Our flight back to Los Angeles was at 8:30, and we had to connect from Cairo to Istanbul. The tour company picked us up at 6:15 am, and it took less than 10 minutes to get to the International Terminal. Our Cairo coordinator, Abdul was there to greet […]
Our trip is coming to a close. We flew out of Luxor and headed back to Cairo. We were scheduled to stay one night in Cairo, but our flight back to LA was early, and we remembered how bad Cairo traffic was from the museum. My dad asked if […]
We had a day to ourselves in Luxor, so we had our ship’s coordinator to arrange for a car to take us to a local restaurant. Our guide Saber suggested El Hussein Restaurant, located in a non touristy area of Luxor. We arrived at 12:00 and was surprised […]
Our ship has to set sail back to Luxor, so we’re along for the ride. We have new passengers who we picked up at Aswan, so those people will disembark to visit the ports. If feels weird not to do anything except sit on the sun deck and […]
While some of our tour members headed to the airport, the rest of us boarded an Egyptian felluca, which is an old fashioned sailboat. There was no wind on the river, so a tug boat had to pull us, as we “cruised” around. The felluca was pulled back […]
It’s the final day for some of my travel companions. We kicked off their last day at Aswan with a trip to the Unfinished Obelisk. The significance is that the obelisk is supposed to be made with one complete piece of granite. There was a crack in it, […]
The Abu Simbel temples are located in southern Egypt, near the border of Sudan. In order to get here, we had to leave the ship at 3:30 am and take a covoy with other tour groups to this destination. We were chaperoned with armed police to make sure […]
After Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut Temple, we returned back to the ship for lunch, then our ship set sail to Edfu. While sailing the Nile, the sunset call of prayer echoed throughout the river. We sailed through the night, passing through the Esna Lock, to get […]
Queen Hatshepsut was the 5th pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt. The Temple of Hatshepsut (also known as Djeser-Djeseru) is a shrine dedicated to Pharaoh Hatshepsut. The temple is located on the opposite side of the Valley of the Kings. The temple is located in the rear […]
After Valley of the Kings, tour guide Saber wanted to know if we wanted to shop or go to another Temple. We spent 2 hours at the Valley of the Kings under the hot sun, and little or no shade. The inside of the tombs were hot and […]
The Valley of the Kings is where the tombs of the Pharaohs of Egypt’s Old Kingdom. The tombs date back from 1539-1075 BC, housing pharaohs like Seti I, Ramses II, Tutakhamun and even elites such as queens and high priests. Photos are not permitted inside the tombs, so […]
After touring Karnak and Luxor temple, we went back to the ship for lunch. We were offered an optional excursion to tour the city by horse and carriage for $45. We decided to take the tour and at 4:00 we were greeted with a thin looking horse, a […]
The past 2 days in Cairo was such a blur. We did so many things in such a short amount of time. Now, we kick off the second part of the trip with the Nile Cruise, starting off with 2 days in Luxor. Luxor used to be the […]
We made it to Luxor, to start the cruise part of our trip. We will be spending the rest of our trip on the MS Semiramis III river boat. As in Cairo, where Abdul was our city coordinator, the coordinator for Luxor is Ashraf. He greeted us at […]
The Cairo Museum is probably the highlight of most tourists, next to the Great Pyramids. I’m not sure what happened. Perhaps we spent too much time at the Hanging Church? Got caught in too much Cairo traffic? We only gave ourselves about an hour at the museum, and […]
The Saint Virgin Mary Coptic Orthodox church is one of the oldest churches in Egypt, dating to the 4th Century AD. It’s also known as the “Hanging Church” because it is suspended over a passage. Inside the church have Holy icons and relics, some dating back to the […]
Our next stop after visiting the Citadel and the Mosque was stopping at the Bazaar, which means market. Like many other touristy spots, the vendors beckon you to visit their stores. At first, its not too bad, then it becomes annoying to the point of being harassed. In […]
