In our early stages of planning we had identified a few experiences that were top of our list and helped shape the itinerary. One of these is the Nepal Trek to Everest Base Camp (Check out Part 1 and Part 2) and another is a cruise on the Nile! We tried to get our parents to join us but they had seen too many movies and were convinced Egypt was full of snakes! Funnily enough they’ve both been to Costa Rica which is much more snake ridden and the only snakes we saw were in hieroglyphics.
We chose to do a smaller cruise on a traditional Dahabiya sailing boat that would take us 4 days to go upriver (South), which I think was the best choice, especially over the larger cruise ships, but I’ll get into that later. We had a little over a week and a half in Egypt but several of the days ended up being travel days and a few extra rest days so we only had two more excursion days after the cruise. We kept telling ourselves it gave us more reasons to come back!
A Few Travel Days
Our flight from Cyprus to Cairo was only about two hours. Upon arriving it was a little different to go through customs as you needed to have USD in cash, which we had used up by now so we had to exchange some of our Euros. Then you had to get in a line to buy your visa stickers. There was a line for paying by card but it was very long and slow! Then you went through the normal line and they put the stickers in your passport and stamped it. I learned later was that the Egyptian Pound has experienced so much inflation that they use more stable currencies, such as USD, as it holds its value much better. A good reminder that even though we’ve had some crazy inflation last year in the US, that we have still been so fortunate. Many other countries have suffered much worse economically, and as Egypt is situated between conflicts in both Sudan and Gaza it has been extremely hard on their tourist economy.
I had booked a hotel using one of my annual free nights that is attached to the terminal we flew into, so it was pretty quick to get to our room and get sleep as it was already after 10pm. The next morning we got breakfast at a really delicious buffet and made it back to the airport for our flight. Just like India and Nepal you go through security and upon entering and before the check-in. There wasn’t a separate booth like India for women getting frisked, but I will say the woman was…thorough.
It was a very quick flight to Luxor and they served everyone a slice of a sweet bread and a small bottle of water. The view of the Nile from the air was fascinating, you could see just how far the flooding and irrigation canals created foliage, and then a definitive line before the desert started. After landing we had booked a car to take us to our hotel that was right on the Nile.
We relaxed in the room until it was time for the lounge reception to get a few drinks and snacks then we took pictures of the sunset over the Nile and relaxed for awhile. Egyptians must tend to have dinner late because most restaurants didn’t open for dinner until 7. We went to the Asian restaurant, which is interesting to experience after spending the last 4 months in Asia. We had gotten used to the different cuisine from each country but now to see it on a menu together was strange and almost disappointing. It was such a small representation of what Asia has to offer and concentrated heavily on just 2-3 cuisines. It tasted okay but not quite the same as getting it in Asia, or from a restaurant that specializes in just a single Cuisine.
Cruising the Nile
Day 1: Embarkment & Esna
The next morning a driver picked us up in the lobby, it was a bit confusing as several drivers were trying to find which couples waiting were for their cruise, and the drivers English weren’t always that good. Thankfully we got in the right van and we drove for about 15 minutes until we met up with another car on the side of the road that had another couple in it, they joined our van. Thats when we found out that the 4 of us were the only ones on the cruise! Luckily we hit it off right away, they were also recently married and on their honeymoon.
After another 45 minutes driving South and a few police stops to show paperwork we arrived at the town of Esna and crossed the dam bridge to find our guide and boat crew waiting for us. They helped us bring our bags and we boarded via a board gangplank onto a beautiful wooden Dahabiya and we met the captain. Our guide took us up the stairs to the main dining and lounging area that was fully shaded and full of living room sets, cushions on the floor, lounge chairs, and even a hammock! We were brought fresh hibiscus juice and our guide gave us a rundown of the ship and journey. He is an Egyptologist with a specialty in the area between Luxor and Aswan, and he also grew up in a Nubian village not far from Aswan.
