Leo_A

We had the last flight from Cairo to Luxor and tipped our driver and guide goodbye, the way it works with Djed is that there is a city lead and he welcomes you and sees to your departure at the airport he does not accompany you on the actual site seeing which is done by the guide and driver only. The city lead for Cairo (a very polite man) accompanied us till after the security check (they let non passengers in apparently, but he showed his tourism credentials) and even explained where the gates were and no doubt would have accompanied us to them if they were not so far away. I was not sure if we were to tip him as well since it is a country that apparently runs on tips, but refrained thinking it would be a mistake. The tip for a driver is LE 50 per day per couple or person in larger groups and for guides it is LE 100 this is as per Djed it self. And this was when 1 dollar got you LE 8.8, since I’ve started this report the exchange rate has changed and now the dollar gets you more (LE 13). We tipped throughout a higher than the LE 50-100 guideline though our Cairo guide would have gotten some sort of cut from all the shopping we did.
The much dreaded flight on Egyptair finally had come, the terminal for Egypt air is cleaner, newer and less crowded than the one used for other airlines and we had to wait a bit before we could board as we were early. Soon enough we had around 80 other folks – a small plane full of people, mostly tourists but a few locals as well. We had another round of checking – this time more thorough and got on the plane. Thankfully there was not even turbulence during the one hour or so flight, thankfully as I was already anxious on the safety record of this airline. I think overall they did well, it was clean. Obviously a small plane and short haul so nothing major even in-flight entertainment. We just got some fruit juices and biscuits I guess. Soon enough we were descending into Luxor, ancient Thebes which once had a thousand gates.
We were met at the airport by the Djed city lead for Luxor who quickly led us to the mini bus and on our way to the hotel. We quickly reached and checked into our room. I always think the hotel you chose has a lot of influence on the kind of vacation you have, note that I say vacation. If you are busy running around from building to building and staying out till sun rise, you may not need a luxury hotel as you are hardly there. Having left Cairo I think the overall feeling just got lighter. Luxor is a smaller and less crowded city for one; it doesn’t have the miles and miles of traffic. Second our hotel was by the river and right next to the Luxor temple which was still illuminated as we arrived, so excellent location. The Sofitel Pavilion Winter which is the modern extension of the Winter Palace hotel is a very excellent place. What we loved most was that it has a lovely garden which it shares with the Winter Palace, just the sight of lots of lawns and trees has a calming relaxing effect I think.

Our guide in Cairo loved to tell us that Egypt's population was 90 million of which 20 million was in Cairo (I wasn’t sure if he was shocked by that or proud of it) Luxor by contrast just has half a million people so it seems to be less weighed down. In keeping with this relaxed vibe our site seeing the next day was to start only at 3pm so we had the whole morning and afternoon to laze and relax which we always look forward to. The reason for this late start? The noon time heat at Luxor at least in October is not the best time to wander around among ruins so we were given a chance to start early and end before noon or start at 3pm and end by 6pm, we obviously chose the second as it gave us more rest, plus the temple of Luxor is lit up in the evenings and we wanted to experience it.

tripplanner001

Still following along with you...

julies

We too have thought about visiting Egypt soon, so I am very interested to hear about your trip to Egypt (and Petra too).

christabir

I am planning a possible trip to Egypt in January (yes, in two months). This is helpful. Did you take an overnight train on any of your legs or all flying?

We are planning to stay Giza, fly/train Aswan, three day Nile cruise (not a felucca), Luxor, fly/train Cairo, day trip Alexandria or golf, fly home. Similar trip, less luxury. Private guides throughout. We only have 10 days and a tight budget. Yay for frequent flyer miles.

welltraveledbrit

I agree the garden is very nice behind the Winter Palace in Luxor.
We were trying to balance luxury with value and opted for the Winter Pavilion in Luxor. It was a great value and enabled us to afford the fabulous Sofitel in Aswan which I loved.

Christabir - there's lots on Egypt on my blog which may be helpful. Personally I think Alexandria for a day would be exhausting. I love the city because my parents lived there for several years when I was a child but it's a long way to go for an overnight never mind a day trip. You'll get a lot of value in Egypt whether you opt for less luxury or not .

Thrill 22 & Julies -we loved our trip!

Marija

Thanks for writing. Still thinking about Egypt.

Leo_A

Thanks Tripplanner001 Julies, Marija & welltraveledbrit - your encouragement goes a long way.

