Walk Like an Egyptian

I spent my Eid/Thanksgiving holiday in Egypt with my good friend, Allison. After arriving in Cairo, we flew out to Aswan early the next morning. We met our group which consisted of a lovely British couple, the Southerns, and a French family-Cedric, Christian, and Claudine with whom we became fast friends, and our Coptic Christian leader, Magdy.

Aswan is in "Upper Egypt" near Lake Nasser, the lake that was formed from damming the Nile River. We spent the evening in Aswan, visiting the granite quarry of the Unfinished Obelisk. Ar 1168 tons this obelisk would have been the biggest and heaviest single stone ever used by the Egyptians, but late in it's process, it developed a crack, so it was abandoned.

The next day took a felucca ride with our group, and some of us got off in the Nubian village to explore. After lunch we took off and had a lovely day cruising the Nile, watching the people who farm and live along the banks. We visited the Temple of Kom Ombo which was dedicated to the crocodile god, Sobek, and the god Horus the Elder in the evening.

The next morning it was off to the Temple of Horus, more cruising and then Luxor. The next morning we were up and heading to the famous Valley of the Kings. We visited the Tombs of Ramses the VII, Ramses the IV and Ramses the IX. Despite the crowds, the tombs were amazing to see with their beautiful paintings and hieroglyphics. The tomb of King Tutankhamen, "King Tut" is also in this area, but we didn't go in it. He is the most famous of the Kings because his was the only tomb found intact. The rest were robbed by workers during the ancient times. We got to see all the treasures from King Tut's tomb in Cairo at the Egyptian Museum. The guy had a lot of loot! Our last stop was the amazing Temple of Karnak with its obelisks, pillars, and rows of lions. While waiting to catch our flight, we joined our French friends for lunch and a felucca ride to Banana Island. We thought this island would be a rare find, but instead we found a line of tourists! They left shortly, so after we returned from our walk around the quaint, agricultural island, we were the only tourist left to enjoy a nice, quiet evening drinking tea and Stela!

Back in Cairo, Allison showed me around all the shopping areas and souks where I proceeded to help the economy of Egypt by spending too much money. Her trusty tour guide, Mohamed, took us to the Egyptian Museum, and to the Pyramids/Sphinx. We had a great meal at a local restaurant with all the traditional Egyptian food-yum, yum. Cairo is a amazing city of mass humanity, piles of rubbish, ancient taxis, blowing sand, fun shops and souks, ancient wonders.

After a mix-up on which day I was supposed to leave, I had to say goodbye. I was sad to leave Allison, but am happy to be back home in Abu Dhabi.