone quarries of ancient Egypt in Aswan, where many other obelisks were carved out of the granite bedrock.
The Unfinished Obelisk was ordered by Queen Hatshepsut, one of the few female pharaohs of Egypt, who ruled from 1508 to 1458 BC. She wanted to erect the obelisk at the Temple of Karnak, where her husband Thutmose II had built a pair of obelisks. The Unfinished Obelisk would have been the largest obelisk ever made, measuring about 137 feet in height and weighing about 1,090 tons. During the carving process, the workers discovered a flaw in the stone that made it unsuitable for its purpose. A large crack appeared on the surface of the obelisk, which would have compromised its stability and durability. Therefore, the project was abandoned, and the obelisk was left attached to the bedrock. Today, it offers a unique insight into the ancient Egyptian stone-working techniques, as it shows the marks of the tools and the lines of the measurements that the workers used.
It’s worth a short visit and if you haven’t yet seen a Muslim city of the dead (cemetery) there is one directly across the street from this.
Concerto Nile Cruise
We have a couple of suites on the Concerto for the next 4 days. Our ship has 63 cabins and 4 suites, as well as a swimming pool, a spa, a restaurant, a lounge bar, and a panorama bar. With a max capacity of about 120 passengers, it’s a good size for us. Nile cruises are quite popular with approximately 200 ships that do the routes. At any given time, 1/4 are on the Sunday to Wednesday north-to-south route (Luxor to Aswan), 1/4 on the south-to-north route, 1/4 on the Wednesday to Sunday north-to-south route and the other 1/4 on the south-to-north route. They share overnight locations so they tie up 4 deep and you sometimes walkthrough one, two or three ships to get to yours. That also means, when docked, your balcony view may be another ship.
It’s about 4:00 in the afternoon and we check in and explore our home on the water from the next few days. Our rooms are across the hall from each other at the back of the ship. We decide to head up to the pool for a bit as the temperature is slightly over 100˚ and it’s a good way to kill some time as we wait for our evening activity.
Evening Felucca Sailboat Ride Around Elephantine Island
A felucca sailboat is a traditional wooden sailing boat used to travel along the Nile River in Egypt. It has a large triangular sail and no motor, so they provide a tranquil ride.
Elephantine Island is one of the largest islands in the Nile, located near the city of Aswan. The island was a strategic defensive position and a trading route between Egypt and Nubia. and served as the border town that separated the two regions. The island also has many ancient ruins such as the Temple of Isis, the Temple of Khnum and numerous tombs. Ash talked to us about the importance of Elephantine Island in the history of Egypt, however, it wasn’t a site we are visiting on this trip. Elephantine was known as the “door of the south,” since it was the most southerly city in Egypt and the starting point for Sudanese trade.
Our evening sail trip took us around the island where we got a good look at it and Aswan from the Nile. It was a beautiful evening and there was added ambiance when some of the local kids paddled up to the boat and started singing to us, hoping to make some money. We were also treated to a gorgeous sunset while sailing.
Day 5: Egypt Just Keeps on Giving!
Road Trip to Abu Simbel
All our lives, we’ve seen pictures of Abu Simbel, two large temples in southern Egypt carved out of solid rock for Ramesses II in 1,300 BC. In the 1960’s, UNESCO and the Egyptian Government launched a project to move the temples to high ground due to the rising water of Lake Nasser created with the completion of the Aswan High Dam.
This was a site we were not going to miss, so we rose and left the cruise ship at 5:00am to begin a 3-hour drive south to see these ancient wonders. Carl opted to stay behind to catch up on sleep and do some foot exploration of Aswan. The traffic south at this time of day was heavy as a LOT of tour buses were headed there. We later learned 2 busloads of our ship’s passengers left at 4:00am! There are several security checkpoints along the drive and at times, the line stretches over a mile. Our tour company apparently had special privileges because our driver cuts way in front of the buses and we whizzed through in a couple minutes. We learn our guide has done some pre-paperwork, so he basically just needed to hand them the pre-approved slip they cross-check visually by briefly looking in the van. These check points have a fairly large collection of soldiers armed with automatic weapons, but at this point in our trip, we have gotten used to seeing this.
