31 Oct - 16 Nov 2009

We arrived at night and made our way to the Salma hotel where we met our tour leader Samy who put us at ease straight away. The next day we discovered that there were only 4 people in our tour group and we met Jackie and Guy a Canadian couple, our group was nice and intimate just the way we like it. After brief introductions we got on a 40 seater bus which we had all to ourselves and headed to the Egyptian museum. The museum is filled to the brim with ancient Egyptian artifacts and treasures and if you spent just one minute at each exhibit it would take more then 9 months to see everything. A must see is the contents of Tutankhamun tome and the stunning golden mask. Our Egyptologist Yaser then took us to see the great pyramids at Giza and the Sphinx. The Pyramids are the only one of the seven wonders of the ancient world that is still standing. In the evening we made our way to Faiyoum where we had dinner alfresco underneath the starts at the home of a local family.After breakfast we drove in a 4 X 4 to the valley of whales in the western desert of Egypt which is also a Unesco protected sight, here we went on a 4 km walk through desert terrain and saw the fossil remains of the oldest and now extinct sub order of whales. For lunch we stopped off at wadi el rayan the sight of the only waterfall in Egypt... That night we chilled out with Samy after dinner and watched a movie on his lap-top.In the morning we took horse drawn carriages to visit the famous water wheels of Faiyoum after which we made our way back to Cairo and boarded the sleeper train to LuxorIn Luxor we checked into the Melodie our humble abode for the next week on the NIle. We then went to explore the Karnak Temple. This temple was built by many pharaohs over a period of 2000 years, wow this was truly awe inspiring and this gave us a taste of more to come. We then set sail for Kom Ombo, wow taking in life along the Nile is truly a wonderful experience, watching the fisherman and farmers ploughing away in the sugar cane fields really takes you back to biblical times. Kom Ombo temple is the only temple dedicated to two gods Sobek - The Crocodile God and Haroeris - The Falcon God. We explored the temple the following day just before sunset. We then got a taste of haggling when we bought our galebaio from the local market stalls for the nights festivities on the boat. mmm Bob spoilt us with a traditional Egyptian meal on the boat, Falafel, Tahini, Babaghanoush and the yummy flat bread and claudia managed to polish off an entire boal of ------ which was meant for everyone on the boat. That night we stayed up late chatting to SamyThe next morning we set sail for Aswan where we would be docked for two nights before heading back to Luxor. The pace of life in Aswan is much slower and the Nile is at it's most picturesque here with golden sand dunes coming right to the waters edge and scores of white sailed feluccas gliding around the islands. We then set off to lake Nasser and visited the the Kalabsha Temple. This temple was relocated to the existing spot by Unesco when the lake was built as many temples were under threat of destruction from the rising waters of Lake Nassar. That evening we took a camel ride at sunset to Saint Simeon's monastery.An early start today as we head off by convoy at 4 am to Abu Simbel close to the Sudanese boarder. Wow this temple was one of the highlights of our trip so far. Abu Simble is a gigantic monolith out of which are carved four colossal statues each one the seated figure of Ramses the second, one of ancient Egypt's greatest pharaohs. This was another temple relocated by Unesco as it was also in danger of being submerged by the rising waters of lake Nasser. I dont know what was more impressive, the temple or the very fact that it was moved. We also saw ____ temple ..... . That night we went to the sound and light show at Philae Temple, a bit corny but we got to see the temple at night all lit up from a different perspective. We then went to the bazar in Aswan and Samy then took us out for an Egyptian take on Pizza, the Pizza was actually quite yummy.After breakfast we took a felucca ride to a nubian cafe where we had a spicy coffee.. mmm When we got back to the boat we set sail for Edfu,The next morning In Edfu we visited the magnificent temple dedicated to Horus the falcon headed god, Edfu is one of the best preserved temples in Egypt as it was submerged by sand which protected the building for many years from the elements. We then set sail for Luxor, ah our Nile cruse was almost over how sad.Big day today, after an early start we went up in a hot air ballon over ________ and watched the sun rise over Luxor and got an areal view of small villages and Hutchepsut temple and valley of the workers, wow the views were amazing we always wanted to do this and this was definitely a perfect setting. Next it was off to the Valley of the kings where we were allowed access to see three tomes but strictly no photography was allowed. The walls of the tomes are covered in incredibly well preserved paintings depicting the gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt and complex hyroglipyics, Next we visited Deir el Medina, we then went to the valley of the workers, the two tomes we saw here were also well preserved and the wall paintings had very vivid colors. We also took photos at the colossi of Memnon. When we got back to the boat and had a refreshing shower before heading out again to see the Luxor Museum, The Luxor temple and a spot of haggling in the local markets.... shew wee what a day... nackered now.The next morning we checked out the boat and into the a hotel then headed out to Abydos and Dendera with Ocean our Egyptologist for the day.. Abydos is a temple didicated to the six major gods in Egypt - Osiris, Isis, Horus, Amoun-Ra, Ra-Horakthy, and Ptah it is also dedictaed to Seti I. The temple of Abydos became the most important of the shrines to Osiris the god of death. Here we also ate street food and had delicious Falafel on the side of the road. Dendera temple is the temple of Hathor who was the goddess of love, joy, beauty and sensual pleasures, and as lady of the west was also the protector of death. The stone steps of the spiral staircase are time worn but are still used to assend to the roof to get to the small Hathor chapel. Acording to the reliefs it says that Cleopatra and her son climed the same stairsThe next morning we left Luxor and made our way to Hurghada, what an anti climax when we checked into our Hotel, it was like being in Russia's little Benidom... our worst nightmare come true. Breakfast was an experience and the poor hotel staff looked so depressed, I'm afraid the Russian guest were incredibly rude and greedy pigs, snatching loaves of bread for themselves and demanding 5 eggs each by pointing. Thank goodness the next days boat trip redeemed the experience here as we charted a boat out to the red sea and had ended up shareing the boat with just an Egyptian couple on there honeymoon... mm what bliss Claudia and I did some snorkling and saw Nemo, We had a nice meal that night and headed back to Ciaro the next day.Sat 16th Nov, Egypt V Algeria both needing a win to secure a place in the world Cup next yearWe had a delicious lunch at Steak Out an up market steak house, we said our goodbyes to Samy, Jackie and Guy. After trying in vain to see the game in the sport cafe we ended up watching the nail-bitting game in the hotel bar with all the staff. Egypt have another chance next week as they secured a draw in the final minutes of the game... wow in hind sight I was glad we were safely tucked up in our hotel as Caios decended the street of Cairo as the nation celebrated this crutal victory.Unfortunately Egypt lost the game in Sudan the following week and Algeria have made it to South Africa next yearWow what an amazing trip, it was truly magical one we can definitely recommend to allTill next time ... Victoria Falls here we come...