Dianna and I flew yesterday from Istanbul to Antalya, a medium-sized city on the south coast of Turkey. I'm going to keep this one super short, so will just say that Istanbul was amazing, one of my favorite cities anywhere.
The south coast is looking great as well. Today we rented a car and drove up to some ancient ruins, called Termessos. Click the subject line above to see some images of the site.
We rented the car for a full 8 days, so tomorrow we'll be taking off from here and heading west, towards the Turqoise Coast and the general area around Fethiye. This is roughly where the Lycian Way trek starts, a 300-mile (500 kilometers) hiking route that I was looking into doing when planning my trip originally, but the plans got changed due to various factors. I would love to do the trek again at another time, but for now it will be great to simply drive through the area, and then stop and do some general exploring. Perhaps we'll even get the chance to do some dayhiking on the actual trail.
We'll probably stay in that area for a good 4-5 days or more. Then we're thinking of checking out an area called Egirdir, which is a beautiful lake and valley that's also on the way to Cappadocia, which is one of the must-see places that everyone raves about. Cappadocia is more towards the center of the country, so we haven't figured out exactly how we'll get there, whether by bus or keep the rental car and drive, then come back to Antalya and take another flight. It'll probably depend on whether we can find another super cheap flight back to Istanbul.
So I'll leave it there for now, and just say that Turkey looks really amazing and definitely demands more than just a few weeks to really experience the country. But a few weeks is better than nothing, so I'll soak it up the best I can in the time we have, and very likely be coming back some other time, as there's tons to see.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
My photographic "Greatest Hits" (click here)
Click the subject line above to view a slide show of my favorite photos from the past four months of traveling around Greece and Egypt (in somewhat random order).
More images of Athens...
Colorful graffiti around Athens, and the Parthenon atop the Acropolis at sunset. (The Acropolis is the hill situated in the center of Athens, on which the specific building known as the Parthenon sits. As you can see, it's under restoration and rather marred by scaffolding.)...
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Athens sunset photos
Yesterday afternoon Dianna and I walked (okay, took the metro and then walked) over to the Acropolis. We strolled around there a bit, before catching the sunset from Filopapou Hill looking out at both the Acropolis and the city of Athens stretching in all directions, down to the port of Piraeus (where you catch ferries out to the islands)...
Soccer fans rioting in Cairo (click here)
After the game that I watched in Cairo betwen Egypt and Algeria, the two teams had to play another game together to decide ultimately who would go to the playoffs. The game took place in Sudan a few days ago. Algeria won 1-0, and tragically (despite no apparent controversy over the actual game) this has led to all kinds of repercussions, such as violence between Egyptians and Algerians in both countries, and Egypt recalling its ambassador to Algeria.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Desert photos
The view of the road through Egypt's western desert from our taxi, on our way from Luxor to the Dhakla oasis:
Self-portrait with Jeffrey in the back seat. Angelique is behind me and Idoia is in the seat behind her:
Our car and driver:
The sun rising over the desert near the Dhakla oasis:
The hot spring near the desert camp where we stayed:
Self-portrait with Jeffrey in the back seat. Angelique is behind me and Idoia is in the seat behind her:
Our car and driver:
The sun rising over the desert near the Dhakla oasis:
The hot spring near the desert camp where we stayed:
Egyptian soccer fans in Cairo
While in Cairo I watched a soccer match on TV in my hotel, and Egypt won, 2-0. Here's some video of the fans pouring into the streets to celebrate, taken from the balcony of my hotel.
Back in Athens, Greece
I haven't written in a long while, since Luxor, which leaves a lot to be covered. So I'm going to do my best to basically skim over what's taken place since then. In Luxor I found three other travelers who also wanted to cover the distance from the city of Luxor, on the Nile in southern Egypt, westward to one of the oases in the western desert of Egypt, called the Dhakla oases. There are about a half dozen major oases in western Egypt, which are simply places where, for one reason or another (mostly because they're low in elevation, in some cases below sea level) springs exist that provide water that otherwise would be non-existent. In most of Egypt it seems, it can go for years without any rain at all. So these few oases are the only sign of greenery and much else in the way of life, including human, in the midst of miles and miles of barren desert.