About 90 minutes into the trip, we stop at a place to use the bathroom and get a cup of coffee. There are a ton of people here and the line to the “PAY” toilet (ten Egyptian Pounds, about 30 cents in US) is long. That bathrooms are “guarded” by men bearing toilet paper and you get about 8 squares for your money. We only have bills in the 200 Egyptian Pound denominations, so Ash gives the smaller bills so we can relieve ourselves. This “pay to pee” toilet system is apparently very common in this area of Egypt, particularly at archeological sites. It is not the case in restaurants or museums. Nancy waits in a chaos of people to get a cup of American coffee for 50 Egyptian Pounds (about $1.50 US) and we watch the sunrise over the Sahara.
As the morning becomes brighter and we continue our journey through the Sahara, Harrison asks Ash about a couple things that catch our attention.
The first is a question about all the trucks that are parked along the road and where they are headed. He informs us this is commercial traffic headed to Sudan that is waiting for the border checkpoint to open for the day. We are only about 30 miles from the Sudan border.
The second question has to do with all of the construction and agriculture activity that seems to be everywhere. He tells us the Egyptian government is trying to create a large new agriculture area complete with new canals, housing and other infrastructure for the workers. From all we can see, this is a very large project and will be ongoing for years.
We pull through the town of Abu Simbel around 8:00am and head to the temple complex.
Abu Simbel
The Abu Simbel temples are dedicated to Ramesses II and his wife Nefertari, as well as the gods Amun, Ra-Horakhty, and Ptah.
When the temples were moved, they were carefully cut into large blocks, and then reassembled on a higher artificial hill, about 600 feet from their original location. The relocation project took about four years, from 1964 to 1968, and cost about $40 million. The temples were reconstructed with great precision, so that they would preserve their original orientation and appearance. Honestly, you can’t tell!
The reconstruction preserved the phenomenon of the sun’s alignment, which occurs twice a year, on February 22 and October 22. On these dates, the sun rays enter the inner sanctuary of the Great Temple, and illuminate the statues of Ramesses II, Ra-Horakhty, and Amun, while leaving the statue of Ptah, the god of darkness, in the shadows.
To help move the tourists through the inside of the temples, guides aren’t allowed inside. Ash enlightens us with a plethora of information as we walk to the temples and as we wait to get inside. He then leaves us and tells us where to meet him when we’re done.
The Large Temple of Abu Simbel
The Large Temple is dedicated to Ramesses II and the 4 statues measure almost 60 feet in height. The entrance to the temple is located between the legs of the second and third statues. It leads to a series of chambers and halls, decorated with elaborate reliefs and inscriptions that depict the pharaoh’s military and religious achievements. The most notable scenes include the Battle of Kadesh, where Ramesses II claimed a victory over the Hittites, and the Festival of the Rebirth of the King, where Ramesses II celebrated his 30th year of reign and his coronation as a living god.
Our early departure pays off and we only wait about 10 minutes to get into the temple. There’s very little circulation of air inside and with all the bodies, it is very, very warm.
The Small Temple of Abu Simbel
Rameses II built the small temple in honor of his wife Nefertari and Hathor, the goddess of motherhood, love fertility and music. The smiling face inside the temple is the goddess Hathor and the walls are decorated with scenes of the king and queen before various gods and the destruction of the enemies of Nefertari.
More and more people are arriving. We recognize a few tourists from our cruise ship which means it took longer for them to arrive by bus even though they left earlier. The line to enter the Small Temple is about 30 minutes. By the time we exit, the line to the Large Temple has easily quadrupled in length and the line to the Small Temple is at least double in length.
Lake Nassar and the Vendor Gauntlet
After a couple hours of touring the temples, we walk around the perimeter of the temple complex and admire the view of Lake Nassar which stretches out for miles. As mentioned earlier, the reservoir was created as a result of the construction of the High Aswan Dam. It is one of the largest man-made lakes in the world. Strictly speaking, “Lake Nasser” refers only to the much larger portion of the lake that is in Egyptian territory (83% of the total), with the Sudanese preferring to call their smaller body of water Lake Nubia.
We need to get back to our driver before too long as our boat is scheduled to sail at 2:30pm and we don’t want to miss our sailing! To get out of the temple complex, we have to walk a gauntlet of souvenir vendors. We buy a small souvenir shot glass to add to our every growing collection, but just like the market in Cairo, the store owner tries diligently to bundle more items to our purchase, and we have to negotiate the price. We soon find Ash and Osama and we are on our way back to the ship (we arrive in plenty of time).
