Category: North Africa & The Middle East

Can every day be my favorite day?

We had a very early morning, waking up at 3:30am to get ready for a 4:10 leave time to go to our hot air balloon! The boat had docked in Luxor last night and we’ll be staying here tonight as well. We were led to a motorboat to cross the Nile and get in a van on the other side to get us to the balloon launching spot.

We got to take this journey with other folks from our boat, 4 of them being American women who booked through the same tour company as we did! They’re from Tennessee and absolutely hysterical. I really enjoyed being around each of them, two sisters and their daughters. The daughters are about the same age as Andrea and I, so it was an easily made friendship. They also found out about this tour company through “word of mouth” in a Facebook group. We took pictures to post to the group at some point, it’s crazy how social media is able to bring complete strangers together.

Anyway, we all watched as the balloons were filled and the baskets were stood up. Mom and I were the last two to get in the basket and then off we went, up into the sky. We got to see the Valley of the Kings and Queens, the farmlands and the desert, the Nile River.. and then the sunrise. Something about hot air balloons and that big ball of fire appearing for the first time in the sky that brings a tear to my eye every single time. It’s just overwhelmingly beautiful. And to be with my favorite people when it happens is the icing on the cake.

As we were landing, some young boys came running to our landing spot on their donkeys. Yes, their donkeys. They galloped across fields and dirt roads to pose with their animals for tips. It’s a pretty sweet gig, because of course we took their pictures and then how on earth could you tell those sweet 7,8,12 year old faces no when they put their hands out for a dollar or two? Don’t get me wrong, their sweet faces got a little too persistent for “more” dollars, but hey-can ya blame them? Also-kudos to them for rushing out each morning before 7am. I don’t think I’d have been that money motivated at their age.

We unloaded from the baskets and then got in the shuttle van to go back to the motorboat to cross the river and get back to our cruise boat for breakfast. Talk about a mouthful and a huge run on sentence. Sorry. My English teacher would be so appalled. Ha-breakfast was great, including fried eggs, fruit and croissants. Plus all the coffee of course.

At 8:30am, we met Osama in the lobby to head out to Karnak Temple. It’s the largest temple complex in the world-a complex because it has so many different temples in it. Many different Pharohs of Egypt added their contributions to it over the years, creating a complex over 200 acres. There is a walkway lined with sphinxes on either side that spans over two miles long to connect Karnak Temples to Luxor Temple, called the Avenue of Sphinxes. The whole complex at one point was fortified with a wall surrounding it.

It was beyond gorgeous, especially some of the many many pillars that still had their vibrant colors visible towards the tops and on the ceiling. It blows my mind that something like this is even possible. We walked through and Osama told us stories about the Pharohs and their statues here. We then got to mosey around on our own, snapping pictures and soaking it all in.

It started getting super hot by 9am. When we got back to the cruise boat, we all were wiped out from the heat. We got to relax awhile, have lunch, nap, have some wine, all before Osama was back to get us at 4:30pm to take us to see Luxor Temple. It was a short car ride to the temple, and on the way we saw a McDonald’s and a bookstore. It’s sort of neat to see American things way the heck over here.

I absolutely LOVED Luxor temple. The sun setting in the background of the temple may have had a huge part in making this one of my favorites. The air was warm, but not unbearable like it gets in the heat of the day. This temple also has the world’s largest open air museum. Pretty impressive stuff. It’s always the massive columns that get me though, I think that’s why I love Greek and Roman history as well. The magnitude of these places and the details of the carved stones is just beyond anything I can imagine being created.

This temple isn’t dedicated to one God-it’s dedicated to the rebirth/rejuvenation of kings and is thought to be the site where the new pharoh had their coronation ceremony. It’s also a burial site for many Pharohs, as well. Ramses II seemed to have his name on practically every temple in Egypt, and this one is no different. There is battle scenes carved here from his victory during the Battle of Kadesh.

One area has Roman scenes painted on the walls, covering the original ancient Egypt carvings.. from when the Roman Christians took over the temple and turned it into a Coptic Church. It’s wild that the colors still show up today.. and that the restoration teams are able to preserve these pieces of history so well. There’s also a birth room, with scenes of the Devine birth of King Amenhotep III.

We walked through and got gorgeous pictures with the night sky coming though the pillars. Then we walked with Osama and took a ride through downtown Luxor in a horse drawn carriage. Andrea and I were in one, Terri and Mom were in the one behind us with Osama sitting upfront with the “driver.” We went through the city streets for over an hour, seeing the lights and the people-the cars and the chaos. It was incredible, being able to see the vehicles and animals wind and curve through each other with such ease-it seemed unorganized-and yet, everyone knew exactly what they were doing. It’s pretty impressive.

