Wednesday 27 February - Amman to Cairo

   We were up early to get ready for the flight to Cairo. Nice breakfast and easy run to the airport. After making our way through a few layers of security, with the help of our EO representative, we settled into the comfortable boarding lounge.
   The Queen Alia Airport is an interesting modern facility, with quite a few touches of luxury. Once aboard the Egyptair plane, attentive hosts made us very comfortable, stowing our bags and showing us to our seats for the 2-hour flight. We were immediately served a nice lunch of cold cuts and salad.
   Landing in Cairo we were met by our EO rep, Harry, who herded us through all the formalities very quickly and got us onto a bus. He introduced our guide Mostafa, driver Mandy (?) and police escort Hassan. [aside from Hassan we had a military heavily armed vehicle with the bus at all times ]
   On the way to our first stop, Mostafa briefed us on our itinerary and what we were seeing along the way. Since he is an Egyptologist with a Masters degree, we know we'll be getting the real history of this country. We passed the huge city of the dead, that is a cemetery dating back about 1000 years, the impressive and lovely Mohammed Ali Mosque, the Saladin fortress and aqueduct.
  

All the time Mandy was dealing with tangles of traffic, horns, sirens. Eventually we arrived at a restaurant where most of us ate a large lunch, and the rest sat in the courtyard enjoying the sun and warmth.

We walked through the Old City to a Coptic Orthodox Church that sits over the cave where the Holy Family spent 3 months hiding from Herod's soldiers who had pursued them into Egypt. The well they used is there, still with water. The church is centuries old and still in use.

From there we walked through narrow streets lined with market stalls to the Ben Ezra Synagogue, a former church that is the traditional site of the burial of Abraham and where the baby Moses was found in a basket in the Nile. It is no longer used for worship.

Our final stop was the oldest Mosque in Africa, dating from about 641 CE. We had to step aside when we arrived, to make way for a funeral procession that was just leaving. [Larry waited outside with the guard and a second coffin was rushed out of the Mosque.  This might have been related to the loss of many lives in a train wreck that occurred just that morning ].  It is a vast beautiful structure, with the centre square open to the sky and covered areas around the four sides. There are places for study and for worship. The ladies who did not have head coverings were given long hooded colourful garments to wear while in the mosque. My baseball cap was deemed sufficient so I didn't get to wear one. We left our shoes near the door, in the keeping of a gentleman who watched over them for us for a dollar. We retrieved them again as we left.
   Leaving there, we saw more of the city through the bus windows, including pigeon houses on the roofs of many buildings. People were on roofs waving flags to signal to the birds that sunset was coming and they should return home. Some large apartment buildings seem to have collapsed floors and walls in some units, while others in the same building are occupied. Scary contrast to the pyramids that have stood solid for a few thousand years.

[ Janice failed to  mention the stop at an antiquities shop where some acquired jewelry etc ]
   Crossing the Nile, we soon caught sight of the pyramids and the new, sprawling Egyptian heritage museum. It isn't open yet, and won't be until the end of this year. The hotel is so near that some of us have a view of the pyramids from their windows. We look out over the huge pool area.
   Dinner was very nice. I was given an excellent tour of the garlic-free items on the buffet and enjoyed more variety than I've usually had. Our room is very comfortable, verging on luxurious, and we can sleep in a bit tomorrow, so looking forward to a nice night.

More Photos - Amman to Cairo

Thursday 28 February -- Cairo/Giza

Nice breakfast with lots of variety, then onto the bus and into traffic rolling toward downtown Cairo. 5 lanes of traffic in 4 marked lanes most of the time. In the city, no lanes at all and pedestrians working their way between vehicles everywhere. Sidewalk food stands. Most women wearing head coverings and quite a few fully-covered. Many men also wear traditional dress.

At the Egyptian Museum we saw treasures beyond counting or description. Much of the King Tut exhibit is still here, though many artifacts have been relocated to the new museum in Giza. This old building is lovely, having been designed in the late 19th century and built in the early 20th. It will be preserved but we didn't hear in what capacity.

Going back to Giza we drove along the Nile, with luxury hotels and embassies on our left. We could see faluccas on the river. In general, there are no traffic signals, but some intersections have traffic police directing. We have a police vehicle escort as well as our on-board escort, who is always helpful.