So the route from Luxor west to the Dhakla oasis, about a 6 hour journey driving directly, wasn't covered by the bus system. Instead you have to pay to hire a private car and driver (just a taxi actually), which was more than a hundred dollars. But split 4 ways it was much more reasonable. So I told the people at my hotel that I wanted to do this and they kept their ears open for other people who also wanted to make the trip. It ended up being myself, Jeffrey also from Portland, Oregon, and Angelique from Canada and Idoia from Spain, the two of whom had been traveling together for a while.
We drove all day through the stark yet beautiful desert, and our driver dropped us off at a desert camp that was a few miles outside of a small village at the edge of the oasis. The desert camp was essentially a collection of small adobe-style mud buildings, built for the purposes of visiting tourists to experience the surrounding desert. It was a gorgeous setting at the base of some cliffs, within view of the nearby oasis but otherwise surrounded completely by desert. There was a hot spring there, which we were all too eager to relax into after our long journey.
The next day Jeffrey headed out to find a somewhat cheaper place to stay in the nearby village, and Angelique, Idoia and I split a room to make it more affordable. We went for a hike out into the desert that day, and otherwise just relaxed back at the hotel room.
The next day we headed out as well, to the nearby village of Al Qasr, in which we toured a now-abandoned section of the town, that was built and lived in during medieval times. It was quite a fascinating look into how people lived hundreds of years ago, as the town was entirely intact, with multi-level mud buildings, narrow, shaded alleys and even a small mill that would have been powered by a horse or donkey.
That evening we caught a bus to another oases, Bahariya, about 5 hours away heading towards Athens, and spent the night at another camp in the desert. The next day we signed up for an overnight jeep excursion out into the desert near there. We got a late start, drove (or rather, our 26-year-old Egyptian guide drove) for an hour or so up a highway and then turned onto a smaller road, and then an even smaller one, driving pretty much right through the sandy desert. We arrived shortly after dark at one of the most beautiful scenes I've ever seen. It was pure golden sand shaped into undulating dunes, with different rock formations sticking straight up out of the sand. Unfortunately, my camera had locked up me and wasn't working at this point. But Angelique and Idoia took plenty of photos, that I'll be able to share at some point.
We hung out around a campfire as our multi-talented guide cooked up a great dinner; and then slept under the stars. The next morning we enjoyed the surreal scene in daylight for a while; and then headed out and continued through the desert. We stopped at one mini-oasis along the way, that looked like something out of a Saturday morning cartoon, with three or four palm trees sticking up out of the desert. There was a spring there that collected into several different pools that you could go swimming in, so we did just that. Then we started heading back towards town, passing lots more amazing desert landscapes along the way.
That afternoon the three of us caught a bus into Cairo, arriving late that night. Angelique and Idoia got a room, and I got my own in the same hotel. At that point I had about five days before I flew from Cairo back to Greece, and thought that I might leave Cairo to go visit Alexandria or Marsa Matruh, both cities on the northern coast of Egypt on the Mediterranean Sea, west of Cairo and the Nile. But I also knew that I had a bunch of stuff I could take care of in Cairo, and wasn't all that into more extended bus journeys. Angelique and Idoia spent another day in Cairo to view the pyramids; and then took off the following morning, bound for the Sinai peninsula.
As it turned out, I didn't make it out of Cairo at all before my flight. The main thing that I had to do was a lot of shopping. My next destination is Turkey, and it's going to be cold there, especially in the interior near Cappadocia. I figured it would be a lot cheaper to buy clothes and other things there in Egypt rather than in either Greece or Turkey. So I went on a shopping spree and got a new jacket, 3 pairs of pants, shirt, new shoes, belt, socks and underwear, long underwear, gloves, a hat and I forget what else; as well as some assorted gifts.
Also, I needed to book a flight back home, which turned into a bit of a pain as my credit card wasn't working, so I had to make a few phone calls to my bank to get that straightened out. Eventually I got that smoothed out and then booked a flight from Istanbul back to San Francisco for Dec. 16th. Also in Cairo I visited a few areas of the city that I hadn't seen before, and wrote a bunch of postcards. And one evening I watched a soccer match on TV at my hotel, between Egypt and Algeria. Egypt won 2-0, and Cairo went crazy with people pouring into the streets. I'll post a video of that later.