Since we were the only four on a boat that can hold 16, we had our choice of cabins! We chose a Nile view, and were surprised at how roomy the cabins were! There were also 9 crew between our boat and the tug boat that helped us move when there was no wind. There was the Tug captain and mechanic, and on the main sail boat was the Captain, rudder man, 2 sailors, Chef, Waiter, Housekeeper and our guide, who also acted as the main translator.
After checking the bags into our room we went back on land into the town to see the temple. He took us to an older tower that is leaning a bit now but used to be used for the call to prayer, and had a sundial on the side to help tell the time for the call.
The temple is below the level of the Nile and they have to pump out water to keep it from going under. Years of garbage and rubble and sand created very large walls so the temple was essentially in a pit 3 stories deep, but some of the ruins are thought to still exist running back to the Nile which we could see some of the stones underwater.
The temple has 24 large columns to represent each hour of the day, each one was shaped differently at the top, some with palm leaves, some lotus, my favorite like a tree. They had many more colors than I had expected, a german team was working on cleaning at one end of the temple, and our guide said that 9-10 months ago you wouldn’t have been able to tell there was any color inside at all!
The guide taught us some symbols, such as a bow (as in use with an arrow) to represent enemies. Ancient Egypt had 9 enemies and one of the kings had 9 bows carved on his shoes so he was always walking on his enemies. We walked back to the boat and while the crew got us underway, we served a delicious lunch with many dishes, a salad, a vegetable or two, bread, a dip with tahini, and a main, but I forgot to take pictures!
We had the option to do a stop at a tomb on the way but it was actually windy enough to sail and our guide said the tomb was not that spectacular and we all agreed to enjoy the sail until sunset. It was a lovely relaxing afternoon enjoying the breeze and sitting in the shade while we read and watched the shore, despite the temperature it was very pleasant! We had a little excitement when we came to a narrow section of the river and we bumped with another Dahabiya. They had been overtaking us through a narrow area and that probably caused the accident, but it was a mild bump and the tugs came over to help us separate a bit and then we got back to sailing. They served cookies and tea about mid afternoon and we enjoyed the rest of the time relaxing and reading.
At sunset they took down the sails and the tug took us the rest of the way to the island where we’d park for the night. It was very quiet, only one other boat was even close to us once we were firmly anchored to shore via stakes driven in with a hammer. We had dinner in the semi-dark to keep the bugs away from our table (although they did have bug zappers). They gave us a white guava juice for dinner which was delicious. They don’t have much for mosquitoes but there were plenty of gnats. The dinner had a really excellent beef dish in little ceramic pots and potatoes and rice the shape of a rounded step pyramid and a salad and must have been too hungry because I ate it all before I remembered to take a picture! After chatting for awhile with the other couple we all went to our cabins and went to bed.
Day 2: Edfu Temple
The next morning we had breakfast with delicious cheese and pepper omelettes, bread, ful (fava bean stew you dip bread into), yogurt, cheese, jam & honey, and with a fresh orange juice. They had started moving us at 7am and breakfast was at 8:30am so we were already well on our way to the first stop, which was a large temple in a town called Edfu. We took horse drawn carriages through the busy streets and arrived at the temple tickets entrance, which was lined with shops trying to sell things to tourists, a very common site at most Egyptian tourist destinations.
The temple was very large but was half covered in sand when first discovered and was used by Napoleon as a safe house/store house, they cut extra holes to be able to shoot out of to defend their stronghold. It was during this time that someone with Napoleon found the Rosetta stone and recognized its importance to bring it back to Europe for study.
Later, Christians used it to hide when the King did not yet believe. Locals in the villiage brought them supplies and then warned them when they heard the King had sent men to capture them so they escaped into the dessert. Some time later the King turned to Christianity and the people in the village went to find those hiding in the desert, but they thought they were being chased. They retreated farther without enough supplies and did not survive. This story is mostly important as it explains why there is soot is one of the chambers and a hole in the very high ceiling. The intact ceiling is one of the most significant parts of this temple, so many of the big temples in Luxor and another we saw later are all open to the air unless they have been restored.
