Blogs from Aswan, Upper Egypt, Egypt, Africa - page 2

Our day started with a daytime view from our balcony. Although we were not able to visit the cliff tombs, it's one of the attractions that I most look forward to the next time I'm lucky enough to visit Aswan. I have heard excellent reviews about the lovely every day life paintings in some of the tombs. The hotel, just like the Marriott before it, had an extensive breakfast buffet that was served on a delightful terrace with a view of the Nile. The new wing of the resort where we were staying was not too large, and I liked the airy openness of the lobby that all rooms opened to. After breakfast, we boarded the cute ferry that ran constantly between the island and the mainland, for our ride to the airport and early morning ... read more

Today we sailed, relaxed and swam along the famous Nile river in our felucca. We also enjoyed our evening sleeping under the stars. The Nile The Nile played an important role in shaping the lives and society of Ancient Egypt. It provided the ancient Egyptians with food, transportation, building materials and more. The river flows north through Egypt and empties into the Mediterranean Sea. The names of the two regions of Egypt, Upper (in the south) and Lower Egypt (in the north) come from the flow of the Nile river. The most important thing that the Nile provided to the Ancient Egyptians was fertile land. The black soil along the Nile is rich and good for growing crops. The three most important crops were wheat, flax and papyrus. Flooding of the Nile was through to be ... read more

We were up about 6 this morning, finished packing up and checked out of our riverboat cabin. We had a leisurely breakfast, then we said good bye to the MS Dolphin and headed out at 8 am for our tour of Philae Temple. I woke up about 4:30 this morning which a churning stomach, but my friend Immodium has done the trick. Susan has also had similar issues over the past few days which seem to have cleared up now. These types of gastrointestinal upsets are very common in Egypt and hard to avoid. Philae temple (the Temple of Isis at Philae) is dedicated to the goddess Isis. It is a very nice small temple in a very pretty location, perched on Agilika island. It was one of the last pagan temples to operate in Egypt ... read more

And so I caught the train at 10 pm and it was supposed to be 12 hours…so 13.5 hours later I was supposed to be met at the train station in Aswan by another guy called Achmed….I was shown his picture even so there would be no problem…I was even given a printed out itinerary so I know exactly what I am supposed to be getting on this so called tour. Well Achmed was there at the train station, just not the one from the picture…that Achmed wasn’t feeling well so Achmed came in Achmed’s place who was supposedly Mohammed’s friend who I was introduced to by Achmed and his friend Mohammed….seems like the beginnings of a joke here. But anyways, Achmed started telling me a different itinerary than what I had printed on this apparently ... read more

I woke up to my bed swaying back and forth and I was disoriented. I looked around and remembered I was on a Felucca in the Nile. I was covered with bug bites and the bug spray I had covered myself with last night did no good. I am fairly certain they were drawn to the bug spray. The crew made breakfast for us which included eggs and bread. We had some time before the boat left so everyone swam in the Nile to clean up and cool off. I watched everyone for a bit before deciding I was in the Nile and couldn't pass up the opportunity. After telling everyone what I was doing and getting some help from Josh and Carey I jumped in. I must admit it was scary but I just had ... read more