Aswan, Egypt

After leaving Luxor, we headed south towards Edfu. We had time to eat lunch on board and then we went up to the top deck to enjoy the views and the nice breeze the rest of the afternoon. We basically sailed through the evening, so the downtime on board was appreciated!

Edfu Temple is reached by horse-drawn carriage (it's even included in the price of the visit), but I had read that these horses aren't treated particularly well. I didn't want to support that in any way, so we fully expected to not visit the temple. 

Luckily our guide was able to pull a few strings and arrange a taxi for us instead. This ended up being one of the best-preserved temples we visited, so I was particularly grateful to him for this!

After our visit, we set sail again towards Kom Ombo Temple. This was a nice temple (and steps away from where our ship docked!), but it was super crowded and honestly hot! I can't imagine visiting much later in the year, but that might also because we're so spoiled by California weather now!

That evening, we actually passed through the locks to officially pass in "Upper Egypt" which is actually in Southern Egypt...confusing, I know! But this is named because the Nile flows south to north!

We arrived in Aswan overnight and our first stop was to Philae Temple. This temple was moved piece by piece from a separate location to this island to save it from rising waters when the High Dam was built.

We actually visited the High Dam, but there's not much to report. That evening we took a boat over to a Nubian Village with our guide. He explained that Nubians were actually displaced because of the building of the Dam as well, but that they are native to Northern Sudan/Southern Egypt.

The village was given to them by the government and they made it their own. It was so colorful! We had some delicious hibiscus tea (and bought some for later!) and wandered around until sunset. 

On our way back to the boat for our last night, we got a lovely sunset cruise. It was so peaceful to cruise along the Nile - passing the famous sights in Aswan like the Botanical Gardens and the Old Cataract Hotel.

The next day, we ended our cruise and transferred over to the Movenpick for the next 3 nights. We mainly just relaxed the pool, had some good food and enjoyed the beautiful views.

One day, we ventured out at 5am to make the long drive south to Abu Simbel. This has to be done with a guide as the road is strictly monitored (and only open from 5am-5pm each day!). We mainly slept the whole way there, but it was worth the early wake-up call.

Abu Simbel is another temple (well actually 2!), that was moved to save it. It was a huge effort by UNESCO and the museum there does a great job of documenting the process they took. Interestingly, the insides of the temple were also moved as well. 

We got there before the crowds had descended. And...well. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!

Ha, that last picture makes me chuckle. I didn't do the best job there! Anyways - our 4 days in Aswan were a great combination of sights and relaxation. 

Up Next: We took a flight to Cairo for the next 3 days!

Luxor, Egypt

It feels like another time when we left for Egypt. COVID-19 was around - I mean I had literally written an article about it before I left, so I clearly knew what was happening, but it wasn't like what it is now. 

We were still able to go on my dream trip - which I feel ashamed to be grateful for. Even more importantly, we didn't get stuck. Beyond getting asked at the Dublin airport whether or not we'd been to China in the past 2 weeks, it was business as usual. 

We had a redeye out of SFO with a stop at IAD. After a nap and some food in the lounge, we went to board our nonstop to Cairo! Amazingly, we had the flight to ourselves - we each got a row (poor man's business class!) and slept about 8 hours of our 10-hour flight.

When we arrived in Egypt, we had a long layover (our original flight had been canceled a few months prior), so we arrived late into Luxor. We grabbed some alcohol at the duty-free (priorities!) and were taken to our hotel for the night, the Hilton Luxor. 

We had dinner at the hotel and woke up early to workout since our internal clocks were off. Waking up to views of the Nile was pretty surreal - we were really in Egypt!

While I'm not a big "cruise" person, the most efficient and cost-effective way to see the sights is by taking a Nile River cruise. We were picked up and transported to our home for the next 5 days - the Farah! It was a small boat that holds about 80 people, but it was only 1/2 full as we were there in the shoulder season. 

After lunch on board, we met our private guide for the next 5 days, Abdul. Luxor (aka Ancient Thebes) is known as the largest outdoor museum in the world, so we knew we were in for a great couple of days! 

Our first stop was Karnak Temple. The sheer number of remaining columns in this temple is what makes it stand out from any other we saw later on in our trip. Since the Nile originally came right up to the entrance, the mud and sand eventually covered the columns and protected them for thousands of years!

I say originally because once the Nile had a dam put in place, it doesn't flood and is much smaller than it was historically. The dam and its effects will be a common theme throughout our trip...

Next, we saw Luxor Temple in the evening as the sun was setting. This temple was so hidden by mud and sand that a mosque was built right on top! The mosque was left in place, but everything else was removed to show the original temple.

That evening, we had dinner on the boat and enjoyed a drink upstairs on the deck. The next morning, we had breakfast and met our guide at 6am to miss the crowds on our way to the West Bank (or Land of the Dead) to see the Valley of the Kings!

Holy cow - I mean, we expected this to be cool, but it was by far the best thing we did during our time in Egypt. It was unbelievable to walk down the long hallways and see the color still on the walls after 5000 YEARS. There are 60+ tombs that have been discovered, but only 18 or so are open at any one time. We were able to visit 4.  

We saw Ramses VII, Ramses the IV, Ramses IX, but the best one was Ramses V & VI (but we did pay extra to see this one). Also, previously, you couldn't take pictures inside, but thanks to changes made in 2020 (we were right on time!), you can use your cellphone for free!

Our next stop was the Temple of Hatshepsut. She was a female Pharoah who had one of the most prosperous times in all of Ancient Egypt! Her son was a jerk though and basically tried to erase her from history - too bad it didn't work.

Her tomb was obviously magnificent, but she also erected more temples and monuments than any other Pharaoh! 

After a jammed-packed morning, we went back to the cruise boat to have lunch at set sail for Edfu! 

Up Next: We'll continue our Nile Cruise in Edfu, Kom Ombo, & Aswan!