I don’t speak Arabic, Egypt has a long and interesting history, there are so many antiquities to see and a limited amount of time in which to see them…sounds like a group trip is in order.
We started in Cairo with a visit to the Egyptian Museum. Although there are thousands of amazing pieces there are no explanatory signs (okay there were a few: large obelisk, small obelisk, sarcophagus, burial mask…not very helpful). Our guide was university educated with a major in ancient Egyptian history and hieroglyphics so we didn’t suffer from the lack of signage.
The reflecting pool with a beautiful gate in the courtyard in front of the Egyptian Museum
Next stop: the Citadel of Saladin – a medieval fortress high on a hill with great view of the city below. We were surprised at how many of the local kids wanted to take pictures with us:
The Sphinx is always on the must see list. I was surprised at how many sphinxes there are (in addition to the very famous one) and how small the famous one actually is.
On day 5 we took a very early morning flight to Aswan where we visited the High Dam. It has doubled the electrical supply and created Lake Nasser but it has caused the relocation of many local Nubians, flooded many ancient ruins, and removed the annual flooding of the Nile which deposited rich silt in the farming areas.
We spend the next 4 nights on a small ship cruising Lake Nasser and seeing the sights along the way to Abu Simbel. There were a number of lectures and visits to a variety of temples (Kalabsha, Dakka, Meharakka, Amada), as well as relaxing in the pool.
Abu Simbel is amazing! Between 1964 and 1968 the two temples were reconstructed in their present location, 213 feet up onto a plateau of the cliffs they once sat below and 690 feet northwest of their original location. UNESCO was instrumental in this effort and along with teams of archeologists they made sure to orient both temples so that they now sit as they once did, facing east, so that on February 21 and October 21 the sun shines directly into The Great Temple and shines on the statues of Rameses and Amun. They also built a man-made mountain to give the impression of the temples cut into the rock cliff as they originally were. We walked the area during the day and then went back for a light and sound show at night (as the guide books predicted, it was touristy…but I was a tourist and enjoyed it).
Tip: Although the itinerary listed the trip as 15 days it really started on day 3 (overnight flight from the US with a stopover in Europe arriving on day 2) and day 15 was the travel day home. Check to see how many days you are actually touring.
so…