This temple took 180 years to build which is a huge undertaking, but you can see just how massive it is, and this is just the portion still intact since it was so buried in sand. They started with just one room that only took 2 years, the room for the offerings that could be used to help pay for building the temple. Then they built several rooms around it, then the 12 large columns to represent the night, and the 12 medium columns to represent the hours of the day, then far in front were 132 small columns. This place also has one of the best night shows but we had other places to visit that day.
The two falcon statues actually used to the the obelisks but they had fallen. Our guide did explain the story of the purpose for obelisks. The son and daughter of the sun god, Ra, wanted to marry. The son, Geb, was the earth and the daughter, Nut, was the sky, but it would crush the people living on Earth if they met so Ra built obelisks. Later we’ll see images of Nut drawn on the ceiling of some tombs and temples.
The temple was built for the god Horus (depicted with falcon head), son of Orisis and Isis. The central courtyard area would host a play to tell the story of Orisis and his brother Seth a few times a month, which included the birth of Horus. Our guide started to show us a few symbols such as ankh (life) and the waves (water) and a few others that we could start to recognize inside the temple. It was facinating to watch him translate not only what the English meaning was but the letters they translated to say the name of the king (such as Rhamses). I took this video as he was explaining this one line near the entrance.
He brought us around to different heiroglyphs and explained how some carvings had a purpose, such as a “filter” for the cloud of bad thoughts, etc. that you shouldn’t have on you in the temple. By walking past these drawings, it is left outside until you leave. Inside we went to that first chamber built and he talked about the complex ceremony the head priest would go through at the beginning and end of each day.
He also talked about people bringing requests for gods and offerings and the high priest would say whether he will accept it or not, usually without reading the paper/pottery/etc it is written on. He was thought to be speaking with the voice of the god Horus. The average person may not know how to read or write so it would be written for you by one of the lower priests when you enter. These requests were collected and buried in a cemetery which is how they were found centuries later. The average person could not ask gods directly, only high priest could communicate with them and he would talk to the statue in a closed ceremony reading the requests. Our guide had us act some of it out, he was so passionate when doing this it was really easy to get into it
We got some time to explore ourselves so we went around to different rooms trying to see what we recognize of symbols. We found some bats on a few of the ceilings and various stairs or ramps going up but we couldn’t go too high.
We got back to the boat via our horses again and changed into comfortable shorts and removed our shoes and socks, which became the normal routine when returning on the boat. We were served a tasty juice of fresh lemon with mint and then a delicious lunch.
Then we had time to relax until tea and we chatted with the other couple. After arriving at our parking spot for the night and walked around to see old pictures that our guide had found when exploring. These images have been dated to be from the ice age depicting giraffes and ostriches, animals that don’t live in Egypt now but likely did when there was more water and it was cooler.
It was a proper adventure walking through the jungle to some of the images. Then we were served roasted coffee and Egyptian tea by local farmers.
They helped us learn a bit more Arabic and we got to watch our chef BBQ some chicken and vegetables. and we ate our dinner on the sand at a low table with little poufs to sit on.
Day 3: The One with All the Big Cruises
By the time we were upstairs for breakfast, the crew had moved the boat to a nearby temple spot that didn’t have much parking, so we got a great view for our meal. After breakfast we had a 30 min lecture about the kings that built this small temple into the rock and we also learned about the nearby quarry. They had found in the last few years proof that the people working at the quarry were not slaves, and in fact were Egyptian and were paid. One of the proofs was a letter from a worker to their wife asking if they got their salary (so many chickens, cloths, other food, etc) and the reply on the reverse side. They also had records from the quarry master, one saying a man was two hours late and his excuse was that he and his wife had a fight and he spent a few hours at his neighbors. This is how they knew he was Egyptian as it’s embedded in the culture that when someone fights, others jump in to separate them, calm them down, and help them come up with a solution so it doesn’t escalate.
