Journey to Egypt: Besaw Island: a Visit to a Farming Family

December 30, 3018 On our third day of our Nile cruise on board the Aida, we had a leisurely day enjoying our cruise and visiting a farm family on Besaw Island. Sayeed is an attractive 35-year-old, intelligent, and thoughtful man. He was as curious about us as we were about him. After showing us around […]

Journey to Egypt, Part 14: Edfu and the Temple of Horus

December 29, 2018 After a relaxing morning cruising the Nile on the Aida, after lunch we were ready for more discoveries. We docked at the city of Edfu, where we were transported to the Temple of Horus via horses and carriages! Our driver: The horses clip-clopped through the dusty streets of Edfu. Mosque as seen […]

Journey to Egypt, Part 13: Cruise to Edfu

December 29, 2018 Last night, our first night on our Nile cruise, I slept better than I have since the beginning of the trip! I loved my bed in our stateroom and the temperature was not too hot nor too cold (although the people in the staterooms across from ours did complain that their rooms […]

Journey to Egypt, Part 12: Cruising the Nile & Visit to el Hegz Island

December 28, 2018 I was looking forward to the next portion of our trip – a 5-day cruise on the Nile, aboard a 16-passenger dahabeya – in other words, a private ship for our OAT group of 14 people including our guide plus 14 crew members! This dahabeya, called Aida, is one of only two such […]

Journey to Egypt, Part 11: Esna & the Temple of Khnum

December 28, 2018 Most of the members of our group opted to take a balloon ride over the west bank of the Nile. We, however, did not go because Dale is afraid of heights and I was very tired because I had not slept well in either of the hotels we’d stayed in so far. […]

Journey to Egypt, Part 11: Luxor – Lunch, a Ferry Ride, & Dinner with a Local Family

December 27, 2018 A Walk to Lunch Back in the city of Luxor (about 850,000 population), our bus driver dropped us off in the vicinity of the place where we would have lunch. The restaurant was a few blocks away down dusty streets, and we had to walk. I was glad for this because as […]

Journey to Egypt, Part 10: Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut & Memnon Colossi

December 27, 2018 All the funerary temples and tombs are located on the west bank of the Nile. The ancient Egyptians believed that death was associated with the sunset, and thus all the temples to the deceased were to be built on the side of the setting sun. All temples of the living (such as […]

Journey to Egypt, Part 9: Valley of the Kings & Howard Carter’s House

December 27, 2018 (This post is part of my travel journal, and also for Your Daily Prompt 3/8/19: Nobility; and for Norm’s Thursday Doors 3/7/19 ). This morning we visited Valley of the Kings, where there are 62 tombs of Egyptian nobility – specifically, pharaohs, including Tutankhamen. They date from Thutmose I of the 18th […]

Journey to Egypt, Part 8: Luxor Temple

December 26, 2018 Luxor Temple, in the heart of Luxor city center, is much smaller than Karnak, making it easier to see and digest. We visited after dark, around 6:00 pm. Mohamed said it is more striking at night and he was right. Luxor Temple was almost right across the street from our hotel, Sofitel […]

Journey to Egypt, Part 7: Karnak Temple Complex

December 26, 2018 We left Cairo this morning and flew to Luxor (which means “palace” in Arabic). The flight was short – about one hour. Luxor in ancient times was the Egyptian civilization’s capital, called Thebes. Modern-day Luxor grew out of the ruins of ancient Thebes, and today its population is about 800,000. I liked […]