Blogs from Upper Egypt, Egypt, Africa - page 5

Once again, trying to avoid the brutal heat, we had another ridiculously early morning for our much anticipated visit to the Valley of the Kings in the West Bank of the Nile. Because of the early wake up call, I managed to catch a glimpse of the hot air balloons over the West Bank at sunrise. We had made a reservation to participate that same morning, but it had been unexpectedly cancelled by the company a couple of weeks before the trip. We found out after we got to Egypt that there had been an accident, apparently bad enough for TripAdvisor to feel obligated to cancel it. We were thinking of rescheduling there, but our Tour Director, Amr Hassan, was definitely opposed to it saying it was dangerous, plus the early time might have conflicted with ... read more

The ship left Aswan very early in the morning, on our way to our first stop for the day, the Temple of Kom Ombo, dedicated to the crocodile god, Sobek. Awaken by the engines, a peak out the window rewarded me with a gorgeous sunrise as we left Aswan on our way to Luxor. This temple is conveniently located a short distance from where the ship had docked so it was an easy walk. Kom Ombo is one of the more unusual temples in Egypt. It was dedicated to Horus and Sobek but, because Sobek was considered an ally of Seth and therefore enemy of Horus, the builders separated their temple spaces within one temple. One side for each god. The main court has 16 columns, eight on each side, and five lotus-shaped columns on the ... read more

Valley of the Kings..we visited the Tomb of Ramses III...... read more

For once, our morning call was not at some hair raising time in what seems like the middle of the night. We had time for a nice breakfast enjoying the view from the terrace, and then it was time to check out of the resort in preparation to boarding our cruise ship, The Queen of Hansa. But before we did that, it was time to board the motorboat that would take us to the Nubian Village, Gharb Sohail. The saga of the Nubians in the area is a sad one. This minority non-Arab society was displaced from their ancestral homes by the construction of the High Dam. To make matters worse, the lands given to them to relocate were on the barren desert of the West Bank of the Nile, not amongst the rest of the ... read more

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