We started with the temple, which was quite small, a narrow and wide entry hall and the holy room in the center farther back that since the king couldn’t make temples for every god he made a temple to honor many of the gods.
After this we went to one of the many areas where blocks were cut, it was amazing to see how clean the lines were given the tools they had at the time. They used a nail to score the rock, then drilled holes along the line, filled them with rods of wood and put water on them to expand until it cracked the stone. One person could create a single block of stone in 5 days.
Our last stop was a tomb of a man with 2 wives. He had a statue built that was split to show half of him with each wife, indicating he loved both of his wives equally.
Then we went back to the boat to find swans and a heart on our bed made of towels, the other couple had this too! We then had lunch with a refreshing fresh white guava juice as the crew took us to a spot with a nice sandy beach. The lunch included my favorite chicken dish of the trip, with a marinade that I hope to replicate some day. I know it was dill and possibly applesauce but the chef doesn’t divulge his secrets.
After lunch, we waded the beach in a little, maybe to our knees, and got a good splash from the big boats going by. We chatted for awhile and then we went back aboard and rinsed off before relaxing for a bit.
The next stop was a temple dedicated to two gods, Horus the falcon and Sebek the crocodile. They actually used to have live versions of the animals the high priest would choose based on characteristics told to him by the gods. It was honored and kept at the temple for the rest of its life and then it was mummified and a new one was chosen. We were shown the pool and cage where the crocodiles and falcons were kept.
They had a “Nile-meter” which told them how high the Nile was using an underground tunnel to the river to an open well with steps (picture below). If there was high water, it was a high tax year because the farmers had lots of free water, if it was low water, it was low taxes because it was going to be a less bountiful year.
They had images of surgical instruments which was pretty advanced for the time with splints, scalpels, and a scale to weigh medicines. The priests were the ones that sick people were brought to because it was thought they held evil spirits. The priests tried different herbs and especially aromatherapy, and once they found something that worked they took notes and shared with other priests to create a wealth of knowledge. Our guide also shared with us how these blocks were joined as there wasn’t any mortar. They had these dovetail groves in the stones where cedar was cut to fit and placed and then oiled to expand once the joined stone was placed on top.
After walking around and taking pictures we went to the museum that had the mummified crocodiles that were once treated as if they were Sebek himself.
This was the busiest spot on the entire Nile, there were so many groups of people from all the giant cruise ships docked! The guides herding the 20+ person groups didn’t seem nearly as excited as our guide. It made us all even more glad for choosing the smaller boat and tour.
Then we walked back to the boat and we were taken to the spot for the night on an island farther upriver. We could still see the temple and all the boats as they came and went. The parade of boats well into dark since the temple was open until 8pm. Mr. Wander and the others took a walk around the village but I was feeling a bit tired so I stayed on the boat to write a bit. There were apparently banana tree groves that were flooded for irrigation from the Nile, which created MANY bugs, and was quite a show with the bug zappers.
That night our chef created a roast duck dinner! One thing our guide told us on the first day was the chef would go to the villages while we were visiting the sites to purchase fresh meat and produce, then come up with a menu based on what he could find! It made for some spectacular food throughout the trip, you could really taste the freshness. At the end of dinner our guide suddenly said he had to leave the table to get ready for a surprise. Several minutes later the waiter came and told us to go down to the salon they had us sit at the table in the empty room. The chef brought it a beautiful half chocolate half vanilla cake decorated with fresh fruit.
Next the whole crew came in with a few with tambourines and drums and the chef lead them all in a song. Several of the crew brought us out to dance with them and then had us couples dance around! What a lovely surprise, they wanted to congratulate us all for our new marriages and wishing both couples good luck. It was really sweet!
Day 4: The Hot One
Right away in the morning we could tell it was going to be a hot day. We had our usual crepe, omelette, toast, yogurt, ful and bread breakfast. Once finished eating the crew took us across the river to where there is usually a camel market but it wasn’t the right day. Camels would come from Sudan (although less since the war) and they would be sold for meat, to work on the farm, or breeding. Later that day we saw several trucks full of camels heading for the market.