We eventually made it back to our river boat. I was completely pooped at this point. So much so that I forgot we still had to eat dinner. I, for maybe the first time since finishing the pacific crest trail, wasn’t hungry a bit. Thankfully, the boat had some pre-dinner entertainment going on as we got on board: a belly dancer and a Turkish dancer. We swayed in our cushy seats and clapped along, all the while I was thinking that I’m getting really damn old-I was sleepy and the music was loud as hell! Haha.. it really creeps in on ya sometimes. Either way, I enjoyed the show the performers put on for us, loud music and all.

By 8p, we headed down for dinner. I still wasn’t actually hungry, but you know I ate it anyway. It was set up buffet style again, and I was able to get some noodles with beef that was fantastic. They also had the great brownies like they had on the fancy dinner night. It was just perfect-and the best thing to help me fall fast asleep about an hour later, the exact moment my head touched the pillow.

Today was action packed for sure-but what better way to see the East bank of Luxor? Ah. It was incredible. Tomorrow, we meet Osama at 7am to go to the West Bank of the city, to the Valley of the Kings. I’m beyond excited! Goodnight!

The cruise boat started moving around 5am this morning.. not that I noticed-I slept right through it all. When we woke up to get ready for the day and have breakfast on board before our first outing, I was impressed with the views out of our big picture window in the room. It was stunning!

We had breakfast while the boat was in motion, and before we were finished, we were already docking. They really have this all down to a science. We met Osama in the lobby at 8am and headed off to Kom Ombo Temple. There’s something about walking up some stairs and then being blindsided by the raw beauty standing in front of you. Pillars and stone built so high, it’s still completely unimaginable that this was created more than 2000 years ago! Just-insane.

The temple was built to honor two gods: the crocodile god, Sobek, and the falcon-headed god, Horus. We learned about Isis, goddess of magic and healing when we went to Philae Temple, Horus is her son. Anywho-since the temple was built for both, it has a double entrance. The scenes carved into the stone were beautiful, and even a little risqué. There is a scene with penises peeing-symbolizing their owners were scared in a battle and wet themselves.. ha. I’m sure I just butchered that story-but either way-they carved a small scene with a couple penises on it and I act like a 12 year old boy and find it funny. Real mature, amiright?

Osama walked us through the crowds and was able to show us so much and explain the scenes laid out in front of us. He pointed out the ways the high priests could sneak through the secret passageways and be the “voice of the gods” by hearing the person’s prayers in one area and sneaking around to be the voice somewhere else entirely, to sometimes deceive people into doing things that benefited the priest. Meh, I’m tired-so I’m not sure if that makes sense. Basically, the priests could be sneaky as hell, even back then.

We saw the scenes including the crocodiles, too. Apparently, someone would pick the “special” crocodile to keep and praise for the crocodile king, feeding it and all that, after sterilizing it. When it died they picked a new one. Crocodiles were mummified and buried with or around important people that passed away, too. Kinda crazy! Imagine walking inside to pray and coming face to face with a croc! Just kidding, they kept them in a special place, and they were all over the Nile River in this area, too.

They would still be all along the river now, too, if they weren’t relocated into Lake Nassar when the high dam was built. Now, it’s thought that more than 80 thousand crocs are in those waters, the lake created from the dam-and you’d never know it by looking at the lake itself-it looked like Lake Tahoe when we saw it yesterday from Abu Simbel. It’s wild out here.

When we left the temple we walked right into the Crocodile Museum. There were tons of mummified crocs on display, along with statues created to honor Sobek, the crocodile king. I really enjoyed this small, one room museum. It was loaded with information and really neat trinkets, carvings, and statues. It also had air conditioning-so a big win there.

We got back to the boat before ten, and hung out in the little bar area watching the river excitement until lunch time. I’m not sure when we started moving again, but it was probably before 11am. We sipped Cokes and waters while watching other boats go by, along the shores of the Nile with their farmlands, cows, and donkeys.

We were all pretty exhausted. It’s been go, go, go this entire trip so far, and very early mornings-which is completely necessary with this heat. We got to talking and decided to ask if we could stay on the boat this afternoon so we could relax and swim at the pool on the top deck-instead of going to see Edfu Temple. It was going to be so hot. Our guides agreed, and so we ended up having the rest of the day free.

