Aswan/Luxor

After Cairo we took a one hour flight to Aswan where we spent a couple of days until moving on to Luxor for another couple of days. Moving from the city to the rural area was quite a different experience. The customs were more traditional, the streets and cars looked a little more antiquated and most people lived a pretty modest life. Horse and buggy was a common form of transportation, so you would see many cars driving alongside a horse. Like Cairo, the people were extremely welcoming to newcomers and to their own community. Whenever someone needed something, they could likely rely on their neighbor to assist them. Kids ran around the streets without parental supervision, and the hospitality of each community member was unparalleled. Our tour guide took us late at night to a community neighborhood and he told us that if someone from one of the apartments above needed anything from the store below, the employees would send the needed materials up from a basket. That’s camaraderie! I have a special place in my heart for our tour guide Lamy. He was was kind, intelligent, and genuinely became a part of our family in the short four days as our tour guide.

ASWAN DAY ONE: When we landed in Aswan we were all quite tired because we needed to get up at five in the morning, and Spencer and I decided to spend time with friends the last night in Cairo and did not get to bed until 2/3 in the morning. So when we arrived at the Old Cataract Hotel, we spend virtually half the day napping. The Old Cataract is one of the oldest and most exquisite hotels in the region and has been a host for kings, actors and actresses, along with normal tourists. When we woke up from our time napping, most of us darted to the pool to find refreshment from the 112 degree heat that encapsulated all of Aswan. From the pool and the balconies you could have a clear view of the Nile River and the Felucca boats blaring music with lively people riding on them. At night we went to dinner at 1902, an elegant venue for dinner with dim lighting, french cuisine and amazing service!

ASWAN DAY TWO: The following day, we checked out of the Old Cataract and headed for the Sun Goddess Cruise Line where we would spend three nights floating on the Nile River. Before we went to the cruise, we took a Felucca to the Temple of Isis. This temple is dedicated to the goddess Isis who was married to the god Osiris and who had their heir, the god Horus. It was built in 280 BCE during the reign of Ptolemy II which was during Egypt’s Greco Roman Period. After we visited the Temple, we talked to the local people and fed some baby kittens. Then we boarded the Sun Goddess! It was beautiful. It has a sun deck which we frequented during sunset and we became good friends with the others on the ship. At night, we went to a local market, where we met those living in Aswan and bought some memorable items.

Edfu: Edfu is in between Esnu and Aswan and that is where we visited the Temple of Edfu. We got there on horse and buggy. It was sacred to Horus and served as a place for festivities. It was constructed in 237 BC during the Ptolemaic Dynasty. It is dedicated to Horus and Hat. We got there on horse and buggy. It was sacred to Horus and served as a place for festivities. It was constructed in 237 BC Ptolemaic Dynasty. It is dedicated to Horus and Hathor of Dendera. Following the Temple, we went to another local market where we had the pleasure of meeting and seeing so many new styles, spices, and faces. My mom and I even got invited someone’s home as we walked down the street. The general hospitality is to give what you have to other no matter whether are strangers or well known. It is really beautiful. We accepted the invitation and chatted through hand motions and broken words to understand each other while the boys shopped within a local store where they bought a traditional Egyptian dress for the night’s festivities. It was truly an amazing experience. When we returned to the cruise, we had a few hours to decompress and watch the sunset from the sun deck. Top ten most beautiful things that I have witnessed. Afterward we got dressed for a celebration of Egyptian culture! We all dressed in traditional Egyptian garb were served Arabic food, along with dancing afterward.

LUXOR DAY ONE: We first went to Valley of the Kings located in the west bank which is a very well known spot where kings of Egypt are buried in their tombs. It has been burying ancient royalty the Pharoah of the New Kingdom period. The tombs have been disrupted by tomb raiders, burglars and many parts of the tombs have been separated to different museums around Egypt and around the world. The most famous tomb for going untouched was the tomb of King Tutankhamun. Howard Carter spent six seasons trying to look for tombs on French dime and it wasn’t until he had almost given up when he and a local Egyptian boy found the tomb of King Tut. There are more than 60 Tombs in the Valley of the Kings and 32 open to the public. However, we only visited four of them. We visited the tomb of Ramses III, King Tut among others.

Next we went to the Temple of Hatshepsut who a female pharaoh of the fifth Pharoah of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. . She sent the men in her family away in Syria for what she said was “training” but was really her rise to power. During her reign, there was stability and peace in there region. One of her greatest achievements was the temple built in Deir el-Bahari which is the temple that we visited named after her. After the death of Hatshepsut, Thutmose III succeeded her. He was so furious about her rise to power during his absence that he aimed to destroy everything in her honor to wipe her name from history books. Next we couldn’t help but to treat ourselves to McDonald’s, a food we were missing from the US. While inside we met the cutest little girl who we bought lunch for. I sat and chatted with her. She invited me to swim on the west bank of the Nile with her at her home, but I unfortunately was headed out of Luxor the following day could not make it! She was so sweet and smart. That night around ten PM we went to another local market where we chatted and saw the culture come alive at night. There huge convention stores along with small quaint markets within ally ways. I even got to play soccer with some boys in the street. There was rarely parental supervision and everyone seemed to be content to take care of one another. It was beautiful.

The last day we went to the Karnak and Luxor Temple. Both are very well known and exquisitely built. Luxor Temple was largely built by the pharaohs Amenhotep III and Ramses II. It was built in 1392 BCE. Karnak Temple was constructed for Amun, Mut, and Khonsu and is one of the largest religious building ever constructed. It was built around 2055 to around 100 AD.