Big thing in February was a trip to Egypt!!!!! We had timed it to be across the one weekend in the month when there was no international rugby, so...
16th February
We headed off to London the day before we were due to leave. We were an hour late leaving, because our train was cancelled, and we decided not to cram on to the next one with all the other passengers who were supposed to be on our train. While annoying, it was no big deal – fortunately. The delay meant that we couldn't get out and about in London as much as we wanted to. It was raining when we got in to London, so we headed straight to the hotel, checked in, then went to St. James's to go to a pub we'd been to on the Circle Line and wanted to go to again. The Feathers. It's a beautiful station – all art deco and it the HQ for the London Underground. The pub, too, is lovely. It's big, and all wood panelled. There was a good buzz, and we had some lovely beers. We then decided to head off to the Ship and Shovel, which was not so good. So we headed off to Leicester Square and China Town for Hot Pot. We finally found the restaurant we wanted, and we'd been there before. Last time it was great. This time, not so. We ordered warm sake, and it came out cold. Kathy had problems fitting her legs under the table. The food was good, and we did enjoy it, but they over charged us AND they doubled up on the service charge. Charged us once for the food, and once for the drinks. While it was mentioned on the menu, it wasn't on the side which has the hotpot options on it, and they didn't bring it to our attention. So, we're not going back to that place again.
Back to the hotel, a night cap and an early night.
17th February
Up and out early to get to the airport, to find that the flight was delayed – it ended up that we boarded 90 minutes after our scheduled departure time. We were flying with Thomas Cook, and learnt the true meaning of the term 'cattle class'. We had so little room at our seats – even Matt found his legs were squished. It was even worse when the passengers in the seats in front of us reclined their seats right back. Simply horrible. A fairly boring flight, and the food was, well, OK. We couldn't see much out of the windows because of heavy cloud cover, but it was lovely and warm when we finally got to Luxor (and through the chaos of getting our tourist visas). We were bussed to our ship, given the key to our cabin, had a late dinner and had our orientation. Wow. So many options to choose from! Early night as we'd had a long day – plus we had to get over the shock of how early we were going to be woken up in the morning – 6am!
18th February
After an early start and a lovely fresh breakfast, we began our first day in EGYPT!!!
By 7am we'd met our guide for the week (lovely guy – Nazeer, aka Prince Nazeer - really helpful and knowledgeable, and gave us just the right amount of information) and were on the bus to our very first temple. Karnak Temple.
OMFG. Wow. Incredible. It's the most incredible, huge temple – there was so much to see.
The original paint colours were still visible in some places – incredible blues, reds, yellows and ochres.
Paint colours which were first put on the stones over 2,000 years ago. We saw some incredible carvings, with some in deep relief, others carved more shallowly. There were guys touting for business all over the place – including it must be said the very heavily armed antiquities police! Apparently theses guys encourage you to go somewhere, then expect payment. Good tip from Nazeer to avoid them. By the time we left the day was starting to heat up and the crowds started to get bigger. What a great start to the day.
The day didn't stop there. Next we went to a local perfumery, which makes its scents in the traditional manner (apparently), both medicinal and for other purposes. We bought 2 fragrances and 2 oils.
Next stop was Luxor Temple. Wow, wow, wow.
While not as large as Karnak it was still incredible. There were some amazingly preserved statues,
a sphinx avenue,
a temple to Alexander the Great,
and the oldest mosque in Luxor.
It had also been used as a Christian church
Lots of crowds, lots of antiquities police (we were quickly becoming less freaked out by the massive guns they were carrying), and so incredible. We're so glad we're here!!
Did you know Luxor used to be known as Thebes?!?!?
Back to the boat for lunch, after a refreshing how towel and delicious drink of tea on our arrival (this was repeated after every expedition), then lazing around for the rest of the day. We did nothing but find a nice shady spot, read, and watch the sun go down – which it did very quickly – then read until there was no more light. Dinner, then back up on deck to sit and watch things going on on shore, and having a big long chat setting the world to rights. What a brilliant day.
Egyptian sunset
19th February
Another early start. This was the pattern for the week – and having experienced yesterday we appreciate it – get us out and about in the cooler morning then back to the boat. Brilliant. Mind you, much of the early start was because of the first call to prayer – at 5.30am.