Wrapping things up, I got up early yesterday morning, caught my flight to Athens without incident, Dianna met me at the airport, and now I'm here staying at Dianna's apartment again. We're making plans to head for Turkey, and may actually take a flight instead of going by ferry, since it's almost the same price. We're looking at flying to Istanbul, and then Antalya on the southern coast of Turkey, next Monday or Tuesday. I'll write again sometime between now and then when we get the plans straightened out.
So the route from Luxor west to the Dhakla oasis, about a 6 hour journey driving directly, wasn't covered by the bus system. Instead you have to pay to hire a private car and driver (just a taxi actually), which was more than a hundred dollars. But split 4 ways it was much more reasonable. So I told the people at my hotel that I wanted to do this and they kept their ears open for other people who also wanted to make the trip. It ended up being myself, Jeffrey also from Portland, Oregon, and Angelique from Canada and Idoia from Spain, the two of whom had been traveling together for a while.
We drove all day through the stark yet beautiful desert, and our driver dropped us off at a desert camp that was a few miles outside of a small village at the edge of the oasis. The desert camp was essentially a collection of small adobe-style mud buildings, built for the purposes of visiting tourists to experience the surrounding desert. It was a gorgeous setting at the base of some cliffs, within view of the nearby oasis but otherwise surrounded completely by desert. There was a hot spring there, which we were all too eager to relax into after our long journey.
The next day Jeffrey headed out to find a somewhat cheaper place to stay in the nearby village, and Angelique, Idoia and I split a room to make it more affordable. We went for a hike out into the desert that day, and otherwise just relaxed back at the hotel room.
The next day we headed out as well, to the nearby village of Al Qasr, in which we toured a now-abandoned section of the town, that was built and lived in during medieval times. It was quite a fascinating look into how people lived hundreds of years ago, as the town was entirely intact, with multi-level mud buildings, narrow, shaded alleys and even a small mill that would have been powered by a horse or donkey.
That evening we caught a bus to another oases, Bahariya, about 5 hours away heading towards Athens, and spent the night at another camp in the desert. The next day we signed up for an overnight jeep excursion out into the desert near there. We got a late start, drove (or rather, our 26-year-old Egyptian guide drove) for an hour or so up a highway and then turned onto a smaller road, and then an even smaller one, driving pretty much right through the sandy desert. We arrived shortly after dark at one of the most beautiful scenes I've ever seen. It was pure golden sand shaped into undulating dunes, with different rock formations sticking straight up out of the sand. Unfortunately, my camera had locked up me and wasn't working at this point. But Angelique and Idoia took plenty of photos, that I'll be able to share at some point.
We hung out around a campfire as our multi-talented guide cooked up a great dinner; and then slept under the stars. The next morning we enjoyed the surreal scene in daylight for a while; and then headed out and continued through the desert. We stopped at one mini-oasis along the way, that looked like something out of a Saturday morning cartoon, with three or four palm trees sticking up out of the desert. There was a spring there that collected into several different pools that you could go swimming in, so we did just that. Then we started heading back towards town, passing lots more amazing desert landscapes along the way.
That afternoon the three of us caught a bus into Cairo, arriving late that night. Angelique and Idoia got a room, and I got my own in the same hotel. At that point I had about five days before I flew from Cairo back to Greece, and thought that I might leave Cairo to go visit Alexandria or Marsa Matruh, both cities on the northern coast of Egypt on the Mediterranean Sea, west of Cairo and the Nile. But I also knew that I had a bunch of stuff I could take care of in Cairo, and wasn't all that into more extended bus journeys. Angelique and Idoia spent another day in Cairo to view the pyramids; and then took off the following morning, bound for the Sinai peninsula.
As it turned out, I didn't make it out of Cairo at all before my flight. The main thing that I had to do was a lot of shopping. My next destination is Turkey, and it's going to be cold there, especially in the interior near Cappadocia. I figured it would be a lot cheaper to buy clothes and other things there in Egypt rather than in either Greece or Turkey. So I went on a shopping spree and got a new jacket, 3 pairs of pants, shirt, new shoes, belt, socks and underwear, long underwear, gloves, a hat and I forget what else; as well as some assorted gifts.
