Nine months to Egypt (but you should go now)
Dec 8th, 2016, 08:42 AM
#42
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Sorry for not completing this but I have been travelling for work last few weeks...
Welltraveledbrit - I've never thought of Sudan as I am not sure how the tourism infrastructure is in that country, but yes they do share a common history for some time and they have their own pyramids. I will gladly read your trip report once you are done visiting it. You may also want to consider Ethiopia which has a very rich history and stunning scenery - I have it on my to visit list.
Welltraveledbrit - I've never thought of Sudan as I am not sure how the tourism infrastructure is in that country, but yes they do share a common history for some time and they have their own pyramids. I will gladly read your trip report once you are done visiting it. You may also want to consider Ethiopia which has a very rich history and stunning scenery - I have it on my to visit list.
Dec 8th, 2016, 08:44 AM
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Our last site to see in Luxor was the mortuary temple of Ramses 3, it is also known by its Arabic name Medinat Hebu. This is in my opinion one of the must see sights in Luxor, if you like ancient structures and paintings. I think it was as awesome as Karnak & Luxor temples. First of all a lot of it is preserved and the paintings (what’s left of them) are very clear and look like they were done 300 years ago instead of 3000 years ago. The temple was built by Ramses 3 who apparently ruled during some tough times for Egypt. There had been years of famine during his reign and the first ever recorded strike by workers had taken place due to shortage of grain. He also had to fight off an invasion from a group of foreigners known as the “sea peoples” who eventually settled in Egyptian controlled Israel/Gaza. The visible signs of these turbulent times are a huge mud brick wall that surrounds the temple part of which is still standing now. To think that the Pharaoh needed to build a wall in his capital city to protect his temple shows how unstable the kingdom was at the time. It is perhaps due to this wall that the temple is relatively well preserved. The Entrance Pylons show the king smiting his enemies, the open courtyard and hypostyle hall have carvings and at higher levels especially the ceiling the paint is still visible, the gods and their stories all colorfully decorated on the walls and pillars. Similarly the inner sanctum is also well preserved. We spent a lot of time taking pictures of all the columns and paintings at the higher levels. To the right of the temple is the Pharaohs residence when he was at the temple – rather only the foundations of it exist the rest is gone. Our guide showed us what would have been the royal bath and also the area people were granted an audience with the Pharaoh. There are also artifacts and carvings displayed in an open area out in the open and you can just walk around and look at them. It would have been nice to see the Pharaohs residence but unfortunately all that remains are ruins, it’s the same for the royal palaces in Luxor. As they were built with mud brick rather than stone there is nothing left of them, luckily the temples and tombs were built with stone and they have survived to this time. The guide actually mentioned that compared to similar civilizations in Mesopotamia which built with brick much more of ancient Egypt has survived to today and there is very less to show of the other civilizations. The Egyptians of today should be grateful to their ancestors for this as the stone monuments sure have helped the country and its tourism. By this time we were feeling exhausted it was almost 1.30pm and the heat was also oppressive. We wanted to head back to the hotel though our itinerary also listed the tombs of the nobles. Perhaps another day we could go back and cover what we missed. There are other sites in Luxor as well which are famous like the Mortuary temple of Ramses 2 and I personally feel you need more than 2 days if you really want to see these other sites as well and have a relaxed time. On our way back we briefly stopped at the Colossi of Memnon, the seated statues of Amenhotep 2. These statues were built at the entrance of a temple similar to Luxor temple where Ramses 2 guards the entrance.
Unfortunately here only the statues remain and the rest of the temple has vanished due to an earthquake and the stones being plundered by other Pharaohs for their buildings. Archeologists are digging what little is left of the temple but it is not open to public and one day it may be one of the major sites of Luxor. The colossi are so named because the visiting ancient Greeks thought these were statues of one of the heroes of greek mythology. Apparently in Greek times one of the statues had cracked in the middle and strong winds caused a loud musical sound which the greeks assumed was the statue of the mythical hero singing. The crack was repaired by one of the later kings and there is no musical sound at this time unfortunately but the pair remain very famous. These statues are a quick place to take selfies or pictures not more than 10 to 15 minutes and as they are barricaded from the viewing area you cannot walk upto them and pose next to them etc, we had an entire bus load of tourists at the site when we visited and hence we departed within 10 minutes, at the Ramses 3 temple we were the only ones exploring the site which was strange given it is better preserved than other temples, but we enjoyed being the only ones in the large structure.