Christabir - overnight trains are best between Luxor and Aswan or Cairo & Luxor, we flew all times to save on travel time. You can take an overnight train as other commentators have done - they seem to be clean and on time.

I agree with welltraveledbrit that including Alexandria may be exhausting - the sites there are lesser compared to Cairo, Luxor etc hence we did not include it in our itinerary

Egypt with the current currency devaluation and low number of tourists is excellent in terms of price, you can mix in luxury and yet stay within budget.

Leo_A

We got up really late the next day – the first time in Egypt and had Lunch at the pool, it is surrounded by palm trees so looks very exotic and under the Hot Egyptian sun the pool looks oh so very tempting. Promptly at 3pm our Luxor guide and driver turned up. We drove down to the Karnak temple which is the largest temple space in Egypt and was once upon a time the most sacred place in these lands for over a thousand years. So sacred was this temple that normal folks did not have entry to most of it and only priests and aristocrats could visit some of it and the holies of the holies were only for the high priests and the king. Our guide informed us that so sacred were the images of Egyptian gods and goddesses carved on the wall that when aristocrats were allowed in to some spaces, the priests would cover these images with a cloth in a frame nailed onto the wall so that their common eyes did not defile the images. The visitor center at the beginning of the temple has pictures of how Karnak looked over a 100 years ago, a lot of what we see is restored. A lot of things have also been removed, either to museums or private collections, so there are also gaps in what exists. The Hipostyle hall for example had been severely damaged in an earth quake with the pillars having toppled over and they have been painstakingly put back in place. Years of flooding had also deposited layers of silt at the site which has now been removed but this helped in some cases in preserving the carvings it covered. The site starts with Pylons or gates – the size of these are amazing and the guide explained that they were built with the help of a huge mud brick scaffold some of which was never removed from the base of the Pylons. Immediately after the Pylons are a row of ram headed sphinx still mostly intact they were earlier more in number but over successive years one of the kings had built some other structure over some of them. This site has been built, remodeled and rebuilt by at least 30 kings over a long period of time each one trying to leave her or his imprint on the sacred temple. All around this area are small side temples and shrines dedicated by some King or other to the sun god, this whole area is dedicated to the worship of this god. On the walls of all of these temples are kings being blessed by gods or offering things to goddesses. There is a second Pylon post which is the huge Hipostyle hall with over 160 huge pillars soaring skyhigh, each so wide that only nine or more people hand to hand could form a circle around them. After this is a smaller court yard where the Obelisk built by Hatshepsut is located, originally there were four of these but only one stands now. Lastly is the oldest part of the temple, the alter of Amun where the gods image was kept year round, apparently it was placed on a model of a barge/boat and during a specific time of the year the boat of Amun along with that of his wife and son would be carried in great ceremony by high priests out of Karnak to Luxor temple where he would reside for around 3 weeks. This was one of the big festivals of the temple and had huge crowds of celebrants which included the king. I could imagine this as the guide described it, a huge golden barge with the gods image being carried by chanting white robed priests among cheering and awestruck crowds, heading from among the incense filled pillars towards the row of sphinx which led to Luxor temple. Imagine my surprise when I learnt that originally this whole temple also had paintings over the carved images and heliographics. The whole structure would be spectacular with all those painted deities. The paint is still visible at the top of the pillars and the roof where ever it still exits. This whole structure is an open air museum with so many carvings. Some folks compare this with Angkor Wat which I have also visited and think is an unfair comparison. Angkor is newer and one solid building built by one king where as Karnak is thousands of years older and built by multiple people and scattered all over. Only the areas dedicated to the sun god are open to tourists, there are smaller areas to two other gods/goddesses which are closed. We spent around two hours taking pictures, looking at all the carvings, there would have been around 30-40 tourist all over the site. It never felt crowded, the Hipostyle hall had more people naturally but they moved on and it was soon empty for people who wanted to take pictures and just sit among the pillars. From here we went to the Luxor temple next which was besides the Winter Palace. This is the temple where the images of Amun and his wife were carried to in ancient times, to the side of the entrance is the avenue of sphinx which stretches all the way to Karnak. There are huge statues of Ramses 2 at the entrance right in front of the Pylon or massive gate to the temple. There is also one Obelisk though the second one has been removed to Paris I guess. There is a huge pillared corridor which leads again to the main temple, multiple shrines exist again with the stories the pharaohs carved onto them. One common story our guide pointed out was how the king would show that his father was the sun god Amun, there being carvings of his mother and the sun god besides each other then followed by a carving of the king being born and then lastly an image of the king being fed by a goddess symbolizing he was among the gods. A lot of carvings also centered on war, the ancient Egyptians what ever else they did (like playing harps, singing songs, painting and building pyramids) were also a warlike kingdom, they survived and thrived by being able to protect themselves and also attacking neighbor states. Every king wanted to show off how he had defeated enemies and images of kings holding captives ready to strike them with a sickle are common. The enemies in this case being Syrians (bearded) and Nubians (thick lips) - ancient cases of racial profiling. One practice we noticed on the walls was the amputation of the right arm of captured prisoners – a count of right arms in each war was kept apparently and it also served the purpose that the captive would not be able to fight again with his sword hand gone. These were all propaganda carvings – meant to impress on the common folk and aristocracy the message that the king was divine and all powerful – winning great wars against enemies in far off places. There were numerous shrines at the end of the temple one for Alexander the great who conquered Egypt but never made it this far south. Also statues and a shine made by the romans later when they had appeared on the scene. Apparently they had fortified this temple and disallowed Egyptian worship replacing it with their own gods etc. Later on there apparently was even a Coptic church in the temple. A lot of the carvings and statues had been defaced – by intolerant Copts in the later ages. One striking feature of the Luxor temple is the mosque right after the entrance Pylon. As stated earlier the ground of the temple was covered with silt so the mosque is on the first floor – appearing suddenly half way up the temple with no ground floor (it is on top of the ancient structure) with a minaret etc. In the nineteenth century the whole temple had been occupied by houses and shops built over the silt. The government had managed to clear all other residents from the area before clearing the silt. All except for the mosque which may need a lot of political will to move.