Anyway, on to the coach, then first stop was the bridge we could see from the boat to take pictures up and down the river.
It's an incredible river – you can really understand how important it has been to Egyptians for so many thousands of years.
Hills along side the Nile
Tombs cut in to the hillside
First stop today was Hatshepsut Temple – built as the mortuary temple for the Queen of the same name.
The temple, which is dedicated to the god Amon-Ra, is on 3 levels. The queen ordered that an irrigated garden be planted in front of it – archaeologists found the remains of some rather large trees when they were going some excavations. Again, wow, wow, wow.
There were some great paintings and carvings, again.
Some of the paintings were defaced when the queen died, why I'm not quite sure.
Matt, with the valley down to the Nile behind him, from the temple
Next we were off to the big event of the day – the Valley of the Kings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The rules were no photos and no videos, so we bought some instead. We even saw one guy have his camera confiscated. The Valley is just like you see it on TV – white sandy soil, so lots of glare. Incredibly barren, and fairly hot. Apparently it can get up to 50 degrees there during summer, and Nazeer said they don't do tours on those days. Of course. What got to us was how quickly Egypt turns in to desert once you get away from the river.
We visited 3 tombs - Ramses IX (cool horizontal hieroglyphs), Ramses III (carvings of musical instruments), and Ramses I. King Tut's was closed, but apparently there's not much to see, because it was built in a hurry – and besides, most of the best stuff is either in Cairo or London.
The tombs are incredible. They're all hot and crowded, and in some quite humid, but oh wow. The interiors are all painted and carved, to tell stories about the Pharaoh, and in order to help him in to the afterlife. They were so vivid and vibrant. In some even the ceilings were painted, in deep blue with stars. The craftsmanship is just amazing – to do such beautiful work knowing that once the tomb was closed up no other living person would ever seek them again (unless you count tomb robbers, tourists and so on). All 3 tombs were quite different. In one there was even perspex up against the walls to cover up carvings and paintings. Some parts were very well preserved, others less so. How can you describe such an incredible place?
After the Valley of the Kings, and running the gamut of the assertive hawkers (make like a camel – eyes in front, head up, ignoring everything and everyone) we were pleased to get on to the coach, and in to the air-conditioning. We headed off to an alabaster factory, where we learnt how they made the vases and how to tell what's real and what's fake. We didn't buy anything (how would we get it home??), but there was a lot of quite beautiful stuff – and lots of tat. There were some very beautiful vases and carvings, and even some made from lapis lazuli. We had some yummy tea, and Nazeer even got us some yummy bread from the locals. It was quite yeasty and firm, with a chewy crust. Some of the Brits didn't like it, but we loved it.
Back on the bus, we were off to the Valley of the Queens. Not just queens were buried there, but princes as well. Here is buried Queen Neferati, but it was closed for renovation. Unless you were willing to fork over 1,000 Egyptian pounds per person (!!) to get in. We saw the tombs of 2 princes - Prince Khaemwaset and Prince Seth-her-khopsef. One was beautifully preserved and the other less so. They were much smaller than the tombs we saw in the Valley of the Kings, of course (indeed, some tombs were just caves off deep shafts), dug deeply when they died suddenly, but we were able to get much closer to the carvings and various artefacts. Again, no photos were allowed, and the Valley is very similar in geology to what we saw earlier in the day. Another brilliant expedition.
Last stop for the morning were the statues of Agamemnon. During the Greek and later Roman occupation of Egypt massive cracks in the statues would catch the dew, and if a breeze went over them the sound the wind made was like a baby crying. The Greeks attributed it to the tears of Agamemnon (hence the name), so the Romans, who had no truck with that sort of thing, filled the cracks up.
We stopped only quickly there, because we were due to sail!
Back to the ship for lunch, but we didn't end up sailing until 3pm. We were all ready to go, but some of the other ships around us weren't. As they were lashed to us, and we were tied up closest to shore we had to wait for them to go before we could. We didn't mind. We're ON HOLIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After lunch we made sure we were sitting in the shade on the right side of the ship, and watched the efforts of the crew to get us under way. And wow. What an amazing experience. We had books, but it was much more enjoyable sitting and watching the world going past, smoothly and seductively. We could hear much more from the shore than we expected. We went past sugar cane and banana plantations,
heard the pumps taking water out of the river, saw birds with nests dug in to cliffs.
