Sharm el-Sheikh
From Aqaba, Jordan, we cruised down the Gulf of Aqaba to the tip of the Sinai Peninsula. We docked at the resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh. From the port we took a 2.5 hour bus ride into the mountains to visit what is believed to be Mount Sinai and the location of the Burning Bush.
In the third century, the mother of Constantine decided to seek out all of the locations and landmarks from the Bible. Throughout Egypt, and Israel we encountered sites that had been found by St. Helena. This is one of those sites. They have identified a bush that only exists in this particular area that by tradition is thought to be the "Burning Bush". We weren't able to take pictures in their museum, but they had manuscripts and artifacts that were very old, and fascinating to see.
Safaga/Luxor, Egypt
From Sharm el-Sheikh we crossed the Red Sea to stop at Safaga, Egypt. From here we took a bus trip to Luxor to visit Karnak and the Valleys of the Kings and Queens. I used to think that I knew the geography of this area pretty well, but I really didn't understand what this area was like until we visited these places. The desert is very unforgiving and barren.
It was 108 degrees on the day we were in Luxor, and we suffered from the heat. Karnak was huge. At one time this must have been an enormous complex of buildings. How they managed to build these structures by hand, and mount these huge stones is incredible.
After a lunch on a barge on the Nile River, we travelled to the west side of the river to the Valleys of the Kings and Queens. According to ancient traditions everyone lives on the east side of the Nile because the canals and arable land goes on for a couple of miles. On the west side, there is only about 1/2 mile of arable land, which is why they have the tradition of burying their kings and queens on the west side of the Nile. The side of the sunset and death.
The Valley of the Kings was impressive, and Kings Tut's and Seti's tombs was fascinating to see. However Nefertari's tomb in the Valley of the Queens was incredibly preserved. The colors were so vivid in the drawings on the walls.
Port Said/Cairo, Egypt
From Safaga we sailed north through the Suez Canal to Port Said, Egypt. There we had another 13 hour excursion to Cairo. After riding on the bus for 3.5 hours, it was a relief to be able to walk around the Cairo Museum. Their new facilities are scheduled to open later this year, and it was obvious that they were getting ready to move things. However there were still so many fascinating things to see.
There was one room filled with papyrus scrolls, and records from several centuries ago. The papyrus was remarkably well preserved, and the writing and colors were so clear and crisp. They could have been written yesterday. I could have spent a long time in this room alone.
After yet another lunch on a barge floating on the Nile River, we headed for the pyramids. I have to say that these were a little disappointing. There were so many people around, and vendors trying to sell things (or bilk you out of money). Once we took the pictures, there was not a lot to see, so I was just as glad to be back on the bus for our 3.5 hour ride back to the Viking Star.
More to come soon...
I'm so sorry you were disappointed with your trip to the pyramids. We were in Egypt in 2015, just 4 years after the "Arab Spring" and Egypt was largely empty of tourists at that time. It was amazing to have almost no other tourists around and it felt like we had the monuments to ourselves. But truth be told, I'm really happy for Egyptians because more tourism equals a better economy which equals a more stable government. I love your blogs!
ReplyDeleteI am also happy for Egypt as a country. One of the major sources of revenue for the country is tourism, and they were very happy to see us. As you could see from the pictures, there were almost a dozen buses at the pyramids, but it was the people everywhere trying to separate us from our money that was disturbing. Once we took our pictures of the pyramids, I was happy to be back on the bus heading for home.
DeleteWe had a private tour guide in Cairo and Memphis and he was adamant that we not engage with the the "salesmen" around the pyramids. He said if we wanted a camel ride (which we didn't) he would arrange it for us. Apparently one trick they use is they give you one price to get on the camel, then want more money to get you back off the camel. We loved Egypt but the culture shock was brutal.
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