Egypt - The Land of Temples
The country of Egypt has always been on my bucket list as it contains some of the best archeology anywhere in the world due to the ancient Egyptian civilization that occurred during the years 3150 BCE to 30 BCE. The Nile River is the longest in the world, starting from Lake Victoria in Uganda and making its way 6,650 km to the Egyptian coast, letting out into the Mediterranean Sea. I have been to Saudi Arabia for work, and since Egypt was so close by, I thought it would be a great destination to visit to experience that rich history. Some of my fondest memories from my youth are of my grandfather, who loved Egypt and mythology, taking me to see the King Tut exhibit at the Denver Museum.
October 15th
I traveled to Egypt with my girlfriend, Laia. Since we both worked for Marriott, we were able to stay at the Marriott hotel right near the pyramids, which gave us easy access, and we would not have to deal with the chaotic traffic in Cairo. The drive from the airport was about 45 minutes, and as we crossed the Nile River, I looked through the car's front window, searching for the pyramids, but could not see them. Then I realized they were that much taller than the skyline of the buildings around us. I have seen photos of the ruins but never quite imagined how huge and imposing they would be.
October 16th
We woke around 9:00 am and had breakfast before heading to the Great Pyramids of Giza. Although it was still early when we got to the ruins, it was already busy with tourists and, of course, the locals, trying to sell their gimmicks and packages. The first scam I encountered was having to pay a camera fee because of my telephoto lens to the security guard, which I later found out was complete bullshit. When we entered the parking area, we were overwhelmed with local guys trying to tell us what we needed to do to see the ruins. One of the main ways for people to explore the ruins is to hire a horse carriage or a camel ride. We were told that you must do this and cannot walk, and they charged 60 euros for that. That smelled fishy, so we just walked. We also do not support animal abuse, and we could see that those animals were not treated well. Since the light was getting higher, I wanted to head out to the very point where you could get a nice shot of the pyramids from afar, where they were clustered together. We started walking off the beaten path, and some guys shouted at us, “you can’t do that, come in the carriage”. That was a no from me. A cop car passed us and did not say anything, so I knew they were full of it. We continued to walk straight on, and what was cool was that not many people take this route, so it was just us in this area. We got to the viewpoint and took our photos.
We both had to take a moment to take in our soundings as this experience was my 4th man-made wonder of the world. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen the pyramids in the cinema, and here they were, right before me. It was surreal. I noticed a large caravan of camels moving in front of the pyramids and took the most Egyptian photo I got during the trip.
It was starting to get hot, so we headed closer to the pyramids to explore the area. The pyramids are much larger than you would think, and you must crane your neck to see the top. The scale is not possible to imagine unless you are physically there.
We made our way to the entrance of the archaeology site where the Sphynx was located. Prayer hour had started, and looking out over Cairo and listening to the chorus of the holy prayer spread across the mosques' loudspeakers was beautiful to hear.
We got to the Sphynx and walked around near it. Then, we went to the most popular photography location, where the face is lined up in front of the main pyramid, and we got our famous Instagram photo for the day.
We returned to the hotel and rested before heading to the brand-new Grand Egyptian Museum, the world’s fourth-largest museum and largest archeological collection. The museum had just opened a week before we got there. Walking through the museum entrance, you can already get a feel for how special this museum is, with the ruins displayed everywhere.
The way it works is that you head up the escalator to the top and work your way through 12 floors of history, starting from the beginning with the Nubian empire and finishing with the Greeks. The displays are breathtaking. The pieces appeared so polished and clean. The colors painted on them thousands of years ago are still vibrant. It took us about two hours to walk through the whole museum, but two of the floors were not open yet, and a couple of other areas, like the boat museum, were not finished.
So, after a long day, we headed back to the hotel and ate dinner because the next day was going to be a long one as we were heading to the south of the country.
October 17th
We woke up early at 4:00 am to catch an early flight to Aswan and then drive to the southernmost temple in Egypt called Abu Simbel. Today also happened to be my 31st birthday. Once we got to Aswan, we met our driver, whom we will have for the next couple of days as we opted to do this adventure by vehicle rather than the classic Nile cruise as they are pricey for what you get. This way, I could also dodge the times most tourists visit the sites to get better-unobstructed photos of the ruins.