Date palms side by side with mosques and houses.
There were lots of boys playing beside and in the Nile. Donkeys, cows and buffalo were all along the riverbanks.
Oh, and the hills rising out of the edge of the desert – green at their base, sandy at their tops. Today was Friday, the holy day. Despite that there were many farmers working – of course, I suppose. Many farms went right down to the waters edge, and in some cases paddocks and plantations were below the flood line.
There were so many other boats doing the same things as us – there was a trail all the way up and down the river.
The most memorising sight was the hills sharply delineated against the deep blue sky,
and seeing just how close the hills, and the desert on the other side of them, got to the river where there was no flood plain. There was a subtle smell of smoke on the air, and a haze of it in the sky. As the sun set the dusty coloured hills turned pink, then orange-red. Wow.
That night we passed though our first lock – the only one on that end of the river. Because all of the boats were trying to get through, there was quite a backlog. So it was naturally a magnet for hawkers. They would throw their wares up – expecting you to throw money back. They were quite a nuisance, but if you pulled back from the edge of the deck they gave up after a while.
Getting through the lock, once we were in, was remarkably quick, and that night we tied up at Edfu.
20th February
Slightly later start today, unless you count the 5.30am call to prayer.
The view from deck in the morning
Sneaky shot of the weapons carried by our security
Today we went to Edfu Temple.
It's one of the most intact temples still standing on the Nile. We saw incredible carvings, many of which were defaced by early Christians and Muslims because they were considered pagan and offensive. The temple itself is built in the Greek style, with the top of each column carved in a different style, unlike the usual Egyptian style which had them all the same.
One room in the temple was considered the heart of the temple. It had a statue of the god Horus (to whom it is dedicated) in it - well, actually now it's a replica as the original is in Paris. Some of the temple was really dark, and quite hot, but other parts were really cool. Many really amazing statues of Horus carved in granite.
Wow. Really amazing, but fairly hot. At one stage we were sitting in some shade, waiting for the others, when out came one of the security guards from the gift shop and sat down next to us, commenting on the heat. Casually put his suit jacket down, and laid his semi-machine gun down on his knees!! Like is was nothing. OMG. After a couple of hours wandering around with our jaws dragging on on the ground, we headed back to the boat for lunch and in preparation for setting sail to Kom Ombu.
We had the joy of lunch under steam, then Matt had a snooze, while Kathy sat in the cool of the cabin with him and read, took photos and looked at the desert going by.
There were water buffalo heaving themselves out of the water and on to little islands in the river. Young boys jumped off the ends of jetties in to the water. She saw a quarry where stone for monuments had been quarried, and many irrigated plantations. It was brilliant.
Camels!
We moored up at Kom Ombu and went out to visit the temple.
At sunset!!! So amazing!
It was another Greek-style temple, and pretty amazing, but the main draw card is a series of hieroglyphs of surgical instruments and various implements used in childbirth.
It was very crowded, as all the other ships were visiting as well. Nazeer also explained to us about the representations for numbers and part of a calendar. It's in a reasonably poor state of repair, because of the flooding of the Nile. It's also a 2-sided temple – for 2 gods. One of which is the crocodile god.
Kathy's magic moment of the day was sitting on deck with a pre-dinner drink, looking a burial ground on the other side of the river, all illuminated. Brilliant.
That night we had a bit of a party. Nearly everyone got dressed up in galabaya, which are some traditional dress.
There were competitions and belly dancing, and group photos. Loads of fun, and a bit of a lark. We had a nightcap on deck, relaxing after the exertions of the evening, enjoying sitting in the cool.
21st February
7am start again. Off the boat and off to a granite quarry where obelisks used to be carved.
The main draw for the quarry is a massive, unfinished one. If it hadn't cracked when they were making it it would have been one of the largest ever. The obelisks are made by drilling in to an outline, putting sycamore spars in to the holes, pouring water on the wood, and the expansion of the sycamore would shatter the granite. Repeat until it's finished. Then they would wait until the flood, and the finished shapes are cantilevered in to the Nile and transported down river to their final resting spot. Pretty clever, those ancient Egyptians.
