Author Archives: Tiim & Kathy

(For those following the blog, I am several days behind with posts due to poor Wi-Fi on the dahabeya. We are currently off the ship and staying at the Old Cataract Hotel in Aswan. But, back to the Nile cruise….)

The dahabeya docks at Fares Island and we all get into Tuk tuks for a drive through the rural village.

We drive past houses and crops and arrive at the home of Am Mohammad. He is a craftsman using palm branches to construct mango boxes which he sells at markets. He also crafts furniture and other items.

He demonstrates making a box and the asks for a volunteer to learn. Here are some photos of Tim learning the trade. He is a kind man and he gives each a hand crafted Ankh for long life.

We return to the boat for lunch and sail to Kom Ombo to visit the temple. The temple is unique in that it is a double temple. One side dedicated to the crocodile god, Sobek, and the other side dedicated to the falcon god, Horus.

We return back to the dahabeya after our fun and interesting day.

Today a local farmer leads us on a tour of his farm on Besaw Island, a community of about 500. The crops grown on this island are mangoes, dates and bananas. The farmers also have chickens, ducks and other animals. Say is welcomes us into the home of relatives who show us how they make sun-baked bread.

Sayid takes us on a walk around his property showing us his crops and animals. Many children follow us and wave.

We were invited to Sayid’s family home for lunch and to meet his family.

What we appreciate about Overseas Adventure Travel is the opportunity to meet local families and learn about the culture.

Later in the afternoon we visit Gisela Silsila Quarries. It is a sandstone quarry where the ancient Egyptians carved out the blocks to build the temples in Luxor and Aswan. There was a simple temple for the workers and burial sites for the leaders.

The ship pulled up to Edfu, but we had to wait to dock because there were many cruise ships there. As they began to leave, we were able to dock and meet our bus to the Temple. We were the only tour group there!

This is the Temple of Horus, the falcon headed god.

This afternoon the crew put up the sails to show us how the old dahabeya’s sailed. It was fun to watch. Unfortunately there was too much wind and they had to take them down right away.

The crew surprised us with dinner at Fauaza where we docked for the night. It was delightful with traditional Egyptian cuisine.

We leave Luxor and travel to the city of Esna. In the city is a partially excavated temple. The temple has retained the brilliant colors like all the temples would have been like in antiquity.

After our visit at the temple we boarded our private yacht called a dahabeya. It is a small traditional craft powered by sales. But for our tour we are pulled along by a tugboat. It is called the Aton Sun.

After sailing for awhile we stopped at the small village of Higz. We are met by a young woman, Mrs. Asma. She works for Overseas Adventure Travel as a local guide. She has been teaching herself English for two years using “Mr. Google” and Duo Lingo. She takes us to her family home and she and her sisters demonstrate making a traditional bread.

We have been seeing many ancient Egyptian temples and learning about the Pharaohs and their need to show their might and power in their temples. Also depicted in the temples are their relationship with their gods. Their are twin temples in Luxor joined by a two mile street lined with sphinxes.

Luxor Temple

The outside of Luxor Temple has six imposing statues of Ramses II. It originally had two obelisks in front, but one of the kings gave one to France.

Karnak Temple

Karnak Temple is a large complex that spans the reigns of several pharaohs. The statues and drawings depict pharaohs smiting enemies and pharoahs making offerings to the gods. Also depicted are scenes from Egyptian mythology.

On the west side of the Nile in a hot, dry desert valley are the tombs of many of the kings of Egypt. That is our destination this morning. We cross the Nile on a boat and then drive toward the Valley of the Kings. It is already very, very hot!

Our ticket allowed us to visit three tombs. It was an extra ticket for King Tut.

The next is King Ramses III

And finally, the queen Tausert

Next stop is the temple of the only woman Pharoah, Hatshepsut. It is so vey hot!! It contains many statues of her. Egypt was peaceful under reign and she accomplished many building projects.

We visited two historic mosques in Cairo today. One from the 14th century and one from the early 1900’s. We admired the architecture and learned a bit about Islam. Our tour guide asked the imam to do the call to prayer for us. It was an interesting experience.

Here are a few more photos of the mosques.

We have a one hour flight to Luxor. We are staying at the historic Winter Palace Hotel. This is the hotel that William Carter’s announced the discovery of King Tut’s tomb in 1922.

In the evening we had dinner with a local family in Luxor. They are vegetable farmers.

Wow! What a day! The pyramids are not far outside the city of Cairo. We began our day with a visit to the Great Pyramid of King Khufu. Tim climbed inside to visit his tomb. It is very hot here. Over 100 degrees every day. So hats, neck coolers and umbrellas are essential to survival. 🥵

We drove to a panorama spot to see all three pyramids and to Mount camels for a ride to the small pyramid.

Next stop, The Sphinx!

For lunch we stopped at a nice restaurant known for their chicken. While eating, an Egyptian and his wife asked our tour guide if we were Americans. He was so happy to see tourists coming to Egypt again that he bought us two bottles of wine. (There are 14 in our tour with Overseas Adventure Travel).

The Egyptian Museum is in transition at the moment as they are awaiting the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum next year. Many of the antiquities have been moved to the new museum, but our guide explained that the major items have been left in the old museum for tourists to see.

Egypt has a rich and long history and many artifacts from the tombs of pharaohs and nobles. The Rosetta Stone, which is in the British Museum, was discovered in Egypt and was the break through in interpreting the Egyptian hieroglyphics.

We also saw some of the the reassures from King Tutankhamun, but we’re not allowed to photograph them.

For you coffee lovers, both Jordan and Egypt have a very strong coffee culture. There seems to be small coffee shops always available wherever we were. Even along the road as we traveled.

These neighborhood gathering places seem to be an important part of the fabric of life. There was a time when these community gathering places were outlawed due to the fear of political unrest.

The Arabica coffee bean seems to be the most common and usually roasted either medium or dark. The coffee at breakfast in our hotels has been very good, rich in flavor and not bitter. Due to the schedule so far I have not stopped in to any of the local shops.

A common brew follows the Turkish style. Water, a little sugar, finely ground freshly roasted beans, and cardamom are boiled for several minutes. It’s is then poured into the cup through a strainer.

When we were in the home of a local family in Jordan, they provided coffee when we first arrived. It was prepared in the Turkish style and served in small cups. Very good! They explained how to hold the cup in a specific way if you wanted a refill.