Blogs from Upper Egypt, Egypt, Africa - page 4

21 - 22 Nov Dernier poste frontalier avant de rejoindre le Soudan, Aswan est une ville commerciale hautement stratégique. Pour les marins du sud, la ville a toujours été un passage obligé pour rejoindre la Méditerranée par bateau. À des milliers d'années déjà, les commercants remontaient le Nil d'aussi loin que de l'Éthiopie ou de la Tanzanie (le Nil est le deuxième (ou premier) fleuve le plus long du monde après (avant?) l'Amazone... fleuve qui (peut-être) le dépasserait en longueur d'à peine 140 mètres). Le Royaume des Pharaons accueillait alors les voyageurs par un puissant avertissement: les grottes d'Abu Simbel, et particulièrement ses quatre immenses statues de pierre, les prévenaient de la grande puissance de Ramsès II (-1279 à -1213). Postés à l'entrée maritime de l'Égypte, les colosses d'Abu Simbel fascinent depuis leur découverte en 1813. ... read more

20th March Boat ride on the Nile #heygo http://www.heygo.com On the northern end of the First Cataract, marking ancient Egypt's southern frontier, Aswan has always been of great strategic importance. In ancient times it was a garrison town for the military campaigns against Nubia; its quarries provided the granite used for so many sculptures and obelisks. Our virtual trip was a boat ride on the river Nile. As we sailed along the river we saw sites of Noble's tombs, the famous Kitcheners Island and the Nubian villages. The Dome of Hawa is the rocky mountain on the western bank.The mountain is approximately 130 meters high and has carved graves of nobles and priests of Aswan from the era of the ancient Egyptians. The tombs of the Dome of Al-Hawa are distinguished by that they were nobles, ... read more

Our leader Khaled keeps telling us that the next thing we do will be the best ever, and I keep wondering how that could be so. We got up early, had breakfast at 6, and left the Feluccas. We traveled by support boat to the dock where our bus was waiting. This bus driver’s name is Abraham. We are still traveling north, this time by bus. We stopped at the Temple Kom Ombo. It was originally an Egyptian city called Nubt, meaning City of Gold (not to be confused with the city north of Naqada that was also called Nubt/Ombos). Nubt is also known as Nubet or Nubyt (Nbyt). It became a Greek settlement during the Greco-Roman Period. The town's location on the url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nil... read more

I can't believe how incredible the Abu Simbel Temple is. Before I get to that I want to include a few details. I am traveling with GAdventures for the "Best of Egypt, Jordan, and Israel". I have taken many GAdventures trips before and I've been pleased with all of them. Our group consist of mostly Australians, 1 Brit, 1 Columbian, 2 Canadians, and 3 Americans (14 in all). Our guide is Khaled - has great stories, very knowledable, very funny, and very talented (he is a musician and has an Egyptian cooking show). The group is compatible and fun. Also, I haven't labeled the pictures for 3 days because I'm using someone's hotspot and I have limited time. Tomorrow we get on a Felucca and do an overnight to Luxor - so I won't have wifi ... read more

So our boat trip on the Royal Ruby along the Nile from Luxor to Aswan was 4 nights....though the boat was actually docked late at night in Aswan so we had 2 nights there. After leaving Luxor and heading through the Esna Lock we docked at a small place called Edfu and sailed through to Aswan the next day. En route we had gorgeous views and sunsets on the lush Nile with a very rich green delta each side of the river with lots of crops, veges etc. Whilst sailing sellers would come along in their tinnies and throw their ropes and hook onto our ship....they were hilarious...yelling out from the water to 4 floors up selling their wares....they would throw the item all the way up in a plastic bag and you returned money back ... read more