Countdown to 60..Bubbly Party No 34..

Monday 13 March..Sunset over the Nile River, Aswan Egypt..on the verandah of The Obelisk Nile Hotel..with Egyptian Valmont Sparkling Wine sourced by Sharif. As a child Egypt seemed like such an exotic place and here we are well over 50 years later..

Egypt 2023 : Part 2 : Aswan and Abu Simbel

Sunday 12 March

Aswan

So the train was super noisy all night; some of us slept well and some of us didn't. It's a treat being met by our hosts and having all our plans just taken care of. First stop was the Philae Temple Complex. Just wow!

Set on Agilkia Island you have to take a quick boat trip to reach it.

 

 The most amazing thing about Pilae is that all the temples were moved to this new site in the early 70s by Unesco. After the lower Aswan Dam was completed in 1902, 18 different temple sites were subject to flooding. To save these antiquities they were moved in entirety to new sites.

We also visited the new Aswan Dam, completed in the 70s. Egypt relies on this for 95% of all their water. 

Nearby is the Kalabsha Temple, also accessed by boat. Here we were the only tourists.  How awesome to enjoy a 2000 year old treasure all by yourselves! 

We are staying at the Obelisk Nile Hotel with wonderful river views. We enjoyed sunset drinks on the patio followed by dinner. 

Abu Simbel

Monday 13 March

Today we had a 7am pick up for the 3.5 hr drive south through the desert from Aswan to Abu Simbel. The road is new but there are lots of trucks heading to the Sudanese border just 30 kilometres beyond Abu Simbel.

The temples of Ramses II and Neffertari where carved out of a hill in the 13th Century BC. They were rediscovered in 1813. In 1964 Unesco rebuilt the entire mountain and moved everything to a higher location. I am in awe of that feat because these treasures would have been destroyed by the water of Lake Nasser by now. 

So far we have actually enjoyed our guides.  ( I was not expecting to. ) Today she arranged our tickets and entrance and then gave a us a 15 minute talk using A4 photos. Then she left us to explore on our own.  After all the discovering and photo taking Neil and I still had time to sit inside the temple and just be there.

Once back in Aswan, we spent another wonderful evening on the verandah of our hotel.

Egypt 2023 : Part 1: Giza and Old Cairo

Friday 10 March

Giza, Saqqara and Dahshur.

We flew from Casablanca to Cairo on Thursday. We are doing a 12-day so-called "tailor-made" tour of Egypt. This morning we had breakfast at 7am, with a pick up at 8am for a tour of the 3 Pyramids of Giza. The early start to beat the crowds was worth it. It was awesome to see the Great Pyramid of Giza for real and up close after hearing about Egypt and the pyramids since early childhood.

As you know we are reluctant "tourists" but some places you just can't see any other way. It's mostly just crowds of people rushing around with phones taking photos! Our guide was not too pushy or too waffly and gave us time to explore on our own.

Or to find a spot to just sit for a few minutes and take it all in. To see The Sphinx was wonderful.

Next stop Saqqara. Here the step pyramids of Teti and Djoser (BC2700) predate the Giza ones by a few hundred years. The carvings and hieroglyphics in the Kagemni Tomb were fascinating. 

We stopped at a very touristy country restaurant for lunch.

And then on to the Red Pyramid of Dahshur. This one you can climb down into; only Stephen went all the way down.

Traffic around Cairo is chaotic but there's lots to see from the car. We booked our trip through Djed Travel and we have a minivan with driver to ourselves. 

Saturday 11 March

Cairo

We spent the day in Old Cairo. Starting in the oldest part of the city, we visited two Coptic churches built around the Roman Fortress of Babylon.The Hanging Church dates back to the 7th Century. 

The Coptic Museum has a wonderful collection of artifacts from the Coptic monasteries around Egypt.

Then we saw three mosques in the old Islamic Quarter.

The view from Mohamed Ali Mosque shows how huge Cairo is.

Traffic is crazy here so it's great to have a driver meet you outside each time and drop you off at the next spot hassle free.

We wanted to try Cairo street food so Amr our guide took us to a Kashari restaurant for lunch. This is a dish of rice,pasta,lentils and chicken peas smothered with tomato sauce. 6 bowls full and 2 rice puddings cost 5 USD!

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the old souk Khan el Kahlili.

By 6pm we were at Giza station waiting to board the sleeper train to Aswan. 

By 8.30pm we were on the train and settled in our cabins. This train looks old and shabby but it's clean. It feels very fast and everything rumbles and rattles but we love a train journey and so we'll sleep well.