Egypt: Around the Nile

For the last entry on my Egypt trip, I wanted to post some general pictures from the places I visited in the southern part of the country.

Aswan
After our Cairo adventure, we headed to Aswan on an overnight train. I think the concept of "first class" is a bit different in Egypt but at least we had a bed to sleep in. Southern Egypt was incredibly hot, which seemed to be the theme of the trip, with most days being over 50 degrees Celsius.

First stop off the train was the unfinished obelisk. Workers were halfway through constructing this obelisk for one of the pharaohs when it split. Bummer.



Next was the Aswan dam. This was the southern tip of the Nile and led to the construction of the world's largest man made lake (Lake Nasser).

River Side

Lake Side

Monument built by the Egyptian and the...Russians?

Next we boarded our three night cruise of the Nile on the M.S. Medea. The buffets were awesome and the room had a big window with a great Nile view.



We spent the night docked in Aswan and went to a bazaar. I bought my Mom a necklace for her birthday and I have to say I was quite impressed with my haggling skills.




Cruising

The next three days were spent visiting Temples and occasionally cruising (I was surprised by how little time our cruise actually spent sailing). Between the sites it was nice to lounge in the room and watch the Nile go by...









Luxor

When we reached Luxor, we visited one of the most popular tourist sites in Egypt: The Valley of the Kings. Here, thousands of tombs (including the famous ones like King Tut's) are constructed in the desert and many of them have yet to be uncovered. There were no cameras allowed, but I did snap a shot of the valley from afar at sunset.



In the evening we got to go on a donkey ride and explore a "traditional Egyptian village". I was a bit skeptical on the authenticity of this since I'm pretty sure this village had seen Contiki travellers go through every week for the past few years. But the donkey ride (and in one case, race) was pretty fun and just seeing the layout of the village was neat.









Overall, my trip to Egypt was well worth the travel. It was difficult in many ways (including the heat, not being able to eat many foods or drink tap water and being stared at leerishly by Egyptian men) but this was far outweighed by the beauty of the country. If you are thinking about travelling here, do it!