It was most interesting to see how the papyrus plant is turned into durable paper, at the Abu Simbel Papyrus Institute, and the store had many beautiful items available. Some even had an alternate image that glows in the dark.
The lunch restaurant was dark and intimate-seeming, though large. The meals were huge. Those of us who cannot eat this food watched in awe as the others gamely tried to work their way through such a variety of food.
One aspect of moving around in this city is getting off and onto the bus into traffic, since often we had to pull to the left curb. A phalanx of minders (our guide, driver and escort and usually someone from the premises we're visiting) line up around the door, to prevent traffic from hitting us. At lunch, one of the assault weapon-armed escorts stood in the position to be encountered first by approaching traffic. They gave him wide berth.
We made 3 stops at the Giza Plateau.

First at the base of the Great Pyramid, where a few climbed up a little way for photos. We had to make our way among horse carts and camels to and from the bus, so had to watch our step. At a vantage point, we had a group photo taken and got our own shots looking down toward the pyramids. Four of the guys decided to take a camel ride and looked quite the wranglers up there. We stopped for just a minute beside the Sphinx for photos.

















Last stop of the day was Flower Cotton -- beautiful soft Egyptian cotton clothing and bedding. Just inside the door I spotted suitcases for sale. Seemed kind of pricey, but worth it not to have my clothes and belongings scattered all over some airport luggage carousel. So now I have a new suitcase that I think will prove to be nicely recognizable, and should make it to the end of the trip, neither of which was true of the old one.
Very early start tomorrow [ 2am wakeup, 3am departure ]as we head to Aswan, so we had an early dinner and bed.

More Photos - Cairo/Gizan

Friday, 1 March -- Giza/Cairo to Aswan

The day got off to a bad start for Larry and me when we didn't get the 2am wakeup call. That made us worry that our bags wouldn't be picked up at 2:30, so I called the desk and waited while Larry made his way to the lobby. Eventually, close to 3 am, the porter arrived for our bags. I followed him to the lobby, where the manager offered his apologies that we were delayed. Then at the airport, both Larry's and my boarding passes were rejected by the machine for boarding. Luckily, someone was able to do a manual override and all was well.
We landed in Aswan at about 7am. The bus took us first to the High Dam,
where we got off and took  photos of the dam and Lake Nasser that was formed when the dam was built in 1961-1971. The high dam provides much of Egypt's electricity.

A stylized lotus sculpture symbolizes the cooperation between Russia and Egypt that resulted in the dam. Our guide reassured us that that relationship is no longer the primary one for Egypt, but rather the one with the U.S.

Driving from there we drove over the original Aswan Dam, built on the First Cataract of the Nile in the early 20th century.

 

 

We boarded a boat for the trip to Agilika Island and the Temple of Philae. What an amazing place! It has Ptolemic carvings, some of the last hieroglyphic inscriptions and has also been used as a Christian church. Perhaps the most astonishing of all is the fact that it was moved stone by stone from a nearby island that was flooded by the damming. In that UNESCO project, German and Egyptian engineers numbered every one of the thousands of rocks so they could be re-assembled to accurately reproduce the original site.

 The last stop of the morning was a perfume/oils shop. I stayed on the bus, but heard that it was quite the sensory experience, and I noticed a few bags of product coming aboard the bus.

 We boarded the Sonesta Nile Goddess in time for lunch, and then everyone took a nap. I woke up at 4:30, just in time for tea on the sun deck, but I had it to myself. Everyone else was still sleeping.
Dinner was delicious.

The evening show was a Nubian group who entertained us with songs and dance. They began with traditional dances, then a couple of comic numbers, then got several of us up dancing with them. Love their sense of humour!

More Photos of the Day of transition to Aswan 

Saturday, 2 March -- Aswan to Kom Ombo

In the morning, the boat that had been blocking our view had moved on, and from the window of our cabin we could see across to the west side of the Nile. We were told that the east side is the living side, and the west is for the dead, and indeed what we saw over there was a hill of tombs. We learned that nobles from the Middle Kingdom are buried there and that inside they are decorated colourfully. We boarded a smaller boat for the trip to a

Nubian village, and along the way saw faluccas on the water, and at one point a small boy suddenly appeared beside the boat, grabbed onto it, and sang to us. Of course we handed him dollars.