As dusk approached the lights came on, the authorities have very cleverly lit the pillars and statues from the floor up. The many halls and pillars all look beautifully golden in the light as do the statues of Ramses. The tourists from Karnak also transfer to Luxor temple now and the place fills up (around 50 people when we were there). It is really a very beautiful sight and one that is visible from the road. Luxor temple has many halls with numerous pillars and they are all lit up to look golden in the night.

We walked back to the winter palace now – just a five minute walk. We had room service as strangely all the restaurants at the Winter palace save one is closed for the night (they are mostly functional at lunch time). I kept ordering what was supposed to be a staple food of the Egyptians – chicken or lamb done three ways, a kebab, a meat ball or kofta and grilled. This came with a side of steamed rice, vegetables and surprisingly French fries. We also loved the breakfasts we had had so far – especially the dates; the ones we had been used to so far were the dried or sticky types. What we got at breakfast was a not so sticky nor dry version of the dates, moist, yet slightly dry and very delicious. We also had fresh dates – I had no idea they were so sweet when not dried. Another favorite was the hibiscus drink – basically sugar water with hibiscus flavoring, it tasted good and sounded exotic. The service at the winter palace was way better than the earlier hotel – thankfully. At the Mercure I could have turned up all dressed up as Tutunkhamen’s grandmother and no one would bat an eye lid nor would they lift a finger to help in anyways – no help no matter who or what you are. Here if I got a hoop the staff would have proceeded to jump through it if I so wished. May be even in formation like Olympic synchronized swimmers. They just fell over each other to fulfill any wish, this made for a very pleasant change for sure.

tripplanner001

Thank you for your detailed descriptions of your experiences to Luxor and Karnak temples. These are the types of places that I would very much enjoy. Until I make it there someday, you helped bring it to life for me.

