Advertisement
Published: March 1st 2009
On the night of day 3, 22.02.09, I met the rest of my tour group in total there is 9 of us, Mel, Morgan, Ian, Lauren, Bridie, Kate, Colette, Bec and me, plus out tour leader Shady!!
DAY 4
Today we set off to see the Sphinx and the Pyramids they were fantastic!! We all decided to go inside the largest pyramid there isn't much inside at all. Just one long corridor where you need to crouch over double and walk up a steep slope to reach the burial chamber. How they got the coffin in there I don't know! It was very hot and stuffy in there and the disappointing thing was that there were no markings or carvings on any of the walls or the roof. However it is amazing to see the feat of engineering they had accomplished so so long ago! After we went inside the Pyramid we headed out to the advantage point were you can see all three Pyramids together. It is an amazing view! Here we acted like complete tourists taking heaps of photos and trying to make each other looking like were holding the pyramids ect. The smallest of the three pyramids had
several smaller ones nearby which were built for his wives. The middle sized pyramid was half covered in rose granite but the covering wasn’t completed as it is presumed the Pharaoh died before he could finish the building it. Once we were done being tourists we headed to see the Sphinx. It wasn’t as big as I expected it to be but still impressive very impressive as I would probably only be as tall as one of it’s paws. Near the Sphinx was also the temple in which the Pharaohs were taken so that the 72 days of mummification can be preformed on them before they were placed into their nearby tombs.
After our visit here we went to a propyrus institute where they showed us how they made the paper from the propyrus plant to make the paper they used in ancient times. All the walls were covered in the types of paintings they did on the walls of tombs and on the paper, which of course you could buy.
In the afternoon my roommate, Colette, and I decided to go to the Egyptian museum! It was magnificent! there was just room after room of Egyptian history. Most of
it was out in the open and it's amazing to see the amount of idiots that reach out and touch it even though they're asked not to. The most fascinating part of the museum was the displays on Tutankhamen’s tomb. They had on display all of the statues, toys and jewels that had been found in the tomb. The craftsmanship is fantastic!!
Tonight we left on the overnight train to Aswan!
DAY 5
Aswan!! The train ride turned out to be much shorter than was expected which was a relief as the toilets were disgusting by the end of the trip!!! I’m talking toilet waste all over the floor and running out into the hallway. I would have totally preferred to go behind a bush that is for sure!
After arriving at our hotel we headed out to Philae temple for the afternoon. This temple had been moved to higher land to accommodate the dam and water rising levels. It was moved to a nearby island and hence it is now situated in the middle of the Nile. The temple is covered in carved images. They are amazing and must have taken ages to complete!!!!
For dinner Shady took us
out for a traditional Egyptian meal! Which consisted of pasta, chickpeas, spices, fried spring onion, rice, tomato and lentils.
DAY 6
Today I started the day with a 45min camel ride, rather fun however I ended it with a slightly sore bum. Kate, Bridie and Colette also came along on the ride. Poor Kate ended up with a horrible camel which kept running off all of the time and was rather moody. In the afternoon we had some free time so Colette and I decided to head to the local markets. As soon as you glance a person's way or into their shop they immediately start asking you if you want to buy stuff! It's so annoying and draining and they never like to take no for an answer, even if you’re totally not interested in anything they are selling!
DAY 7
Today we were up by 3.30 to leave on the convoy to Abu Simble to see the temples. We arrived by 7.30am. Here we saw both Ramses II and his wife Nerifitis (not sure how to spell her name). They were so impressive and huge compared to all we had seen so far. All of the statues out
the front of the temples were massive. In a few areas in the temples you could see some of the original colouring in the images. In Ramses’ temple there are 4 statues at the very back which on two days of the year are lit up by the sun though the front door for 15min. And of course the light starts and finishes on Ramses’ statue in the middle. So when they moved these two temples to protect them from the rising water from the building of the Aswan dam, they had to be exactly repositioned so that this remarkable effect was not lost! And moving these was a feat in itself.
In the afternoon we hopped on our felucca which is a Nubian sailing boat.
DAY 8
Our first day on the Felucca. We didn't sail anywhere as it was too windy and rough plus Shady didn’t want us to risk our felucca capsizing and neither did we! So we spent the day relaxing reading, playing cards, eating and drinking. Now these boats have no washroom facilities so the bathroom was a bush on the side of the river! Which I must say was a lot more pleasant to
Philae Temple from the Nile
This temple was moved from it's orginal resting place to protect it from the rising waters due to the building of the Aswan damvisit then some of the toilets we’d been to so far.
DAY 9
We set sail and due to great winds we managed to make up our two days of sailing to reach our final destination of Edfu within the day. Here we docked on the bank for the night, onboard the felucca of course. Before the night set in we went and visited Kom Ombo temple at night. Which was rather interesting as the roaming Egyptian boys were out. So we all stuck together in a very tight group there wasn't going to be any hassling tonight the boys made sure of that!! On one of the outside walls of this temple there is actually a Greek lion which isn’t supposed to be there. This temple also served as a hospital, which conducted surgery and medical operations such as abortions. One of the walls also showed some of the instruments that they used back then that look very similar to some of the instruments we use today.
DAY 10
In the morning we took a bus from Edfu to Luxor. Once arriving at our hotel we organised to meet in the afternoon to head off to Karnak temple which is over 63 acres big!!!! We only saw a very small section of the temple due to it‘s large size. Karnak temple is so large because each new Pharaoh decided that he needed to leave his own mark by adding on a section to the temple that was already there. Here again I was impressed by the engineering these ancient Egyptians could accomplish!! It was also amazing to see that some of colour in the images on the stone rooves still remained.
That brings me to the end of my update. I promise that the Egyptian photos will follow once I reach Ireland. Also it hasn't been hot here at all most of the time it's been the low twenties high teens. Perfect weather for sightseeing!! Catch you all soon xoxo
Advertisement
Tot: 0.235s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 8; qc: 53; dbt: 0.0536s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
TimmyB
Tim Bail
Awesome...
I am soo jealous...I wish I was you right now. Not even with you - though of course being with you would make it all the more special!!! Hehehehe maybe i should proof read your entries?!? Lol..that brings back memories...happy ones of us working on your report! Anyways, I will give more detail in an email. Love you gorgeous xoxo