Days 93-99: Cairo, Luxor & Hurghada

After packing up in Instanbul, we headed to the airport to head to Cairo. Unfortunately our 12:30 flight  didn't end up taking off until 8:30 due to the smog in Cairo. We had decided to join up with a tour group to see Egypt and Jordan so we had a couple free days before meeting them. We spent some time walking around Cairo and visited the Indian embassy and consulate in an attempt to get an Indian visa. Unfortunately it takes a couple of days to process so hopefully we'll be able to get the visa once we get to Israel.


After meeting up with the group, which consisted of us and one other couple (Australian) at this point, we headed to Giza where we saw the pyramids. I was surprised at how large they really were. Next, we climbed on some camels for a short ride and a nice photo op. We also got to go inside one of the smaller pyramids. We climbed down a long ramp with a very low ceiling and ended up in a fairly small room packed with lots of other tourist. It was very hot and stuffy and there was not a lot to see.

The Great Pyramid. The largest of the three.

One of the other pyramids. At the top the smooth stones are still there. The whole pyramid was covered by these stones.

The three pyramids.

Fun on a camel.

The sphinx

Another view of the sphinx.

After our trip to the pyramids, we visited the Cairo Museum and saw lots of mummies and artifacts. We also got to see many of the items that were found in King Tut's tomb. His tomb was the only king's tomb that was found with all of the gold and posessions still inside.


That night we boarded the night train to Luxor where we would meet up with the rest of the group. The train we took did not have sleeper cars, but large reclining seats. It was not the best night's sleep I've gotten but it wasn't that bad.


In Luxor we met up with ten more people. We took an interesting sunset ride on the Nile in a falucca. There wasn't a lot of wind so the ride involved a lot of pulling along the side of boats that were docked on the side of the river. That night we visited the Luxor Temple. It was neat to see it in the dark with lots of lights shining on all of the columns and statues.

Trying to find some darkness on the night train. Also it was quite cold.

Mountain that contains the Valley of the Kings from our falucca ride.

The kid that was helping our falucca driver.

Due to the lack of wind, this was how we made our way up the Nile.

Luxor Temple

Luxor Temple

Luxor Temple

Luxor Temple

The next day we headed to the west bank of Luxor and went to the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Workers. The old kingdom put their tombs in pyramids in Cairo but the new kingdom, in Luxor, decided it was not a good idea to advertise where you were putting the mummies and their treasure. Rather than building pyramids, they dug tombs into the mountain and hid the entrances. These tombs were full of carvings and paintings. Our guide was great about explaining what the different scenes meant. Unfortunately, they do not allow cameras inside the tombs so we don't have any pictures of those. On the other side of the mountain was the Valley of the Workers. The workers who dug the kings' tombs were not allowed to leave the mountain area for fear that they would tell where the tombs were located. So on their days off they dug their own tombs in the area that they lived. Their tombs were much shorter but the paintings were very impressive.


After visiting the tombs, we climbed on some donkeys and took a ride around a village on the west bank. Riding the donkeys was lots of fun and it was really neat to see how the people live.

The walls of the city remaining at the Valley of the Workers.

Agamemnon statues. The Greek name stuck.

Riding donkeys around the west bank of Luxor.

The following morning we visited the Karnak Temple, also in Luxor.

Statues of Ra, the sun god.

Carvings on one of the columns.

There was a queen, Hatshepsut, who ruled Egypt for a while and I won't go into her long drama, but after she was knocked out of power they destroyed everything that had her name or image on it. They did not what to destroy this scene so they just chissled her out of it.

Todd decided to shave. Egypt is pretty hot and beard tan lines are not cute.

After the temple, we all climbed into the mini bus for a five hour ride to Hurghada. We aren't really doing anything in Hurghada, just spending the night before we catch a plane to Dahab in the morning. Usually the tour group uses the fast ferries to cross the Red Sea, but they are currently not running. After my last ferry experience, I'll gladly take a flight over a ferry.