Next we were off to see the dams. First stop was the British Dam,
then to the thing Matt had looked forward to the most – the Aswan High Dam! He was so excited – if he had a tail it would have been wagging so hard... he said he'd wanted to see this ever since he was a kid. The dam itself is a huge feat of engineering, and has created the world's largest man-made lake. Until the 3 Gorges Dam in China it was the world's largest dam, too. Because of the risks of the massive destructive power of all that water, some of the dam is a military installation so as to keep the dam safe. We had great views over the valley on either side of the dam.
Just awe inspiring.
Nearby was a 'friendship' monument, commemorating ties between Egypt and the Soviet Union. It's in the shape of a stylised lotus flower.
Very cool.
Next we were off to a papyrus factory. We were shown how the paper is made, then offered the chance to buy some. We weren't sure whether we'd be able to get it through quarantine back in Aus., so we reluctantly didn't buy anything. There was some really beautiful stuff – ancient designs, and some really nice modern stuff. Sigh.
Next we went to the Temple of Philae. Oh wow.
In the 1980's, because of the High Dam, the whole shebang was moved ahead of the rising waters. We had to get there by boat – it's now on an island which is similarly shaped to the one it was on originally.
After many centuries, and the fall of the Pharaohs, it became a Coptic Christian temple – one of the earliest in Egypt.
It's not a huge temple, but has some really nice carvings in it.
The last stop before lunch was to the botanic gardens on Lord Kitchener's Island. It had originally been given to Kitchener by a grateful Egyptian government, only to be taken back by a later government in the 1960's, during a period of massive nationalisation. It was a lovely, cool garden to wander around in. We got there in a felucca,
which became becalmed, and we needed a tow from a motorised boat.
Never mind. For health and safety reasons we had to wear life vests. Only the British tourists had to. Way to make us a target, guys. We took ours off. To get back to the mainland we went in a motorised boat.
Lunch and a bit of a lazy afternoon, and our departure briefing. Sigh, that means our holiday is coming to an end. At 5pm we headed off on an optional excursion – a tour of Aswan. First stop was to a mosque.
Kathy had to make sure she was appropriately covered up, and Matt had to wear long trousers. We learnt a bit about Islam, its history, worship and practices. The Mosque was beautiful. So cool, and so peaceful. As we left the sun started to set over the city, so we got some great photos of that.
Next we went to the spice markets, where we bought 25 grammes of saffron for only £10!! Wow. The markets were pretty intense. Lots of pressure to buy, and the most amazing smells – good and not so good. There were bunches of kids rushing around, trying to pick marks to pick their pockets. Matt got picked – we were warned so weren't carrying anything of value. What these kids do is they rush around you, making you bump in to them. The kid you knock in to then pretends to cry – pretty amazing crocodile tears, too – while his buddies pick your pockets. Matt just laughed and laughed at them. We saw piles of cured fish, and mountains of beautiful fruit. We finished off with tea at a cafe where we were almost constantly harassed by hawkers – until the cafe owner beat them off with a bit stick!
In Egypt cars don't seem to have their headlights on often – or if there are lights they're multicoloured, and pretty amazing looking.
After dinner we sat on the deck for a while, watching the traffic before an early night in preparation for an early start.
22nd February
Today was an incredibly early start – wake up at 3am, for a 4am departure. We were off to Abu Simbel!!!
We were given boxes with breakfast in them to have on the coach. First stop was to pick up our armed police escort. More guns! Then we were off, in convoy. Matt managed to sleep much of the way, lucky thing, until Kathy woke him up to watch the sunrise.
Sunrise in the Egyptian desert
It was incredible. The black sky slowly lightened to indigo, then navy as the sun started to come up, with gold tints appearing. The the first sliver of the sun came over the horizon. Then the sky got lighter and lighter, and brighter. Then we saw what we were driving through – flat, featureless desert. We passed a cross road – to Libya and the Sudan. Pretty scary. The desert here is so big.
