Luxor

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On Saturday, May 10th we arrived at Safaga, Egypt which is a desert town on the Red Sea. Safaga was established as a Port to export phosphate minerals and as a Gateway city for tourist visits to Luxor. We boarded our bus which was number 4 of 14 and formed a Caravan for our 3 1/2 hour drive across the desert to the Nile. Security is a big issue in this part of the world so we had a military escort including a small platoon of soldiers in the first and last cars of the Caravan and each bus had an armed security man sitting in the front row. We went through at least 3 checkpoints where the road narrowed down to one lane and we had to stop. At every intersection on our route, cross traffic was stopped and their were armed guards blocking the intersections. We actually felt quite safe and never once had an incident.

Probably the most interesting part of this trip was how the topography changed. The first 70 miles was all desert and the only life we saw was a few Bedouin Camps with their camels and goats. Then all of a sudden, everything turned green and became real interesting! The Egyptians have built a series of canals that take the Nile water eastward until it hits the desert mountains and they have learned to utilize every drop. In some ways it looked like time has stood still with people riding donkeys and farming by hand probably just as it looked when Christ was walking the Earth. Then you look close at the guy sitting on his donkey at the intersection and he's talking on his cell phone!

The Temple of Karnak was our first stop and it was a good one. In general, everything on the East Bank of the Nile was dedicated to living Pharaohs and the West Bank ( setting sun ) to tombs and the after life. Karnak was not built by one pharaoh but by many and took over a 1000 years to build. It is connected to the Temple at Luxor which was dedicated to the Queen, by an Avenue of Sphinx. There were lots of stone statues, obelisks and columns and each had a story. We had lunch in Luxor at the St. George Hotel Luxor which had to be 5 Star in appearance and location but definitely not in food preparation!

After lunch, we crossed the Nile to The Valley of Kings and toured 3 different Tombs including Ramses I & III. King Tut's Tomb was opened but not recommended since it was small and everything of interest had been stripped out and moved to the Cairo Museum. We saw lots of preserved hieroglyphics with original colors but the tombs were very crowded and it would have been nice to know what we were really looking at. We did a couple of picture stops at the Temple of Hatshepsut ( the only female Pharaoh ) and The Colossi of Memnon and headed for our Caravan formation area which included not only our buses but many others. Two days before we arrived, the Caravan leaving Luxor contained over 300 buses!

We bought an Arab white head scarf to wrap around Bob's head and he looked like a shabby sheik. He proceeded to purchase something from every vendor on our way back to the bus! I have told everyone we were going to have a large garage sale before we disembark!! Arrived back at the ship 9:30 that evening and were happy to be told the full buffet line was available. Had a late dinner and fell into bed. Going through the Suez Canal tomorrow. We were pretty excited about that until someone told us it is simply a big ditch. No locks like the Panama Canal. Oh well, should be interesting anyway. Will tell all about it next time.

Bye, time for out daily Bridge Tournament - The traveling Shanley's

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