We could see the edges of the Great Sea Sand, that is the desert between Egypt and Libya. The beautiful Aswan Botanical Garden was a note of colour along the shoreline.

During a lull in the scenery, the boat captain got us all up singing and clapping and laughing, and he also had some very nice Nubian wares for sale. The tomb of Aga Khan III and his wife, built in the 1950s, stands on a hill along this shoreline too. This area is noted for having the best red granite in the world, which was used for tombs, obelisks and pyramids. We saw lots of exposed rock that was covered before the High Dam was built.

We really enjoyed the visit to the Nubian Village. The whole place is like a colourful bazaar. We were entertained with tea at a home in the village, and introduced to the crocodiles kept by the family --

 we even held a baby one.  They keep them until they are 11 or 12 years old and then release them on the other side of the dam where all the crocodiles are.

 From their roof we could see out over the village, and as far as the Aswan Dam. We did a bit of shopping at a spice store and sand art store, then moved on to the school. Saturday is a day off, so we sat in for the students while 2 teachers gave us an Arabic and Nubian language lesson.

We re-boarded the excursion boat at a very precarious place, but all got safely back on board. On the trip back we passed Elephantine Island, where the exposed rocks resemble elephants.
We were back to the Nile Goddess in time for lunch, then relaxed while we sailed

to Kom Ombo, where we visited the temple. Much of it has been damaged by Nile floods and by Romans and Christians who disagreed with what was depicted there, but there is still lots to see. Besides scenes and cartouches of the coronation of a pharaoh, there are a calendar (3 seasons of 4 months each, with 3 10-day weeks per month), a chart of surgical tools and healing oils, and a Nilemeter. It was crowded and the walk there and back was crowded with vendors, but well-worth the visit. We were barely back on board when we set sail for Edfu.
We made it an early evening, since we will be up at 5 tomorrow.

More Photos of the Day 

Sunday, 3 March -- Edfu and Luxor

Apparently when I wake up at 5 am, my klutz factor rises sharply. I managed to miss my step at the Edfu temple and crash to the ground. My camera broke the fall to some extent, and even survived. I've got some sore spots but nothing major, thankfully. A little later, John did much the same thing, in sympathy, he said. There's talk of getting us "I fell for Edfu" teeshirts.
But enough about me --

it was an amazing excursion, starting with a wild carriage ride through the streets of Edfu. Our driver, Azziza, must be part of the Andretti family. Why do we always get the one who must pass everyone to be out in front?

The temple is stunning. It is the second largest and best preserved pharaonic temple in Egypt. The reason it's so well-preserved is that it was completely buried in sand for centuries and only uncovered in the 1920s or '30s. There is the usual damage by flooding, Romans and Christians, and blackening of walls and ceilings from the lamps and incense of Christian occupation. But wall after wall is densely covered with carvings. Many cartouches and inscriptions but also whole stories told in figures that are larger than life. The struggle between good and evil, the ground-breaking ceremony for the temple, the coronation of the pharaoh. A calendar, a Nile-meter (which I now know determined tax rates depending on how high the Nile rose). Azziza rushed us back to the ship where we were first to arrive, much to Jamey's disappointment. She was sure her driver was the fastest. It was 7:30am and time for breakfast. We went through a lot of coffee, so naps might be out of the question today.

We gathered on the sun deck at 11:30 to watch the process of going through the lock. There were numerous vendors in boats and on the piers, willing to toss various things up to the decks and expect money to be tossed back accurately enough for them to catch.
As soon as we docked at Luxor (known to the Greeks as Thebes), we boarded a bus into the heart of the city. Bill, Teresa and John stayed at the le Meridien Hotel, while the rest of us had a very peaceful sail (and tea)

in a falucca while we watched the sun set. From there we took a carriage ride through the city and saw how its life goes on, including the local market, from an interesting standpoint. The market streets are so narrow we could hardly pass.

