Travel Diary of Egypt

Friday 27 October 2023. Travel Day

Flew Austrian over Vienna to Cairo. Check-in in Cairo Pyramids Hotel located in Giza overlooking the large pyramids.

Saturday October 28, 2023. Cairo City

Visited Al Azhar the mosque who is Egypt's oldest from the year 970.

Visited the National Museum with all the many treasures found around from excavations throughout Egypt. A special exhibition showed all the treasures found in Tutankhamun's grave. Unfortunately, there was a photo ban inside the exhibition.

We ate lunch at a restaurant ship on the Nile.

Sunday October 29, 2023. Cairo's surrounding area.

The two major pyramids Keops and Kefren could be seen from the entrance to my hotel. I did not enter the Keops Pyramid as I did not get the extra ticket that gave access. One had to crawl along a narrow hallway to enter the burial chamber. We drove around the terrain to get a view of the pyramids from different angles.

We went for a walk around the sphinx and took pictures with the pyramids as a background.

Memphis excavation location is located south of Cairo town. A huge statue of Ramses II is now lying down and has got its own exhibition building. The space is also dominated by a large alabaster sphinx.

Saqqara is a very large excavation site. The central of this place is the step pyramid of djoster. You enter the square in front of the pyramid via a long colonnade of stone columns. In the area there is access to a necropolis of senior Egyptians from the period.

Monday, October 30, 2023. Cairo city tour

We started just outside the city wall, went through a city gate and a little further left was the entrance to Al Hakim Mosque.

After the mosque we were driven to the start of Khan El-Khalili Bazar as we went through on foot. We got past another mosque but didn't go in. We also got past a hammam (Turkish bath) but did not go in.

There was a lunch at our own expense after the bazaar and then we drove to Al Hazar Parken where we went up to a vantage point where you could look out over the city. Afterwards we went for a walk alone around the park.

Then we visited the Ibn Tulun Mosque, but we did not go in. Instead, we walked up a staircase on the ring wall where there was a view of the mosque.

Last trip was through El Moaz street which is the city's business district. It looked like any other business street in Europe (no pictures)

Tuesday 31 October 2023. From Cairo to Alexandria.

The Coptic Monastery St. Bishoy was on the road from Cairo to Alexandria but closest to Alexandria. We were shown around the monastery by a young monk. There was also a German group and our monk guide spoke both English and German. Eventually we entered the church where a ceremony was underway while we were there.

After St. Bishoy But before El Alamein we were stopped by police at a checkpoint. We had a police car driving in front of the bus and a plain cloth policeman sitting inside the bus. That escort followed us all the way while we were in Alexandria and the surrounding area. Every time we went out to see an attraction, the police officer followed. He was very friendly and this whole event was to protect us.

In El Alamein we were first to see the War Museum for the Battle of El Alamein in World War II. Here Field Marshal Montgomery beat the German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. The museum shows war equipment (outdoors) and uniforms (indoors) from both sides of the war.

Then we drove to the war graves that are a little away from the museum. Here are soldiers buried from both sides of the war.

Accommodation at Hotel Metropole which turned out to be a very old -fashioned English -style hotel.

Dinner at a restaurant called "The Fish Market" overlooking the harbor.

Wednesday 01 November 2023. City tour of Alexandria.

We started in the catacombs (Come El Shoqafa) The tombs are characterized by both Roman Greek and Egyptian culture.

Next, we visited the Quaitbay Citadel, a 15 -century defense work.

The famous library in Alexandria was unfortunately burned by Julius Caesar in the year 47 BC. The city council has made a modern library in recent times: Bibliotheca Alexandrina. It is drawn and erected by the Norwegian architectural firm Snøhetta. We started by seeing a modern art exhibition in the basement. Later we saw the reading room.

After LUNCH, the long road trip back to Cairo still began with police escort. We had to leave by night train to Aswan. At the railway station in Cairo, we and another tourist group were brought together in an enclosure built up by fences. There were both uniformed and civilian police to look after us.

Thursday 02 November 2023. Aswan.

I woke up in the night train a few hours before we arrived in Aswan. We received breakfast served on a tray while looking at the landscape outside the train. At the station we were picked up by bus and we were driven to our hotel. We were finally free from our police escort.

The first visit was at the Nubian Museum, it was not far from our hotel.

Then we had to go sailing on the Nile. We were sailing in a Felucca, which is a traditional Egyptian sailboat provided with Latin sails. We were served lunch on board.