We walked around other parts of the market over several streets and alleys full of shops selling shoes, clothing, fabric, bread made fresh in the street in a fire oven, and vegetable stands. One had a pretty good start to a watermelon pyramid!
We stopped by a spice shop and smelled several of their special mixes and both couples ended up liking the mixture for chicken that had a lot of dill. I think it reminded us of the lunch the prior day! We bought it at 3 egyptian pounds per gram, we got 50 grams which is maybe 1/3 cup for around $3USD. Good thing we are planning to have places to cook our own food in the next country!
Overall the experience was the most pleasant, because the market usually doesn’t see tourists we weren’t really harassed and many people to buy. Most just wanted to say hi or wave because its likely they’ve never seen someone with fair skin or blonde hair. We went back to the boat via tuktuk, and came back to the room to find another surprise, this time a crocodile made of towels on our bed! We later asked the housekeeper how many animals he can make, which was several, and when we asked if he could make a camel he just laughed.
We were taken to our next stop, a Nubian village. It usually would hold about 1200 people but only 400 live there currently because many of the younger generation have moved to the city to make money and are building and outfitting their house to be ready for when they retire. It was pretty deserted, but on our way out there was a truck that is a mobile repair shop parked at one of the houses. As we walked by, they said over their loudspeaker “Welcome to Egypt” (our guide had to translate for us). It is so refreshing to have people so excited to see new faces in their village.
Back on the boat we were served a lovely lunch and had the afternoon up to us for relaxing. I ended up falling asleep on one of the deck chairs awhile as we had pulled up to an island in the middle of the afternoon to wait for wind to be able to sail the last bit. It was pretty warm without the wind but once we started sailing it was quite nice again. We had a last meeting with the guide sharing more stories and giving us recommendations for Aswan, as it is near his home. Once we parked for the night he left us to go home as his job was done.
We had a last dinner and the four of us get along so well conversation never stopped. We toasted with some authentic Egyptian lager (it said so on the label) and we talked until we were too tired and went to bed.
Last Day: Disembark in Aswan
We had a last breakfast in the morning, a quick picture with the crew and a van was waiting to take us to our hotel by 9am. We were very thankful that we were able to get in right away since I got very little sleep the night before, I think some people had parties down on the beach. We spent the next few days writing, staying out of the heat as Aswan reached 113F heat index, and getting some logistics figured out for our next few countries.
Journeying North
Since we didn’t have time to tour on the front end of the cruise, we headed back to Luxor via a private transfer I booked using the Viator platform. We’ve been using this throughout India and now in Egypt and it works really well. The drive is about 3 hours and it was actually cheaper than the train considering we’d likely need a transfer on both ends plus the cost of the train. The drive was pretty uneventful, he took us on the desert highway and we made it in about 3 hours. He did stop on our way and get us waters and Mr. Wander some Turkish coffee.
After arriving at our hotel we were able to check in an hour early and got lunch at the main restaurant. We were joined by a very loud cat crying for snacks from under the tables, but we were too hungry to share. One thing fun about Egyptian restaurants is no matter what you order you always seem to get a basket of bread, for every meal, including breakfast. So we had gotten a pizza and still got a basket of bread. We spent the day calling our moms to wish them a Happy Mother’s Day and enjoyed a nice dinner outside along the Nile.
Highlights of Luxor
The following morning we had a tour that was supposed to pick us up at 7:30 and despite confirming the night it was well over an hour before the tour guide showed up, after I had started to try to cancel everything. We had booked with Viator again and they were really helpful but the company had given the tour guide the wrong time. Not the best way to start out but I did really want to see the Valley of the Kings and some of the other sites, and we really only had one full day there.
