Egypt
Written on February, 2008. Posted in Africa.
Day 1
Had flown down to London the day before and spent that day In Brighton visiting the Pavillion and enjoying celebrations for the Start of the Chinese New Year. Today we flew from Gatwick airport to Aswan. A short bus ride took us to Lake Nasser, this is the largest artificial lake in the world and was created when the high Dam was constructed. The formation of the lake required the removal , stone by stone, of the various temples we would visit over the next few days. By now it was dark as we took a short walk towards the shore where we saw , lit up before us, the ship, MS Prince Abbas on which we would be staying for the next 4 nights.
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Day 2
A short sail to visit the temple of Kalabsha which was built around 30BC but never completed and is dedicated to the fertility god Mandulis. It has some very good carvings on the walls. This temple was moved from its original location in a rescue operation by the Germans, and in exchange the Egyptians gifted the gates to the temple to Germany, where the now form the entrance in the. Pergamon Museum in Berlin. We also saw a smaller structure, the hemispheres of Beit el Wadi, erected by Ramases II and dedicated to Hathor and Isis (moved by a Polish archeological team) and the Chapel of Qertassi, erected to honour the goddess Isis. A lazy afternoon back on the bout watching the shore line pass by and seeing the sunset over the shore. Moored overnight at Wadi el Sebua.
Day 3
Today we visited three more temples. In reaching the first, some of our party took a short camel ride, but we decided that the might be better opportunities ahead to do this so we had a short walk to the temple of Wadi el-Sabua, again but by Ramases II. We passed through an avenue of sphinxes and saw the two imposing studs of Ramases at the entrance. Then on to the temples of Dakka and Mararakka. We saw some fine paintings and hieroglyphics. In the evening we had a party on board, we had been taken earlier to buy Egyptian clothing and taught how to tie a turban. Lots of dancing.
Day 4
Today was the highlight of the trip so far. We had a windy morning sailing on the lake,until we started to See Abu Simbel appearing before us. As we got closer they started to play the triumphal march from the opera, Aida which seemed appropriate for the spectacular sight before us. The temple had been buried in the sands until its discovery by archeologists in the 19th century. Originally, the temple was carved out of a solid cliff in the 13 century BC, but was removed to the present site in a rescue operation in the 1960’s taking 5 years. It is dedicated to the thread of the gods,but was built to honour Ramases II and there are four massive statues of him at the entrance. There are more paintings and sculptures of Rameses inside. There is a second and smaller temple dedicated to the goddess Hathor and built by Rameses to honour his favourite wife, Nefertari. Abu Simbel is a major tourist site so we were Bogarde with traders trying to get us into their stores with cries of “Asda price” and “Cheap as Chips’ ‘. After dinner on board the boat it was a return to the temple for a dramatic sound and light show.
Day 5
After our last night on the Prince Abbas, we flew direct to Cairo, avoiding a long road journey back to Aswan or an even longer one to Cairo .We arrived early afternoon at The Intercontinental Pyramids Park Resort where we were to stay for three nights.
Day 6
The city of Cairo is very crowded and there is quite a lot of pollution. Driving from the hotel we saw people living in cemeteries, they were allowed to stay there in return for tending to the graves. Our first visit of the day was to the Egyptian museum where the highlight was the artefacts recovered from the tomb of Tutankhamun. After lunch we had a sight-seeing tour of the city. This took us to the Citadel, a fortress built by Saladin in the 12 Century, the Royal Alabaster Mosque (Mosque of Mohammed Ali), and the Khan el Khalili Bazaar in the medieval part of the city. In the evening we went to a sound and light show at the pyramids, described as a dramatic presentation of historical events as witnessed by the Sphinx and the pyramids it guards.
