Overland Istanbul to Cairo. Part 6 :. Aswan, Luxor and Alexandria, Egypt -
Later that evening we left Cairo to return in a few days, and took the night train to Aswan ....
We arrived in
Aswan and had booked our hotel at noon. From our balcony we could see the side Nile felucca touts disturbing the occasional tourists who were walking along the Corniche. We spent the afternoon getting our bearings.The next day, we wanted to visit the graves of Nobels more on the west bank of the Nile, and the Botanical Garden. We spoke in a
felucca , the idea to sail slowly on the Nile sounded wonderful. Chris has got to be rowed to as it was moored on a small island.Once we mounted on the felucca and had left we soon discovered that we had been duped as the price was concerned,
essentially doubled the cost . The boat took us on the west bank and the graves, but they were not so impressive. We decided that we could not afford to make the botanical garden and so he agreed to sail us back to the hotel.Unfortunately, this meant sailing upstream, with very little wind it took hours. The botanical garden looked lovely we spent, which added to our disappointment of the trip. The felucca ended up costing us more with baksheesh, blowing our daily budget.
You win, you lose some, but it spoil our enjoyment of Aswan. 
The afternoon was spent exploring the tourist souk before ending the day at a restaurant by the river for an average meal below . Returning to the hotel, the atmosphere of the city was loaded: Egypt playing in the African Nations (soccer) cup __gVirt_NP_NN_NNPS
Egypt won the game, and Aswan has gone mad! Cars were hooting, boats blew their horns, police cars turned on their sirens, all in celebration. The city was singing and singing, it lasted for hours and hours! We had to be up at 3am we had booked a tour. I miraculously fell asleep with the ear pugs.The visit had us crammed into a minibus, collecting guests from other hotels as well, joining the tourist convoy until
Abu Simbel .This great temple was moved before the creation of Lake Nasser, it was beautiful. The four colossal statues of Ramses II facing the temple and we stood on the interior was beautifully painted and sculpted.
Our tour continued to the
Philae Temple , with a quick stop on Lake Nasser Dam. The temple was also transferred, this time on an island. We had to negotiate a boat to carry us on it.Our minibus group stuck together and we negotiated our crossing. The Philae Temple is picturesque, especially as you approach through the water.It was built around the 4th century BCE and dedicated to Isis, she had found the heart of his brother Osiris killed on the now submerged island of Philae. It was beautifully carved, especially the tops of the flower design of columns
the last slot on the tour was
an old granite quarry . In her is a huge, 42-meter obelisk, partially cut into the rock. He had been abandoned by the ancient Egyptians who have been removed after he successfully.The quarry was fascinating, there were many gaps in the rock where obelisks and columns were removed and now stand in temples, cities and museums around the world, like
needle Cleopatra in London -. who had this very career and is one of a pair, the other stands in Central Park, NYWe took the morning train to
Luxor and verified in Hotel Nefertiti was beautiful budget. We had a lovely room with a small balcony overlooking a narrow street, totally Egyptian. The rooftop deck chairs and seats and overlooked the Luxor Temple and the Nile to the west bank and the funerary temple of Hatshepsut. This proved to be a great place to meet other travelers, we had some fascinating conversions on the deck watching the sunset on the Nile, beers in hand.
He was a kilometer walk along the ledge
Karnak Temple .This vast temple was great to explore the vast pillared hall with its magnificent columns hiroglyphed was spectacular. We spent a few hours wandering around the temples and obelisks, taking it all in
We booked a trip through the hotel to visit the west bank and our guide, Aladin, was brilliant and informative. The temple
funeral of Hatshepsut was our first location.This was a three floored building that was built for the embalming of Queen Hatshepsut, it would take seventy days. There was a wonderful art and depicts the trade with Somalia to the south. Most queen pictures had been disfigured by the successor of Hapshetsut Thutmose III.She is one of only two Queens buried in the Valley of the Kings, it was because she was a pharaoh.
Next was
Valley [Desrois, we visited three tombs- Ramses I, III and IV. They were amazing and beautifully decorated, so colorful even after thousands of years.Then came the icing on the cake, the
tomb of King Tutankhamun . The tomb was light compared to others, but contained
actual mummy as a temporary exhibition.This was amazing, we were face to face with the most famous historical figures, and it was so tiny! His head looked pretty weird, we learned that the royal baby had rocks attached to their scalps to promote the features of royalty.
We then visited two graves in the
Valley of the Queens . It was quieter, less tourists. The tour concluded with a return boat on the Nile. The ancient Egyptians never lived on the east, west back was reserved for the tombs is where the sun, representing death.That evening we were introduced
Sahlab , a delicious hot drink made with milk, semolina powder to thicken and vanilla with sesame seeds sprinkled on above (or nuts). It is traditionally thickened using the powdered root of a particular orchid but I guess cheaper products are used these days. It was like a dream glass of cream, sundae before bedtime.The following day was Valentines, and many residents of Luxor reminded us it was! We visited
Luxor Museum , it was very well appointed and had good labels. On display was the mummy of Ramses I's mummy was found in 1800 and sold to a museum curiosity in Niagara. It was later sold to an American and some Egyptologists matched the face and skull to Seti I and Ramses another parent. They realized that it was a royal mummy Ramses I and made his way back to Luxor.Tonight we took the train (expensive) back berth in Cairo. We had our own little two sleeper and were provided with a meal, even if it was meat, more meat on the side. We were woken for breakfast at 4.30 am the next morning and arrived in Cairo to 6.30.Arriving at the station, we immediately booked return tickets a day at
Alexandria then stored our luggage at the African House Hostel. The hostel manager was delighted to see Chris again 'and promised us a room upgrade for the night. The train to Alex took two hours and a half, the landscape has changed we followed the Nile to the Mediterranean trees and lush fields.It was overcast and cool in Alex, we visited the National Museum, but it was not 't as good in the museums of Cairo or Luxor. We had lunch followed by some coffee and some pastry, in a few coffee bars before having a look around the library. The modern
BA was built to house two million pounds, he certainly did not contain that much though. There was an excellent display of old photographs of Alexandria, as well as a collection of books and ancient manuscripts. We took the night train to Cairo, absolutely exhausted.
Our last day in the Middle East was spent catching up on emails and others. We had to Koshary Koshary Sayed Hanafy last and followed with much appreciated G & T in the old colonial bar of the Hotel Windsor.That night we went to Egypt and flew to India, ending our journey by land across the Levant. It was a wonderful adventure rich. The food, people, history and landscape, I will never forget.
- Overland Istanbul to Cairo. Part 5: ... Nuweiba and Cairo, Egypt
- Overland Istanbul to Cairo. Part 4: Jerash and Petra, Jordan
- Overland Istanbul to Cairo. Part 3: Damascus and Palmyra, Syria
- Overland Istanbul to Cairo. Part 2: Aleppo and Hama, Syria
- Overland Istanbul to Cairo. Part 1:. Istanbul
Many photographs in this post were taken by Chris Hodgson
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