Egypt with Ben

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Well my Egyptian adventure has now come to an end and Ben and I arrived in Athens bright and early this morning.

We had a fantastic time, needless to say, starting with three days in Alexandria. After having spent a couple of days in Cairo, Alexandria as a lovely relaxing change. Being on the coast, the weather was cooler and we were able to walk around almost all of the city. The highlight was to see the next Alexandria Library that is being made into one of the biggest and best libraries in the world, following the tradition of the original library. The outside of the building looks almost space aged, representing the sun rising it is large disk coming up, with a huge reading room and a display of some of the original printing presses and book binding machines from around the world. Also, being on the coast, the seafood was spectacular. We became locals at the Fish Market restaurant with sweeping views over the bay where you pick the fish you would like cooked from the display, and how you would like it cooked and 10 minutes later it is elivered to your plate, you couldnt ask for more!

After Alexandria, we returned to Cairo to start our 10 day tour of Egypt. We had a group of 6 people, 5 Aussies and one quiet Irish man (yes, they do exist!). The first day was spent at the Pyramids and the Museum, I am so glad that I got a second chance to see them. Ben coaxed me through my claustrophobia to take me inside the secon pyramid, and we almost crawled our way through a dark and hot tunnel going first down and then up into the centre of the pyramid into the burial chamber. Compared to the tombs in the Valley of the Kings, it was very bare, no decoraions on the walls, but I guess if you are buried in such a large buildin, you dont really need the decoration on the wall as well!

The next day was spent sightseeing around Cairo including the Citadel, the alabaster mosque, and the markets, before we got on the overnight train to Aswan.

Being the southern most area of Egypt, Aswan was a lot hotter than Cairo, although still not as hot as the weather that Mum and I experienced in Luxor. We started our time in Aswan with an introduction to Egyptian time trains (3 hours late, and no one was surprised). But once we go settled in to the hotel, we whike striaght back out again to visit the Temple of Isis at Philae. The temple was one of the many that had to be relocated after the construction of the high dam in Aswan to ontrol the flow of the Nile. The original island of Philae is now submerged, but UNESCO and other contributors were able to dismantle the temple, and move it to the next island that was higher - absolutely fantastic.

That evening we took a boat ride acros the Nile to a Nubian village for a traditional dinner. The Nubians lost almost all of their homeland to Lake Nasser when the high dam was built and flooded their lands - th majority relocated to either Aswan or Sudan. The food was fantastic, we sat out in a courtyard of the famil home while they served us a buffet of tagines and felafel and veggies.

The next morning was a very early start when we left the hotel at 3.30am to fly down to Abu Simbel to see the Temple of Ramses II and Nefertari. Flying meant that there were only about 100 people at the Temple when we arrived, which in such a large expanse meant we felt like we were almost the only ones. We arrived just in time to see the sun rise over Lake Nasser (the largest man made lake in the world), and watch the stones of the temple turn from a pale white colour to brilliant orange as the sunlight changed. The Temple of Ramses II was by far my favourite. It is a remarkable and overwhelming place. At the entrance, there are 8 huge statues of Ramses II (he definitely had no self esteem problems!) that just stare, marking time and guarding the rest of the temple. I stood mesmerised for a good ten minutes just being overwhelmed by their size and age - the guards at the front door started walking aroun me and asking if I was ok... I just id not want to leave.

Just as overwhelming as the original temple was to see how it was moved to save it from the waters of Lake Nasser. The temple was originally constructed so that 2 days a year (the 22nd of Feb and Oct, Ramses II coronation day nd birthday) the sun shone stright through the temple to the sanctuary, illuminating three statues, but leaving the fourth (the god of darkness) without light. As with Philae, UNESCO completely pulle apart the temple, and reconstructed it up and back from the waters, constructing an artificial cliff face for both the Temple of Ramses II and the Temple of Nefertari. It was amazing to see the photos. Unfortuntely, with all of the technology that they had in the 60's when it was moved, they miscalculated the angle by the smallest degree and so now the sun shines through the temple on the 21st of Feb and Oct, not the 22nd. It was decided not to corect this, and use it as an indicator of how advnced the ancient Egptians were, that even we now cannot completely replicate their work.

That night we started our cruise down the Nile towards Luxor. As you can imagine, it was very difficult to take. Sitting on the sun deck, watching the towns and villages go by, getting off to see a temple or two and then getting back on to cruise a little longer 😊 it is a tough life.

When we arrived in Luxor, we decided that we would go on ahot airballoon ride over the Valley of the Kings and the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut. Another very early morning, but definitely worth it. Not bad for our first balloon experience.

At thi point, Ben nd I left our tour group, as they were all heading to the resort town of Hurghada, and we were coming back to Cairo. After 9 days of running around and lots of early morning starts, we decided to have very quiet days and sit in the hotel and catch up on sleep. This was a good idea, as our flight to Athens was at 2.45am, arriving 2 hours later at 6am... not a big opportunity for sleep. We have just settled into the hotel here, and had a little siesta so we are ready to go out and explore Athens. I am hanging out for my first salad and fresh fruits for a long time!!!

I will try to put up more photos now, fingers crossed the connection here is faster than last time when only on photo worked!

I hope all is well with everyone.

Love Steph

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Photos

Kisses!
Who could resist?!

Felucca ride in Aswan
Our tour group, and captain Mohammed

Temple of Ramses II
Hall at Abu Simbel

Temple of Ramses II, outside
At sunrise, with he pale colouings

Comments

[Fiona]

Kisses!
Love the photo of you kissing the sphinx, it looks great :-)