We had bought some chips and sodas at a local store on the way as we were hungry and as our guide did all the talking we paid only a fraction of what we would have usually paid – there is definitely a tourist price and a local price for everything
We had to relax the rest of the day in the comfort of our hotel, for dinner we headed out to a McDonald’s we had observed behind the Luxor temple. We had wanted a change from the regular menu in the hotel. It was a short distance and we decided to walk. Unfortunately we faced a lot of people who came upto us asking us to buy something or the other. The horse carriage guy followed us for a while asking persistently that we take a one hour ride around the city. All of them were persistent, selling small trinkets. A “La Shukran” no thank you in Arabic deterred some of them but others kept following us for a while. We’d never faced this when with our guide and it was some amount of hassle. With our guide we’d have a few vendors approach us but they would not be that persistent, in fact some of the stores at the temples of Hatshepsut and Valley of kings had really good merchandise – very colorful galebeya’s or full length coats that Egyptians wear with Egyptian images embroidered onto them but the shopkeepers there would only call out once for us to look at the merchandise and definitely not follow us to our van.
We eventually made it to the McDonalds and ordered a burger each, the flavors are similar but with a little bit of spice added to cater for Egyptian tastes. The folks at the counter didn’t speak any English but we pointed to what we wanted and they understood. The place was full of Egyptian teenagers and children and Chinese tourists. Having accomplished our objective we made our way back to the hotel. The Luxor temple was lit up beautifully and we watched it as we walked back, we had only one vendor approach us on the way back. We’d totally exhausted ourselves during the day in the hot sun and our plan to go to the Luxor museum in the evening didn’t happen as well, we were just happy to fall asleep and look forward to the journey ahead of us the next day.
We had chosen to travel to Aswan our final destination by road and it was a journey of 140 odd miles, we’d decided with our guide that we’d start at 9am and stop at the temples of Edfu and Kum Umbo on the way, the total travel time with the visits to the temples would be 6 to 7 hours so we’d only reach Aswan at 4pm.
Unfortunately here only the statues remain and the rest of the temple has vanished due to an earthquake and the stones being plundered by other Pharaohs for their buildings. Archeologists are digging what little is left of the temple but it is not open to public and one day it may be one of the major sites of Luxor. The colossi are so named because the visiting ancient Greeks thought these were statues of one of the heroes of greek mythology. Apparently in Greek times one of the statues had cracked in the middle and strong winds caused a loud musical sound which the greeks assumed was the statue of the mythical hero singing. The crack was repaired by one of the later kings and there is no musical sound at this time unfortunately but the pair remain very famous. These statues are a quick place to take selfies or pictures not more than 10 to 15 minutes and as they are barricaded from the viewing area you cannot walk upto them and pose next to them etc, we had an entire bus load of tourists at the site when we visited and hence we departed within 10 minutes, at the Ramses 3 temple we were the only ones exploring the site which was strange given it is better preserved than other temples, but we enjoyed being the only ones in the large structure.
We had bought some chips and sodas at a local store on the way as we were hungry and as our guide did all the talking we paid only a fraction of what we would have usually paid – there is definitely a tourist price and a local price for everything
We had to relax the rest of the day in the comfort of our hotel, for dinner we headed out to a McDonald’s we had observed behind the Luxor temple. We had wanted a change from the regular menu in the hotel. It was a short distance and we decided to walk. Unfortunately we faced a lot of people who came upto us asking us to buy something or the other. The horse carriage guy followed us for a while asking persistently that we take a one hour ride around the city. All of them were persistent, selling small trinkets. A “La Shukran” no thank you in Arabic deterred some of them but others kept following us for a while. We’d never faced this when with our guide and it was some amount of hassle. With our guide we’d have a few vendors approach us but they would not be that persistent, in fact some of the stores at the temples of Hatshepsut and Valley of kings had really good merchandise – very colorful galebeya’s or full length coats that Egyptians wear with Egyptian images embroidered onto them but the shopkeepers there would only call out once for us to look at the merchandise and definitely not follow us to our van.
