In comparison to my first trip to a Middle Eastern country (see Dubai post), this trip to the Middle East couldn’t be more different. While Dubai was all glitz, glamour, and futuristic-inspired grandiosity, this trip to Jordan, Israel, and Egypt was an intriguing oxymoron: a glimpse into the past with signs of the present and future.
One minute we are trekking through the vast Jordanian desert with a Bedouin guide telling us about living his life in the open desert under the stars… while also showing us pictures of his camels on Instagram and Facebook. In another instance, we are bumping over unpaved, neglected roads at 120km/hour while connected to the car’s Wi-Fi. In the Holy Land, we walked the path of Jesus…while keeping an eye on nearby pickpocketers who were ready to pounce on unassuming tourists. Days later, we were suffering from gastroenteritis… which couldn’t be treated by any Western medicine we brought with us, only Egyptian medicine. Despite feeling like I was covered with dust the entire time, being haggled every five feet, and not wanting to see another piece of pita for as long as I live, the experience was priceless!
Not sure why I expected Royal Jordanian to be different from other airlines and actually depart on time (maybe because it had the word “royal” in its name? *shrug*) but yet again, the flight was delayed for some reason unbeknownst to us. Since it was a red eye flight, I didn’t mind much since that just meant more sleep for me! We actually were able to make up some time in the air and arrived in Amman late afternoon, only about 20 minutes late. First things first, we changed money since immigration/customs allows visitors to pay the 40 JOD for their Jordanian visa in Jordanian dinars only. After sorting that out, we made our way over to the LONG line for the visa…sigh. Between an older lady who tried to skip us and a young mom who used her newborn as a bargaining chip to the officials to skip the ENTIRE line (while leaving her husband behind to fend for himself), our wait in the line ended up being pretty eventful. Since we were a bit behind schedule with the flight delay and long wait for the visa, we wasted no time finding our driver who took us straight to the Crowne Plaza Dead Sea Hotel (about a 45-minute drive). Since our time in this part of Jordan was short, the plan was to go to the Dead Sea before sunset for a quick dip/float. Since we arrived JUST as the sun was setting, we hijacked a golf cart down to the Dead Sea…only to find out we just missed the cut-off time 😦 So we had to settle for looking at it from afar.
Side note: All of the hotel websites say “sunset” (which was 7pm that day) but they really mean 6:30pm (insert big side eye here). Needless to say, we were disappointed that we wouldn’t be able to make it in that evening and decided to drink our troubles away instead! After a quick shower, we headed to dinner at Burj Al Hamam, one of the hotel’s restaurants. We treated ourselves to shisha, lamb chops, fried eggplant, and a shot of arak (a traditional alcoholic drink in the Middle East). Everything was delicious…except the arak shot which smelled and tasted like licorice (yuck!).
On our way back to our room after dinner, we passed a celebration that was TURNT ALL THE WAY UP! We couldn’t figure out if it was an engagement party or a wedding but was still tempted to crash. However, security was TIGHT so we had to settle for observing from afar.
After a good night’s rest, we were up bright and early to experience the Dead Sea. Since we didn’t get to float in it the day before and the hotel won’t let you go in before 9am, I had to think of a plan B (i.e., hire a private taxi to take us to the public part of the Dead Sea that wasn’t “owned” by any of the resorts). There was no way in hell that I was going to travel half way across the globe to the Dead Sea and not go in, especially when it was right under my nose! It was only about a 5-minute drive to the public part but it definitely looked MUCH different than the “private” part. You could tell that no one really cared after this part (which is probably why tourists never ventured here!). We parked as close as we could then trekked in the mud the rest of the way, almost losing a flip flop in the process as my feet felt like it was being sucked up by the mud with every step! Despite all of that, we made it to the water…which was FREEZING (not sure why I expected any different given that it was 5:30am)! And, then we spent the next 30 minutes trying to perfect a pose floating in the water but really managed to just look awkward the whole time.