Also, I needed to book a flight back home, which turned into a bit of a pain as my credit card wasn't working, so I had to make a few phone calls to my bank to get that straightened out. Eventually I got that smoothed out and then booked a flight from Istanbul back to San Francisco for Dec. 16th. Also in Cairo I visited a few areas of the city that I hadn't seen before, and wrote a bunch of postcards. And one evening I watched a soccer match on TV at my hotel, between Egypt and Algeria. Egypt won 2-0, and Cairo went crazy with people pouring into the streets. I'll post a video of that later.
Wrapping things up, I got up early yesterday morning, caught my flight to Athens without incident, Dianna met me at the airport, and now I'm here staying at Dianna's apartment again. We're making plans to head for Turkey, and may actually take a flight instead of going by ferry, since it's almost the same price. We're looking at flying to Istanbul, and then Antalya on the southern coast of Turkey, next Monday or Tuesday. I'll write again sometime between now and then when we get the plans straightened out.
Friday, November 06, 2009
Going from Luxor to Dhakla Oasis
I've had a great time here in Luxor visiting some of the many ancient sites that are scattered all throughout this area. Luxor was the capital of Egypt during the time of the pharoahs, and this was really where it was all happening (okay, not all, of course the Great Pyramids were pretty happening). But this is where the pharaohs lived, and died, and their tombs are all in the same area on the other side of the Nile a few miles away from here. The kings were all entombed in what is now known as the Valley of the Kings, 63 of which have been discovered. The wives of the pharoahs were entombed nearby at the Valley of the Queens. Except for a few exceptions, when a woman ruled as the pharoah because there wasn't an heir, or the heir was too young, in which case she also was entombed in the Valley of the Kings. King Tutankhamen, Ramses (there were a number of Ramses pharoahs), Seti, Nefertiti, etc. all lived here and were mummified and then laid to rest in ornately decorated tombs dug deep into the earth, and then covered over so that (so they thought) they couldn't be found.
One of the tours that I went on took me out to the Valley of the Kings, where you join the rest of the thousands of tourists that visit this area and hike up a barren canyon, and then go down into these tombs that are dug like perfectly square mine shafts, going at a slight downhill angle underground. We went down into three of the tombs, which gives you a good enough idea (not all of them are open to visitation anyway). Cameras are not allowed however, so unfortunately I don't have pictures of those.
Then we also visited Hatshepsut's Temple, which is in the same area on the western side of the Nile (the city of Luxor is on the eastern bank). Hatshepsut was one of the queens who took over as pharoah when her husband died (I forget which pharoah, I think it might have been one of the Ramses). The rightful heir, her step-son was too young. Besides she had ambitions of being in charge because she continued to reign after her step-son was an adult, until she died. Her step-son then took over as pharoah at the age of 30, but was so resentful of her step-mother not handing over power to him earlier that he had all historical traces of her removed. Although apparently not all, because somehow or other they were able to put the pieces of the story together and figure out that this temple was dedicated to her. Cameras were allowed there and I've posted some of those pictures already (see the link below).
Yesterday I took a day off from the temple-viewing and had a restful day walking around town a bit and uploading those photos. Then today I visited the massive and impressive Karnak temple, here on the eastern side of the river just south of the city of Luxor. I took tons of photos of that, but haven't had the chance to post any of them yet.
So tomorrow I'll be going west from here to one of the several oases in the western desert of Egypt, to the Dhakla oasis. I've heard good things about it from everyone who has been there and it sounds pretty interesting reading about it in the guidebook. For one thing, it will be nice to get away from the ever-present tourism in these more well-known spots along the Nile valley, and find a little more in the way of peace and quiet. Apparently there are hot springs near there. Not that you really need them during the day, it's still plenty warm, but at night it's supposed to be fun to sit there soaking in the middle of the desert, looking up at the stars. And it sounds great for hiking and general exploring. But, I promise I'll bring plenty of water and won't get lost! And besides I'll most likely have company as I'm headed that way with a small group of people. I'll be splitting a private car with three other travelers from my hotel: an American named Jeffrey, who happens to be from Portland and is also a dual American-Canadian citizen (!); a woman from Canada and another woman from Spain. I'm looking forward to seeing the desert landscapes on the drive there. It sounds like there isn't much in the way of civilization until you get to the oasis. I'll of course have more to say about that once I get there and see what it's all about...