We eventually made it to the McDonalds and ordered a burger each, the flavors are similar but with a little bit of spice added to cater for Egyptian tastes. The folks at the counter didn’t speak any English but we pointed to what we wanted and they understood. The place was full of Egyptian teenagers and children and Chinese tourists. Having accomplished our objective we made our way back to the hotel. The Luxor temple was lit up beautifully and we watched it as we walked back, we had only one vendor approach us on the way back. We’d totally exhausted ourselves during the day in the hot sun and our plan to go to the Luxor museum in the evening didn’t happen as well, we were just happy to fall asleep and look forward to the journey ahead of us the next day.
We had chosen to travel to Aswan our final destination by road and it was a journey of 140 odd miles, we’d decided with our guide that we’d start at 9am and stop at the temples of Edfu and Kum Umbo on the way, the total travel time with the visits to the temples would be 6 to 7 hours so we’d only reach Aswan at 4pm.
Mar 18th, 2017, 02:59 AM
#44
Leo, I just discovered this and am enjoying it immensely.
Trip reports can be exhausting to write. I hope you continue. If you do, perhaps a shorter description of each day would suffice and allow you to finish, and we the grateful readers could follow up with any questions. Also breaking up the paragraphs into smaller ones would be helpful.
Did Djed organize the Petra tour too?
Trip reports can be exhausting to write. I hope you continue. If you do, perhaps a shorter description of each day would suffice and allow you to finish, and we the grateful readers could follow up with any questions. Also breaking up the paragraphs into smaller ones would be helpful.
Did Djed organize the Petra tour too?
Mar 19th, 2017, 05:33 AM
#45
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Thanks dcd for reminding me of this trip report, this was my first trip report so I think I got carried away with trying to put down everything I saw and felt.
Am in the middle of planning an island hopping vacation in Indonesia right now so not sure if i can complete this.... Egypt was a magical vacation and I still have fond memories of it.
I wonder if all the folks that wanted to get to Egypt, made the trip in the end? Thrill22, Julies and MmePerdu - I hope they did
and Welltravelledbrit i hope she got to visit nubian remains in the Sudan.
No we used another tour operator in Jordan, It was called Petra Night tours and they were very good, with quick responses and really helpful. We used them mostly to get around Jordan in the short time we had. Petra - Jaresh - Amman - Dead Sea - Baptism site.
In my opinion Egypt tops Jordan - Petra though fascinating is in a ruinous state and not completely excavated and needs you to be really fit to walk and climb all over it. Still it is a must visit site and I hope you enjoy it.
I will leave you with the pictures from the end of my Egypt trip which I had intended to upload.
https://goo.gl/photos/or2uLvGQsshKd9qa7
Am in the middle of planning an island hopping vacation in Indonesia right now so not sure if i can complete this.... Egypt was a magical vacation and I still have fond memories of it.
I wonder if all the folks that wanted to get to Egypt, made the trip in the end? Thrill22, Julies and MmePerdu - I hope they did
and Welltravelledbrit i hope she got to visit nubian remains in the Sudan.No we used another tour operator in Jordan, It was called Petra Night tours and they were very good, with quick responses and really helpful. We used them mostly to get around Jordan in the short time we had. Petra - Jaresh - Amman - Dead Sea - Baptism site.
In my opinion Egypt tops Jordan - Petra though fascinating is in a ruinous state and not completely excavated and needs you to be really fit to walk and climb all over it. Still it is a must visit site and I hope you enjoy it.