Side note: I wouldn’t recommend getting any of the water in your mouth; been there, done that (by accident), and it was disgustingly salty. I guess I should’ve known better seeing as the Dead Sea is one of the saltiest bodies of water in the world with a salinity of about 34% (nearly ten times saltier than typical seawater). After finally mastering our “float”, we headed back to our hotel (muddy feet and all!).
After washing off our muddy feet in the hotel’s sketchy basement, we quickly showered, changed, grabbed a quick breakfast, and then met our taxi outside to head to the Jordan-Israel border. He literally dropped us off and then left; no directions on where to go or anything! So we just walked through what looked like an abandoned yard until we found what looked like a somewhat “official” building and just so happened upon the right one. After going in the border terminal (and still not knowing what to do), we gave our passports to a guy that passed it to another guy that was literally sitting right next to him on the other side of a “wall”.
We then bought the shuttle ticket for the bus that would actually take us across the border (note: we didn’t need to buy exit tax since we were coming back the same day). While we were initially told the bus outside was full, the stars aligned and there were actually exactly four open seats on that bus and were able to get on it (otherwise it could’ve been another 30 minutes until another shuttle came). The ride itself across the border via the King Hussein/Allenby Bridge was only about 20 minutes so we were in Israel in no time at all. When we got there, we had to go through security and customs (similar to an airport) and were asked a ton of random questions by the customs officer: who we were supposed to be meeting in Israel, what we were doing there, what our father’s names were, etc. (told you the questions were random!). After finally being granted access, we found our driver and guide for the day.
After a short drive through Palestine, we arrived at our first stop: the Mount of Olives, a mountain ridge east of and adjacent to Jerusalem’s Old City and used as a Jewish cemetery with over 150,000 graves. Totally gave me the heebie jeebies! On the up side, it provided a beautiful view of the city of Jerusalem below…until our guide broke the news to us that is where we would be WALKING. Why don’t they ever tell you these things up front in the itinerary? Sigh.
Next on the list for the day was the Church of Pater Noster where Jesus taught the disciples the Lord’s Prayer. While we weren’t able to enter and get an up close view (they closed early that day), it was still cool to see from afar the cloister that bears the Lord’s Prayer in 62 different languages.
From there, we continued walking along the traditional Palm Sunday route (downhill thankfully!) until we arrived at the Garden of Getsemane with its ancient olive trees. This site is most famous as the place where Jesus prayed and his disciples slept the night before his crucifixion.
Side note: the street that we were walking along was VERY narrow. So narrow that it should’ve been marked a one way street…but it wasn’t and we got to see what happened if two cars just so happened to be coming in opposite directions at once (let’s just say one car had a very long drive in reverse back in the direction from which they came).
We then entered the Old City through the Dung Gate to visit the Wailing Wall (also known as the Western Wall). From here we could see the Haram Al Sharif (“the Noble Sanctuary”) with the Al-Aqsa Mosque (the third holiest site in Islam) and the Dome of the Rock (Jerusalem’s most recognizable landmark). Continuing along, we walked the Via Dolorosa, a street within the Old City of Jerusalem with the Stations of the Cross that is believed to be the path that Jesus walked on the way to his crucifixion. With some stations smack dab in the middle of a market selling local food and souvenirs, it was a bit challenging to get to all of the stations but we managed to see as much as we could…and was also able to try some local Israeli treats along the way!
Finally, we arrived at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where Jesus was crucified and buried, and then rose again. When we entered the church, we could barely move. It was SO crowded. I almost forgot that it was actually Palm Sunday itself but seeing the crowd smacked me firmly back into reality. Since we were so close, we decided to wait out the various processions in different languages and tons of burning of incense. What is the worst that could happen, right? Well, what we didn’t expected was A LOT of pushing and shoving, and people giving us sob stories to try and get in front of us (our guide had skills so we were the first ones in the line to see the tomb). After the processions finally finished, they opened back up the door to enter the tomb. While the experience was extremely spiritual, it felt very rushed (no photographs were allowed inside but I happened to snap a couple…praying I don’t go to hell for that!). We literally had less than a minute inside and when we exited, it was easy to realize why: there were hoards of people waiting to get in. Our guide mentioned that people stood on line the entire day just to go inside for a second. I was definitely thanking my lucky stars in that moment that our guide hooked us up with a spot in the front!
