Like the entire trip, the Cairo - Aswan transfer day was from
perfectly organized!
We can only advise anyone who is planning an individual trip to this region to work with this agency!
Pick up at the hotel 30 minutes before the stated time - which was great for us as we also finished checking out earlier.
Handover at the airport to an employee who took us through the luggage check-in and security gate with prepared boarding passes, and then said goodbye to us with a few tips.
In Aswan we were met right at the baggage carousel and taken straight to the hotel. The hotel is on an island, so we took a boat shuttle to get there. Our suitcases were brought directly to the room by the taxi via the boat - service! (which of course costs baksheesh...)
At the hotel we had 10 minutes to "freshen up" before the second tour guide arrived. With him and a felucca we went to visit the flower island. Here it was briefly explained to us that "there are quite a few trees here, take a look at what interests you - I'll wait for you in the cafe at the end". ?!?
The 'Flower Island' is wrongly named, at least in February. Except for a lot of different trees, all the flowers were still in their hibernation.
During the drive back to the hotel we were informed that we would be picked up the next day at 4:30 (!) to experience the sunrise in Abu Simbel!
Well, what can you do with the money you spend ;-).
The Hotel Mövenpick Aswan is one of the best that we were able to experience in our many years of travel! Wonderful and spacious ambience of the entrance area, only 2 floors high, rooms also generously furnished, a breakfast and evening buffet that left nothing to be desired, plus a friendly staff that was always ready to joke... an absolutely top hotel!
But I still have to share an anecdote about the bar at this point:
When we ordered a martini as a sundowner, I expected a lot of questions:
Holy moly...
Aswan 3:45 - the alarm clock is ringing!
So we set off on time, half-dead, and the planned 2.5-hour journey turned into 3.5 hours (each way, mind you!). Absolutely desolate route (well, it's just desert ...), brightened up by various police checks and the resulting traffic jams. The little highlight in between was the short toilet stop, which was again crowned by a master rip-off: no toilet paper, no flush, no soap, no paper towels. An Indian lady, around 70-plus, put it bluntly to the guy who was also demanding money for it: "You're not offering anything (see list) and you want money for it!!!!!" Hands up for the lady!!!!
So let's move on. And who would have thought - no sunrise in Abu Simbel! The sun was already really high, to the amazement of our guide... So, off to the tickets and into full life. Somehow the guide probably wanted to take a shortcut and started taking apart a metal fence. The angry supervisors rounded us up quite loudly and we had to go back to the regular entrance. The factor for external embarrassment: mega!
Finally we stood in front of the large temple and thank God our guide spotted a colleague from whom he grabbed pictures of the inside of the temple because he didn't have any to explain...
The pictures can be viewed in large format in the image gallery.
And then he repeated the saying from the day before: "Take your time to look at this - I'll wait for you in the café..."
At first, I wondered why the guide didn't do this directly to the reliefs or paintings in the temple, but once we were inside, I realized that with what felt like 1,000 people walking with us, it would have been impossible to even follow an explanation.
It was so dark in the temple itself that you could hardly see the wall paintings. And even if it had been brighter, we would hardly have been able to see any of the reliefs, because the aforementioned Asians blocked both the view and free access. Very few people were interested in the ban on taking photos inside the temple; you have to show that you were there.
Let's be honest - Abu Simbel didn't blow us away that much.
The statues were already big - not to say huge, but from the documentaries we'd seen so far
we thought the statues would be even more monumental
(I call it the Stonehenge effect:
the ol' stone circle seemed much smaller to us in the original than it appeared in the documentaries.)
It's incredibly crowded, it's annoying because every crazy person, along with Tom, Dick, and Harry
takes selfies of themselves and the statues or inscriptions, you're on the road for about seven hours,
at a time when you're normally asleep just to see
Ramses
Little Amenhotep asks his teacher in hieroglyphics class:
"Is Ramses the potent ruler spelled with 2 or 3 testicles?"
and Co. for 30-60 minutes.
In short: Anyone who thinks it's part of the must-see tour should do so - we weren't particularly impressed by it
(of course also due to the external circumstances).
For those who don't know:
In order to save Abu Simbel from the rising waters of the Nasser Dam,
the temple was demolished between 1963 and 1968 and rebuilt 64 meters higher and 180 meters to the side
on the Abu Simbel plateau. The cost was 80 million US dollars,
some of which came from UNESCO but was also donated worldwide.
