Disembarking For the Nile Cruise, Aswan

Edfu Temple

The Smallest of the Three Pyramids at Giza 

My Donkey and I in the Valley of the Kings 

Felucca on the Nile 

Camel Ride Around the Pyramids 

Nubian Man in Aswan's Market 

Camel Ride in the Sahara 

Egypt

Day One:
3 hr delay in Milan forced us to indulge in cappuccinos and gelato until our flight to Cairo. Pity really. Arrived Cairo at 4:55 in the evening, greeted by the desert heat and the Egyptian military. The sun was setting behind the buildings, accompanied by the sunset call to prayer echoing across the city from the mosque towers. Easily the greatest taxi ride of my life. Checked in and made our way over to the currency exchange. Dinner at the hotel for the sake of care-free digestion and up to the room to unpack. Went back downstairs to buy a bottle of water and ran into an egyptian wedding reception in the hotel lobby. A man in a colorful robe spun in circles while the wedding danced and spun incense over the heads of the bride and groom. Bells, drums, singing, and the bride in a laced golden dress. Finished the day watching bits of Rambo in arabic and looking out over Cairo from the balcony.

Day Two:
A little strange waking up to a rooster, but hey, its Egypt. Early rise, toast and jam for breakfast, and on board a bus for the Pyramids by 9. This is where I'd attempt to describe standing at the base of the great Pyramid, but thats not gonna happen. If pictures can't do it justice, then how could I ever try to put it down in words. Saw the largest of the three first. Bought a 20 egyptian pound ticket at the random ticket booth on the nearby grounds and braved the damp, stale heat of the 2nd pyramids main shaft and went inside. The tunnel is so small and cramped that you have to practically crawl into the main chamber. Smells like hot musk and dirty tourists, but well worth and effort going in and out. Stood in front on the Sphinx as the midday call to prayer came sounding across the loud speakers from the mosques. Off to lunch: traditional egyptian is a variety of small samples plates. Sauces, veggies, meats, all served with warm flat bread. Potatoes with herbs, fava beans, cucumber salad, tomatoes, eggplant hummus, green tomato salsa and a large bottle of water.

Egyptian Museum in the afternoon. That night at 10 we boarded a train for a 14 hour ride down south to Aswan, a nubian village on the banks of the Nile, only kilometers from the Sudan border. Holy Cleopatra that was a LONG train ride. Arrived on time the next morning.

Day Three:
Spent the day exploring the town of Aswan. The markets, the bazaar, (much like the Medina in Morocco), and the banks of the Nile. Went to the Old Cataract Hotel in the evening for tea and a sunset.

Day Four:
Early rise and breakfast on the top floor of the hotel. Another amazing view of the Nile. Took a ferry across to the western bank and the desert. Hired a guide and a couple camels, heading out into the desert early in morning to avoid the heat. (Was still close to a hundred degrees. I think the peak temp in the south hit 125 F.) Out to an old monestary several kilometers out into the desert. Let the camels and our rear-ends rest before heading back towards the bank,- crossed back over to Aswan and cooled off in the lobby of the hotel. A note on the camels. If they walk: awesome. If they run: awesome. The problem is that they prefer to trot. This my friends, is not so awesome. But don't get me wrong, it was absolutely amazing.

In the afternoon we boarded a felucca. (See the photos below. The feluccas are the small sailboats with one to two large sails. Its the same kind of boat the Nubians have used on the Nile for about 5000 years.) Instead of a deck however, they put a large, extremely comfortable mattress and covered it with a flat canapy in order to beat the midday sun. (If its 110 degrees in the sun, its only 80 in the shade: or at least thats what it feels like.) The rest of the day, we had the strenuous task of laying on the boat, in the shade, with the breeze, and sailing up the Nile. Blue water, then the green palm trees along the banks, and then the brown sand dunes just behind. The Nubians actually sailing the boat made us lunch. Pulled over to an island at night and swam a little. 2 issues: crocodiles and bilharzia. The issue with crocodiles, pretty self-explainable. We avoided them by docking in a small cove. The whole bilharzia thing: just a minor tapeworm you can get from the Nile water. It lodges itself in your intestines and can cause blindness. Awesome. Oh, and you wouldn't think so, but the Nile water is freezing cold!

That night we were invited to eat dinner at one of the Nubians houses. A fried pasta dish, herb potatoes, kofta khash khash, a chicken dish, a veggie dish, and always a cucumber and tomato salad. (You'll never escape cucumbers and tomatoes in Egypt.) Back to the felucca where we slept: on the boat, on the Nile, on the continent of Africa, and under the stars. This day was by far the greatest day of the trip and probably of my life thusfar. Can't even begin to describe my thoughts that day. Sigh.

Day Five:
Disembarked the felucca and joined the early morning police convoy to go to the temples of Kom Ombo, Edfu, and Karnak. They're kind of remote, and there have been issues with safety in the past, so everyone is required to go with the police convoy that leaves Aswan and arrives at Luxor a couple times a day. Got to see a different view of the countryside. The temples: Kom Ombo was amazing, but paled in comparison to Edfu. Its the most complete temple in Egypt and was far more impressive than any monument I saw in Europe. (Including the Basilica San Marco in Venice that I swore was the the most beautiful.) Took horse drawn carriages to the temple of Karnak. The oldest temple in Egypt but not as moving as Edfu, or the Pyramids for that matter.

That night was spent in Luxor's market area. Stopped at a cafe for tea and a hookah. The call to prayer came on again at another ridiculously appropriate moment. The breeze and the warm air of the desert at night, the small street in the market, the hot sweet tea, and that third-world country smell that reminds you where you actually are.

Day Six:
Another very early rise. Crossed the the western bank, hopped on donkeys, and headed down into the Valley of the Kings at sunrise. Sigh. What do you say to that? It was amazing. Met a guide in the Valley who described some of the tombs we saw. Later on in the morning we took an hour and a half hike up the cliffs the surround the Valley, finishing on the other side by the Valley of the Queens. Few more tombs and rode the donkeys back to the Nile.

Night train to Cairo. Only 10 hours this time.

Day Seven:
Spent our last day in Cairo. Old Islamic Quarter, the bazaar: spices, tea, raw sewage, hookahs for sale, the dry heat and the shade from the canapies, mounds of indigo, scarves, small lemons, donkeys pulling carts of watermelon, the smell of exhaust fumes, flat bread, flies on absolutely everything, bundles of veggies, chickens in cages, and the occasional corner mosque. Took a cab to the Pyramids at about 4 for a sunset camel ride around the Pyramids. Dinner back in Cairo.

Day Eight:
Flight back to Milan and a 7 hour layover. More cappuccinos. Finally arrived Marseille where Brigitte picked us up from the airport. Hadn't really slept in a couple of days so needless to say I crashed as soon as I got home. Got my pictures developed the next day and picked a couple out to post. Wish I could put more, but it takes forever to post them.