Today we disembark our cruise and take a short 45-minute flight to Abu Simbel. The flights are quite busy so make sure you book way ahead of time. Otherwise it is going by police-escorted convoys taking 3-4 hours drive. With the flights, you will have about 90 minutes at the temple sites before having to … Continue reading Abu Simbel Dec 2018
This morning we set sail for Aswan which was the southern frontier of ancient Egypt and provided a gateway to Africa. It is here that granite quarries are found and supplied the rest of Egypt in the building of temples and pyramids. The Ptolemies ruled here from 323-30 BC and built the remarkable Philae Temple … Continue reading Aswan: Philae Temple & Nubian Village Dec 2018
We return to our boat and continue our cruise south to Kom Ombo, an agricultural town famous for the unusual double Temple of Kom Ombo. It is very pleasant sitting on the sun deck and watching people going about their daily lives on the banks of the Nile. The scenery here is lush filled with … Continue reading Kom Ombo Dec 2018
After two days in Luxor, our boat set sail south for Esna passing the Nile lock before continuing to Edfu which was a flourishing Greek city in the ancient times. It has been settled from 3000 BC onwards. Most tourists come here to visit the Temple of Horus. We disembarked early in the morning and … Continue reading Edfu Dec 2018
Since it is low water season of the Nile, we could not sail from Luxor to Qena and instead had to drive about 60km north in order to visit the Ptolemaic Temple of Hathor in Dendera. Hathor was one of the most popular goddesses in ancient Egypt. She was the goddess of the sky, of … Continue reading Temple of Hathor at Dendera Dec 2018
The West Bank of Luxor is where the royal tombs and mortuary temples lie. It can get quite hot and crowded in the morning so we visited in the afternoon. For the most part, we got the tombs to ourselves. Instead of driving to the West Bank, we went by speedboat from the cruise ship. … Continue reading Valley of the Kings & Temple of Hatshepsut Dec 2018
Looked out the window this morning from my cabin on board Sun Boat IV and saw many hot air balloons taking off across the Nile on the West Bank of Luxor. I have been wary of hot air balloon rides after the accidents in Turkey and other places. The last time I did it was … Continue reading Luxor Temple Dec 2018
Any trip to Egypt must include a Nile Cruise. It is the most comfortable and enjoyable way to visit some of the historical sites along the Nile River. Also given the precarious political nature that is now Egypt, it is probably safer to avoid too much road travel. There are numerous cruise boats operating from … Continue reading Luxor: Karnak Temple Dec 2018
From Sakkara we continued to the Pyramids of Giza. Built by the Egyptian pharaohs of the 4th Dynasty (2600-2500 BC), the Pyramids of Giza, have withstood the test of time in the desert and is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the only one still in existence. We all must … Continue reading Pyramids of Giza Dec 2018
Sakkara or Saqqara served as the necropolis of the ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis, and is located 30 km south of Cairo. It is not as well known as the Pyramids of Giza but this is where the practice of pyramid building first began. A visit here prior to seeing the Pyramids of Giza sheds greater … Continue reading The Sakkara Necropolis Dec 2018
