Cairo First days!
- Egyptian museum of course. Strangest thing to see all the objects I have looked at since childhood right in front of me. Looking at them I still couldnt believe they were real. The royal mummies are amazing. I was literally only inches from Rameses and queen Hatshepsut. Unreal...really unreal.
- Pyramids of Giza, sakarra, and Djoser. Went inside a pyramid it was insane how deep it was. Took a horse around the pyramids at giza, and got a free camel ride after. Super amazing day, but I was so tired.
- Americans from Jordan arrived and we all hung out, and went to the market and the Mosque. The mosque is also a school and one of the centers for islamic thought. There was this cat inside hitting everyone up for pets it was so cute. Had to cover my hair and take off my shoes to go in, but it was worth it. also had dinner on the nile, and danced with people from a birthday party.
- Went to Coptic Cairo. One of the oldest parts of Cairo, and went into a church and a synagogue. After the synagogue the people working there took us around back and let us look at the well where moses' basket stopped on the nile. About fell over when I heard that! I am used to people going oh yeah motzart lived here or king so and so, but Moses! It makes all the other people look so small.
- Left for Aswan
Aswan!
- 10 hour train ride to Aswan. The toilet on the train emptied on to the tracks haha and this was a fancy tourist train lol.
- Had to get up at 3am to go to Abu Simbel. Also had to take a convoy with police since it was so close to the sudanese border. Sorry mom, but I am safe no worries.
- Abu Simbel knocked my socks off! Ramessses knew how to do things right, and he loved his wife Nefertari so much he built her a temple too! The temple itself had to be moved, because of rising water in lake Nasser. It was amazing inside I was speechless.
- Saw Philae temple (temple of Isis) and the Aswan high damn as well. Philae is on an island, and its so beautiful I wanted to stay all day.
- Took a fluka down the nile to Kom ombo temple. Spent the night being fed by Nubians and looking at the moon over the nile. Btw nubian food is delicious.
Luxor!
- Kom ombo temple. Temple for crocodiles and hippos. Pretty amazing. Got offered one million camels by a 12 year old. He said he had to go to the camel bank first though. hahaha
- Temple of Horus. Amazing the walls were huge and it was like walking through a maze.
- Luxor is amazing. Loved it.
- Valley of the kings. I almost cried inside king tuts tomb. I have been obsessed with Howard Carter and king tut since a child, and to be inside...damn I am gonna cry now. It was amazing. The images on the wall of king tut were amazing. You could actually recognize him in the images by his features. His mummy is also there inside the tomb, and it was so amazing to be that close to him. I also say three other tombs, and they were amazing. The colors on the walls after 3000 years is truly one of the most incredible things I have every seen.
- Queen Hatshepsut's temple. So cool. She was a powerful pharaoh, and a women! Which pissed everyone off of course hahaha, but egypt was the best it ever was under her control.
- Went to an alabaster factory, which is still done the old fashion way. The people there are descendants of the original people that lived there during the times of the pharaohs! Was offered 300 alabaster camels for my hand by the owner lol got some free scarabs for everyone lol
- Valley of the Queens. Not as cool as The Valley of the kings, but amazing carvings and beautifully painted walls. Nefertari was buried here (Queen of Ramesses II. Her temple is at Abu Simbel)
- Went to Karnak!!!!!!! Its huge. I was in awe of the temple and the hall of pillars. A lot of effort went into worshiping Amun. Every king would build a part to the temple so it was always getting bigger!
- Luxor temple. One of my favs. It is a part of Karnak, but it was also used by the romans and there are frescos over the hieroglyphics. So its a beautiful patchwork of roman frescos and egyptian paintings. And of course Tutankhamun built his part of Karnak here so I loved it.
Back in Cairo
- Went to the citadel, which is a huge mosque. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. You walk in and there are all these hanging lights...it was fantastic.