After driving for three hours, we went straight for the ruins and explored the two sites. My goal was to spend the night and go early in the morning to get photos of temples during sunrise. What I found most interesting is the site is actually “fake,” but the location is real. When Egypt built the Aswan dam, the Nile filled up the area; therefore, all the temples were covered in water. So, archeologists took years to cut the temples out and then built new ones with the pieces of the old temple.
The real Abu Simbel was submerged about 100 meters under the water. The temples show Pharaoh Ramesses II with his family at the bottom, and next to him are the gods Amun, Ra, and Ptah. What is unique is that on the side of the temple, there is a smaller statute that, on October 21st and February 21st, the sun shines perfectly in and lights up the statues in a solar alignment. It is amazing what the ancient Egyptians achieved during their time. After getting our photos, we headed to our hotel.
We went out for a little birding before dinner, which was decent Egyptian food, then went to bed since tomorrow would be another early morning.
October 18th
We woke up at 5:00 am to head to the ruins at 6:00 am right when they opened. I speed walked into the area to get photos without anyone in the shot. I had not practiced my astrophotography in a long time, but that was not working, so I decided to take normal photos as the sun rose.
I got beautiful shots of Laia in front of the smaller temple. As the stunning gold hues spread over the temples, we were able to take photos with no one around.
We found our driver and returned to Aswan to check out the temples there.
It took three hours to get to the port to take a boat to the temple of Philae. This is an amazing marvel of construction work as they took the entire temple and raised it 12 meters so it would not get flooded by the dam.
Egypt and UNESCO started the temple movement in 1960, and it ended in 1977.
Next, we headed over to the area with the Unfinished Obelisk. These are an amazing example of what the ancient Egyptian carvers were able to do with such precise cuts. What is even more incredible is that all the obelisks are made in Aswan, so the ones in other parts of the country were lifted out of the rocks, placed onto boats, and then transported sideways to be placed upright in their proper locations amongst the other temples in Egypt.
It is not a big site, so we finished it quickly, checked into our hotel, and rested before taking a walk along the Nile River and going out to dinner. We experienced the hustle and bustle of Egypt while touring the spice markets before heading to bed for another big day.
October 19th
We started our day at 8:00 am and drove an hour and a half north to the temple of Kom Ombo and the Crocodile Museum. Kom Ombo was built during the Ptolemaic Dynasty in 180-47 BCE and then modified by the Romans during the Greek era. The temple has a couple of parts: there is a part of the temple for the crocodile god Sorbek, and the north part is for the god Horus. This was one of the more popular temple tours as it fit with the cruise schedules, so there were a decent number of people in the ruins. However, we still managed to get around and take some amazing photos. We also saw a hieroglyph that depicts the first surgical tools. I love the details of the carvings and just how precise they are.
This area was one of the more flooded parts of the Nile River and, therefore, had many Nile crocodiles. Unfortunately, with the dam, there are no crocodiles north of Aswan anymore. We then made it to the Crocodile Museum, where all the mummified crocodiles are placed so tourists could see them displayed. The mummification process is something remarkable, and they look as if they had just died and are not 3,000 years old.
We then made our way to Edfu temple. I was excited about Edfu temple because it has one of the most impressive walls with the God Horus carved into it. This made for great photos showing off the scale of these sites.
The temple is incredibly old, but I love that the top of one of the arches still had the original color left over from back then.
The temple was built in Ptolemaic 237 – 57 BCE and was influenced by the Roman Empire. You can tell if the temple has Roman influence by the decorated Roman columns.
As you walk past the first walls, you come to the temple area where people in ancient times would give offerings, and then there were two statues of falcons representing Horus on either side of the deeper section of the temples. Each archway is always covered in Scarabs, which represents eternal life and good luck.
We made our way into the temple and took amazing photos of the inside near the columns, just marveling at the hieroglyphs from this place.
We grabbed a little snack and then made a two-hour journey to Luxor, the ancient capital of Egypt. Back then, it was named Thebes.