One of the tours that I went on took me out to the Valley of the Kings, where you join the rest of the thousands of tourists that visit this area and hike up a barren canyon, and then go down into these tombs that are dug like perfectly square mine shafts, going at a slight downhill angle underground. We went down into three of the tombs, which gives you a good enough idea (not all of them are open to visitation anyway). Cameras are not allowed however, so unfortunately I don't have pictures of those.
Then we also visited Hatshepsut's Temple, which is in the same area on the western side of the Nile (the city of Luxor is on the eastern bank). Hatshepsut was one of the queens who took over as pharoah when her husband died (I forget which pharoah, I think it might have been one of the Ramses). The rightful heir, her step-son was too young. Besides she had ambitions of being in charge because she continued to reign after her step-son was an adult, until she died. Her step-son then took over as pharoah at the age of 30, but was so resentful of her step-mother not handing over power to him earlier that he had all historical traces of her removed. Although apparently not all, because somehow or other they were able to put the pieces of the story together and figure out that this temple was dedicated to her. Cameras were allowed there and I've posted some of those pictures already (see the link below).
Yesterday I took a day off from the temple-viewing and had a restful day walking around town a bit and uploading those photos. Then today I visited the massive and impressive Karnak temple, here on the eastern side of the river just south of the city of Luxor. I took tons of photos of that, but haven't had the chance to post any of them yet.
So tomorrow I'll be going west from here to one of the several oases in the western desert of Egypt, to the Dhakla oasis. I've heard good things about it from everyone who has been there and it sounds pretty interesting reading about it in the guidebook. For one thing, it will be nice to get away from the ever-present tourism in these more well-known spots along the Nile valley, and find a little more in the way of peace and quiet. Apparently there are hot springs near there. Not that you really need them during the day, it's still plenty warm, but at night it's supposed to be fun to sit there soaking in the middle of the desert, looking up at the stars. And it sounds great for hiking and general exploring. But, I promise I'll bring plenty of water and won't get lost! And besides I'll most likely have company as I'm headed that way with a small group of people. I'll be splitting a private car with three other travelers from my hotel: an American named Jeffrey, who happens to be from Portland and is also a dual American-Canadian citizen (!); a woman from Canada and another woman from Spain. I'm looking forward to seeing the desert landscapes on the drive there. It sounds like there isn't much in the way of civilization until you get to the oasis. I'll of course have more to say about that once I get there and see what it's all about...
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Photos of Egypt (click here)
Lots of new photos from the past week or so of traveling up the Nile River valley in Egypt (click the subject line above).
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
in Luxor
I arrived in Luxor this afternoon. My two-day feluca boat trip down the Nile turned into one day, because the other five people on board were all on only a one day cruise. And since no one else was joining us then I would have been the only passenger for all of a day and another chilly (...okay, just plain cold) night on the Nile. So I decided to change plans and go ahead with the other folks, leaving this morning on a bus headed down here to Luxor.
But the feluca trip was a fun one anyway. After some waiting for other passengers, we set sail yesterday afternoon from Aswan at about 2:30 with eight people in total: the Egyptian feluca sailor, his young helper, and six passengers including myself, a couple from France, a couple from Japan, and a young, very enthusiastic and talkative guy from Croatia. The feluca boats don't sail straight down the river, but instead tack diagonally back-and-forth across it. The reason is that the wind blows upstream (and thus it's actually quicker to go upstream). It's a very relaxing way to sail though, because the Nile is pretty much devoid of any waves or hardly even ripples. But neither do you sail completely flat, since you're going back and forth, so the ship is always slanted one way or another, but not to any great degree.
The passengers all sit on a square, flat surface in the middle of the boat, almost even with the edge of the boat (with about a six-inch lip and then a couple of feet down to the water), which is cushioned and covered a few feet overhead with a cloth sheet, to keep the sun out of your eyes. So the first thing you do is take off your shoes and toss them in a plastic basket, then step down onto the cushioned surface, grab a pillow to lean against, and just kick back and hang out with the other folks.
We sailed until around 7:30 that evening, which meant for a couple of hours we were in the dark, or at least past sunset, since it's getting dark here shortly after 5 now. But things were well lit both by occasional lights from buildings on shore (the main highway runs right along the river), and especially from the full moon that started rising overhead.