You can read more about the meaning and purpose of the temple in the Wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Simbel
We spent the afternoon resting/regenerating and it was actually only 8 p.m. when we fell into a mummy-like sleep!
Check out hotel / check in cruise ship. In between, visit the Philae Temple.
And today our second guide was finally at his best.
But first things first: at our request, the early appointment of the day (visiting the quarry with the broken obelisk) was canceled and we started the day at 9:00 with the drive to the Nasser High Dam, where the guide gave us some interesting (for those with an affinity for technology) information - e.g. that the hydroelectric power plant at the reservoir supplies enough energy for the entire country or that the 12 turbines have not yet been replaced since they were completed in the mid-1960s.
Then we continued to the Philae Temple, which we didn't know yet. Like Abu Simbel, this was completely relocated because the temple would also have been under water due to the construction of the reservoir. The cost of this was 'only' $30 million. In just 4 years, the entire temple was raised approx. 80m and moved 600m sideways to a (current) island. Therefore we had to take the motorboat across, which was a show in itself. The 'parking lot' of the shuttle boats resembled a swarm of piranhas fighting for their prey (tourists).
At this point it was really clear what was meant by 'not for people with motor disabilities' in the travel description: since our boat wasn't directly on the quay, we had to crawl over three small boats (careful - duck your head!!) to get to our boat. Incidentally, a Japanese tourist broke his leg while trying to get on the shuttle boat to the Mövenpick Hotel.
The reliefs of the temple are all still very well preserved, but unfortunately many figures were destroyed by religious fanatics because the early Copts were of the opinion that the soul could come out through the face in the pictures.
And anyone who believes that graffiti is a bad habit of our time
can see from these pictures that graffiti was left behind as early as the 19th century.
And that too from supposedly well-known personalities:
among others Ferdinand Lesseps (the builder of the Suez Canal)
or the German Alfred Brehm (the one with his animal life).
I'll save the guide's detailed and very informative stories at this point so as not to bore you - but the pictures in the gallery will hopefully give you a first impression...
From there we went without any further stops to board the Royal Ruby, where we had booked a suite. And that was a good thing, because neither of us would have been happy in a normal cabin. On the one hand because of my wife's still acute coughing attacks at the time and on the other hand because of the 'slight' weight difference between the two of us :-)
There was only one queen-size bed in the suite, which we eyed suspiciously, and both were of the opinion: well, we can handle it for 3 nights. What didn't work was that we only had one bed sheet! As much as we like each other, that wouldn't have worked...
When I asked kindly at the reception for a second bed sheet, the guide happened to be within earshot and made sure that we were not only given a second bed sheet, but also a complete second BED in the anteroom of the suite! We're slowly becoming friends >;->
The joy was slightly dampened when we heard that the ship would leave the next morning at 3:00 a.m. (!) and we would visit the first temple at 6:30 a.m. - well before waking up again! Hello... We're on VACATION ... That turns into hard work ;-)
When we were sitting comfortably at dinner with our Scottish neighbors in the evening, THEY came! The Koreans! If I said a horde, I would be missing a good opportunity to use the word locust swarm! They loudly demanded their seats and then immediately plundered the buffet without taking off their jackets, shoulder bags or hats - very unpleasant!!
I half heard that the estimated 60 people were picked up by another boat that was either damaged or simply underutilized. Since the logistics of our ship were not prepared for this, there were of course restrictions on the buffet from then on, which the Koreans always besieged just milliseconds after it opened.
The evening entertainment was belly dancing, but unfortunately the lady performing was neither particularly talented nor particularly committed. And then (after two others) she asked my wife to join in...big mistake! My wife likes to dance and, by Northern European standards, dances quite well (DAMN GOOD !) to oriental music.
I don't want to say that my wife beat the hired lady to the wall,
but while the professional only got a nice round of applause, she got a standing ovation!
An Englishman even commented: 'What an amazing dancer!' - Proud Bear!
(Well... If you have any questions, my wife will explain THAT to you ;-)
Today we got up again before waking up (6:00) and went to the double temple of Sobek (crocodile god) and Haroeris (a manifestation of God Horus) (of course after the ship landed in Kom Ombo...). But after the Philae Temple just: nice!
Before lunch we made another stop in Idfu (or Edfu) and visited the next temple - this time of Horus. We were taken there in horse-drawn carts. Approximately 100 carriages stood at the pier and loudly advertised for guests. You literally had to fight your way through the coachmen and sellers of useless souvenirs. Again, we were very pleased to have a local guide.