We were definitely ready to go after that so after taking a few last photos, we left Jerusalem and headed to Bethlehem (by car thankfully!). Since we were starving, we first stopped at a local spot for lunch where we had chicken two ways, garlic, hummus, tahini, pickled veggies, falafel, and pita bread. We also tried a bit of strong Israeli coffee which was quite terrible.
We then headed to explore the various churches and chapels in the Church of the Nativity compound, including the silver star marking the place where Jesus was born. There was another long line here again but again, our tour guide knew everyone, including the police officer standing guard, so we were able to get to the front of the line rather quickly.
Along the way out of the compound, we noticed three boys following us and quickly identified them as potential pickpocketers. Our guide (being the overprotective dad type that he was) shooed them away 🙂
The final stop (which wasn’t on the itinerary) was our guide’s brother’s souvenir shop (side note: you’ll notice this “theme” of unscheduled stops to random souvenir shops throughout our trip). After a bit of browsing, we headed back to the border where getting back was just as confusing and disorganized as getting across was the first time. We had to wait a good hour or so for the “tourist bus” (we almost got on the Palestine bus by accident because there were no signs differentiating the two). When we finally arrived back in Jordan, we found our ride that would take us to on the 4-hour ride to Wadi Musa near Petra.
By the time we arrived in Wadi Musa, it was almost 11pm and we were tired, hungry, and in need of a good drink. We checked into the Tetra Tree Hotel but found out the 24 hour room service was closed because the guy in charge of it went home (insert big side eye here). After hearing that there wasn’t many food options that was open late, we got into a taxi and went to The Cave Bar (the oldest bar in the world occupying a 2000-year-old Nabataean rock tomb) which said they served food and drinks until midnight. Of course when we arrived, they too had stopped serving food so we decided to use alcohol as a surrogate for food 🙂 We all got a couple of drinks including sambuca shots and spent the next hour dancing and drinking to escape the hunger!
The next morning we were still a bit tired and now ALOT hungover (this is what we get for drinking on an empty stomach!), but dragged ourselves out of bed to grab some omelettes in the hotel (gotta love free breakfast!). Despite my hangover, I was pretty excited for the day because we were going to Petra, one of the new seven World Wonders! I had seen tons of pictures but couldn’t wait to see it up close. Once our taxi arrived with our guide promptly at 7:30am, we were at Petra in no time as our hotel was only 5 minutes away. Armed with our map and our entrance tickets, we were ready to explore the more than two thousand year old World Heritage site….or so we thought. The one thing that all of my research didn’t prepare me for was the LONG walk. Good grief! We’ll get to that part later though.
Our entrance ticket included a “complimentary” horse ride but one thing they don’t tell you is that you have to tip them, so we decided against it. Upon entering the ancient city, we crossed Bab Al-Siq, the gateway to the gorge that leads into the city. We then passed the Obelisk Tomb, which the Nabataeans carved in the first century AD (talk about ancient history!). Next up was the dam they built to divert the flash floods of Wadi Musa from the Siq to Wadi Al Mudhlim and Wadi Al Mataha. All of that was BEFORE we actually officially arrived into the city of Petra and let me tell you, it was no short walk!
Leading us into Petra was the Siq, a narrow gorge that resulted from the natural splitting of the mountain. It definitely serves as a dramatic entrance into Petra.
After we finally arrived in Petra, it was walking, walking, and more walking!
After what seemed like forever, we finally made it to Petra’s most well-known structure, the Treasury or Al Khazna which rises to almost 40 meters high (over 130 feet!). While no one knows exactly what the purpose of the Treasury was used for, it is believe to be the mausoleum of Nabataean King Aretas IV…shrug. Either way, it was a sight to behold.