We ate lunch and then quickly changed into our bathing suits to lounge around pool. We swam some and laid in the sun-it was a little awkward, because we were docked. One side had the town and the other side had another boat tied to us. We got some stares, from both sides, for sure.

When it got a little too hot and my skin stared getting red, we moseyed inside. We napped and I read some. Just before 5pm I met Terri on the upper deck to watch the sunset. Andrea joined us. Mom kept napping. The rooms are so perfectly cold that it’s hard to get back into the heat after you’re comfortable.

The sunset was phenomenal. The way the orange glow turns to pink and then purple that always makes me smile. It’s hard to be anything but grateful when you’re in that moment. I’m still in awe of everything here. The people, the river, the infrastructure. Old homes right next to even older ancient structures. It’s everything I thought it would be, and then like nothing I could have ever imagined all at the same time.

We had dinner together before heading back to shower and get into bed. I’m really bad about falling asleep the second I lay down these days. With all of the excitement all day long, once my head hits these pillows it’s like the light switch was flipped and I’m comatose before I even realize I closed my eyes. A great sign of another perfect day.

Today included another very early morning. We were up, showered, packed and leaving the hotel by 4:30am-breakfast boxes in tow. This one had a few more options, including chips. Nice.

We had an almost 4 hour ride in our van to get to Abu Simbel Temples. It’s close to the Sudan border and not much was visible between Aswan and there.. mostly open desert for as far as the eye can see. Andrea got some fantastic pictures of the sunrise along the way.

We got to the temples just after 8am, including a pit stop for the bathroom and a coffee. At the pit stop we saw all the big tour buses coming in, so we rushed a little, to try and beat the crowd to the temples. This is a place I’ve been soooo looking forward to seeing with my own eyes, the magnitude of the statues-I didn’t want another 300 people to shuffle through with me.

When we got through the entry point, Osama saw the excitement on our faces and let us go without explaining first-so we could get our pretty pictures without all of the people, and then learn about it afterwards. I don’t think he minded being able to wait for us in the shade, and I was brought to tears by the beauty of it all. Some things just need to be taken in before they’re explained.

The first temple was built by King Ramsey II, and outside into the mountainside there were four statues of himself that were over 60 feet tall. They were incredible to witness in person and to walk between. Inside the temple were columns and statues all of Ramses, and the scenes etched into the walls were of his great battles. My favorite piece is the one with him on a chariot shooting an arrow (it looks like Sagittarius to me lol).

The second temple is also stunning. It was built by Ramses for his wife, Nefritari. Outside, there are 6 statues carved into the mountainside, all over 30 feet tall. Two on each side of the entrance are of the King and one on each side is is the Queen, but they’re all the same height, which wasn’t something typically done. Usually queens are made shorter than the kings. Inside was also gorgeous, with scenes including Ramses and Nefritari making offerings to the goddess Hathor. I’m not great with the details, but there was more of a softness to this temple compared to the battle scenes in the other. The beauty in the carvings was undeniable.

We enjoyed our time, walking around and taking it all in. When we made it back to Osama, he explained what we saw and answered our questions. We were extremely pleased to do this in the shade, because about half way through the temples, the tour buses descended upon us and it got HOT and way too crowded. He would have been shouting over entirely too many people. We got back in the van and took naps on our very long ride back to Aswan.

Exhausted, we made it back to Aswan. Osama surprised us with ice cream before getting us checked in on our Nile River cruise ship: Le Fayan. Y’all. It is GORGEOUS. It is so beautifully decorated and the rooms are spacious for being a cruise! I was thrilled! We got our room keys and then headed off to eat lunch on board. It was set up buffet style and the food was perfect.

With full bellies and free time, we explored the ship before giving in and taking naps. I know I accidentally conked out pretty quick. By the time we were all awake again, the sun had set and there wasn’t much to do but wait for it to be dinner time. We strolled the top deck, lounging for awhile taking in the city lights of Aswan.

When we went downstairs for dinner, we were told they weren’t quite ready for us yet, so we strolled back upstairs to the little shops on board. Mom found some earrings and Terri found a pretty dress. By the time we were finished shopping, it was dinner time! We chose our dinner order at lunchtime, since this meal wasn’t buffet style. I had a chicken Cesar salad, creamy mushroom soup, beef medallions with herb sauce, and a brownie with ice cream. It was all superb.

When we got back to the room, I didn’t even last 20 minutes before I was asleep. Mom said she was going to brush her teeth and that’s the last thing I recall before waking up this morning. I think it was a pretty good day!