Sail to Kom Ombo
We are scheduled to dock at the temple of Kom Ombo about an hour before the sun sets. We have an evening tour of the temple complex. It’s hot out and we decide to head to the pool on the upper deck and watch the scenery of the Nile go by as we head upriver. We mentioned earlier that our boat has a capacity of approximately 120 people. We didn’t mention the other passengers are primarily Chinese. In fact, we are the only three US tourists and we meet 6 women traveling together from Argentina – everyone else is Chinese. Lucky for us, the Chinese don’t like the sun, so the deck is quiet and mostly empty. As we begin to see the Kom Ombo Temple complex in the distance we head back to our cabin, quickly change and get ready for our next temple visit.
The Temple of Kom Ombo
The Temple of Kom Ombo was dedicated to two pairs of gods: Sobek and Hathor, and Horus and Tasenetnofret. Sobek was the crocodile god of fertility and creation, Hathor was the goddess of love and joy, Horus was the falcon god of the sun and kingship, and Tasenetnofret was a form of Hathor or Tefnut, meaning “the good sister”. The temple was designed to separate the worship of these gods, as there was a conflict between Sobek and Horus. As you enter into the main court, there are 16 painted columns, eight on each side of the court. A granite altar sits in the center of the main court, likely where the sacred boat was placed. On the rear wall of the main court are five lotus-shaped columns along with a screen wall. At this point, the temple splits into two entrances (one for each god) to courts, halls, sanctuaries, and rooms.
There are many scenes of the king and the queen making offerings to the gods, and of the gods performing various rituals and ceremonies. The temple also has a calendar, and a set of surgical instruments carved on its walls. The museum which is a part of this complex has a number of mummified crocodiles on display (they found over 300 mummified crocodiles in various underground tombs). Ash tells us that when the Aswan High Dam was built, an effort was made to contain all the crocodiles to the south of the dam. They say there are none in the Nile waters to the north.
By the time we leave the temple it is getting dark, and we get to see the temple lit up at night. This was truly a site to behold!
Shortly after dark, we return to the ship and have dinner. We have an assigned table and have a very attentive waiter. Meals are all buffet-style, but the waiter brings us drinks and clears our dishes as we eat. Each time we get to our table for a meal, our waiter has already set out the typical beverages we’ve ordered before. After dinner we head back up on deck for a bit to watch the ship proceed a short distance upstream to dock at Edfu for the night.
Day 6: More Treasures in Egypt
Edfu Carriage Ride to Edfu Temple
We are scheduled to head over to the Edfu Temple at 7:30 in the morning. We didn’t know ahead of time that we were going by horse and carriage, but Ash meets us at the dock, and has already secured 2 carriages to drive us to the temple through the streets of Edfu. It turned out to be a fun little trip through the city as it was waking up.
Edfu’s Temple of Horus
The Temple of Edfu is dedicated to Horus, the falcon-headed god of the sun and kingship, and his consort Hathor, the goddess of love and joy. The temple has a massive facade with two towering pylons that are decorated with scenes of the king defeating his enemies in the presence of Horus. It is the second largest temple in Egypt, after the Karnak Temple, and is considered the best preserved of all the Egyptian temples. Over the centuries, the temple became buried to a depth of 39 ft beneath drifting desert sand and layers of river silt deposited by the Nile. Local inhabitants built homes directly over the former temple grounds. Identified in 1798, it wasn’t until 1860 that work began to uncover this marvel.
The vestibule leads to the innermost chamber, or the sanctuary, which contains a black granite shrine that was dedicated to Nectanebo II, the last native pharaoh of Egypt. The sanctuary also has four statues of Horus, Hathor, the king, and the queen, which are illuminated by the sun twice a year, on February 22 and October 22. These dates are believed to coincide with the birthdays of the king and the queen. The inscriptions on its walls provide important information on language, myth and religion during the Hellenistic period in Egypt. In particular, the Temple’s inscribed building texts provide details of its construction, and also preserve information about the mythical interpretation of this and all other temples as the “Island of Creation”. There are a ton of carvings, columns and statues in this temple that keep us busy for hours.
Sail to Lexor
We have a full day of sailing ahead of us to Luxor and the ship has requested that all guests be back on board by 11:00 am so we can depart on time. When we return to the ship, we hang out on the top deck to watch our departure before heading down for lunch. Just like the previous day, we pretty much have the top deck to ourselves. After lunch, we head to the pool on the upper deck to watch the world go by as we sail north on the Nile.