For some reason I thought we were at the end (probably because the Treasury is mainly what folks take pics of when they come to Petra), but in reality, we were only halfway! Next on the route journey was the Theatre which was carved into the side of the mountain at the foot of the High Place of Sacrifice and could accommodate 4,000 spectators back in the day. Along the route, we saw a White woman selling some books at a little shop and of course was intrigued since we had yet to see any White locals. It so happened that she was married to a Bedouin man for decades and had written a book based upon her life. Needless to say we were all fascinated by her story and bought a book.
From there we walked to the Royal Tombs, the name given to the four adjoining facades on the right side at the end of the central route through the city: the Urn Tomb, the Silk Tomb, the Corinthian Tomb, and the Palace Monument. This was pretty cool because we were able to go inside.
Now I have to be honest, I can go on writing about other monuments along the main Petra trail (the Nymphaeum, the Church, the Colonnaded Street, the Great Temple, and Qasr Al-Bint: all of which were located further into Petra) BUT we never made it to see any of them. By the time we reached the Royal Tombs, we were hot, tired, hungry, and dirty. After confirming with our guide that there was no secret car or magic carpet waiting at the end of the trail to quickly transport us back to the beginning of the route, the girls and I began the long journey back…but now in the blazing sun.
While the walk back could’ve been quite miserable, there were some interesting occurrences that made it that much more eventful. 1) There were hoards of young Arab girls every few feet that kept staring at us and waving hi to us and asking to take pics with them. And of course, we were so perplexed that we didn’t even think to get a copy with our own cameras! 2) We stopped at a small shop to grab some water and the owner started talking to us about when Obama came to Petra and showed us the photo…and then proceeded to ask for Jessica’s hand in marriage in exchange for five camels. 3) Women selling their wares in the nooks and crannies of the mountains would yell “Blue Light Special” to try and entice us to check out what they were selling (reminiscent of K-Mart) which we found hilarious.
On a serious note: throughout the city of Petra, we saw tons of small children selling jewelry and other handmade crafts but were told by our guide not to purchase anything. While we were a bit perplexed, he explained that it would only perpetuate them NOT going to school doing more harm than good in the long run. Though heartbreaking, we understood and respected the reasoning.
After we finally made our way back to the entrance (praise Jesus!), we ate lunch at a restaurant right outside Petra then met our taxi for a quick pitstop at the hotel to pick up our luggage and then take us to our next adventure: Wadi Rum (also known as the Valley of the Moon due to its moon-like landscape)! Only about an hour and a half away from Petra, it was the ideal way to extend our exploration of the desert. When we finally arrived in Wadi Rum, we transferred to an open air jeep that would take us bumping around the open desert for the next two hours. Good thing I had my scarf because it was WINDY…but so exhilarating (there were definitely a few times I thought I was going to fall out!). Famous for the filming location of several movies, most notably Lawrence of Arabia and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (among others) we made several stops along the way to take pictures and explore.
Afterwards, we arrived at our campsite and was shown to our tent. Side note: in doing some research, there actually are some tour companies that offer “glamping” options in luxurious bubble tents where you can gaze up at the stars…we were on a tight schedule so didn’t fit that in. Instead, we opted for a “basic” room, especially since we would only be there for a few hours (much cheaper!).
Part of the reason I wanted to visit Wadi Rum is because the sunsets here are supposed to be AMAZING (what could be better than watching the sun set surrounded by hundreds of miles of desert? Maybe a beach, but I digress). Too bad my five minute nap turned into an hour long snooze, with me awaking just as the sun went down 😦 I did manage to catch some pictures with the moon though.
By this time, we were ready for our traditional Bedouin tea and BBQ. Called Zarb, Bedouin barbecue is cooked underground in earth ovens for a couple of hours. There was a variety of potatoes, vegetables, and meats, and the aromatic fragrances that immediately hit your nostrils as they pulled it from the earth worked up our appetite and didn’t disappoint!