We started the day with the Valley of the Kings, made famous for where the tomb of King Tutankhamun was found in 1922. At the entrance to the valley they had a really cool model that showed both the top side and underground to see how the different tombs are shaped. The early ones are just straight in, maybe down some steps. Later they start making turns and adding rooms off the main tunnel. It was a mark of how rich the King was and how long he lived that affected how complex and deep their tomb became. Early on they hired a tomb designer and they had from then until 70 days after the death of the king to complete the Tomb, as it took 70 days for the mummification process. The additional rooms were used to put everything the King would need for the next life.
Our ticket allowed 3 tomb visits and we went to the tombs of Ramesses I (KV 16) who died in 1295BC, Ramesses III (KV 11) in 1155BC, and Ramesses IV (KV 2) which was his second son and died in 1147BC. The guide recommended these three as they show very different styles of tombs across the 150 years. He didn’t recommend King Tut’s as the most interesting part was the treasure, which has been removed to museums after the discovery. Those we saw have more ornate drawings and were actually from the two dynasties after King Tut. If you are wondering, the KV number is the location for those 21 found as of 1821, those KV 22 and later in order in which it was found.
Something to note if you are ever visiting these tombs and your guide doesn’t tell you, you should have several 5 or 10 Egyptian pound notes with you. Guides you hire to take you to these sites cannot go into the tombs. There are men who I think are also the guards, that either stay at the bottom or walk down with you and will point out various things (whether you want them to or not) and then ask for money before you leave. I felt really bad, the only cash we had on us was the tips we planned for our driver and guide and even if you tell them not to share info with you they will still try.
When they first developed the pyramids, the great ones were so costly to the kingdom that in less rich times they had to find a better way. Instead of building a pyramid they used the summit that was shaped like a pyramid in the mountains and then carved into the mountain instead.
Our next stop was Queen Hatshepsut temple. Most of the temple that you see now has actually been restored, the visitors center had interesting pictures of before and after restoration, and a model of what they believed it looked like when first made. It is a very extensive structure!
It was believed that the Queen was a child of one of the gods, and there are several panels that depict the story, although some parts are difficult to make it out. The king after her, Amenhotep, tried destroying all of her statues and most images and cartouches had her face and name removed.
Next was another tomb of a family where the colors were very well preserved. There were some spots that were cramped and I got a little dizzy, I think I was standing up too quickly but it was also very hot inside the tombs without the breeze!
Then we had a brief stop at the Valley of the Queens where we just visited one tomb that was pretty simple. This was just over the mountain from the Valley of the Kings.
The last major stop was Medinet Habu, what our guide called a Warrior temple for Ramesses III. We noticed the hieroglyphics were cut very deep and our guide told us it was to prevent later Kings from removing the stories, names, and images, learning from what had been done to Queen Hatshepsut’s temple among others.
I had to take a picture with this image of Seshat, the god of measuring but also considered the god of sciences, mathematics and engineering. She was thought to assist the Pharaoh with the building of temples and other structures.
We had one quick photo stop for these seated statues of Amenhotep III.
Then the guide stopped for ice creams on the way back to hotel as we were getting hot, tired, and in need of sugars. We relaxed in the AC for the afternoon and enjoyed dinner inside as bugs were a bit worse without the wind!
The Great Pyramids
The following day we had a flight back to Cairo and our hotel thankfully had a pickup service since we were staying in Giza, about an hour from the airport. They gave us a delicious lemon juice as a welcome drink and the guy at reception gave us a tour of our room and the building. They are still in the process of renovating everything as they are a brand new hotel in an older building set with a lovely view of the Pyramids and the new GEM, Grand Egyptian Museum set to open in July 2024. They did have some things open when we were there but most of the exhibits hadn’t been moved in yet.
We could see the pyramids from our room but it was much better from the rooftop so we enjoyed watching the sunset and the lights appear at the museum and on the pyramids.
The following morning we had giant breakfast, we couldn’t eat it all but we had a great view!
We were picked up for our tour a bit late but still reasonable. Our first stop was to the great Pyramids we’d been observing from our hotel. They were built in about 2600BC. The largest great pyramid was built for the Pharaoh Khofu and took 21 years to construct. The workers were about 126,000 farmers that were hired during the flood season since they were usually unable to work.
