On the 21st of Dec we had to get up at 2 am to go to the airport and fly to Luxor where we would board our cruise ship. That was fun. We got in about 7 and wanted to know if there was time in the schedule for us to sleep for a bit before starting our tour. Our new tour guide (whom I did not like, we had a personality conflict) said no, we had to start the tour right away, as there was no free time! Ok, we just put our bags in our room and freshened up a bit and head out.
We saw the Valley of Kings and the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut. It was pretty amazing. There are still some very well preserved colors in the tombs. We drove back across the Nile and that evening saw the Temple of Karnak at night. It was lit up and worth seeing at night.
The stupid part was we did not sail until 2 pm the NEXT day so there was certainly time for us to rest the morning we got there. The reason our guide didn’t let us is because he wanted to “sell” us extra sights to go see the next morning. At this point we had already seen everything on our list and had the next whole morning free so we did agree to see the extra sites. It still pissed me off – he knew we were tired but just wanted the $$. I really missed our Cairo guide!
So, the next morning we went to see The Colossi of Memnon – two weird statue things kind of in the middle of a field. Then we went to an onyx factory where these guys made statues and knick-knacks out of alabaster. We bought some pyramid tea-light holders, even though I didn’t think the workmanship was nearly as good as the stuff I have seen elsewhere (like Cappadocia.) Also, the guy inside was trying to make it seem like we got a good deal. He said, “You should pay me more. I have 5 wives!” And I said, “Well, the Quran says you should only have as many wives as you can support.” They didn’t seem to like it when I quoted the Quran at them. I thought it was funny. Also, no one ever really believed that we didn’t speak Arabic. When we were in Cairo Yomna asked how long I was going to breastfeed. I said, “Well, the Quran says two years.” She wanted to know how I knew that. Plus, I knew how to read the numbers and taught them to Jack and we learned some simple basics. Everyone kept wanting to know how much Arabic we spoke and I know they didn’t believe us when we said none. The secret is to learn numbers, basics, and then something funny and what people say when you sneeze. Anyway, I don’t think they ever believed that we didn’t speak it some. Before we left we toured the Temple of Luxor. (or else we saw the Temple of Luxor at night and Karnak temple the next day….hmmmmm. They all look the same, anyway.)
We then set sail down the Nile River. The Nile River is beautiful. It is so green all along the banks, and then the dessert starts right behind it. You can truly see what a difference water makes. The ancient Egyptians worshiped the sun. It is kind of weird that they didn’t worship water as well, being in the dessert and all.
The first night on the ship we were in the back and it was awful! It was LOUD and shaky and the air was full of exhaust fumes. In bed that night it was like being in a cheap hotel with one of those shaky beds you put quarters in gone bad. The only one who could sleep was Lil’ G and probably because she was half asphyxiated by the fumes. Luckily, we got to move up to the front of the boat for the rest of the trip. What a difference that made. No shaking, no fumes, it was quiet. So, if you ever take a Nile cruise be sure your room is at the FRONT of the boat!!
The next morning we toured Edfu, the best-preserved temple in Egypt. They think it is “new” as it was finished in 57 B.C. It was fun getting there – we took a horse-drawn carriage from the ship to the Temple. Once back on the boat we sailed on to Kom Ombo. We saw the Temple of Kom Ombo at night, too.
After that we sailed to Aswan. We toured the Aswan High Dam. It is huge, and created Lake Nasser, which is 480 km long and up to 16 km wide. There are so many temples and ruins under that water. Then we sailed out to see the Philae Temple. This temple was taken apart and moved so it wouldn’t be sunk under Lake Nasser. We also saw the obelisk quarries. All the obelisks of Egypt came from this quarry, and any granite in any of the temples came from here, too. It is still this huge granite hill right in the city. I can only imagine how big it was before they quarried all those years. Using rock “hammers.” I’m glad that wasn’t my job!
One afternoon, Sammi and I took a break while Jack and the tour guide went to explore the Nubian village. They had to sail there and then Jack saw some baby crocodiles and checked out the village. He drank some hibiscus tea because the guide “tricked” him into it. He asked if Jack wanted some tea, and Jack, thinking that he would join him said sure. But, ha ha – the guide only ordered it for Jack! There is no running water in the village; I think he drank Nile River water that may not have been boiled for very long.
After he got back we all went to the bazaar in Aswan to check out the goods. We bought some spices, but if you go my advice is to just go to a local grocery store or Carrefour. They have tons of stuff, and it is cheaper. But, we wanted to check out the bazaar anyway. Once again, our guide “tricked” us. The spice guy offered us some hibiscus tea, and our guide said he liked it cold. So, we tried it cold. Then we asked how they make it. Thinking it had been boiled. But no. The cold tea is NOT boiled. At this point I had just the one glass of un-boiled water whereas Jack has now had straight Nile River water tea, and cold bazaar tea.
We went back to the ship for the Christmas Eve party they had for us. We had a special meal on board, and then the workers entertained us with local dancing and even a (sub-par) belly dancer. We didn’t stay up late, as we had to get up at 4 am for our flight back to Cairo the next morning. It was scary lying in bed next to Jack that night – his stomach kept making horrible rumbling noises, like Alien was going to burst forth from his belly at any moment and attack us.
Well, that is it for the Nile Cruise portion of our trip. Stay tuned for part 3 of 3 of our Egypt Tour! (sorry it took so long to post this part – but I really had issues with our guide so it took me awhile to write it.)
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