Up and Down the Nile - Pt 1

 

I’ll start by noting the itinerary of the trip we just took – an eight day Field Study Tour related to Steve’s Ancient Egypt and the Biblical World course.  When I say full day fields study I generally mean up before sunrise and don’t stop til after sunset.  Prof. said we are always 'chasing the sun'.

Red Sea at Taba, Sinai, Egypt with
distant view of Saudia Arabia

Day 1 – Left Jerusalem at 6 a.m. for our 12 hr. trip by tour bus to Cairo, Egypt, Africa (I've just touched my 3rd continent), via Eilat/Taba on the Red Sea (lunch and a swim); through a granite mountain pass and the mid Sinai Desert (the Darb el-Hajj pilgrim route), crossed the Suez Canal via tunnel under at Suez (couldn’t hold my breath). Spent the night in a lovely 5* hotel, The Safir in Giza on the other side of the Nile from Cairo. At Taba our Egyptian travel agent, Nayer, joined our group and travelled with us for the remainder of the trip.  Both our tour guide and travel agent were Coptic Christian Egyptians, amazing guys to get to know and gave us the best of service.  We also always had a security guy travel with us, and I was especially impressed with Achmed (straight out of a spy movie…very cool especially the hardware under his jacket).

Achmed our group security agent followed
us up dirt hills in his suit in the line of duty!

Nile at Cairo

Day 2 – Our tour guide, Meena, joined our group today for the rest of the trip and shared an abundance of Egyptian history and culture, past and current, with us.  Full day field study to Memphis, Sakkara, Djoser’s pyramid complex, the pyramid of Teti, the tombs of Mereruka and Ptahhotep and to the pyramids of Dashur and Old Cairo.  Then we hopped on a sleeper train for a 12 hour overnight ride to Aswan in lower Egypt.  The sunrise from the train was beautiful.  I slept a bit.  Train food is worse than airplane food.

Sunrise from the train

Sleeping berth on the overnight train -
cozy

Meena (our tour guide) and Dr. Paul Wright (our prof)
at the Sakkara Pyramid

Profiling - Ramses II vs Steve

Day 3 - Full day field study to the High Dam of the Nile, the Unfinished Obelisk at a granite quarry, and Philae Temple; motorboat excursion across the Nile and camel rides to Mt. Simeon Monestary then a further motorboat ride up the Nile to a Nubian Village – hospitality of a Nubian family in their traditional home with tea, entertainment by a village musician and holding crocodiles they raise and release. Later in the evening three of us walked to a majestic Coptic Church where we met and visited with a group of young adults just coming out of a meeting.  New facebook friends. Overnight in Aswan in the Basma hotel.

Motorboat ride along the Nile

Philae Temple on island

My camel Mickey Mouse

Steve's camel Rambo

Need some new crocks?

Entrance to Nubian hosts' home

Day 4 – Full day field study to the temples of Kom Ombo (Horus & Sobek), Adfu and Karnak.  Bus ride along the Nile to Luxor and then a nightime visit to the Luxor temple in Luxor. Overnight in Luxor at a not so great hotel in a very noisy area, cultural experience for sure.  Care for Egyptian rave music about as much as North American kind, especially when it continues til sunrise.

Shopping at the Egyptian Souq,
interesting cultural experience

Luxor Temple

Day 5 – Full day field study to the Luxor’s West Bank to visit the Colossae of Memnon, the Valley of the Kings, including going into King Tut’s Tomb, Ramses II & Ramses IX tombs, Deir el-Bahri, Medinet Habu, Deir el Medina (village & tombs of artisans), an Alabaster factory and the Ramesseum.  A few hours of shopping in the Egyptian shouq (that is an experience), McDonald’s (trustworthy food in anticipation of the train food) and then hopped onto the sleeper train for an overnight return trip to Cairo.  Sunrise from the train was once again beautiful!

Deir al-Madina - huge ancient temple carved into the mtn

 

The Egyptian king & his adoring queen
(I'm referring to the hieroglyphics)

Day 6 – Full day field study to Tell el-Yehudia in Nile Delta (the land of Goshen), the Giza pyramids (wow), a solar boat museum (wow), Sphinx (another wow) and Chephren’s valley temple….and enough time for a side trip to Starbucks in Cairo, Egypt!!! REAL COFFEE! WOW! Overnight in Cairo with enough time in the evening to walk the streets, find an all-American grocery store, hottub & sauna and a good night’s sleep in our comfy room.

The 3 Great Pyramids of Giza

Sphinx infront of The Great Pyramid Cheops

Day 7 – Full day field study starting with the Egyptian Museum by Tahrir Square (eg. black mask of King Tut, Hall of Mummies (Pharaohs) and on to the western Sinai, including Moses’ Spring (Elim) and then jeep rides 1-1/2 hrs into the Sinai Desert sands to the middle of nowhere, climb up a mountain to the Hathor Temple (turquoise goddess) and check out turquoise mines of Serabit el-Khadim. Back into the jeeps for a ride to a Bedouin Camp where we were served a wonderful meal under Bedouin tents around the campfire and served tea and some campfire entertainment. Bus ride on to Mt. Sinai for overnight, well part of overnight sleep.

Egyptian Museum is next to the burned out HQ of the
former President in Tahrir Sq.

Bedouin meal under the tents

Jeep rides into the Sinai Desert

Moses Spring (Elim) an authentic oasis in the Sinai Desert

Entire group with Nayer our travel agent
just before the trek up Mt. Sinai

Day 8 – Up at 2 a.m. for a camel ride up Mt. Sinai, in the full-moon light (awesome), some 7000 ft plus climb for a sunrise experience at the summit (which was another 900 ft. climb up stairs without camels).  Breathtaking/cold (I was prepared) and an experience I will remember.  Lingered at the top for some final thoughts from the Prof and then walked all the way down with a stop at the St. Catharine’s monastery on the valley floor.  After a quick breakfast onto the bus back to Taba/Eilat, stop at the sea port to drop off a couple of students, full view of the entire lunar eclipse and back in Jerusalem in the evening to say goodbyes and in time for some of our group to catch their taxis to the airport and home.  We on the otherhand have signed up for another 6 months.  Our adventure is far from over.

Sunrise on Mt. Sinai 7000+ ft climb

Stay tuned for Pt 2 as I begin to unpack this experienc and add pics of the not-so-touristy stuff.