Since we had some time between dinner and our 11pm pick up to the airport, I had pre-arranged for us to go on a night hike. Although we were a bit nervous to go on a hike in the middle of the desert with only our guide’s small headlamp lighting our way, our fears soon dissipated once our guide started telling crazy stories about his life as a Bedouin. After building a fire from some branches he found and preparing more tea, we gathered around and listened to his stories. From showing us pictures on social media of his camels that he races; to describing to us about how he hasn’t brushed his teeth in two years and uses oil on his gums; to him telling us he is waiting for all of his teeth to fall out so he can get veneers specially made in Egypt, our guide was full of stories…many of which we couldn’t tell were true or not but just made it that more amusing! He also smoked like a chimney and literally went through an entire pack of cigarettes in the less than 2-hour hike.
Before we knew it, it was time to pack up and head to the airport. It was a three hour drive from Wadi Rum to Amman so we caught up on some well needed sleep. After a pretty smooth check-in (or so we thought), we boarded our 1 1/2 hour flight to Cairo. Side note: don’t expect to get any restful sleep on the flight because the flight attendants have no shame about waking you up for EVERYTHING…for breakfast, to give you customs form, making random announcements…the list goes on and on.
We met a representative from Luxor For You (which was the company I used to execute my vision for the Egyptian portion of the trip) BUT when we went to get our luggage from baggage claim, it wasn’t there. Confused, our rep tracked down everyone who worked at the airport to locate our luggage only to eventually find out that they sent it directly to Aswan! Long story short, it seems here that you have to tell them NOT to do that (even though it shouldn’t have happened since this was booked as a multi-city trip and not a layover). Anyway, since there was nothing we could do about it then, we made the best of the situation. Luckily, we were able to check into our hotel (the Mena House Hotel) early to freshen up (now you see why I always recommend keeping an extra pair of underwear in your purse). The hotel itself as well as the grounds were breathtaking and the cherry on top was that it had a great view of the pyramid in the background!
Since we only had one day in Cairo and we lost some time looking for our luggage at the airport, we had to hit the ground running. Our first stop was the Great Pyramid of Giza: the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza pyramid complex, and the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World to remain largely intact. I have yet to meet anyone who doesn’t have this place on their bucket list and for good reason. It was simply breath-taking in person. The pictures do not do its size justice and I could not believe my eyes on how massive it was. We were allowed to walk up a bit of the way up the pyramid and then walked some distance for a different viewpoint. There, we could ride a camel or horse buggy to get pictures with the pyramids in the background. Side note: the locals will try to persuade you to ride the camel so that you can see 9 pyramids instead of 6 pyramids in the background (which is more expensive and takes longer) BUT the “extra” pyramids are really not worth it. They really just look like a pile of rocks and even though we opted for the 6 pyramid option, we barely saw THOSE pyramids in our photos!
We then made our way over to the Great Sphinx which was just a short walk from the pyramids. Gazing up at (and stealing a smooch from) the immense limestone sculpture with the body of a lion and the head of a human, I wanted to pinch myself that I was really seeing these ancient monuments firsthand. You read about them in school and hear about them from travelers who already ventured there, but nothing beats the feeling of being able to see it for yourself.
After we had our fill there, we thought we were headed to the bazaar but little did we know that the tour was going to veer from the itinerary and make an unscheduled stop (which would be the first of many throughout the trip unfortunately!) Not knowing that this was a “thing” they do to tourists to get them to buy a bunch of unnecessary stuff they don’t need, we begrudgingly visited the papyrus shop. And of course, after seeing a demonstration of how they make papyrus and the hieroglyphics alphabet, we all wanted to purchase some custom papyrus to take home. Side note: it is customary for them to offer you tea (typically hibiscus) which out of respect, we took but beware! I swear they put something in that tea to make us buy their products at every unscheduled stop!
By the time we left (more knowledgeable about papyrus but lighter in our pockets), we were famished and of course our guide had “just the place” we should go for our lunch. Although the food wasn’t as good as we expected it to be by far, the great view of the pyramids while we ate made up for it (somewhat).
Next on the docket was the Khan El-Khalili bazaar (a major souk in the heart of Cairo selling souvenirs, antiques, and jewelry) where we planned to do a bit of shopping but unfortunately, didn’t see much of anything but pushy folks.