We checked into our hotel and for the rest of the afternoon and evening, we rode a little boat to look for birds like egrets, kingfishers, and harrier hawks and watched the sunset.
We returned to the hotel for dinner, which was not that great. The quality of food in Egypt constantly let us down.
October 20th
We woke up around 7:00 am and made our way to the west side of the river to the Temple of Hatshepsut. After purchasing our tickets, we took a buggy to the giant stairway that leads up to the temple. This is one of the largest temples in the country, and it is spectacular to see.
This temple was built for Pharoah Hatshepsut and her resting place when she died in 1458 BCE. We walked around the different levels of the temple, and what I found the most amazing were some of the hieroglyphs with so much color still on them. The current caretakers constantly clean and restore these so they look the exact way they were found in the excavation in the 1850s.
You will notice that all the depictions of Hatshepsut have her with cow ears, which was a sign of great beauty back then. So, in Egypt, you can call a woman a cow, which means they are beautiful. I will not be doing that, though! After taking more photos, we headed to the Valley of the Kings.
We hiked into the area, and the first Tomb we entered was that of the great Ramesses IV. The amount of color and detail in this tomb was breathtaking. So far, we have not seen anything quite like this with as much detail and preservation. You walk down a big hallway and enter the room with the tomb, which is covered in hieroglyphs of all the gods because of the significance of the Pharaoh. It was very crowded as it is one of the most popular sites in the Valley of the Kings.
We went to another tomb that was far up the hill; this way, we could have it for ourselves without anyone around. This was the Tomb of Pharaoh Thutmose IV, who ruled in the 14th century.
After getting photos, we headed to Pharaoh Ramesses III's tomb. This tomb was also very crowded, but I managed to get a few inside photos.
After that, we stopped for lunch at a highly rated place near the temple of Karnak. The food was good here, but I suggest getting the pies that can be found around here as those looked the best.
We made our way into Karnak temple, and this was what I wanted to see most during our trip to Egypt. Karnak is the largest temple complex in the country and was the main temple since Luxor was the ancient capital of Egypt for the Egyptians. Karnak was built in 1971 BCE and took 1500 years to complete. We walked into the main area and were gobsmacked by the number of columns everywhere.
Our guide took us around the area and showed us the significant parts of the temple, such as the two obelisks. We then made our way to the large scarab statue that is near the sacred lake. If you walk around the scarab seven times, it gives you good luck.
We made our way around the temple complex to take photos, and everything was just breathtaking. The detail on the columns, along with the unique shadows, gave off that desert glow. There are around 134 columns here, but there is a main section in the center where most of them are located, which is the most photogenic area.
Our final stop is Luxor temple, which is 3km from Karnak and used to have two rows of Sphynx connecting the two temples like a roadway. Luxor temple was built in 1400 BCE and was not built for a particular God, but as a place of worship.
We walked through all the areas, saw the different statues, took photos, and returned to the hotel to relax that evening. We got to bed early because we would need to wake up at 4:00 am for the balloon ride.
October 21st
In the morning, we were picked up at our hotel and headed to the port. We took a boat to the other west bank of the Nile and got in another van there. Unfortunately, by this time, I had come down with the Egypt belly, so thankfully, one of the guys leading us helped me find a place to go to the bathroom. You will get food poisoning in Egypt—just a matter of time. We headed out to an open area where we could see all the fire from the staff filling the balloons with hot air. Just as the sky lit up, the balloons started rising.
We jumped into ours, and away we went. This was only the second time I have ever been in a balloon. They are great for aerial photography as you can maneuver in them much better for photos than a plane or helicopter. You just do not have as much control over exactly where you go because it depends on the wind. We rose into the sky, and I got great photos of the surrounding area; the main photo I wanted was a more top-down view of the Hatshepsut temple.
Egypt does not allow drones into the country, so this is the only way to get aerial photos. We floated over the temple complex, so getting that perspective was amazing. Then, the sun peeked over the horizon, casting that golden glow across the mountains and ruins.
Looking back at the city, it was interesting to have that view over the countryside of Luxor.