So we eventually pulled over at a sandy spot on the river, and immediately everyone jumped off the boat and headed for the bushes, as there's no bathroom on board and we hadn't made any stops for those five hours, due to getting a late start (apparently they aren't allowed to sail after 8 pm). Then the 19-year-old helper cooked up dinner for everyone, which included pita bread, pinto beans, falafel, salad and something that resembled feta cheese, but wasn't quite the same. Pretty delicious. At about 9 o'clock the feluca captain started getting out the blankets, and it was apparent that it was going to be an early night. And, he confirmed that we would be heading out early morning.
So everyone layed down to sleep, and I layed down and, well, layed there. Then I got up, and sent a couple of text messages since we had a cell signal. Then some drums started playing somewhere nearby, and I was tempted to go check them out since it was coming from fairly close, and whoever it was was having a great time. But I figured it would be better to focus on the sleeping, even if it wasn't coming easily. As it turned out, the drumming was coming from another feluca boat's crew and passengers--and one of them was Clive, the Englishman who I had shared a cabin with on the train from Cairo to Aswan! I would find this out the next morning when I ran into him on the same bus.
Eventually sleep happened, or at least happened for a while and then didn't happen for a while and then occurred again, etc., intermittenly throughout the night due to the fact that despite being in one of the hottest countries in the world, wrapped in a very thick blanket that probably would have kept a camel warm (and smelled like it had), there on the Nile things were actually pretty darn cold.
At one point I woke up, sensed it was getting close to daylight, and looked forward to seeing the sun rising over the Nile. Unfortunately, I woke up again a short while later, and it already had. But it was still a gorgeous sight, and all considering I felt fairly well rested.
As we were all just beginning to wake up and, no doubt, thinking about checking out those bushes again, the captain pushed off without a word and we set sail. We didn't go far however, just across the river...and out of the sun that we had all been reveling in, since it was shaded there by palm trees. But this was where we would be catching the bus, and the captain probably wanted to be there waiting for it whenever it arrived. They then cooked up breakfast: scrambled eggs, pita with jam and cucumbers (I passed on the cucumbers) and shortly thereafter the captain's cell phone informed him that the bus had arrived, and it was time to grab my stuff and head for the highway, which was just on the other side of the palm trees.
I'll wrap things up here except to say that along the way to Luxor (chatting with Clive and catching up with what he'd seen) we visited two amazing temples, the Kom Ombo Temple and the Edfu Temple. The computer I'm on is being finicky though, so although I was able to upload a few pictures to my facebook page, it's not letting my load any more, so I'll have to try again some other time.
So I'm here in Luxor, staying at a very nice 3-star hotel that was part of my package tour, for the next two nights. After that I might stay a couple of more days, although I would switch hotels because I already asked them what it would cost, and it's way over my budget. But at least I'm living in style for now. From here I hope to go to the Dhakla oases, but I'll have to enquire about transportation because I've heard conflicting reports on how to get there from here. If that isn't a good way to go then I'll just change plans and head elsewhere, as there's plenty more to see...
But the feluca trip was a fun one anyway. After some waiting for other passengers, we set sail yesterday afternoon from Aswan at about 2:30 with eight people in total: the Egyptian feluca sailor, his young helper, and six passengers including myself, a couple from France, a couple from Japan, and a young, very enthusiastic and talkative guy from Croatia. The feluca boats don't sail straight down the river, but instead tack diagonally back-and-forth across it. The reason is that the wind blows upstream (and thus it's actually quicker to go upstream). It's a very relaxing way to sail though, because the Nile is pretty much devoid of any waves or hardly even ripples. But neither do you sail completely flat, since you're going back and forth, so the ship is always slanted one way or another, but not to any great degree.
The passengers all sit on a square, flat surface in the middle of the boat, almost even with the edge of the boat (with about a six-inch lip and then a couple of feet down to the water), which is cushioned and covered a few feet overhead with a cloth sheet, to keep the sun out of your eyes. So the first thing you do is take off your shoes and toss them in a plastic basket, then step down onto the cushioned surface, grab a pillow to lean against, and just kick back and hang out with the other folks.
We sailed until around 7:30 that evening, which meant for a couple of hours we were in the dark, or at least past sunset, since it's getting dark here shortly after 5 now. But things were well lit both by occasional lights from buildings on shore (the main highway runs right along the river), and especially from the full moon that started rising overhead.
