Egypt 3

“Homage to thee Ra, Supreme power, who makes the earth visible, who gives light to those Westerners…”

That was the Litany to Re that we recited one night in front of the awesome temple of Rameses the Great at Abu Simbel.

Instead of a Nile cruise, we took a Nubian cruise on Lake Nassar.  This was the first year that this was offered, and there were only 3 cruise ships on the entire lake, so we pretty much had it to ourselves.  We visited Wadi El Saboua, Qasr Ibrim, and docked overnight at Abu Simbel, my favorite place in all of Egypt.  Despite having been re-located before the building of the Aswan Dam, there are still two days of the year when the rising sun penetrates 200 feet into the interior of the temple, illuminating the figures of the gods in the sanctuary.

Once again traveling with Joy Travel International, this was a tour for those who have already visited Egypt, and we saw sites we had not seen before, including areas that were just now opened to the public, like Abu Syr, and Dashur, the site of the Bent Pyramid and the Red Pyramid, whose interior we got to explore.

After the tour, we all went our separate ways. There were four of us who chose to go to Luxor, in order to see the opera Aida performed in front of Queen Hapshetsut’s Temple.

Of course, there were the usual hi-jinks. Piling our unsecured luggage onto the top of a small car, hoping nothing would fall off as we barreled down the street. Rushing to dress into our finest, in order to catch the bus to take us to the opera. Then, arriving there hours early without having eaten, devouring all the peanuts on the bar. But it was worth it. Aida was magnificent, we had a hotel right on the Nile (unlike the older hotels which are across the street), and we took a hot-air balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings.

See also: Egypt 1, Egypt 2, & Egypt 4.