We have spent the last five days on a Nile cruise heading from Luxor to Aswan with a special excursion to visit the massive temple of Abu Simbel. It worked out, given our proximity to Egypt, and with a little bit of planning, that we were able to make it on the same ship with our great amigos Kaveh, Aaron and Amie. We had a blast with you guys and wish it could have lasted longer. Congrats again to Aaron and Amie who are expecting a baby boy in six short weeks!
The first part of the cruise was rough to quite rough. We were booked via plane to a city named Hurghada instead of Luxor which cost us the first day of the cruise. When we showed up, twelve hours later, we happily signed the cruise registration cards for what we thought was the Sonesta ST GEORGE. Just to be on the safe side Mila asked, "what's the name of this ship?" "Sonesta STAR," our driver replied. Normally, this would have been no big deal, but we had people to see! When they finally got us on the correct ship, they put us in a storage closet. Ok, that last part was not true, but we were certain that it was the next logical step based on the previous pattern. When we arrived in our room, we took a deep breath and everything was smooth sailing from there (no pun intended). The cruise and the sites we visited were completely worth the small hassle that began our voyage. The travel agent even booked us a hotel for one more night so that we could see what we missed. Here is how our trip unfolded.
Day 1
Airport by 7 AM
In Egypt Air office by 9 AM
Back to hostel by 11 AM
Nap at hostel till 2 PM
Egyptian pizza at 4 PM
Back to airport at 6 PM
Flight at 8 PM
On boat at 10:30 PM
On correct boat by 11 PM.
Day 2
Visit West Bank in Luxor
Valley of the Kings- Tombs of all of the Egyptian Kings from the 18th to 20th dynasties including King Tut and Ramses the 2nd. King Tut's mummy is still there. Ramses the 2nd is in the mummy room at the Egyptian museum. No pictures are allowed in the Valley of the Kings unfortunately. The colors, dating back over 3500 years, are so vibrant that you would swear the tombs were painted last week. Google it if you like, or just take our word for it.
Hatshepsut's Temple- The only temple built for a queen, but this is only because she portrayed herself as a king
Colossi of Memnon
Day 3
The cruise boat moves to Edfu by morning and to Kom Ombo by evening
Temple of Horus at Edfu. We took a carriage through the city to get there.
Temple at Kom Ombo
Mila eating a mummified crocodile
Day 4
Aswan
Felucca ride around Elephantine Island where many Nubian people live.
Temple of Isis at Philae by motorized boat. This driver offered us a cigarette. We respectfully declined
Day 5
Trip to Abu Simbel- when visiting the temple, tourists, like us, who go by ground, move with other vehicles in an armored convoy. The convoy leaves at 4 AM in the morning and takes 3.5 hours to reach the temple. The visit is for 2 hours and back in the convoy by 10 AM. We got back to Aswan at 1:30 PM. From there, we took the same van and drove back to Luxor for another 4.5 hours. Lots of driving but well worth it. On the way back the van kept breaking down, but we eventually made it back in one piece.
Day 6
Visit to the East Bank in Luxor
Karnak Temple
Luxor Temple
On the boat with good food and great friends
Galabeya party with our crew (from left to right: Miriam, Wilson, Scott, Emilia, Amie, Aaron, and Kaveh) We haggled with Egyptians to get those beautiful gowns!
Kavehnator looking good
Mila participating in the galabeya belly dancing competition
Games that we all reluctantly participated in. Kaveh almost won this one. We would have been so proud!
Sufi dancing on another evening
Hanging out on the ship
Our home for 4 nights aboard the beautiful Sonesta St George
Our room
Next up... New Delhi and the Himalayan Mountains! Which one of you is going to visit us next? We hope it is you!
-Mila and Scott
- Posted around the world from our iPad
Location:Nehru Place Rd,New Delhi,India
abu simbel is amazing
ReplyDeletetaj mahal taj mahal!
ReplyDeleteThis post made me so happy! Glad to see you guys got to meet up with Summers and the Kav!
ReplyDelete