So we eventually pulled over at a sandy spot on the river, and immediately everyone jumped off the boat and headed for the bushes, as there's no bathroom on board and we hadn't made any stops for those five hours, due to getting a late start (apparently they aren't allowed to sail after 8 pm). Then the 19-year-old helper cooked up dinner for everyone, which included pita bread, pinto beans, falafel, salad and something that resembled feta cheese, but wasn't quite the same. Pretty delicious. At about 9 o'clock the feluca captain started getting out the blankets, and it was apparent that it was going to be an early night. And, he confirmed that we would be heading out early morning.
So everyone layed down to sleep, and I layed down and, well, layed there. Then I got up, and sent a couple of text messages since we had a cell signal. Then some drums started playing somewhere nearby, and I was tempted to go check them out since it was coming from fairly close, and whoever it was was having a great time. But I figured it would be better to focus on the sleeping, even if it wasn't coming easily. As it turned out, the drumming was coming from another feluca boat's crew and passengers--and one of them was Clive, the Englishman who I had shared a cabin with on the train from Cairo to Aswan! I would find this out the next morning when I ran into him on the same bus.
Eventually sleep happened, or at least happened for a while and then didn't happen for a while and then occurred again, etc., intermittenly throughout the night due to the fact that despite being in one of the hottest countries in the world, wrapped in a very thick blanket that probably would have kept a camel warm (and smelled like it had), there on the Nile things were actually pretty darn cold.
At one point I woke up, sensed it was getting close to daylight, and looked forward to seeing the sun rising over the Nile. Unfortunately, I woke up again a short while later, and it already had. But it was still a gorgeous sight, and all considering I felt fairly well rested.
As we were all just beginning to wake up and, no doubt, thinking about checking out those bushes again, the captain pushed off without a word and we set sail. We didn't go far however, just across the river...and out of the sun that we had all been reveling in, since it was shaded there by palm trees. But this was where we would be catching the bus, and the captain probably wanted to be there waiting for it whenever it arrived. They then cooked up breakfast: scrambled eggs, pita with jam and cucumbers (I passed on the cucumbers) and shortly thereafter the captain's cell phone informed him that the bus had arrived, and it was time to grab my stuff and head for the highway, which was just on the other side of the palm trees.
I'll wrap things up here except to say that along the way to Luxor (chatting with Clive and catching up with what he'd seen) we visited two amazing temples, the Kom Ombo Temple and the Edfu Temple. The computer I'm on is being finicky though, so although I was able to upload a few pictures to my facebook page, it's not letting my load any more, so I'll have to try again some other time.
So I'm here in Luxor, staying at a very nice 3-star hotel that was part of my package tour, for the next two nights. After that I might stay a couple of more days, although I would switch hotels because I already asked them what it would cost, and it's way over my budget. But at least I'm living in style for now. From here I hope to go to the Dhakla oases, but I'll have to enquire about transportation because I've heard conflicting reports on how to get there from here. If that isn't a good way to go then I'll just change plans and head elsewhere, as there's plenty more to see...
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Aswan Dam and the Philae Temple (click here for more info on the Philae Temple)
Today my tour officially started, and I went in a mini-van with about 8 other folks from various countries (I'm not sure yet if any of them will also be on the feluca boat trip starting tomorrow) to the nearby Aswan Dam (actually called the High Dam, which is the second dam built after the original Aswan Dam was deemed to be insufficient). It is a remarkable feat of human achievement; but other than that it pretty much just looked like a dam, with a decent view of a huge reservoir, Lake Nasser. Lake Nasser is the largest artifical lake in the world, but it doesn't actually hit you that way upon seeing it, as the vast majority of it is out of sight because it is so long, stretching for 300 miles. And it actually isn't very tall, so it isn't nearly as dramatic a sight as, for example, the Hoover Dam. So basically, not one of the more remarkable things I've seen, other than that you might as well check it out while you're here and get a nice view of the surrounding desert in the process.