After lunch we were going to visit a ruin of a Coptic Monastery St. Simeon. It lies on the other riverbank, so first we had to cross the Nile. From the landing site there was 4 km. to the ruin. We could choose to go in midday heat or ride a camel. Everyone chose the camel.

We should hear a lecture on Nubian daily life. We were sailed to an island in the middle of the Nile where we went ashore and were led to a house which belonged to a Nubian woman, who gave us a lecture on their daily life. (no pictures)

Then it was time for dinner, and I was hungry. We were sailed to another island where we were greeted by a very noisy orchestra playing folk music. We had to participate in a Nubian dance before we had dinner.

Friday 03 November 2023. Aswan Dam and Pilae Temple.

We started by driving over the old dam. Originally 36 m tall and inaugurated in 1902. Next, we came to the new and high dam. It was completed in 1970 and is 111 m high. It ended up being built by the Russians after a lot of international political trouble. There is a large memorial that symbolizes the friendship between Egypt and Russia. Behind the dam lies Lake Nasser, a giant lake full of large Nile Crocodiles.

The Philea Temple is on an island between the two dams. When the old dam was built, the temple was flooded part of the year. When the new dam was built, it was decided to move the whole complex to another and higher -located island where it is today.

When we got back to Aswan we checked out of the hotel and into the Nile Cruiser "Nile Style". The rest of the afternoon was free. Later we visited a perfume shop in Aswan.

Saturday 04 November 2023. Abu Simbel. Sailing from Aswan.

I was the only one who had chosen to fly to Abu Simbel. The others had to get up at three o'clock to sail. I got up at five o'clock. I had VIP service all the way. Personal guide to the airport. Half an hour flight trip. I was met by another guide and a driver who drove me to the temple. The authorities have stated that one must only be on site for two hours. I managed to be inside both temples and watch a movie about the move itself.

I was back on the ship at noon. When the others had returned, we sailed from Aswan. After sunset we stopped at Kom Ombo and went ashore to see the temple there. A little further north was the Edfu Temple. Here the boat stopped for the night.

Sunday 05 November 2023. Nile Cruise. Arrival at Luxor.

If you should see the Edfu Temple, you needed to get up at four o'clock. I slept quietly on.

Most of the day we sailed north. We could relax on the upper deck, enjoy a drink, and look at the landscape sliding past. I used my large tele lens to photograph animals and people on the shores of the Nile. We sailed through the locks at Esna. (8 m)

Late in the afternoon we arrived in Luxor. Before dinner we went for a walk along the Nile Promenade to an old -fashioned luxury hotel called Winter Gardens. We also passed Luxor Temple but did not come inside. (no pictures)

Monday 06 November 2023. The Valley of the Kings etc.

On the way to the Valley of the Kings we stopped at Colossi Memnon two major giant statues by Pharaoh Amenhotep III. They are partly destroyed.

The King's Valley. From the entrance to the start of the valley we were driven in large golf wagons. It was terribly hot, and the valley is an enclosure. It ends blindly. The burial chamber and access tunnel are carved into the mountain side. The most important tomb is probably Tutankhamun’s. You can see his mummy. The treasures from the grave can be seen at the National Museum in Cairo. Our admission ticket only gave access to see four tombs, but we could buy additional tickets for some of the most beautiful graves.

Then we visited an alabaster factory where they made art objects in Alabaster.

After Lunch we visited Queen Hatshepsut's Tomb and Temple. Three terraces with pillars rise from the desert.

In the afternoon we saw the temple in Luxor. It looked well with artificial light. Inside the temple there were two ruins from a later period. A ruin of a church and a ruin of a mosque.

Tuesday 07 November 2023. Arnak Temple.

There was only one visit to the program today. Arnak is a huge complex of many temples. It is located on the northern outskirts of Luxor. This complex is associated with the Luxor Temple of an ancient road flanked with sphinxes and ram’s statues. We spent many hours in this area.

The rest of the day was free and in the evening, there was a farewell dinner at a restaurant in town. I had to say goodbye to the group here in the evening since my flight went early in the morning.

Wednesday 08 November 2023. Return.

Flew from Luxor at eight-o-clock to Cairo. There was six hours of waiting in Cairo before I could move on. Stopover in Vienna and finally to Copenhagen. I was at home in Virum at half past eleven

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