Blogs from Upper Egypt, Egypt, Africa - page 71

The past few days have been spent roaming around Cairo, hanging out with some of the local guys from the Canadian Hostel and dining out. I met a couple of girls who were living in the UK for a while due to studies (one Egyptian the other Jordanian) and they had met a couple of guys from Cairo so we all hung out together until they had to go home. The last few days on my own in Cairo went very fast and next thing I knew I had to check out of the Canadian and head over to the hotel meeting point to join my tour. December 19th Cairo This afternoon I checked in for my tour of the Nile and Sinai. As no activities were planned for tonight I just went out for dinner ... read more

The end of our desert odyssey brought us to the town of Luxor. Located on the Nile river, as are most of the population in Egypt, it is famous for a number of ancient monuments. These include the Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens, The Temple of Queen Hatshepshut, Luxor Temple and the Karnak Temple complex, as well as a few other temples and monuments scattered around the place. We were to have two nights in the city at this stage of the trip before moving, but we would be returning for a day later on. Obviously a city like this is geared up for tourists and there wasn't a shortage of things to do. Our guide firstly gave us a walking tour of the town, pointing out the major features such as ... read more

An early morning start, we departed the hotel at 6:00 am to arrive at Karnak Temple for sunrise. The rays of the sun were just beginning to peak through sun god Ra’s inner temple as we entered through the Avenue of the Sphinxes. This made our visit particularly memorable as we imagined the ancient Egyptian high priests welcoming the start of each day 3000 years ago. We also appreciated having the temple almost to ourselves, since there was only one other couple and guide besides us. Wiehl described the meaning behind the Temple of Columns: A magnificent structure of large columns with open top capitals, depicting the papyrus plants close to the river Nile, in the center of the temple. The columns became shorter with closed top capitals representing the closed buds of the papyrus further ... read more

I always knew that Thanksgiving was may favorite holiday...but was never quite sure whether it was the food or the people. Just kidding, I knew it was because of my family, but this weekend just justified that completely. My stomach hurt, not for its longing for cranberries and stuffing (though that didn't help), but because I was laughing the entire time. Both my parents, both my brothers, my brother's wife, and my two cousins and I all met up Thursday in Luxor. In the last three years they have never flown across the country to have Thanksgiving with me...but they did fly around the world! We had a great time, smoking sheesha, watching sunsets from feluccas (Nile sailboats), giggling incesently at stories of bodily functions that I will not repeat here...eventhough my meal consisted of a ... read more

This was an amazing site early in the morning with the sun coming up... read more