October 5 – One more temple

After leaving our ship and packing up our luggage onto the bus we took a boat ride to see the Temple of Philae.  This is reputed to be the burial ground of the god Osiris, god of the underground who often appears with a green face.

We then returned to Cairo for our last night in Egypt.  We said goodbye to those flying home or onto Kenya.

October 6 was a travel day.  We headed to the airport in Cairo ad flew to Amman Jordan to meet up with our guide, Omar and the 5 who flew in from the states.  A good portion of the day was spent at the airport looking for lost luggage.  We finally left without it and drove the 3 hours to the Movenpick Petra.

October 4, 2018 – Aswan Dam and Abu Simbel

Today we visited the granite quarries where Egyptian obelisks were mined.

Next was one of the wonders of the modern world – the Aswan Dam.  Funded by the USSR in the 1960’s, impending flooding of ancient structures under what would become Lake Nasser resulted in one of the engineering feats of modern time.

Then on to the Aswan airport to fly to Abu Simbel.  This magnificent structure, built by Ramses II around 1250 BC, was rescued from the impending flooding.  It had originally been carved out of a mountain. It was cut into pieces and moved about 300 meters to it’s present location.

We flew back to Aswan and went on a felucca, a traditional Nile saleboat for a cruise past the Aga Khan Mausoleum to Kitchener’s Island.

We then returned to the boat and spent our last night on the boat

October 3 – Temples, Temples and more Temples

After breakfast we were picked up at the dock by horse drawn carriages to visit the Temple of Horus.  It was built between 237 and 57 BC and reveals the god depicted as a falcon. Horus was considered to be the god of the sky ad the god of war,

We returned to our ship and set sail for Kom Ombo.  There we viewed the temples dedicated to Apollo, Isis and Sobek, the crocodile headed god.  The architecture is imposing and some of the original color, although over 2000 years old, is still observable on the columns.  We returned to the ship for dinner and our overnight sail to Aswan.

October 2 – Visit to the Valley of the Kings

After breakfast we left the ship to visit the Valley of the Kings where the pharaohs were entombed after pyramids  were no longer erected.

The temple of Queen Hatsheput is an example of more classical and less gargantuan architecture.  Inside the temple are a series of reliefs telling the story of the divine birth of a female pharaoh.

After visiting the enormous structures of the Colossi of Memnon, erected about 3400 years ago,

We then returned to our boat for lunch.  We set sail for Esna to cross the lock and sail to Edfu.

October 1 – Flight to Luxor

This morning after breakfast we headed to the airport for our flight to Luxor.

After our 1 hour flight we visited the Temple of Karnak

Then onto the Luxor Museum where I had hoped to see the head of the Golden Calf only to find out they had moved it to the new Museum that will not open for another couple of years. However, it was still a nice visit.

Next we checked onto our river boat the Royal Escadora for lunch and relaxation

before heading to the Luxor Temple in the evening.

September 30 – The day of Holy Sites

Today we concentrated on Old Cairo first visiting the Coptic Church of St Sergis where by tradition the Holy Family and Jesus sought shelter during their flight into Egypt

Next was the Hanging Church

Visiting the Alabaster Mosque was interesting

We ended our day with a visit to the Bazaar to bye spices or relax

I promise I didn’t inhale

Now back to the hotel to pack and get ready for our next adventure

September 29 – Pyramid day

Today was our day to visit the Pyramids of Egypt starting off with the Great Pyramids of Giza.  Most of our group climbed up and went thru the Pyramid of Khufu.

Of course we couldn’t miss the Sphinx

After lunch on the bus we drove to see the Red ad Bent Pyramid

We then visited Memphis to see the stature of Ramessess that is laying down.  The last time I saw it it was on the open ground but now they have built a building around him.

This is also where we saw the Alabaster Sphnix

After dinner we went back to the Great Pyramids for the Sound and Light Show

This was a very long day so back to the hotel and bed

After  breakfast we set out to explore the City of Cairo.  W visited the Museum with the King Tut treasures and the room of the mummies and many other artifacts.

Our guide Gigi gives us very knowledgeable and gives us detailed information about what we are seeing

After being awake for 30+ hours I touched down in Cairo..  I was very happy to see Ayman holding up the On Wings of Eagles sign before I even got to passport control.  After picking up my luggage we met Doron who was waiting at the passenger entrance area  I was more than ready to wind down with a glass of wine on my balcony and then a good night;s sleep