Up next was the Egyptian museum…but before we could get there, we had to get through a TON of traffic. If you thought rush hour traffic in New York was bad, Cairo is no joke (with worst drivers on top of it)!
So we did what anyone else would do when they are stuck in never ending traffic.. SLEEP!
When we finally did arrive, it was incredible to see all of the ancient artifacts, tombs, and mummies. We went from exhibit to exhibit in awe, beaming at all of the ancient objects. There was a separate room for the royal mummies (appropriately named “the Royal Mummies room”) which we had to pay a separate fee for (100LE) but I’m glad we splurged and did it. It was amazing to see how well preserved their bodies were. This was the first of many rooms where no pics were allowed (but we somehow managed a quick pic without the eagle eyed guards looking). Afterwards, we went into a gated room where some of King Tut’s treasures were being kept (so they say). Aside from being able to look at the assortment of Egyptian artifacts steeped in ancient history, the most interesting part of this trip to the Egyptian museum was…our petite tour guide nearly coming to blows with an Eastern European tourist nearly three times his size. Long story short, the tourist was taking way too long trying to take pics of his granddaughter in front of this one exhibit that I wanted to get a quick pic in front of. Although I was willing to wait, our tour guide wasn’t having it and “politely” told the tourists to give us a turn. Well that escalated quickly and turned into me calling over a “police officer” (which I later found out was just another tour guide…whoops!) to arbitrate. Thankfully, he just walked away but needless to say, it definitely made the trip to the museum more eventful!
After an eventful day in Cairo, we decided to keep it low key and just have dinner al fresco at 139 Terrace with the view of the pyramids in the background (at the hotel). While the service was absolutely dreadful, again the magnificent view of the pyramids in the background sort of made up for the sub par service. Below is a picture of someone else’s food they accidentally brought us and then swiftly took away (after we already started to dig in).
After a restful evening (albeit in clothes we’d been wearing for two whole days), we left the hotel early since we had a mid-morning flight to Aswan. Good thing we gave ourselves plenty of time because we had to go through about 3 rounds of security at the airport (which I found interesting since comparatively, it makes the security in the U.S. look like child’s play). We also had to take several stairs and elevators to get to our very confusingly located gate. There were hundreds of people looking for their own gate and there was no clear way to know which gate was ours (the TV screens showed 10 different flights above each gate). It was an extremely short flight to Aswan but then because we didn’t get our bags in Cairo, we had to figure out where our bags were. Long story short, after lots of confusion and talking to several people that didn’t understand a word we were saying, we figured out that our bags were in the international terminal (while we were waiting for them in the domestic terminal).
After we finally got that sorted (and quickly washed up and changed in the bathroom), we met our tour guide outside and headed to our first stop of the day: the Aswan High Dam. At 11,811 feet long, 3,215 feet thick at the base, and 364 feet tall, it provides irrigation and electricity for the whole of Egypt (talk about impressive!). And, from the top of the High Dam, we were able to gaze across Lake Nassar.
By the way, Aswan was incredibly HOT. That day, the temperature was about 103 degrees. I’ve never felt more thankful for air conditioning in my life!
Anyway, the next stop was the temples of Philae on Agilika Island for the Goddess Isis. A little about Isis: Isis is a very important figure in Egyptian history and typically is associated with funeral rites, but also known as the giver of life, a healer, and protector of kings. She was known as ‘Mother of God’ and was represented with a throne on her head.
Since the temple is on an island, we had to take a little boat across and of course there was someone selling jewelry on the boat. (You gotta respect the hustle game in Egypt!). I bought a beautiful necklace for $1.
When we got to the island, we walked around looking at the ancient structures while our guide gave us a full out history lesson (but way more interested than anything I’d ever learned in school!). The temple at Philae was nearly lost under water when the high Aswan dam was built in the 1960s. Fortunately, the temple was rescued and the whole island was surrounded with a dam and the inside pumped dry. Then, every stone block of the temple complex was labelled and removed later to be assembled on the higher ground of Agilka island (all of which took a whopping ten years from start to finish!).
