Since we arrived in the Middle East Egypt has been an obvious destination choice. But the recent troubles meant that we had put this trip on hold until now.
Eid Al Adha gave us the opportunity for a five day/four night visit to Egypt. Just enough time to see some of the major tourist sights.
Sue dubbed this “The Room With a View Tour” with each hotel giving us a spectacular view:
Mena House Hotel overlooked the Pyramids of Giza.
The Legend Old Cataract overlooked the Cataracts on the Nile at Aswan.
The Sonesta St. George looked out across the Nile to The Valley of the Kings, with a peek of Queen Hatshepsut’s Temple.
We packed an incredible amount into five days but inevitably had to miss out on some things. Our biggest regret was not having spent more time in Aswan and the Old Cataract Hotel. It was built by Thomas Cook and featured in Agatha Christie’s ‘Death on the Nile’. We arrived at about 7pm and left at 7.30am the next day. Time for a delightful meal in the 1902 restaurant but little time to appreciate anything else – we’ll just have to go back!
To cram everything in we arranged an airport pickup and guided tours throughout our stay making it more of a military operation than a holiday.
Planned itinerary..
22 September
- 1200 arrive Cairo International
- 1400 tour Citadel and transfer to Mena House Hotel
- 1900 Sound and light show Giza Pyramids
23 September
- 0830 Giza Plateau – Pyramids of Khufu (Pharaoh Cheops), Khafre (Chephren) and Menkaure (Mycerinus), The Sphinx and Valley Temple
- 1130 The Egyptian Museum, Cairo
- 1600 Flight from Cairo to Aswan
- 1725 Transfer to Old Cataract Hotel, Aswan
24 September
- 0730 Boat trip to Philae Temple, Aswan then car trip to Luxor visiting Edfu and Kom Ombo Temples along the way
- 1800 Arrive Sonesta St George Hotel, Luxor
25 September
- 0800 West Bank Tour – Valley of the Kings and Temple of Queen Hatshepsut
- 1400 East Bank Tour – Karnak and Luxor Temples
26 September
- 0500 Hotel pick-up for boat crossing and transfer to hot air balloon on West bank
- 0900 Hotel breakfast
- 1215 Flight from Luxor to Cairo
- 2215 Depart Cairo for Abu Dhabi
Of course nothing went exactly to plan. Military exercises at Cairo airport delayed our departure from Abu Dhabi then our landing at Cairo. The flight path image doesn’t really show exactly how many figure of eights we did before finally touching down in Cairo – about three hours late!
22 September
Mohamed Ali Mosque inside the Citadel is clad in alabaster and would be a stunning, gleaming white if only there was money for the necessary clean-up.
The lack of tourists was a recurring theme throughout this trip. We never had to queue for anything, anywhere. At the sound and light show only the first few rows of seats were occupied. Nigel could happily stand with a camera on a tripod without blocking anyone’s view.
23 September
Giza was followed by the Cairo Museum. This had not been on our original itinerary but once we realised that we had time to fit it in we couldn’t resist – a good bit of upselling by our tour guide!
Apart from the most expensive cup of tea in Cairo the museum was well worth visiting. Again the lack of crowds made everything easy. Visiting the popular Tutankhamen exhibition used to involve lengthy queues, we just wondered in. Sue remembers queueing for hours to see this in London as a child.
24 September
Old Cataract Hotel, Aswan. The stunning view from our hotel balcony when we arrived last night was even better this morning,
Unfortunately we had no time to really appreciate the hotel. We had far too much crammed into this day.
First event a short boat trip above the Aswan dam.
The Philae Temple was transported stone by stone to its new location on an island to avoid being submerged by the rising Nile waters after the construction of the second Aswan dam – a brilliant logistical and archaeological feat.
Then it was into a mini-bus for the long trip following the Nile to Luxor with two temple stops en route.
Edfu Temple on the East bank of Nile.
Followed by Kom Ombo Temple, again on the East bank of the river Nile, about half way between Aswan and Luxor.
25 September
A Nile view across to the Valley of the Kings was the only highlight of the Sonasta St George Hotel, home for two nights while we explored the sights around Luxor.
An early start took us to the West bank and the Valley of the Kings.
Visits to three very different tombs, each intricately decorated, sadly must remain only as memories – no photos were allowed.
Queen Hatshepsut’s’ Temple, was a different story, however…
After an afternoon siesta we visited Karnak and Luxor Temples on the East Bank. We were close to being ‘templed out’ by this stage but not so much that we couldn’t appreciate the splendour of these monuments.
We made it to Luxor Temple as the sun was setting.
26 September
A pre-dawn start on the last day was absolutely worth the effort. A quiet, early morning balloon flight across the Valley of the Kings, Queen Hatshepsut’s Temple and other temples that we hadn’t even noticed on our approach the day before.
Weather is lovely, wish you were here 