End of Tour

 Sunday 2nd June

A very early morning with a 3:30am wake-up call.  Today we were going to Abu Simbel and the drive was expected to take around 3 hours.  As it was forecast to be 45 degrees, the plan was to get there as early as we could. 

We were given a 'breakfast box' to eat on the mini-bus and arrived about 8:00 (left at 4:30)  Abu Simbel was remarkable to me for 3 reasons, firstly due to the size of the complex, secondly because it was moved in the 60's to higher ground and thirdly due to the graffiti that was on some of the statues. 
I always thought that Abu Simbel was just the statues you see in photos, but behind those statues were one huge room with 8 more statues and many smaller rooms off that.  Each room had hieroglyphics on the walls, though very few on the ceilings. The 4 statues out the front represent Ramses II at various stages of life and you can see that the one on the right is noticeably 'older' and fatter than the others.
Abu Simbel had been moved due to the creation of the Aswan Dam, a huge 500km long lake that stretches 200km into Sudan - and Egypt pay them 'rent' for the privilege.  The Abu Simbel complex was cut into some smaller pieces and then a small mountain was built so that the main statues and the complex behind could be replicated down to the millimetre.  Even things like the second statue that had partly collapsed was replicated, including part of the head being placed at the feet where it was found. Quite amazing.
The graffiti seemed to date mainly from around 1875 and was basically names and dates carved into the legs of the main statues.  Sad that it was done, but kind of cool given that is almost 150 years old.

About 100 metres from the Ramses II statues was another temple, this one dedicated to his wife, Nefertari.  This also had 4 statues at the entrance  but only a couple of rooms inside.  Not as imposing as Ramses II but amazing none the less - and it too had been moved due to the dam.

Another 3 hour bus ride back and we arrived just before lunch.  After which we sat on the boat for a while before heading out to Philae Temple.  This temple is located on an island in the lake formed between the walls of the High Aswan Dam and the Low Aswan Dam.  Like Abu Simbel, this temple was also moved about 100 metres from a low lying island that was inundated by the dam water, to a higher island.
This Temple was nice with the usual array of hieroglyphics,  but it wasn't as spectacular as some of the others. The fact that it was 45 degrees celcius probably didn't help either. We stayed for a bit over 45 minutes then returned for our last night on the boat.

After dinner there was a Nubian dance show and our guide subtly suggested we go. Including our little group of 6, there were only another 6 watching. That was fine until they asked for some of us to go up and join them. 3 of our group - including both Trace and I - got up, very reluctantly, along with 2 others not from our group. It was kind of fun and we tried to make the most of it.  Trace also got pulled up for the next dance as well.

Monday 3rd June
Today was check out day from the cruise and that needed to be done by 8:00am.  We were able to have breakfast after we checked out, but this was a pre-ordered breakfast rather than the usual buffet.  We didn't need to actually leave the boat until 1:30 and we could sit around and use the facilities, bars and pools but Trace and I had other ideas. We organised with our guide to take a 1 hour Felucca ride from our boat down to the Old Cataract Hotel.  He came with us because even though he organised the whole thing he said they would try to rip us off if he wasn't there.  The ride was very pleasant and very slow, exactly what we were after and took just a little over an hour - the return trip by car took about 10 minutes.  Nearing the end of the ride they did uncover a table full of trinkets.  Trace found a camel she liked and we bought that, so I think they were happy.

The Old Cataract Hotel was built in1899 by Thomas Cook and has had many celebrities stay there including Winston Churchill (many times) and Agatha Christie, who stayed for a year and wrote 'Death on the Nile'. If you want to stay there next week, Booking.com is showing a room available for $600 a night. (High season is closer to $1000 a night)  We chose to sit and have a drink on the balcony, where we had to spend a minimum of $25 USD!  Trace and I both started with a Mocktail (Mojito for me and a Nile Smile for Trace) because a real cocktail was around $40. I then had a coke and Trace a tea, and we bought a coffee for our guide.  We stayed for about 2.5 hours enjoying the ambience and the view.  The hotel itself is very opulent and there was a gorgeous original lift (that no longer works)

Back on the boat everyone else had spent their time using the internet and sleeping.  We were picked up at 1:30 and taken to the airport for a 1.5 hour flight back to Cairo on Egypt Air.  The flight was OK with no major issues which we were pleased about as we are flying Egypt Air to Kenya in a few days.  Our huge hotel complex is closer to the Airport this time.

Tuesday 4th June
Technically today was part of our tour, but in reality our guide left us last night and nothing was planned for today, though OnTheGo would do different city tours if you wanted.  Trace and I were keen to go to Alexandria and originally planned on going by train, as we had seen in a documentary recently.  Having been at the station recently and seeing how chaotic it is, with no signage or announcements in English we were having second thoughts.  Instead our guide organised a driver and itinerary for us and the remaining 4 members of our tour group decided to join us.  The guide had planned this over the previous day or so and kept in touch with us via WhatsApp during the day.

Our first stop was the Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa.  The catacombs were dug into the ground to a depth of 100 feet and were completed during the 2nd Century AD and used until the 4th Century.  The catacombs were fascinating with chambers running here, there and everywhere and empty tombs shaped to fit coffins running two or three high down the long corridors.  The whole thing being accessed by a huge spiral staircase.  Unlike Paris, there are no bones in these catacombs, save for some horse bones in a display case - because they also buried animals down here. The original inhabitants had been removed following a flood a few hundred years ago.

Pompey's Pillar was next, a single column built in the early 1st Century and the only ancient monument still standing in its original position. It has two sphinxes guarding it and provided great views of the city.

From here we went to the Roman Amphitheatre,  with the drive through Alexandria very interesting.  Narrow streets and a lot of cars with seemingly no road rules made for a fun time.  The Roman Ampitheatre was interesting even though we have been to several on other trips. It was not large but had great acoustics. There were people digging in one corner of the site and they appeared to have found something as they were being very careful.  We asked someone but they didn't understand us, so we don't know what they found. There were some beautiful mosiac floors in another corner of the site and these had been covered with a roof.  There was also a really good 3D looking mosaic on a wall.

The following stop was a Jewellery Museum, showcasing the jewelery of Princes Fatima, dating from the 19th Century.  I could have given this a miss but the girls seemed to like it.
It was 2:30 by now and we finally had lunch at a Seafood restaurant that was included in the price for the day.  Whole fish, a few barbecued prawns and some calamari filled a hole.
The final stop was at Qaitbay Fort, built in the 15th Century on the site of the original Lighthouse of Alexandria (1st Century BC).  The Fort was interesting and we got some great views of the Mediterranean sea.

Back in the mini bus for a 3 hour drive home, arriving about 7:30, about 12.5 hours after we left.

Not sure if I have mentioned, but everywhere we have been over the past week, and the Hotels we have stayed in, have metal detectors for us to walk through and also X Ray machines for our bags.  The Hotels even have sniffer dogs to check cars as they come in.  We have seen similar security measures in Kenya and other African countries and are always torn between being pleased they have the measures and being concerned that they feel the need.