Nile River Cruise May 2023

The only thing I knew about the Nile is I once tried to watch Agatha Christie's "Death on the Nile" and got bored and gave up.  Little did I know what a treat I was in for on our 5 day Nile River Cruise.

Most people start in Cairo then fly south to Luxor & get the cruise there.  We did it the other way around since there are direct flights from Zurich to Luxor.  Even though we had to take the 2.5 hour train ride from Lausanne to Zurich (+stay over in a hotel), I'd rather do that than transfer from Geneva to somewhere to Luxor.  Connecting flights are not worth the stress.

I have no idea why, but I thought you just stay docked somewhere and use the ship as a hotel, and go to different pyramids each day.  Little did I know we would travel to 5+ stops and even go through some locks (like the Suez Canal).

Egypt is not a rich country.  I was so happy with the exchange rate to the Egyptian pound but then realized the Egyptian people are really suffering and their currency devalues so quickly my wallet was full to the brim with just the exchange of $300 USD.  Today one Egyptian pound  = 0.032 USD.  Locals want to be paid in dollars with this fluctuation (mostly down for them) 😞 

Each tomb or monument had more history than the next.  What's even more interesting is that most of them were undiscovered until centuries later.  Whole neighborhoods and communities/cities were built over them and more or less had to be taken down to excavate to the tombs.  Some locals don't want their neighborhoods to be torn down to find history.  Others want to preserve the culture and architecture.  Who is right?

Day 1 straight off the plane to Karnak Temple which was probably my favorite as it was huge and had beautiful obelisks, rams lining the entrance, cartoushes, hieroglyphics and stories on the walls

Karnak was robbed and looted by many jealous kings/enemies.  The paintings on the walls & columns were beautiful, made of ground stone powder and we learned what some of the symbols were (water).

 Luxor Temple

Key to a good vacation is an experienced tour guide.  Here called Egyptologist.  Our Egyptologist worked on several excavations and was trained in the history 

Luxor temple was right near our ship (SS Mayfair).  The boat itself had a lot of activities and a great rooftop area.

Desserts similar to Chinese desserts-SWEET!

we had our own little balcony which came in handy because it was too hot on top (100 degrees)

heat didn't stop me.  No wonder I'm the only one here

tons of boats going up and down the Nile!

when you boarded you went through security but boats lined up one behind the other so you ended up walking across 5 boars sometimes before you got to yours.  Got to see other boat lobbies 😆

Valley of the Kings is where Kin Tut's tomb is.  We went into so many tombs and paid extra to get into one--Ramses VI and it was less packed with tourists!  Could take time to see clearly the hieroglypics and paintings on the walls.  Color still vivid to this day!

Edfu Temple

To get to Edfu Temple you take a horse and buggy and it was scene right out of Lawrence of Arabia-chaos with horses, traffic jam hell.  It was so much fun.  The temple was buried for over a millennium and rediscovered.  It was built so the light comes in to tell time, with a stairway to the afterlife.  

Abu Simbel Temples

Took a short flight at the crack of dawn which was delayed (ugh).  We were there at the height of tourist season and after waiting 30 minutes to get into the claustrophobic hot temple, wanted to run out!  We missed so many beautiful sights but it was just too crowded and you couldn't move.  I was afraid of being trampled on in a stampede.  My friend Lucy went just as the pandemic was opening up things and she had the temple all to herself (literally).  What a difference a year makes.

This is Edfu Temple---------by now you may be sick of me describing each temple and seeing our silly poses all over Egypt.  Its amazing how they rediscovered al these ruins.  You MUST go!