He maneuvered us very confidently through the throng of drivers and dealers and sometimes became loud towards them when they became too intrusive. As soon as we got onto the bed of the carriage, we were immediately asked to look into this or that camera, from where we were then photographed (again without being asked, of course).
The temple itself was very well preserved and the guide's explanations were also informative! He told us a lot about the medical options at the time of the Pharaohs based on papyri that he found.
When we got back to the boat in the carriage, it probably won't surprise any reader that the picture of us in the carriage was immediately offered to us - no... that's the wrong word... forced upon us. We should only pay 2 euros for it. When we politely declined and just continued walking, the bluebottle (as I'll simply call the hawkers from now on) also became aggressive! I didn't take any pictures of it to be on the safe side...
In the early evening we passed through the Esna locks and were treated to a very special spectacle.
Since we had to drive very slowly to get in, bluebottles from at least 7 small boats
loudly offered their wares from the water.
They threw cloths and blankets wrapped in plastic bags about 10 meters over the railing of the sun deck
in an attempt to get into contact with the (mainly Korean) guests and haggle.
I have no idea how the exchange of goods for money worked,
but there were a few guests from the Far East who proudly presented their new acquisitions.
Another highlight of the trip: Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut and Karnak Temples.
And as befits a highlight, you have to leave early - so set your alarm clock at 6:00 again (what was that about 'vacation'?!?)
But it was a highlight! Or should I say, THE highlight?
You have to know that there are multi-day tickets for the Valley of the Kings for currently (Feb '19) 100 euros, with which you can visit all the tombs. The 'standard ticket' for 200 EGP allows entry to just 3 tombs (out of a total of 64 found so far). The actual entrance to the Valley of the Kings is even free, but also completely unspectacular and therefore completely worth the price ;-)
On the advice of our guide, we then visited the graves in the order of
Ramses
Little Amenhotep asks his teacher in hieroglyphics class:
"Is Ramses the potent ruler spelled with 2 or 3 testicles?"
IX,
Ramses
Little Amenhotep asks his teacher in hieroglyphics class:
"Is Ramses the potent ruler spelled with 2 or 3 testicles?"
IV
and finally
Ramses
Little Amenhotep asks his teacher in hieroglyphics class:
"Is Ramses the potent ruler spelled with 2 or 3 testicles?"
III.
The tombs of Tutankhamun and Seti definitely cost extra. But why should I look at Tut's empty tomb when I've already seen all the treasures from it in the museum in Cairo?!?
Thanks to the good preparation by our guide, we were able to understand the wall paintings very well. We have put the example of the Book of Dead separately in a WWW
Book of Dead (WWW)
(Words With a Warning - not funny!)
show/hide text
From the Valley of the Kings we are right around the corner to the Hatshepsut Temple, from which I had expected much more. The temple consists almost entirely of a facade, in which all references to Hatshepsut on the cartouches were carved out by the envious successor Tutmose III.
My wife had already tried to prepare me for this in advance, but one can hardly be prepared for this. It completely blew me away! There are no words to describe the overall impression of Karnak. The pyramids are monumental - no question about it, but the K-Temple has SO many huge pylons, obelisks and (at its peak 134!) columns to offer in a small area (500x700m is small? Well...) (and when the Egyptians make columns, they build COLUMNS up to 21m high!) that such a stupid tapering square of stone seems downright boring!/p>
Plus the Avenue of the Rams (or Avenue of Sphinxes), many reliefs (some well preserved, some carved out again), even more sphinxes, and, and, and...
Capturing the absolutely monumental (have I actually overused that word yet?) of this facility with a normal camera is almost impossible, but I still tried to take a few representative pictures - maybe you can see a little of the beauty and dimensions in the image gallery.
The only thing that was annoying were the many self-absorbed idiots who unfortunately can be found at every viewing.
They contort themselves into a thousand ridiculous poses to take selfies.
They don't even notice that others want to take photos too - it's completely embarrassing.
With the visit to this temple, the cultural part of our trip ended - the Luxor Temple should actually have been visited. But after Karnak every other temple is just a copy, that's why we called it a day...
...from now on we could enjoy the relaxing part of the trip!
Oh yes: another word about the 'cruise':
The pure driving, during which you can marvel at the Nile and the banks,
lasted from around 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and then again from around 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. - so a net 8 hours.
Afterwards we moored in Luxor for two and a half days
and were wedged between 2 other ships so that we had a 'great view' from our great suite...
That had nothing to do with cruising or driving!
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