Our balloon then went farther north, the highest of any of the other balloon companies, as most had already hit the ground. After we touched down, I was incredibly happy with our trip and my photos.
We retrieved our things from our hotel and grabbed breakfast before starting the long journey to the coast and the best scuba destination in the country, Marsa Alam. It is considered the best because they have some of the most unique emerging reefs in the Red Sea, and because of the current, their amazing pelagic wildlife can be found close to shore. The dive resort I chose was the Red Sea Diving Safari since it was a center where one of my co-workers in Saudi Arabia used to work. They offered unlimited shore dives and daily dives to the outer reefs where all the sharks are found. This time of year, is when the Oceanic White tip sharks are around. Their main dive site is Elphinstone, one of the top-ranked dive sites on the planet. The car ride there would take 6 hours, and we settled in. The only thing I was worried about was the wind forecast, which did not look good for the entire time I was supposed to be here, but I would find out more tomorrow. Once we arrived and checked in, we had a delicious dinner and headed to bed.
October 22nd
I woke up early today to get all my dive gear and do a check. Unfortunately, due to the wind and current at the time, my dive was canceled. I was told we would be able to go out the next morning. All the trips that were supposed to go out in the morning were also canceled due to the swells, and you could even look out and see that the liveaboards near the dive sites were struggling. I had no desire to be on one of those boats. In the afternoon, I was able to go out on a dingy with other divers who had just shown up. We descended into the water and found an ancient green sea turtle, blue spotted stingrays, and the same fish I was seeing in Saudi.
Back in August, hot weather hit the Red Sea hard. The temperature of the water reached 36.7 C, which is so hot, like swimming in bath water. Unfortunately, the corals will eliminate the Zooxanthellae, the algae that give them their colors. They have about 2 months for conditions to get right again, or they will starve to death. On this dive, I could still see the impact of those elevated temperatures. We finished the dive, and I looked at the wind charts and knew that no boats would be going out to the spot I wanted to dive.
I made the call not to continue at the resort because I did not want to waste money doing nothing. Unfortunately, that is how nature works sometimes. I wish people would understand this. No one is owed a wildlife experience or a special moment with an animal. That is what it means to be in nature. Sometimes, the weather does not cooperate, and that is that. We headed back to Cairo that night and spent the rest of our holiday there.
October 23rd 24th
While in Cairo, we spent our time trying to find better food and we also visited the famous Khan El Khalili Market. As soon as got there, we got scammed, but were fully aware of it as a gentleman told us he would show us the old market where Egyptians go. I knew what I was getting into, but we had time to kill, so why not? He took us to an area that did not have the magic. It was certainly a local market, but the stuff sold was mostly junk, and around there, it felt like everyone was after us. We parted ways with the guy and went to the original market, which was vastly different. There, we enjoyed walking around the venues and seeing all the beautiful displays and never felt harassed in this area aside from what you normally would expect. We had tea and listened to a live band, which was a wonderful way for our Egypt trip to end.
End
Egypt is a remarkably interesting, intense country and not recommended for first-time travelers. You can book a tour and have everything done for you, but that is not how I like to travel. If you are not planning tours, you need to be a savvy traveler to make the best of your trip. I found the archeology, historical sites, and everything related to ancient Egypt amazing. Yes, a lot of locations were very touristy. The great pyramids and Karnak temple were my absolute favorites and made it easy to imagine what it would be like to walk in that exact spot 3,000 years ago. Egypt, on the other hand, had the worst food that I have had anywhere in the world. We had a couple good Egyptian dishes, but the foreign and local quality of food we ate on average was not great. I have read that you can go deeper into the sites and get better local food, but that can also risk getting worse food poisoning, and even eating as safely as we could, we got it. I have thought about doing a liveaboard in the Red Sea, but a month after I was there, a liveaboard boat went down due to absolute negligence on the operator’s part, and the entire situation was horrifying, so at this time doing a liveaboard in Egypt is off the table for me. It is worth it to visit Egypt and experience the crazy. The archeology there is some of the best in the world, and there are other interesting locations to visit that we did not get to see. Luxor and Aswan were my favorite parts of the trip, and I would return if the opportunity came again.
