Posted in 1996, Archaeology, Egypt, Luxor on August 30, 2007 | No Comments »
My friends Robin and Lucy, who had been in Egypt with me the previous year, had arrived at last and we decided we would try to get to Abydos. In 1996 this was not an easy journey and we were told that we would need special permission from the Antiquities Office in Luxor because the [...]
Posted in 1996, Egypt, Luxor on August 30, 2007 | No Comments »
The cruise was over, I had said my farewells to new friends and the excellent crew and I was now staying in the Isis Hotel - I’m a creature of habit, but at that time it was one of the best hotels. I had a couple of days on my own before my two friends [...]
Posted in 1996, Archaeology, Egypt, Luxor, Nile Cruise on August 28, 2007 | No Comments »
Although we had been in Luxor for two days, I was still staying on the cruise boat and on our last day aboard as part of a tour group, we had a lot to get through. At 7.00am we were already on board the tourist ferry bound for the West Bank, with its towering rose-tinted [...]
Posted in 1996, Egypt, Luxor, Nile Cruise on August 28, 2007 | No Comments »
It felt very good to be here in Luxor again after waiting for almost a year to come back. Our first visit today was to Karnak Temple, at that time my favourite place. I did the tour with my group and as we had time to ourselves afterwards I followed the walls around to the [...]
Posted in 1996, Archaeology, Egypt, Nile Cruise on August 27, 2007 | 2 Comments »
Sailing between Edfu and Esna is always a joy. It is a peaceful countryside where little mud brick hamlets crouch beside the river, hardly changed since pharaonic times. Straw or fodder for animals is stacked on the roofs, along with peppers or whatever herbs and vegetables are suitable for drying. Most of these tiny villages [...]
Posted in 1996, Aswan, Egypt, Nile Cruise on August 27, 2007 | No Comments »
Named after the first Nile cataract, the rocky un-navigable part of the river, the Old Cataract Hotel in Aswan is probably most famous to the English as the place which is said to have inspired Agatha Christie to write her novel ‘Death on the Nile’ in the 1930s. Later the early scenes from the movie [...]
Posted in 1996, Archaeology, Aswan, Egypt, Nile Cruise on August 26, 2007 | 2 Comments »
The storm of the previous night had cleared by morning and we had had a fine day. I went to Philae Temple with my group, my second visit there, and saw much more than I had last year, with a slightly greater knowledge of what I was looking at. The sheer magnificence of the setting [...]
Posted in 1996, Egypt, Nile Cruise on August 23, 2007 | No Comments »
Each Nile cruise I’ve been on has had some sort of entertainment in the evening. Tonight was the weekly ‘galabeya party’, when we passengers were expected to dress up in newly purchased ‘Egyptian dress’ - galabeyas and head-gear - and generally make fools of ourselves - all in the spirit of good fun. After dinner [...]
Posted in 1996, Archaeology, Egypt, Nile Cruise on August 23, 2007 | No Comments »
My morning began with me wrapped in a blanket and sitting up on deck at dawn to watch the sun rise. I had at first been a little disappointed to learn that we were not going to Luxor at the beginning of the cruise, as I was eager to see Karnak again. But a cruise, [...]
Posted in 1996, Egypt, Nile Cruise on August 22, 2007 | No Comments »
For a whole year all I could think about was getting back to Egypt. Meanwhile, I had begun to take a course in Egyptology in order to understand more of what I had seen. To be honest, I’d never really left the country, or at least, I felt as though I’d left my heart there [...]
Posted in Egypt on August 21, 2007 | 4 Comments »
I have now finished writing about my first visit to Egypt and I’ve put the whole series of posts into a page called chapters to make it easier to read in book form.
My next trip to Egypt begins in November 1996.
Posted in 1995, Archaeology, Egypt, Luxor on August 20, 2007 | No Comments »
I am always more aware of the day of winter solstice than I am of Christmas itself. The solstice for me is a time of change and rebirth, new beginnings. In England midwinter is a dark time when day is barely distinguishable from the long protracted night, but also a time of hope. In Egypt, [...]
Posted in 1995, Archaeology, Egypt on August 19, 2007 | No Comments »
Another early start this morning as my friend and I had arranged with Sharif the taxi driver to take us to the Temple of Hathor at Dendera, one of the most extensive temple complexes to survive from the Ptolemaic Period. Sharif had already collected his brother who was about to be conscripted into the army [...]
Posted in 1995, Egypt, Local Customs, Luxor on August 19, 2007 | No Comments »
In the evening my friend and I were invited to a wedding by Moses, a self-proclaimed ‘Egyptologist’ we had met and chatted with a few times. We both jumped at the opportunity of meeting more locals and seeing some real Egyptian life and customs. The event was not at all what we expected. It was [...]
Posted in 1995, Archaeology, Egypt, Luxor on August 18, 2007 | No Comments »
This morning there were a group of musicians playing outside our hotel. They wore colourful galabeyas and turbans and played a variety of instruments including several types of drum and tabla and a rababa. The rababa is a curious instrument consisting of half a coconut shell covered in goatskin (traditionally) with a long vertical pole [...]
Su's detailed descriptions and photographs of Egyptian Monuments
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