King Tut, Cleopatra, Indiana Jones....now us.

Feb. 28: Philae Temple & More This morning, a short bus ride took us to a small port area where a motor boat ferried our group to an island, the new home of the Philae Temple. The original buildings, even though they were below the Aswan Dam, would have been destroyed by water. The solution was to move the buildings to higher ground. The  project took a decade to complete.   Temple of Philae The original construction of the temple was started by the Ptolemaic rulers (the family of Cleopatra). The Romans added to it later. Evidence of Napoleon's soldiers being on site is in the names of soldiers carved into the walls. Later, Coptic Christians lived in the area and carved their crosses into the temple walls. The Courtyard leading to the Main Entrance Originally, the temple was dedicated to the female god Isis. She was the wife of Osiris, and the mother of Horus, three gods who are dominant in Egyptian beliefs. Images of all three have been c...

Feb. 27: Part 2. After returning to the ship, we had some laid back cruising time in perfect weather as the captain took us farther south to Aswan. The sun deck got a lot of use. The afternoon gave us the opportunity for a felucca ride on the Nile. The felucca is the traditional Egyptian sail boat that has worked the Nile River for hundreds of years. The single triangular sail and long rudder give the boat excellent manoeuvrability. We had about a dozen people in our boat, with room for more, as we tacked upstream, then sailed with the wind back south. Feluccas working the Nile River at Aswan The West Bank of the Nile River, north of Aswan. The two man crew sang traditional songs and Akram gave us details about the boat and the sights we were passing on shore. Later in the afternoon, we went to the Old Cataract Hotel, built in 1899 for the British visitors. There, we enjoyed afternoon tea on the terrace overlooking the Nile River. The Old Cataract Hotel front gard...

February 27: Kom Ombo Temple Built by the ancestors of Cleopatra in the 1st and 2nd century B.C., this unusually well-preserved temple sits on the shore of the Nile River a little north of Aswan. Later, the Romans added to the temple. This is a double temple, being almost equally divided to honour two Egyptian gods, Sobek, the crocodile god, and Horus, the falcon god. The carvings on the walls are remarkably done, and despite some errors in the hieroglyphics, many of the carvings have survived the ages very well. This is a tribute to the skills of the artists and perhaps partially due to the quality of the local rock. It must have been an awesome sight when it was a working temple and all the images were painted. Little of the pigment remains today. Horus, the falcon god, in the image below. Our ship was able to dock right in front of the temple. Without huge crowds, we could easily explore the temple courtyards and passageways. Sobek, the crocodile god, is clear...

February 26: Balloon ride, Valleys of the Kings and Queens The ship spent the night docked in the city of Luxor, home to over 2 million. We joined about a quarter of our group for an early morning adventure leaving the ship at 05:15 for a sunrise hot air balloon ride. A short drive took us to the east shore of the Nile where we boarded an interesting boat for the short ferry to the west bank. A van took us to the launch area where a number of balloons were being inflated and loaded. We had 20 in our basket below the massive hot air ballon. (The largest baskets hold 32.) Our pilot, one of the most experienced in the area with over 3000 hours of flight time, took us to a height of 2000 feet to view the Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, and the Temple of Hatshepsut.  Sunrise over the east bank of the Nile River For almost an hour, we slowly rotated, changed altitudes, and drifted towards the Nile over lush farmers' fields, finally settling down gently behind a h...