Sometime around midafternoon we hit the Edsu River locks we have to pass through to continue north. It’s somewhat of a slow process to wait in line (almost an hour) but we get a slow up-close view of the city of Edsu and hear the Muslim prayer calls that ring out over the city. At one point we pass a school, and the kids stop and wave to us as we pass by. We also watch the “towel pirates” – men in boats that try to get tourists to buy an Egyptian decorated towel. When someone agrees to buy a towel, they stuff it in a plastic bag and throw it from water level to the third-floor deck. The plastic bag also has a little pouch for the buyers to put in the payment and drop it back down to the “pirates”.
After passing through the locks, we keep cool in the pool until we see we are approaching Luxor, and we decide to get ready for the visits to the Karnak and Lexor Temples that we have scheduled in the evening.
Karnak Temple
The Karnak Temple is a magnificent ancient open-air Egyptian temple complex built over a period of 1,500 years by different pharaohs and rulers. It is located on the east bank of the Nile River in Luxor (the ancient city of Thebes) and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is the largest temple complex in Egypt (247 acres) and one of the most visited historic sites in the world. The Karnak Temple dates back from around 2055 BC to around 100 AD. It was built as a cult temple and was dedicated to the gods Amun, Mut, and Khonsu. Being the largest building for religious purposes ever to be constructed, the Karnak Temple was known as “most select of places” by ancient Egyptians.
The key difference between Karnak and most of the other temples and sites in Egypt is the length of time over which it was developed and used. Approximately thirty pharaohs contributed to the buildings, enabling it to reach a size, complexity, and diversity not seen elsewhere. Few of the individual features of Karnak are unique, but the size and number of features are vast.
The great Hypostyle Hall alone with its 134 massive columns is really impressive. At 54,000 square feet, it is large enough to fit the Cathedral of Notre Dame comfortably. At its height, over 80,000 servants and slaves were assigned the task of serving this temple complex.
There is an “Avenue of The Sphinxes” that stretches 1.7 miles from the Karnak Temple to the Temple of Luxor. Discovered in 1949, it was almost completely buried by sand and by some housing. Excavation & restoration took 4 decades and was finally fully opened in 2021. There are over 1050 statues with 3 types: a lion’s body with a ram’s head, a full ram and the traditional body of a lion and head of a human. We show some photos here and in the next section, you can see it lit up at night.
We really enjoyed walking through this vast complex with its overwhelming array of eye candy everywhere.
Luxor Temple
A short distance from the Karnak temple complex in Luxor is the Lexor Temple complex which is surrounded by the city of Luxor on the east banks of the Nile River.
The Luxor Temple was not dedicated to a cult god or a deified version of the pharaoh in death. Instead, it was dedicated to the rejuvenation of kingship. It may have been where many of the pharaohs of Egypt were crowned in reality or conceptually.
To the rear of the temple are chapels built by Amenhotep III and Alexander. Other parts of the temple were built by Tutankhamun and Ramesses II. As with many temples from ancient Egypt, during the Roman era, it was defaced and converted to accommodate the new Christian religion. The temple and its surroundings were a legionary fortress and the home of the Roman government in the area.
The temple complex was beautiful to walk through as the sun set and the lights came on.
Day 7: More Egyptian Highlights
The Temple of Queen Hatshepsut
For years we had seen pictures of the The Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, and it was definitely on our must-see list on this trip. Ash & Osama picked us up shortly after breakfast and we headed to the valley the king’s area where this temple is located.
As a woman in a traditionally male position of power, Hatshepsut understood she needed to establish her authority and the legitimacy of her reign in much more obvious ways that her predecessors. The scale and elegance of her temple is evidence of this. The temple has a symmetrical layout, with two sets of structures mirroring each other along the main axis. In the center is a wide causeway leading to the entrance gate of the mortuary temple. Massive terraces rise above the desert floor and it is truly a site to behold. This temple includes a shrine built for Hathor and another for Anubis. The temple is decorated with statues, columns, and reliefs that depict Hatshepsut’s achievements, such as her divine birth, her coronation, her trade expedition to the land of Punt, and her offerings to the gods. The queen was not actually buried in the complex but in a tomb cut into the rock of the cliffs behind it. The entire structure was designed to blend organically with the surrounding landscape and the towering cliffs. Nearly the entire temple was built of limestone, with some red granite and sandstone.
The temple was buried by sand and debris over time, until it was rediscovered and restored by modern archaeologists in the 19th and 20th centuries. As with many of the temples we visited on this trip, this one still has active excavations and restorations continue as funding allows.