Abu Simbel's 2 temples are AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When the High Dam was built they were moved up the hill by 60 meters to avoid the rising waters. It was all done in 4 years, between 1964-68. Truly amazing, and if you look very closely you can just see some of the cuts made. There were lots of armed guards around, because we were relatively close to the Sudan, and also to preserve the site.
One of the temples is dedicated to Ramses II,
and the other to his wife Neferati.
Both were just soooo amazing! Naturally Ramses' temple is bigger and grander. They had both been covered completely in sand until the 19th century, so they're beautifully preserved.
The paintings inside are truly amazing, even allowing for Ramses' raging ego. His temple has 4 statues outside, which are so huge they are breathtaking.
complete with graffiti
We were there on the day when the sunrise reaches in to the sanctuary to illuminate 3 of the 4 statues in it, so the crowds leaving as we were arriving were large. Again, no photos inside the temples, so we had to buy some. In Ramses' temple some of the small chambers were unfinished because the Pharaoh died. This allowed us to see how the artists did the carvings. Cool.
In Neferati's temple,which was also dedicated to the cow goddess, it was smaller and less ornate, but had fantastic views over the lake.
Fantastic.
It was getting hotter, so we didn't see much wildlife. Some birds and lizards were scrubbing around in the acacias and gum trees, but that was about it.
On the bus, for our 3 hour trip back to Aswan. Oh, that desert is scary...
but we did get to see the mirage! Brilliant – so incredible.
After lunch, we set sail back down the river. We stopped at Kom Ombu to pick up some more passengers (having dropped some off in Aswan), then off to Edfu for the night.
It was a long day, so we had an early-ish night. What an absolutely brilliant day.
Another beautiful Egyptian sunset
23rd February
Today we were woken again by prayer at 5.30am, and found that our cabin was right up against the dock. Cool. It was our last sailing day today, and we were off to Luxor. It was pretty windy and cool to start with, and windy for the rest of the day. We had a really quick passage through the lock – we were the only boat there. Another brilliant day on the boat, chasing the shade around the deck, and sitting reading and watching the world going past.
Today we saw a man bathing his water buffalo in the river,
and men fishing or harvesting reeds. We saw a man praying in a boat while his friend rowed. The Nile, and Egypt, are just to seductive. So all we had to do was sit and do nothing – except swimming for Matt and a bit of shopping for Kathy in the on-board jeweller, and listening to the noises from the shore as we went past – donkeys braying, people shouting, goats, birds, cattle, pump engines.
What clean air laws?
When we got to Luxor we were first in.
The other boats, all spread out behind us
The boat we were on is one of the fastest on the river. It was cloudy tonight, so no stars for our last night in Egypt. Tonight was our best meal of the trip – yummy Egyptian feast. Kofta, delicious salads of chickpeas or lentils, little bean patties and delicious desserts. Tonight there was a floor show with a belly dancer and a whirling 'dervish'. It was a great end to a fantastic holiday.
24th February
We had our last hours on the boat. So sad. We checked out, got our passports back and settled our small bill, then (sob) got back in to our winter clothes in readiness for the trip back to London. Lunch and farewell to the holiday. After some confusion about departure times we eventually got to the airport. There were massive security queues. There was screening before we even got to check-in, and of course there were idiots in the queue, out of control teenagers, and equipment failures. Kathy was very, very cranky. Then we had to go through the standard security screening – which got some people really upset. The whole thing took a bit of the gloss off for Kathy.
Long-ish flight home (6 hours), but it was brilliant looking out of the window in the dark. We flew over some large cities, all lit up., and over the Swiss Alps – towns and villages wending their way through valleys with the snow gleaming in the moonlight. There were even some ski runs all lit up for night skiing. That made up a bit for the twats on board. Delay getting off at Gatwick because some damage to the plane needed to be documented before the ground crew would extend the air bridge. Sigh. After clearing immigration, more quickly than the rest of the plane despite having to stop and fill out arrivals cards, we had a quick walk to the hotel. After checking in we sat in the bar, downloaded our emails and enjoyed a very well deserved nightcap.
And our Egyptian adventure came to an end. The next day, it was back to Cardiff and back to reality. Best Holiday Ever.