Day 7
A cloudy day for our morning visit to the Giza plateau for a guided tour of the pyramids and sphinx. We declined the opportunity of a camel ride, but instead took the chance to go inside one of the pyramids. We were fortunate that the pyramid open at the time was the Great (Khufu’s) Pyramid. This was quite an experience, climbing up through the great gallery (thought to have been used as a slipway for the huge blocks of stone) and into the King’s Chamber. Until the 19th century the pyramid was the tallest building in the world and is estimated to be made up of over 2 million blocks of stone wishing on average 2.5tonnes each. We spent some time photographing the sphinx. We also visited the Solar Boat museum which holds a re-assembled full-size ancient Egyptian boat which had been discovered in pieces in a pit beside the pyramid in 1954. It took 14 years for experts to put its 1200 pieces back together using only authentic materials of wooden pegs and grass rope. Its called the Solar Boat because it resembles the images in tomb paintings of the boat in which the sun-god makes his daily trip across the sky. It is possible that the boat may actually have been used to take the body of Khufu from Memphis to his tomb at Giza. In the afternoon we took a scenic drive to Memphis, the first capital of Egypt in 3220BC. Most of Memphis was destroyed over the centuries by foreign invaders, but we saw some of the surviving pieces – the giant Alabaster Sphinx and a colossal limestone statue of Ramases II. We moved on to Saqqara to see the oldest pyramid in Egypt, the step pyramid of Djoser (Zoser). There are also tombs here of many high officials and we were able to go inside one and see the elaborate wall paintings. In the evening, we went for dinner and a short cruise in a boat on the Nile. During the evening there was entertainment in the form of dancing by whirling dervishes (very colourful) and a magician. The magician came round the tables performing close magic tricks, at one point I became alarmed because my camera had vanished from the table in front of me it was soon restored by the performer – a very impressive show!
Day 8
A relatively quiet day as it was a short drive to the airport for a flight back to Aswan, where we transferred to our next boat to sail along the River Nile – the MS Hames.
Day 9
In the morning we visited the High Dam. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photographs here for security reasons. The High Dam, which is responsible for the formation of Lake Nasser, was built between 1960 and 1971 and is over 2 miles long and 360ft high. In the afternoon we started the sail along the Nile heading for Luxor, enjoying the scenery and the activity along the banks of the river and visiting Edfu along the way. The temple at Edfu is dedicated to the sun god, Horus. It is an important sacred site to the ancient Egyptians because it is where the falcon god Horus fought and defeated his uncle Seth who previously had murdered his father Osiris. In the evening another chance to dress up and don our turbans for more dancing and entertainment. This took the form of a couple of competitions. For a race, one of us had a string tied around the waist from which was suspended a potato hanging down to the ground, the object was to use the potato to propel a ball along the ground. The other competition involved being dressed as a mummy using toilet paper to form the bandages. We both one prizes of cocktails (the non—alcoholic variety).
Day 10
In the morning we visited the temple of Amun at Karnak, which was once the religious centre of Thebes and upper Egypt. The temple is dedicated to the king of the gods and is at the heart of a huge complex of buildings and a lake, and a large statue of Ramases II. An avenue lined by sphinxes connects Karnak to Luxor. In the afternoon we visited the temple of Luxor, dedicated to Amun, Mut and Khonsu. This temple was built by Amenophis III on the site of an earlier temple and subsequently enlarged by Ramases II. After dinner we returned to Karnak to explore the temple at Karnak at night illuminated by flood lights.
Day 11
An early pre-dawn start to the day as we were to start with a hot air balloon flight. A short drive took us to the site where the balloons were being prepared as the sun started to rise. We boarded our balloon and began the slow ascent. From above we could gaze down on the river and the surrounding landscape, appreciating the narrow strip of fertile land on either side of the Nile. The short and relaxing flight took us to the temple of queen Hatshepsut. This is an imposing building rising in several layers against the backdrop of the desert. There were many colourful and detailed wall paintings in the building. We also visited the Colossi of Memnon, two massive statues (60ft high). The other highlight of the day was a visit to the valley of the kings and a chance to explore some of the tombs, including that of Tutankhamun. They varied in size and decoration. The ceilings were painted with scenes and inscriptions designed to assist the king in his journey through the underworld.
Day12
A relaxing day on the boat enjoying the scenery and watching the daily life on the banks of the river as we sailed back to Edfu. About half way between Luxor and Edfu, as part of schemes to control the river’s flow, there is a lock at Esna. It only took 20 to 30 minutes to pass through the look, but this was very entertaining as our bout was instantly surrounded by small boats filled with merchants trying to sell us souvenirs. They would throw plastic bags containing tee- shirts or other goods up onto the deck of our boat hoping we would throw the empty bag bak with money to pay them. A lovely sunset over the banks of the river.
Day 13
Today we sailed back to Aswan, stopping to visit the temple of Kom Ombo on the way. This temple is dedicated to two gods, the falcon god and the crocodile god. Looking down from the temple we watched a snake charmer plying his trade in the street below.
Day 14
The morning started with a short boat ride to Kitchener island to visit the Botanical gardens. We also visited a crocodile farm and in the afternoon had a relaxing sail in a felucca.
Day15
In the morning we had a final excursion to see the Temple of Philae. The building of this temple was relocated to the present site on the island of Agilika after the building of the high dam. After lunch it was back to the airport for the return flight to London.
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