Blogs from Abu Simbel, Upper Egypt, Egypt, Africa - page 3

We meet Mo and the others with our packed breakfasts outside our hotel . With our 3am wake up call we all take off to meet at the convoy point to head to Abu Simbel. There are heaps of different buses here, also a few people with Guns. Mo tells us it's very safe traveling out there and being there, the reason why we convoy is just in case we break down along the way then we can jump in another bus behind us or whatever, I’m not too convinced, why would they need guns? I know it’s kind of dangerous as its right on the boarder of Syria. It takes 3 hours and I snooze along the way. We are traveling through the desert. All you see is sand, sand, and more sand. We finally ... read more

Had an unfortunate wake up call this morning at 6:45am but all for good reason. Today we were off to see Abu Simbel which is offered as an optional excursion but everyone did it as it's a "must see" according to Sherif. We first drove to the Aswan airport and then flew Egyptair for a short 1/2 hr plane ride there. It was by far the most spectacular thing we've seen yet! As we walked around the side of the huge rock face mountain, we could see the giant carvings of the pharoahs carved into the mountain. The size of them are mind-blowing! Sherif immediately sat us down and gave us a histroy lesson. I was most amazed that they used to be closer to Lake Nasir but have since been moved back. We then got ... read more

So today was the day to head down as far south as you can go in Egypt. Abu Simbel, an ancient site three hours from Aswan. Trips had to be planned with police convoy, due to the security risk in the area. I greeted my driver once again in the hotel lobby. We set off at around 11am. We passed Philae and the High Dam, and from then onwards it was a proper highway, with nothing but desert for the rest of the way. This made for impressive scenery. This was the Sahara Desert. Three hours later, after not having much going on inside the van, being the only tourist on board, we arrived at Abu Simbel. Once there I was greeted by a tour guide; part of the package already paid for. So I proceeded ... read more

At 3:00am the alarm starting harassing Michael and I to wake up. I hit the snooze button as if I was at home, but when the wakeup call rang I realized I was in Egypt and literally jumped out from under the covers. I took a quick shower, packed our backpacks and we went to meet our tour guides to Abu Simbel at the front desk. Knowing that we were leaving before the complimentary breakfast the Isis Corniche Hotel offers, the receptionist handed Michael and I each our own to-go breakfast bag. We left our backpacks with the front desk as we were going to return to the hotel again before catching our train to Luxor that evening. We turned and found our tour guides waiting with a car out front. You could see the relief ... read more

Abu Simbel - An Ancient Love Story retold over the ages Ramses - The Great and his beautiful wife Nefertari...the most celebrated couple of ancient Egypt and the immortal proof of their love - Abu Simbel!!! In midst of the barren desert stretches of Nubia stands immensely tall an unbelievable piece of master craftsmanship. Cut out of mountain, it has withstood the destructive forces of nature and mankind for past 3500 years. I had heard and read so much about Abu Simbel and was so eager to see this manmade marvel, that it wont be an exaggeration to say that the high point of my Egypt trip was ABU SIMBEL. We flew down to Abu Simbel from Egypt on a very early flight from Cairo. The sunrise from the aircraft was absolutely magnificent with Lake Nasser ... read more