Egypt

Eight days of our 13 day trip was spent in Israel. The tour company we were traveling with offered a 3 day "extension" to Egypt, and so we figured that since we were so close we just had to do it. Our tour included Sinai, Cairo, and then we added an extra day to go to Luxor to see the "New Kingdom." At this point our brains were rather full from all we had heard in Israel, so you will notice my recollection of the sites (and thus my write-ups) are a little more limited!

Our first stop in Egypt was Sinai. We spent the "night" at a hotel near St. Catherine's monastery at the foot of what is traditionally believed to be Mount Sinai, where Moses received the 10 Commandments. We received a 1AM wake-up call to begin our journey up the mountain so that we could get to the top in time for the sun rise.

This is the view from the top of Mount Sinai...

...and the walk down.

Sinai is a strangely shaped mountain that looks like the top was cut off. There is much discussion surrounding whether this is really the mountain where God spoke to Moses. (Exodus 19:16-20)

The bustling streets of a market in Cairo.

The pyramids! At one time all the pyramids were covered with limestone and capped with gold. Only this pyramid still retains some of the original limestone covering.

We just couldn't resist...

Little did we know that we were visiting Egypt in sand-storm season! Periodically the wind would pick up and we'd all be temporarily blinded.

Showing a little love to the Sphinx! It is believed Napoleon's army is responsible for the broken nose. It was common in Egypt for rulers to break the nose off of the statues of their successor to spite them. Hardly a nose remains in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. (But I doubt Napoleon knew this when his army damaged the Sphinx.)

On the left are our travel-companions, Joey and Evelyn, and then the representative from the tour company who was with us most of the time (Abdul) , our Cairo tour guide, Sherine, and, of course, Mike and Sarah. Egyptian people are particularly kind, gracious, and hospitable - we really enjoyed our time here.

This is Joey and Evelyn's tiny cabin on the sleeper train. We left around 9pm for a night's journey by train to Luxor, 9 hours south of Cairo. We figured we were so close, and didn't know when we would be in Egypt again, so we tried to cram it all in! By God's grace, the logistics went remarkably well.

As soon as we arrived in Luxor we had to hurry to catch our balloon for a sunrise hot air balloon ride.

Here we are, floating over the temple of Ramses III. Since the Pharaohs believed that they were deities in their lifetime, each built a temple so that he could be worshipped. And when he died and was succeeded, the next Pharaoh built his own temple. Ramses III reigned for nearly 60 years, so he had plenty of time to build impressive temples and tombs for himself.

Queen Hatshepsut made herself Pharaoh when her husband (Thutmose II) died and, the rightful heir, was too young to rule. By the recommendation of the priests she painted elaborate murals on the walls of the temple tell a story of how she was descended from the gods so that the people would accept her as their ruler. Behind us is her temple.

We are taking a lunch break with our Luxor tour guide. Mike and he are smoking "water pipes" which is tobacco filtered through flavored or normal water. While they may look suspicious, they are perfectly legal (even in the U.S.) - you can even find shops that offer water pipes in Turkish and Egyptian cafes in Adams Morgan.

The temple at Karnak is the largest temple complex in the world. It was under construction for almost 2000 years (starting in in the 16th century B.C.), with contributions from 30 Pharaohs, so it contains a wealth of archaeological information.

These are felucca boats on the Nile at sunset. Dozens of cruise ships were docked along the Nile, and from the air (in our balloon) we could see that the Nile really does sustain what would otherwise be a desert country.

The Luxor Temple is lit at night and is absolutely beautiful.

EGYPT SUMMARY
At this point in our journey we were absolutely exhausted, but we were very glad we did the Egypt extension AND that we continued on for an additional day in Luxor. It is interesting to think that we know so much about ancient Egyptian life primarily because they focused so much on death and sought to preserved daily life for the afterlife. Our trip to Egypt was a bit of a blur because it was so brief, but we thoroughly enjoyed the people we met, and we saw some amazing sites.