After we took a boat back across the river, we thought we were headed to the cruise ship for the beginning of our Nile River cruise BUT of course we made a side stop to an aromatherapy shop (which was not on the itinerary). And of course, we bought more crap that we didn’t need… AGAIN.
Finally, we made it to the cruise ship and I was pleasantly surprised by how nice it was because every time I emailed the tour operator asking to see pictures, he wouldn’t send any! Based on that, I was pretty skeptical of what the boat would look like (especially since it was only $200/person for 3 days/2 nights). Side note: I found out later that the reason it was difficult to send pictures was because the actual ship schedule doesn’t get finalized until a couple days before it departs, so the tour operator actually didn’t know (side eye to me).
After we checked in, we relaxed for a bit and then enjoyed a buffet style lunch. We went up on the deck for a drink but quickly came back down as it was still over 100 degrees outside. We instead bought a Wifi card and caught up on emails, text messages, and voicemails before dinner. The food on the ship was bountiful and pretty decent but typical cruise fare. We thought about heading out after dinner but opted not to.
The next morning Candra woke up not feeling well. After several trips to the bathroom, we looked up her symptoms (gotta love the Internet) and deduced that she had Pharoah’s Revenge (similar to Montezuma’s Revenge that many experience when they go to Mexico or other Central American countries). While I brought Imodium with me, we read it wouldn’t work (and it didn’t) so thankfully the boat had something called Antinal (some special Egyptian medicine which is supposed to be the only thing that would alleviate the symptoms) and it did (yay!).
Our first stop of the day was Kom Ombo temple, a double temple that was unique because its ‘double’ design meant that there were courts, halls, sanctuaries and rooms duplicated for two sets of gods. The southern half of the temple was dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek, god of fertility and one of the supposed creators of the world. The northern part of the temple was dedicated to the falcon god Horus the Elder. There is also a Crocodile Museum that we went into that displayed a few of the crocodile mummies that were found in the vicinity.
After that, we went back on the boat and sailed to Edfu. One of the items on my “bucket list” has always been to take a Nile River cruise and I thoroughly enjoyed just gazing out the window soaking up the experience.
Thankfully, it didn’t take long to get to Edfu (it doesn’t take long for me to get tired of being on a cruise ship). There we disembarked to a horse and carriage that was waiting to take us to the Temple of Horus.
Safeguarded by desert sand, the temple is one of the best-preserved ancient monument in Egypt. It was fascinating to hear our tour guide’s retelling of the ancient stories the hieroglyphics depicted throughout the temple and it was hard not to be transported back in time.
After side stepping another round of hagglers when we were finished with the temple, we headed back to the boat and got ready for dinner which was going to be followed by the galabeya, a party with dancing and games. Decked out in our traditional grab, we had an unforgettable time dancing, playing games with our fellow cruisers, and making new friends, including a family from Chicago that also got duped into buying a bunch of unnecessary trinkets and a sweet 10 year old girl who was the life of the party and got me on the dance floor!
On our final day of the river cruise, we arrived in Luxor and met our guide at 7am for our tour. We first explored the West Bank where our first stop was the Colossi statues of Memnon, two massive stone structures of Pharaoh Amenhotep III.
Next, we headed to the Valley of the Kings where rock cut tombs were excavated for the pharaohs and powerful nobles. We weren’t able to get many pictures because it isn’t allowed though I did manage to sneak one…and this time got caught and almost ended up in tomb jail! Ok, not really but I did get a stern lecture from one of the guards.
We then took a trolley to see three more tombs (note: they don’t take US dollars) and this time I was good and didn’t take any pictures inside 🙂 You have to pay for a separate ticket to enter the tomb of King Tut, but since we had already seen all of his treasures at the Egyptian museum in Cairo, we decided to pass.
At this point, we thought we were finished with exploring the West Bank in Luxor but of course not before we made yet another unscheduled stop. This time it was to an alabaster shop and while the items were beautifully made, we resisted the temptation to buy anything (though I did have my eye on a vase).