Leo_A

The next day was to be the heaviest in terms of site seeing. We had agreed before the guide left us at the hotel to start early so by 8am we were at the entrance. We wanted to look at the river and walk around a bit as we waited so we tried to cross the road (almost empty) and the hotel guard came over to see if we were ok and needed any help. We assured him we were waiting for our guide and just wanted to look at the river – he still took down our room number and stood near by till the guide arrived. We were crossing the river today to the necropolis or tombs which were always on the west bank, the temples and dwelling including the now vanished palaces were all on this side of the Nile. The Egyptians clearly separated the living side from the side for the dead. We crossed over by motor boat as the mini bus would have taken 45 minutes and the guide wanted to get there before the crowds appeared. It was a short interesting ride, the whole river now visible had huge cruise ships – some of them in disuse and just moored to the river bank till busier days arrived. The water was lovely – bluer and cleaner looking than it had been in Cairo. Our mini bus was already on the other side and we were at the visitor center for the valley of the Kings in 5 minutes. There is a small train which takes visitors into the valley from the visitor center. The guide explained to us that there are only 3 tombs that a person could see in a day. Apart from the three we could pay extra for Tutankhamen’s tomb and also for Ramses 5 & 6’s combined tomb. Our guide suggested the tombs of Merneptah, Horemheb and Ramses 4, since my research on what tombs to see also suggested Horemheb and Ramses 4 we agreed. The tiny train took us into the valley where we could see a hill shaped like a pyramid – supposedly the reason this spot was chosen as burial place of the kings. The mapping of the valley of the kings is still being carried out today and the visitor center had a Japanese built model of the valley showing the various tombs and how deep they went into the hillside like rabbit burrows. After you get off the train the tickets are checked and there is a waiting area which is shaded and tourists sat here for a while before setting off to the tombs. Some of these tombs are further away from the entrance and it is a good walk in the hot sun to reach them. The guide told us about the tombs here as he would not be accompanying us as the guides are not allowed into the tombs. He also warned us not to take any pictures as there is a no pictures policy, even if the tomb guard offered to take them for us as this was a scam and the guard would later demand money or delete the pictures if he was dissatisfied with what was offered. The tombs go down into the ground, some of them at a very steep angle. The authorities have provided each tomb with wooden stairs and railings for people to hold onto. But they can’t really reduce the steepness of the way down. These tombs contained huge shafts to confuse robbers and collect water also false doors again to confuse the robbers. Some of these tombs had levels – you climb down to a level where either there was a rain shaft or a false door and then there would be a side stair leading down to another level where the burial chamber was. At the entrance of each tomb is a map showing how the tomb was arranged and if it had different levels, rooms etc . The guard for the tomb some times sat at the entrance or sometimes was in the stairway, he hardly checked our tickets just smiled and said welcome to Egypt. Going down was easy enough but coming back up was the hard part. The tomb of Merneptah was not so heavily decorated but it was deep inside the ground and he had a huge sarcophagus – it is a marvel they could bring it down that small passageway at such a steep angle. He was the successor of Ramses 2 who had died after a very long reign and after a lot of his sons had already died before him, so he was not a probable king until all those before him had died. The tombs of Horemheb and Ramses 4 were more heavily decorated. Horemhebs tomb is a study in how the painting was done, with scenes in various states of completion we could see how the drawing was done first, and then corrections made and then carving done followed by painting. Apparently Horemheb had died sooner than planned and they had no option to go ahead with a half completed tomb. Most tourists are brought to this tomb as it shows the progress of the paintings. Ramses 4’s tomb was very heavily decorated and very beautifully too. Apparently it has been open and visited for the last 2000 years by tourists and was a sort of guest house for some of them and even a place for monks to stay in the middle ages. Ramses 4 is supposed to be the inspiration behind the movie “the mummy returns” as he was murdered and his killers were put on trial and punished. There were places where graffiti by Copts and Greeks was visible over the paintings. The figures were from the book of the dead and other funerary texts of the Egyptians- scenes of the heart being weighed against a feather, the gods deciding on the fate of the person, the food and offerings the king was taking with him to the afterlife – on the roof were painted stars and the sky goddess stretching to show the arc of the sun as it rose and set every day. This was a very beautiful tomb very airy and well decorated. Since the tomb of Ramses 5 & 6 was also similar as per our guide we decided to get tickets for that tomb as well – so a short ride back to the visitor center and back again. If anything this tomb is a more wider with similarly painted roof and walls. In each tomb there had been around 4 to 5 other people mostly panting as they made their way back to the surface. Most people would collect at the waiting area which had close to a hundred people by now. This was the only place I saw babies and children of all ages as their parents had brought them along to visit the beautifully painted tombs. As one tired Swedish woman told me “It is a once in a life experience so it is worth it (the strenuous exercise)”. There was even an elderly man in a wheelchair at Ramses 5&6 tomb, the tombs are in no way friendly for a wheelchair, some of them have ramps but all of them have steps. The man had brought along men with him who lifted the whole wheelchair over the steps as needed so he could move ahead and see the tomb. The tombs themselves were not hot as they did not have too many people but the sun outside was hot and there is no shade other than the waiting area. We gave the tomb of Tutankhamen a miss – what ever we had read said it was too small and was not as well decorated, but for those who are interested the mummy of the king is still inside the tomb as it was too damaged to be moved. Ramses 5 apparently had a very short reign and his successor Ramses 6 took over his tomb and used it for himself hence it is called the tomb of both the kings as both their names are visible among the paintings. However only the sarcophagus of Ramses the 6 is in the tomb. These tombs are surely one the must see wonders of Egypt. We spent a lot of time relaxing after climbing out of each tomb so we did not feel exhausted in any way and we had carried along lots of water which was quickly finished. Water is a essential commodity in Egypt, surprisingly it was not provided in the hotels. All the hotels suggested against drinking tap water as it was not safe so you are heavily dependent on bottled water, which is not complimentary. I wish the hotels had provided water bottles in rooms even if they were chargeable – the price of bottles fluctuated wildly, someplace we would pay LE 5 other vendors would charge LE 10 and other places even LE 20 – highway robbery for sure and it would have been better if the hotels just provided this service.

