After this trip, I can still say that Egypt is one of my favorite destinations. However, this trip had our worst travel/flight experience ever. Long story very short, we spent the first week without our luggage and ending up paying for flights to get us out of the country after Turkish Air canceled our return tickets. If you have an hour and want to see James get very animated, ask him for the details. All that aside, I loved the trip.
We started the trip on our own, doing a week on land. Last trip we focused on Cairo and Alexandria, so this trip we went south, splitting our time between Aswan and Luxor. Abercrombie and Kent is the travel company we used. They made all the arrangements and set us up with drivers, guides and Egyptologist. They handled the difficult luggage/airport issues. And it was amazing to have expert Egyptologists take us around temples. Getting in depth background made it even more magical.
Because of flight delays, we missed our first day in Abu Simbel. I have wanted to see Abu Simbel since seeing the original movie for Agatha Christie’s “Death on the Nile”. Next trip.
In Aswan, we stayed at the Sofitel Legend Old Cataract Hotel. This is where Agatha Christie was staying when she wrote Death on the Nile and we were able to tour her suite. This one of my favorite hotels I have ever stayed at. There is something about being in your room, or the pool and looking out over the Nile to the Temple of Khnum.
We traveled the end of July through mid-August and the heat was literally breath-taking. I would say it is the wrong time to visit except that it was so off season, there were temples where we were literally the only people visiting. The local guards, who are hired by the Department of Antiquities, were so bored that they got excited to show us around. In some temples, outside guides aren’t allowed, so our A&K guide couldn’t “guide” us. The local guides would personally lead us around and take us in areas that were officially off limits. In one spot, they allowed us to climb up some ladders to rooms that were in the process of being restored.
Around Aswan, we visited the Philae temple complex with the Temple of Isis, the Unfinished Obelisk, and then spent the evening in a spice market. (My luggage home never smelled so good.) We also visited the double temple of Kom Ombo, which is dedicated to both Sobek, the crocodile god, and Horus, the falcon-headed god. We then made our way from Aswan to Luxor with a stop on the way to visit the Temple of Edfu, which is dedicated to Horus.
We spent the next few days in Luxor, staying at the Sofitel Winter Palace. And palace it is, with hallways wide enough to drive a mac truck through and grounds full of scented flowers and singing birds.
Our first morning in Luxor we were up pre-dawn for a balloon trip over the Valley of the Kings. I still love ballooning and for some scientific (but still mysterious) reason, it doesn’t trigger my fear of heights. Sunrise over the Valley of the Kings is amazing and seeing it from above for some reason makes the passage of time and how short our time here is stand out.
While in Luxor we visited the East Bank, the Temples of Luxor and Karnak. Then we visited the West Bank, the 'Necropolis of Thebes', Colossi of Memnon, Valley of the Queens, the Tomb of Nefertari, and the Valley of the Kings. And as if that weren’t enough, we also went to the Ptolemaic temple of the goddess Hathor, the Great Hypostyle Hall, the Hall of Offerings, the Hall of the Ennead. We then went to Abydos to see the Temple of Seti I.
There isn’t really a good way to compare Cairo to Alexandria to Luxor to Aswan. Cairo has the classic great pyramid/sphinx quintessential Egypt sights and Alexandria has the Mediterranean and the modern Library of Alexandria. That said, I think Aswan and Luxor would be where I would return. I was blown away every day by the sights and the feel of the places.
After our time in Aswan and Luxor, our A&K guides drove us to Hurghada to start our diving adventure. (After a stop at two airports to finally get our missing luggage.) We again dove with the Red Sea Agressor team, this time on the Agressor II. While our first dive trip was in the southern Red Sea spending time on reefs, this trip was focused on the wrecks of the northern Red Sea.
Over the week we dove 11 different wrecks and a few dives on the amazingly beautiful Shark & Yolanda reef. This is the list of sites we dove:
Day 1 - Tobia-Arbaa - Salem Express - Salem Express
Day 2 - Carnatic – Tile Wreck – Giannis D – Beacon Rock
Day 3 - Dunraven wreck – Shark&Yolanda Reef – SS Thistlegorm – SS Thistlegorm
Day 4 - SS Thistlegorm – SS Thistlegorm – Kingston – The Barge
Day 5 - The Barge – Gubal Island – Shaab El-Erg – Shaab El-Erg
Day 6 - Shaab El-Erg - El Miniya Wreck
The SS Thistlegorm is the most famous of the Red Sea wrecks. The ship is huge at 423 feet long. It was on a resupply voyage for the British Army when it was bombed by German planes on October 6,1941. She was transporting supplies including armored MGs vehicles, motorcycles, jeeps, trucks, rolling stock, airplane parts, stacks of rifles, radio equipment, munitions, and a plentiful supply of Wellington boots. Now you can swim over the motorcycles, which makes a nice picture and there an enormous variety of marine life with large schooling fish.
I sat out the MV Salem Express. This one is too tragic for me to feel comfortable about having a “fun” dive on it. It was a passenger/vehicle ferry that sunk in a storm in 1991. There were 700 people aboard. Most died. The lifeboats are still aboard as it sank so the crew didn’t even get the chance to lower them.
My favorite was the Carnatic, which is thought to be the oldest wreck found at Sha'ab Abu Nuhas. A steam and sail powered clipper, the Carnatic was sailing from Bombay (Mumbai), India to Suez when she struck the reef in 1869. The ship broke in half and sunk, holding a cargo including cotton, copper, and a huge load of gold. Salvage operations claim to have recovered the gold, however rumors still exist that there still might be gold hidden on the wreck. I found nothing.
After our second visit to Egypt, I certainly hope there will be a third visit in our future.