Thursday 23 July 2009

Doctor doctor! I feel like an Egyptian... Are you in de Nile?


I gotta say, I took an awesome photo!

I had an awesome time in Egypt last week. My family and I went on a cruise down the Nile (Luxor to Aswan and back) as a graduation celebration. I hear there are 350+ cruise boats on the Nile, so there's a lot to choose from if you're planning to go. The weather was soooo hot but it was still fantastic and I saw some amazing sights. Here's a few of my must sees:

Abu Simbel: A temple built by Ramses II dedicated to himself! He made himself a god and had this awesome temple cut into the rocks. You have to travel several kilometres through the desert to get there. How did they create such masterpieces all those years ago?! Random trivia: Ramses II also found time to have 198 children with 35 wives.

Tomb of Tutankhamun: It's in the Valley of the Kings on the west bank of Luxor (the west is where the sun sets and therefore the west represents the afterlife). Paying to see a corpse is a bit creepy, but his golden sarcophagus is also there. Everything else is in Cairo museum. This is the only tomb that was found intact ie. tomb robbers didn't manage to ravage it.

Luxor Temple: Follow the sphinx road from Karnak temple and you'll reach Luxor temple. I think this was the main temple back in the ancient times, when Luxor was the capital of Egypt and where the pharoahs ruled from.

Philae Temple: To get to this island temple dedicated to the goddess Isis, you have to take a motorboat. It's quite a romantic and ethereal location. They also have a sound and light show on at night in four languages.

Edfu Temple: Said to be the most well preserved of all the temples. This one was actually built when the Greeks ruled Egypt (but they had to worship the Egyptian gods to prevent rebellion). This temple is dedicated to Horus and celebrates his battle over his evil uncle, Set.

Pyramids + sphinx: I didn't actually get to see the only remaining wonder of the ancient world but I plan to go there one day! Giza is just a bit too far from Luxor. I already can't wait to go back to Egypt.

3 comments:

Bethany Heron said...

Thank you for your lovely comment :) I LOVE your blog & I am now following you :) xxxxx

Sher said...

Oh wow Egypt! Sounds amazing!!!

un petit lapin said...

@ Bettycake: Awww, you're so sweet! Following you back!

@ Sher: It really was! I totally recommend it!