Blogs from Upper Egypt, Egypt, Africa

Anyone seeing the title of ‘cats’ and the location in Luxor may have assumed I was referring to the many sphinxes adorning this town. In fact, there’s a whole avenue of them, recently opened between Karnak and Luxor temples. There are hundreds of them. But anyone would be wrong. I’m referring to actual cats. Fat ones, almost hundreds of them that we got to hang out with today at the ACE animal sanctuary, a charity on the East Bank that looks after the neglected animals of Luxor. And bloody hell, there are a lot of them. So this shelter takes them in. At this point, you’d normally say ‘there were fat ones and skinny ones…’ but in reality, there are no skinny ones because the ones that are there know they’re onto a good thing. And ... read more

The day began with a leisurely breakfast on the deck and the promise of more ugh history to please the masses. Jumped on our tug for a quick trip to Gebel el Silsila which was the site of the quarry used for much of the building material around the place. First stop was a small temple built for the workers which was built by the successor to Tut. Then we wandered through the quarry and visited the project manager’s house. Being a kin of ours, we were interested in his set up - lived there with his wife and daughter while the other workers lived across the Nile. We were fascinated (ok, some of us were, some of us passed the time by singing Taylor Swift songs) by the way they organised the workers - not ... read more

Everyone knows about all the ancient stuff here, lots of temples and ruins and stuff…almost like the land that time forgot. Cleverly, the Egyptians have also managed to mix it up a bit and create the land that forgot time, or at least how to tell it, or stick by it, or pay any attention to it at all! Lucky we’re in beautiful Aswan, on the banks of the Nile so we have plenty of opportunity to soak up the ambience while we’re doing our waiting. Arrived at our Nubian Farm under the cover of darkness - an eerie experience for those of us who hadn’t completely succumbed to jet lag and passed out. Our boat wove through the tall granite protrusions of the river under the light of Aga Khan’s illuminated mausoleum high on the ... read more

Luxor: the spectacular Valley of the Kings and last day in Cairo trip to the Khan el Khalili bazaar We set off early to the Valley of the Kings to avoid crowds. We visited 6 tombs in all. Tutankhamen was a must see of course and yes we saw his mummy but the tomb is very simple.his famous burial mask is in the Egyptian museum and other treasures are all likely to end in the new Grand Egyptian Museum. The most extraordinary of the tombs was Seti 1. At an extra charge of $70AUD it was worth it. Outstanding colours and it is very big with several different sections. Other visits were to Hatshepsut (pronounced hats cheap suit), the Luxor temple at night which was great and Karnak. Karnak and Luxor temple are connected by a ... read more

As we approach the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea and the Suez Canal, thoughts turn to the excitement of Egypt, ancient ruins (no not most of the passengers) and PIRATES. We all receive a letter from the Captain informing us that on the 21st we must all take part in the ship’s pirate drill. Now I understand this does not involve wide spread issuance of parrots and tricorn hats. Neither is it a case of a free tot of rum to any passenger producing a peg leg to the bar staff. The rear open decks will be closed at night and the ship’s lights largely extinguished. In the event of an attack the passengers must gather outside their cabin and sit down on the floor. Given that we are deck 11 and a very considerable ... read more