MmePerdu

I've just discovered your very encouraging report, Leo_A. Egypt was one of the very first places I wanted to visit as a young adult and I've managed to never do it. Maybe a blessing as now seems possibly the perfect time. I ordered a new guidebook a couple of days ago as the one I had became almost as ancient as the temple sites while I dithered. I'm now considering going in March for my birthday. Many thanks for your story.

Leo_A

Thanks Tripplanner011 - hope you make it to Egypt soon, I am very surprised that any one is even reading this, my apologies for all the grammatical and spelling mistakes, I have been trying to get this done soon so have not been able to re-check or edit anything.

MmePerdu - thank you and hope you are soon able to celebrate your birthday in Egypt, it is indeed worth a visit especially if you have considered it for a while

Leo_A

Once we had done with the Valley of the Kings we were headed to the other side of this hill, where the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut was located. Before I move on to that site I might mention here that though we had around a hundred folks at the valley of the kings (babies and children included) the crowds before 2011 were more numerous. We were told that there were earlier long lines outside each tomb – something that definitely was not the case now and the passageways and stairs would be crowded with people jostling to see the paintings. In fact some of the tombs have been closed as a result of too many humans breathing inside the passageways which had damaged some of the paint. Some of these tombs are now being reopened to entice visitors. A lot of folks who are on cruises to Hurghada on the red sea would do a day trip to Luxor hence with the reduction of red sea cruises the numbers of tourists have also fallen. One interesting development has been the boom of Chinese tourists to Luxor, there are a lot of news reports on how after the visit of President XI Jinping to Egypt earlier this year Chinese tourists have started including Luxor and Cairo as must visit travel destinations giving a boost to the otherwise falling visitor numbers. We got to see a lot of Chinese tourists in Luxor for sure. Apart from the valley of Kings there is also a valley of Queens and tombs of nobles where queens and nobles are buried. Due to a very packed schedule we did not visit these sites though the tombs of nobles were an option in our itinerary.


A mortuary temple is a temple built in the memory of a specific king/queen and the next site we visited was the temple built in honor of the hard to pronounce Hatshepsut a queen who ruled before all the Ramesses and Tutankhamen’s came onto the scene. These temples would have their own priests who would continue to pray and offer sacrifices/offerings long after the king has died. In some cases with time the temples would fall into disuse or in cases like Ramses 2 who was famous long after his death the future kings and people would continue to patronize these temples and continue to contribute offerings in memory of the great ruler of long ago. There were cults of famous kings like Seti 1 which went on for years after his death and these temples were the centers for these cults. Unfortunately for Hatshepsut, her mortuary temple would have fallen into disuse and neglect soon after her death. The story was that Hatshepsut was passed over in favor of her step brother at the time of her father’s death Hatshepsut married the step brother as per Egyptian tradition but when he died early and his son by another wife was to inherit the throne Hatshepsut stepped in, first as regent then as defacto ruler, portrayed as a man in carvings and statues even with a false beard. She was not the first female ruler in Egyptian history but she did rule more successfully and for longer than the rest (some 20 odd years). The story actually gets more interesting here, she had very cordial relations with her step son who was the general of her armies and finally he succeeded her when she died. But later in his reign another 20 years on suddenly all mention of her was erased; her figures were removed and destroyed. It’s as if the step son suddenly remembered her taking over what was his and decided to take revenge 20 years after. For many years historians were not aware of her existence and it’s only relatively recently that they have been able to figure out her story. The site is also famous architecturally as it uses the classical style of building much before it became popular with the Greeks. Symmetrical terraces and columns are the feature of this temple. A lot of restoration has happened here with a special team from Poland having helped with it in the last century. There used to apparently be a line of sphinxes (all gone now) as well as a garden (there are no trees in the entire site) there are shrines to Hathor the cow featured goddess and to the queen on the sides of the central walkway which leads to the last level, some of these have the paintings preserved (very beautiful but a small number, there are also figures showing the expedition to Punt (Somalia) which was carried out during her reign, but overall throughout the structure all images of Hatshepsut have been chiseled out. At the very last level is a row of statues of Osiris – only a few of which are completely intact. By the time we reached this temple it was close to 11 and the sun was right over head. There were a good number of tourists here (many had come over from the valley of kings) and it had become crowded. Climbing and exploring the various levels in the sun had gotten a bit tiring and we were glad to rest for a while at the restaurant near the entrance and drink overpriced milkshakes. Like the Valley of the Kings this temple (Dier el Bahari or northern monastery, there apparently was a Coptic monastery here once) has a small train that carries visitors from the visitor center to near the monument. The whole structure is built into the side of the hill (a massive barren hill with many caves and tomb entrances on both sides) and like the valley of kings some amount of physical activity is to be expected. It was hard to forget that in 1997 there was an attack here which resulted in around 60 tourist’s death but there is reassuring amount of security in place now. It’s a visit to a fascinating building built by a fascinating and ambitious queen.