I will leave you with the pictures from the end of my Egypt trip which I had intended to upload.
https://goo.gl/photos/or2uLvGQsshKd9qa7
Mar 19th, 2017, 06:12 AM
#46
Leo_A, not yet. I did some preliminary looking, didn't seem to be making progress and ended up spending a month in southern Mexico, in Oaxaca, just returned. But it's not the end and I certainly hope to go to Egypt before too long, must go before too long (while still ambulatory!). Thanks for the pictures.
I, too, have a question, about Luxor. I'm fond of staying put for a while on trips and in looking at Egypt as a destination it's unclear to me where I might like to be. Cairo seems chaotic, though I realize there may be parts of the city more conducive to hanging out. But it's been suggested to me that Luxor is a pleasant city. What were your impressions of the city of Luxor and the surrounding area?
I, too, have a question, about Luxor. I'm fond of staying put for a while on trips and in looking at Egypt as a destination it's unclear to me where I might like to be. Cairo seems chaotic, though I realize there may be parts of the city more conducive to hanging out. But it's been suggested to me that Luxor is a pleasant city. What were your impressions of the city of Luxor and the surrounding area?
Mar 19th, 2017, 07:58 AM
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MmePerdu - nice to hear from you. Both Cairo and Luxor have numerous sights you would want to see so you may want to stay in each city for a while and take your time visiting the sites.
Cairo is a large city and with that comes lots of traffic and crowds but it has more choices of hotels which are oasis of calm and rest (Mena house for example) which would let you relax and also do your tour as you wish. Luxor is a smaller city with a slower pace and lesser traffic - again you could easily base your self in one of the good hotels which are totally cut away from the outside world and set your own pace. Luxor is quieter and smaller hence preferable to Cairo if one wants to relax.
Egypt being what it is you may still need some regular transport and may be a guide so that you save time on logistics which ever city you decide on.
Cairo is a large city and with that comes lots of traffic and crowds but it has more choices of hotels which are oasis of calm and rest (Mena house for example) which would let you relax and also do your tour as you wish. Luxor is a smaller city with a slower pace and lesser traffic - again you could easily base your self in one of the good hotels which are totally cut away from the outside world and set your own pace. Luxor is quieter and smaller hence preferable to Cairo if one wants to relax.
Egypt being what it is you may still need some regular transport and may be a guide so that you save time on logistics which ever city you decide on.
Mar 19th, 2017, 10:06 AM
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Reading this is bittersweet since we really want to go for Christmas 2017, have the money and 2 weeks, but flights from MSP are all marathons with 3 flights via Europe or an overnight in a hotel at JFK each way to catch the Egyptair nonstops. Unfortunately Egyptair won't ticket from MSP, and fellow Star Alliance airlines United and Air Canada won't ticket from MSP to either the Toronto or JFK nonstops on Egyptair to Cairo. And no Gulf airlines serve MSP. Really tried to get it to work, maybe once Egypt is swamped with tourists again it will work better☹️.
Mar 23rd, 2017, 05:14 PM
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Leo you wondered if
"Welltravelledbrit i hope she got to visit nubian remains in the Sudan".
Yes I did make it to Sudan this January and we had a great time. I'm still hoping to make it around to my trip report!
MmePerdu - Personally I'd love a couple of weeks in Cairo but I can see it might not be for everyone. Luxor is quite a popular "winter sun" destination for Brits and plenty of people still go for a couple of weeks or more. It is very reasonably priced, particularly on packages from Europe. Personally for a longer stay I'd preferred Aswan because it's less touristy.
Hope that helps!
"Welltravelledbrit i hope she got to visit nubian remains in the Sudan".
Yes I did make it to Sudan this January and we had a great time. I'm still hoping to make it around to my trip report!
MmePerdu - Personally I'd love a couple of weeks in Cairo but I can see it might not be for everyone. Luxor is quite a popular "winter sun" destination for Brits and plenty of people still go for a couple of weeks or more. It is very reasonably priced, particularly on packages from Europe. Personally for a longer stay I'd preferred Aswan because it's less touristy.