Our last stop on the West Bank was the Mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut, the second historically confirmed female pharaoh. It was fascinating to hear her story: marrying her half-brother, wanting to be depicted as male in structures, and undertaking the construction of buildings like the Deir el-Bahri, considered one of the architectural wonders of ancient Egypt (gotta love girl power!).
We definitely had worked up an appetite at this point so made a quick lunch stop for some Egyptian pizza. Although it didn’t taste exactly what you would expect from a pizza, it was delicious.
After lunch, we headed to the East Bank of Luxor where we saw the Karnak Temples, the largest temple in Egypt. The open-air temple was an array of temples, chapels, pylons, and other buildings. Although Hatshepsut had renovated the main sanctuary at Karnak, her stepson (and successor) Thutmose III ordered the destruction of images of the female pharaoh when he came into the throne.
I don’t know why I didn’t expect the walk to be long but given that this is the largest temple in Egypt and maybe even the world, I should’ve known better. Needless to say my feet were on fire by the time we finished exploring. We had a LONG car ride ahead of us to Hurghada (a beautiful coastal city by the Red Sea about four hours from Luxor) so we were trying to leave plenty of time for the long drive. Of course by the time we grabbed our luggage off the boat, paid our tour operator, and made a couple other random stops, it was well after 6pm and approaching sunset. And to make up some time, the driver drove like a crazy man the ENTIRE way but thankfully, we made it to the Baron Palace Sahl Hasheesh in one piece. We checked in, ordered room service, and then passed out because we were all exhausted.
It was pitch black when we arrived the night before so we didn’t get a good look at the hotel, but the next morning we were able to fully take in the full beauty of the luxurious six star hotel. Between the luscious landscape, white sandy beaches, and elegant decor, it was the perfect oasis of tranquility that we needed after a jam-packed trip!
After enjoying a sumptuous buffet breakfast outside, we took a taxi to the marina for our private speedboat tour. Poor Candra opted to sit out this excursion since she was starting to feel symptoms of the Pharaoh’s Revenge again 😦 Since it was a private tour, we were able to veer a bit off of the original itinerary with our captain and honestly, I can’t remember if we went to Giftun Island, Magawish Island, or Abu Minqar Island but since it was a bit nippy out, we didn’t do any snorkeling. Instead, we docked and spent some time just relaxing on the beach, admiring the abundance of jellyfish and crabs, and finding pumice stones (who needs a pedicure when you can do it yourself on the beach!).
Afterwards, we met back up with Candra at the hotel and then “chill-axed” (combination of chilled and relaxed) at the hotel pool.
We had dinner at Ying & Yang, an Asian-themed restaurant on the hotel property. We were all bit tired of Middle Eastern food at this point so the Asian-inspired cuisine was a welcome change. Our flight was at 6am the next morning so we had an early night.
The flight the next day was relatively uneventful but the trip was full of so much adventure, history, and wonder, that I think we were ok with that!
Our trip in a nutshell:
This was us in the beginning of the trip 🙂
And then this was us at the end of the trip 😦
Though these countries appear to be pretty cheap, it sure does add up after awhile, especially when there is a fee for EVERYTHING! We needed tickets for damn near all of the tombs, museums, and main tourist sites. Although many of the tickets were included in our tour, here is a breakdown of SOME of the fees we paid (1 US dollar = ~17 LE or Egyptian pounds):
- The Royal Mummies Hall (100 LE)
- Giza Pyramids (80 LE)
- The Valley of the Kings (100 LE)
- Egyptian Museum (75 LE)
- Kom Ombo Temple & Crocodile Museum (50 LE)
- Ministry of Water Resources & Irrigation (Visit to High Dam Site in Aswan) (20 LE)
- Luxor Temple (60 LE)
- Edfu Temple (60 LE)
- Al-Deir Al-Bahari Temple (50 LE)
- Petra (50 JD)
- Karnak Temple (80 LE)
- Philae Temple (60 LE)
Final note: bring lots of money!
Toya's Travels 