After that, we went to the Philae Temple, located on a tiny island in Lake Nasser, and that was actually one of the most remarkeable things I've seen anywhere. I wasn't able to upload photos from the internet cafe where I'm at here in Aswan, so I'll provide a link (click the subject line above) to the Wikipedia page, and upload my pictures later. It was absolutely stunning, carved out of pure yellow-golden sandstone and covered with exquisite, classic Egyptian carvings on almost every surface. Words don't do it justice. It was also in a beautiful setting with weird, golden scattered rock formations littering the land across the lake from the islet that the temple was on. Although, where the temple now sits is a different location from where it was built. It was originally constructed at a lower site, but the contruction of the Aswan Dam in the mid-20th century would have flooded it, so it was dismantled piece by piece and moved to a higher island nearby.
After visiting those two sites, we got back just in time to go take some pictures of the sun setting over the Nile, which you can see right from the city of Aswan and is quite a sight. Then I walked down the main bazaar, and had dinner at a small, cheap restaurant where I'd also had dinner yesterday. I had an excellent dish of some kind of macaroni, and bread with some sort of spread on it, both of which were delicious. It's only 8 o'clock here now but I'm beat and thinking about hitting the sack early, so that hopefully, perhaps, there's the slight possibility that I might get up in time to get some sunrise photos for a change. But, I'm not counting on it. When it comes down to it, sleep is more important than photos.
Either way, I'll be checking out of my air-conditioned hotel, and meeting somewhere on the Nile tomorrow afternoon to step onto a feluca boat and start floating downstream for the next two days. I'm looking forward to just kicking back and watching the river flow. Maybe I'll even make some progress reading the book I brought, which I've only read four chapters of in the past three months. And just so you all know, although there are crocodiles (or maybe it's alligators) in Lake Nasser, there are none in the Nile itself, since apparently the Aswan Dam takes care of them (so to speak) if they happen to float that far downstream. Just in case you were wondering.
I'll most likely be writing next from the city of Luxor, to the north a few hours by bus, but downstream on the Nile. Luxor is packed with some of Egypt's most amazing ancient sites, and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing them. Between the Great Pyramids and the Philae Temple, Egypt has already met my expectations of having the most captivating and mind-blowing historical monuments in the world, and there's still a lot more to see.
After that, we went to the Philae Temple, located on a tiny island in Lake Nasser, and that was actually one of the most remarkeable things I've seen anywhere. I wasn't able to upload photos from the internet cafe where I'm at here in Aswan, so I'll provide a link (click the subject line above) to the Wikipedia page, and upload my pictures later. It was absolutely stunning, carved out of pure yellow-golden sandstone and covered with exquisite, classic Egyptian carvings on almost every surface. Words don't do it justice. It was also in a beautiful setting with weird, golden scattered rock formations littering the land across the lake from the islet that the temple was on. Although, where the temple now sits is a different location from where it was built. It was originally constructed at a lower site, but the contruction of the Aswan Dam in the mid-20th century would have flooded it, so it was dismantled piece by piece and moved to a higher island nearby.
After visiting those two sites, we got back just in time to go take some pictures of the sun setting over the Nile, which you can see right from the city of Aswan and is quite a sight. Then I walked down the main bazaar, and had dinner at a small, cheap restaurant where I'd also had dinner yesterday. I had an excellent dish of some kind of macaroni, and bread with some sort of spread on it, both of which were delicious. It's only 8 o'clock here now but I'm beat and thinking about hitting the sack early, so that hopefully, perhaps, there's the slight possibility that I might get up in time to get some sunrise photos for a change. But, I'm not counting on it. When it comes down to it, sleep is more important than photos.
Either way, I'll be checking out of my air-conditioned hotel, and meeting somewhere on the Nile tomorrow afternoon to step onto a feluca boat and start floating downstream for the next two days. I'm looking forward to just kicking back and watching the river flow. Maybe I'll even make some progress reading the book I brought, which I've only read four chapters of in the past three months. And just so you all know, although there are crocodiles (or maybe it's alligators) in Lake Nasser, there are none in the Nile itself, since apparently the Aswan Dam takes care of them (so to speak) if they happen to float that far downstream. Just in case you were wondering.
I'll most likely be writing next from the city of Luxor, to the north a few hours by bus, but downstream on the Nile. Luxor is packed with some of Egypt's most amazing ancient sites, and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing them. Between the Great Pyramids and the Philae Temple, Egypt has already met my expectations of having the most captivating and mind-blowing historical monuments in the world, and there's still a lot more to see.
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