Leo_A

Adding a link to pictures - just to share what i have been talking about all these days, hope the link works.

https://goo.gl/photos/cjDosdWwuAtMEoha6

tripplanner001

Thanks for sharing the photographs to go along with your report. I am surprised at the vivid colors of some of the interiors in your pictures. I guess I expected the colors to have faded with time, as is the case with ancient sites I've visited in other parts of the world.

welltraveledbrit

Fun to see your photos .

Trip planner 001Some of it may be retouched I think the desert climate and the lack of moisture makes things quite different in Egypt, certainly in some of the tombs. Also, many of the sites were completely covered in sand for more than a millennia. If you see some of the 19th century engravings they show the very top of the temples at the ground level and many were dug out so to speak...

Thrill22

What a great trip report Leo_A! I can't wait until 2017 when we will visit. I also enjoyed your blog welltraveledbrit. Thank you both for taking the time and effort to write such detailed trip reports.

golfdude

Hi Friends, Leo,

Memphis Tours in Egypt offers a private 3 day land tour in Cairo and a 4 night Nile cruise which covers Luxor, Asman and Alexandria. All are 5* accomodations. Cruise is Farah Nile Cruise company.

But this is pricey. $1,300 per person. Is it worth it or can I do it on my own for a lot less I presume ?

Or go with Djed ?

Thanks.

Leo_A

Thanks Tripplanner001, welltravelledbrit and trill22

Tripplanner001 I agree with welltravelledbrit that the paintings are preserved due to the unique climatic conditions and from the structures being buried for a very long time - most of what has survived is only 5 to 10% of the original paintings, few ceilings and walls the majority have faded.

Golfdude while I did see some vans from Memphis tours at different sites I cannot comment on their service (they have good reviews on TripAdvisor) I would suggest getting an estimate from Djed as well as 2 other well known tours for the same iteneraries and hotels - They will respond within a day or two for you to make a decision.

I would not suggest going on your own unless you are ok with putting aside time to deal with hassle from vendors, taxi drivers, security guards etc - there is a language problem and many people will engage you to get you to buy stuff etc which will not happen when with a tour - the whole hassle of lines and asking around for stuff also just doesn't exist

welltraveledbrit

Thrill22 - glad the blog was useful.

Leo- fun to think about on our Egypt trip through your thread - particularly as we are following Pharaonic history in our upcoming trip to Sudan in Jan 2017- which will be looking at the Nubian kingdoms, including the ones who conquered Egypt.

Golfdude - you can certainly do the whole thing on your own but as Loe points out if you want it to be a relaxing experience and have someone focused on the logistics you'll want to use an agent. Frankly the agents can get better rates at some of the hotels too. I really wanted to stay at a couple of boutique places and Djed offered me better rates than I could get on my own particularly for the Al Moudira in Luxor.

MmePerdu - lots of pics and perspectives on Egypt on my blog
http://www.somuchmoretosee.com/search/label/Egypt