We ended up spending a couple hours wandering around the temple complex before we were off to our next destination.
Valley of the Kings
The Valley of the Kings is located on the west side of the Nile. For a period of nearly 500 years between 1539–1075 BC, underground rock-cut tombs were excavated for pharaohs and powerful nobles. The royal tombs are decorated with traditional scenes from Egyptian mythology and reveal insight into the period’s funerary practices and afterlife beliefs. Almost all of the tombs have been opened and robbed in antiquity, but they still give an idea of the wealth and power of Egypt’s pharaohs. About 65 tombs have been discovered so far and at any one time there are about a dozen tombs open to the public. The admission to this area starts with a general admission ticket that lets you go into 3 of designated tombs. For an extra cost, you can go inside a handful of more elaborate tombs such as Seti I (the most expensive to visit at $35 US), the tomb of the 2 brothers (Rameses V and VI, $6 US) and the tomb of Tutankhamun (the most famous of the tombs, $1.50 US).
Many tourists opt to pay extra for Tutankhamun’s tomb, but Ash tells us it will be crowded and there isn’t much to actually see. After much research and input from Ash, we add the Seti I and 2 brothers tombs. Seti I stands above all the reset in terms of quantity and quality of carvings, paintings and drawings in our opinion after touring several tombs. Few tourists are willing to pay for these tombs so they are not crowded at all.
To get into many of the tombs you have to descend down a long flight of stairs. It’s much hotter inside than you might expect for an underground chamber. Entrance guards hand out sheets of corrugated cardboard to fan yourself while inside.
This stop however was incredible! It’s hard to believe that the color you see in these tombs are still original.
Colossi of Memnon
There’s one last stop before we leave Egypt. We visit the small outdoor area known as the Colossi of Memnon. The twin statues depict Amenhotep III in a seated position, his hands resting on his knees and his gaze facing eastwards towards the river. Two shorter figures are carved into the front throne alongside his legs: these are his wife Tiye and mother Mutemwiya. These two statues were built around 1380BC, stand about 60 feet tall and weigh an estimated 720 tons each. The original function of the Colossi was to stand guard at the entrance to Amenhotep’s mortuary temple that in its day, was one of the largest in Egypt at 86 acres (even larger than Karnak at that time).
With the exception of the Colossi, however, very little remains today of Amenhotep’s temple. It was common for later rules to dismantle and reuse portions of their predecessor’s monuments. It stood on the edge of the Nile floodplain and an 1840’s lithograph shows the Colossi surrounded by water.
Aracan Hotel Stay Over
It is only early afternoon and our flight back to Cairo isn’t until 8:00pm. Ash arranges a “short stay hotel room” so we can be more comfortable waiting in a hotel than at the airport – no extra charge to us. We must say, Your Egypt Tours was top notch! We caught a late lunch, grabbed a short nap and then just hung out and relaxed until around 6:00pm when they returned to pick us up for the airport.
Fly to Cairo
The flight back to Cairo in the end goes off just a little bit of drama. We have to go through the triple security we described before, but on the 2nd round when Nancy was separated from me, she handed me her cosmetic bag. This triggers the security to flag me and pull that bag for a deep search. Now on this trip, this bag has already gone through security at 4 airports and numerous screenings up to this point, but he digs in to pull out a little set of fingernail scissors along with a couple sewing needles. No big loss, but our contact in Cairo later told us this happens frequently in security at Lexor as they are trying to prove they are doing their job.
Hilton Cairo Heliopolis
It’s close to 10:30pm when we are picked up at the Cairo airport. We arrived at the Hiton, exhausted, knowing we have early flights. At 2:00am in the morning, the hotel staff bang on the door to wake us and tell us they are delivering an extra bed! Somehow, someone got their signals mixed up. Carl quietly leaves at 3:00am for his very early morning flight home and we get up at 6:30am. Our tour driver and airport guide, Ahmed, pick us up and we get to the airport with plenty of time to head to our next destination on this trip: Greece.
Summary
This was an absolutely awesome trip, and I am so glad we hired Your Egypt Tours to get us around and provide guides for us to enrich the experience. We do not advise traveling in Egypt without the assistance of some tour company.
Up Next
Here is the link to the first leg of this adventure: The Ancient Civilizations Road Trip Part 1 – Italy
Here is the link to the third leg of this adventure: The Ancient Civilizations Road Trip Part 3 – Greece
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