Hope that helps!
Mar 23rd, 2017, 06:01 PM
#51
Thanks for the information, wtb, very useful. It's always good to have "information" confirmed from independent sources.
The "less-touristy" assessment is interesting. I went to southern Mexico in October '15 during a month with few tourists, thinking that would suit me better. And if I traveled with a companion that might very well have been true. I went back this winter during the "touristy" season, because it just worked out and because someone I knew would be there, too. I discovered, contrary to how I think of myself, that I had a much better time with people there I knew and had the opportunity to meet.
However, while Oaxaca has an expat community and more come in winter, many Canadians as well as Americans, the city never seems overrun. It takes a bit of doing to get there and I suspect the beachier places siphon off a good number of the snowbirds. My point, I'd be interested in visiting both Luxor & Aswan, to have a good look and see if a similar mechanism is at work there, too.
The "less-touristy" assessment is interesting. I went to southern Mexico in October '15 during a month with few tourists, thinking that would suit me better. And if I traveled with a companion that might very well have been true. I went back this winter during the "touristy" season, because it just worked out and because someone I knew would be there, too. I discovered, contrary to how I think of myself, that I had a much better time with people there I knew and had the opportunity to meet.
However, while Oaxaca has an expat community and more come in winter, many Canadians as well as Americans, the city never seems overrun. It takes a bit of doing to get there and I suspect the beachier places siphon off a good number of the snowbirds. My point, I'd be interested in visiting both Luxor & Aswan, to have a good look and see if a similar mechanism is at work there, too.
Mar 24th, 2017, 05:11 AM
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Mme Perdu - interested to read your comments re meeting people in Oaxaca. Its certainly true that in some places the visitors contribute to the sense of atmosphere.We were in Mexico City for a week last year and loved it we're thinking of a trip to southern Mexico later in the year. We're been to Merida and the Ruta Puuc but would like to visit Oaxaca and perhaps Palenque.
We only stayed two nights in Luxor and then headed out to a boutiquey hotel on the West Bank near the Valley of the Kings. Luxor was the only place we experienced real aggression from a tout during our entire stay in Egypt and its a place that has been very hard hit by the decline in the tourist dollar. When we were there we found a desperation - or at least that's my explanation for the hostility we encountered. or perhaps it was just one angry individual.
Given the situation in Egypt I don't think you'll find anywhere swamped with people right now and that why for us it was a good time to go when we did.
I loved the physical position of Aswan and we stayed at a beautiful hotel so it just spoke to me a little more than Luxor. Aswan is somewhere I'd go for "winter sun" and we almost added on five days back there at the end of our Sudanese trip . Of course the ancient sites in Luxor are unparalleled.
We only stayed two nights in Luxor and then headed out to a boutiquey hotel on the West Bank near the Valley of the Kings. Luxor was the only place we experienced real aggression from a tout during our entire stay in Egypt and its a place that has been very hard hit by the decline in the tourist dollar. When we were there we found a desperation - or at least that's my explanation for the hostility we encountered. or perhaps it was just one angry individual.
Given the situation in Egypt I don't think you'll find anywhere swamped with people right now and that why for us it was a good time to go when we did.
I loved the physical position of Aswan and we stayed at a beautiful hotel so it just spoke to me a little more than Luxor. Aswan is somewhere I'd go for "winter sun" and we almost added on five days back there at the end of our Sudanese trip . Of course the ancient sites in Luxor are unparalleled.
Jun 4th, 2017, 05:26 PM
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Leo..thank you for this great trip report! Next February, we will be heading to Kenya for a week and then on to Cairo for an 8 day tour with Memphis, visiting many of the same spots you did. Reading your report was a great way to prepare. Thank you.
Jun 20th, 2017, 03:37 PM
#54
I bought my flights today - November in Egypt. I'm so excited. It's been 45 years since I first tried to put a trip together, and while I haven't been short of places to go, I'm so glad this one is on the horizon. Now the fun part, planning my moves. Thanks all for the encouragement.
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