Egypt

Cairo, Aswan, Luxor, Sharm El Sheik

We arrived at our hotel in Giza which the kids love, it has a pool! Ani, our little fish, was anxious to try it out. The following day we went to the Citadel and to the Egyptian Museum where we saw many mummies, the treasures of King Tut, beautiful paintings created by the Romans in encaustic, as well as a variety of sculptures from the early and middle kingdom. Despite the humidity and heat we all got through the museum anxious to see the pyramids the next day.

Our first stop on our visit to the pyramids was the pyramid at Dashur where we climbed up a large flight of stairs and then once inside the pyramid we went down about 180 feet to the first chamber. Then we climbed a flight of stairs up to another chamber until we saw where the archeologists found the burial chamber. It was so strange to think of how deep into the pyramid we were and looking up at the ceiling you can see how perfectly the blocks aligned and made the top triangular shape of the pyramid. It smelled horribly inside like ammonia (there are no toilet facilities available nearby and one wonders why someone would use the pyramid) so it was difficult to stay there long. Upon our decent back towards the opening all of the lights went out and we were all left literally “in the dark”. A little scream from both Roan and Ani but we waited for Matt to come down the stairs with Sam and the flashlight so we could all find our way together. The darkness was DARK! And a little scary, but we all decided it was a very cool moment.

After all that we ventured to the pyramid at Sakkara, it is lined with original hieroglyphs. At one point we all noticed that as our vision adjusted the hieroglyphs lost their dimensional quality and looked like paintings on the wall. So strange to see real hieroglyphs in their context rather than in a museum, I had to keep pinching myself (so to speak).

Our day rounded off with a visit to the Coptic Christian church, this church was blessed by Jesus. It was where Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus hid from Herod. Beautiful paintings on the columns and carvings all around the church.

We left Cairo very early in the morning and flew to Aswan. We made arrangements to have a driver take us to Abu Simbel. If we would have thought about it, we should have flown straight to Abu Simbel and then to Aswan, instead we had a three hour drive to Abu Simbel, 2 hours to visit Abu Simbel and another 3 hour drive back. To get to Abu Simbel we drove through the Sahara Desert, where it had to be at least 100 degrees.

Abu Simbel is on the edge of Lake Nasser and on the border with Sudan. It is a temple to Ramses II that was saved from flooding before the High Dam was built in Aswan. Lake Nasser is the reserve water supply and creates hydroelectricity for the entire country of Egypt. It also keeps the crocodiles and hippos from venturing down into Egypt. The temple itself is enormous and was well worth the drive. The details in the sculptures and the hieroglyphs are well preserved, just incredible!

Our long day landed us on a boat that we took down the Nile towards Luxor. Each day consisted of stops at various temples: Kom Ombo, Edfu, Temple of Hatshetsup, Valley of the Kings, Temple at Luxor and Karnac Temple. Traveling down the Nile was a treat of its own, seeing fishermen in their small boats, egrets flying across the water, water buffalo grazing near the edges of the farm lands, children swimming, women washing clothes, the variety of crops and the rise of date palms across the valley.

From Luxor we left for the Saini Desert on the shores of the Red sea, and a short break. We got to do some exploring and skin diving in the Straits of Tehran, at the opening of the Gulf of Aqaba. Incredibly clear, warm water and lots of sea life. There were a lot of shipwrecks on the coral reefs in this narrow passage between Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Next, we are off to Jordan.