Then, what had to be the most impressive site of the trip -- the Temple of Luxor -- lit up under the stars! I've never seen anything like it, with its rows and rows of massive columns, huge statues, an amazing obelisk, and a great deal of carving in different styles, reflecting the many years of construction. Much of it similar to what we've seen, but on a grander scale. Words fail.
Back to the ship, dinner, bill paying and packing to leave for home tomorrow.

More Pictures of the day

Monday 4 March - Luxor to Cairo

We said good-bye to the very attentive staff of the Nile Goddess, and boarded the bus to cross the Nile to the west side -- the side associated with death.

The first stop was the Memnon Colossus statues, where we encountered a mob of vendors, and saw hot air balloons descending after their sunrise flights over Luxor. What a view they must have had!

We passed Joseph's Stores, which he had built to store grain during the 7 good years in preparation for the 7 years of famine foretold in Pharaoh's dream, in 2000 BCE.
Along the road we saw the ruins of the Ramesean Temple Houses, from which people were evicted because they were mining the rich lode of antiquities in the area and selling them out of Egypt.


The road to the Valley of the Kings and Queens is narrow and winding. It was pretty hot, so we were happy to take a trolley from the main entrance to the area of the tombs. This was not a publicly-flaunted storehouse of wealth like the Giza Pyramids.

Tombs were dug into the cliffs and disguised, but still the grave-robbers found them. This is the site of King Tut's Tomb and those of many other rulers. We were able to visit 3 tombs, but not that of King Tut, though we did see its entrance. His mummy is still there, resting in the middle of his three nesting coffins.

We were astonished by the vibrancy and immediacy of the paintings on the tomb walls. They could have been painted last week. Each tomb is different and interesting in its own way. Naturally, on the way out, we were besieged by vendors. [ photos not allowed, these we saw but are Google Images ]

  

King Tut's Tomb

The Temple of Hatshepsut is on the other side of a ridge, directly backing on her tomb in the Valley of the Kings and Queens. It is 3 storeys high, with paintings depicting, among other things, her Nubian excursion that brought back many kinds of plants. Huge statues overlook the vast terraces.

As we sat in the shade listening to the story of this place, a giant insect, a locust I think, landed on my head and stayed for about 5 minutes. Finally it gave a big thump and flew away. People thought it was a bird, it was so big.

Next up was a visit to an alabaster workshop and salesroom. We saw how alabaster is prepared and finished into beautiful objects, then were subjected to some fairly heavy selling.

A motorboat took us across the Nile to lunch. The boy on board put on some Egyptian music and danced with each of the women in turn, garnering a few dollars in tips. Smart boy. At the waterfront restaurant, the usual big lunch was served.

Our final visit of the whole trip was the astonishing Karnak Temple, the largest temple in the world. Much of it is in ruins, but it's very evident how amazing it was in its day. As usual, Mostafa was very thorough in his explanations of the various areas of the temple and the meaning of the carvings and paintings we were seeing.

















In late afternoon we left Luxor Airport for Cairo and so began our journey home.
EO had booked us rooms at the Le Meridien Cairo Airport for the few hours until our departure -- what a lovely hotel. We had dinner at the EVOO restaurant, freshened up, rested for a little while and left for the airport at 10:30 pm.

More Photos of the Day

Tuesday 5 March -- Cairo-Frankfurt-New York-West Palm Beach

Our flight left Cairo at 2 am and we dozed until we landed at Frankfurt at about 6:45 local time. Larry had booked wheelchair transport this time (in fact, they insisted on him using it at Cairo too), so we were given very good care, unlike on the trip over. It's still a long involved process getting through that huge airport, but you're dealt with as a valuable individual and given plenty of help and time. They even gave Larry a shoehorn to use at security.
A few hours later we were on our way to New York's JFK airport, where we landed around 1 pm local time. That airport experience was not as hassle-free, but we got through it. Pastor David was quick to grab himself a hamburger. We said good-bye to Sharon and Dave as they headed home to Ohio. The remaining 14 of us were happy to clear security for the last time and board our flight home to West Palm Beach. We were "entertained" by two college girls on their way home for spring break, loudly discussing campus life with details that made us all cringe (TMI girls!). Luckily, they discovered seats together in another part of the plane and moved out of our hearing. Soon we were on the ground, saying our last good-byes and going off to our own homes and beds.