Our guide had us pose for several shots for perspective or just for fun. Then we walked around a bit and got more pictures with the second largest pyramid built for Khafre who was his son. By the third generation it was a very small pyramid as the wealth of the empire had been depleted by the other projects. There were several “baby pyramids” that were for the various queens and princesses, with 9 in total. We went to a panoramic spot for a picture with some camels. It is amazing to think these pyramids are 5000 years old!
We next went to the sphinx that was thought to represent Khafre, with the head of a man and the body of a lion to represent the strength of the body (lion) and strength/intelligence of the mind (human). It used to scare people when first found in 1800s because it was buried up to its neck. The nose was removed by chisels, likely by an enemy because the Egyptians believed that statues were the embodiment of the human, so if you do something to the statue it would happen to the human.
Next stop was to the papyrus institute, learned how it was made but it was a bit of a hard sales pitch. I was quite tempted but none of the images really spoke to me.
Our next stop was Saqqara, which is even older than the great pyramids and shows the evolution of creating the shape. This step pyramid is the best example and mostly intact, although has had to be restored.
There used to be more buildings next to this pyramid, but not much remains except for this series of columns and this entryway. The stones were perfectly smooth and gave an idea of what the stones for the pyramids and temples used to be like without millennia of erosion.
We went inside one that had collapsed on top but was still whole underneath. It had nice coloring but mostly heiroglyphics writing out the spells and enchantments from the priests to release the king from his earthly body.
Our last visit was Memphis which was the capital just after the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt by the Pharaoh Menes. It has an alabaster Sphinx and a medium Ramesses II statue and the colossal Ramesses II statue.
Went to lunch that was definitely the tourist bus lunch spot as it was buffet and several groups came through, so they could accommodate many tour groups in a short amount of time. We rested back at the hotel until sunset and ordered from the hotel for dinner. The woman that had been serving us our meals was sad to hear we were leaving the next day and she had to give me a hug.
In the morning we had another large breakfast on the rooftop. When we got our Uber the woman helped us with our bags and she gave me another hug, she was so sweet!
More to see, Someday
We were still needing quite a bit of rest in our time in Egypt, so I’m glad we didn’t push to see everything we could. We have a good list of what we missed, such as the two major temples in Luxor, the GEM in Cairo, and a trip outside Aswan to see Abu Simbel. We were just on the edge of tourist season which was nice that it wasn’t as busy but it was getting HOT, especially in Aswan. I am so thankful we went with that cruise, both being a small boat but such an excellent guide. The two we had in Luxor and Cairo were okay but not nearly the energy of our guide from the cruise! He seemed so excited to share and he really brought to life these stories from thousands of years ago! If you ever want to visit Egypt I will be happy to share the company we went through, and the name of our guide, I cant imagine any of the larger cruises could have provided such a intimate experience, especially with all the kind surprises!
Off to a somewhat familiar adventure
After 4.5 months, and 12 new countries, we are finally slowing down. We are going back to a country that we have not only been to before, but Mr. Wander has actually lived for 3 months, the UK! We have also booked an Airbnb (with a washing machine, wahoo!) for a few days and then a campervan for a month! Since we’ll be cooking ourselves it’ll become much less like a food blog for a bit. We’re looking forward to having time for housekeeping type things, to get some supplies, get everything cleaned up well after Nepali and Egyptian dust, and to eat some comfort foods we can make ourselves! Stay tuned to see how well I drive a manual on the other side of the road!
Learning Egyptian (aka Arabic)
- Thank you: Shukran
- Hello (Peace be with you): Salam Alaikum
- In reply: Alaikum Al Salam, peace be with you too, or just Salam for peace
- Good Morning: Sabah el Khair
- Good Evening: Masa al Khair
Comments
One response to “How to Cruise Like an Egyptian”
AWESOME!! I am loving the pictures, and the ability to follow your travels!