Aswan

Aswan, land of Nubia, was famous for its ancient granite quarries for immense monuments. It is currently the popular destination for Nile River cruised from Luxor. Nile cruising is a big industry with over 400 floating hotels docked at port. It was a nice relaxing break from the monument marathon. We still made a couple stops along the way.

12/22/10: Nearing Aswan. Took horse carriage to Edfu Temple of Horus in the morning. Edfu means battleground, where Horus avenged Osiris by battling & defeating uncle Seth, represented by hippo or crocodile. The temple was built over a span of 120 year during the Ptolemy, Greco-Roman period and is still very well preserved. Inscriptions document ceremony joining Horus & wife Hathor. Many similarities in constructions between Edfu Horus & his wife’s Dandara Hathor temples. Inner sanctuary, holy of holy has replica of cedar wood ship.

In the afternoon visited, Kom Ombo double temple of Horus falcon god and his evil brother Sobek crocodile god. Kom Ombo means “place of business on a hill”. Saw carvings of ancient Egyptian calendar of daily festivals, tools used for childbirth, Nile-o-meter for determining taxes, and canal system for water purification & foot bath.

12/23/10: Docked in Aswan to visit Philae Temple of Isis. After the construction of Aswan Dam, original Philae island was flooded & temple submerged. In late 1960s, it was moved stone by stone to current location. Previously included 13 shrines, now 3 remain: Isis, Hathor and Roman Emporer Hadrian.

12/24/10: Nice change in pace from the ancient temples. After disembarking from cruise, took a motor boat tour of Nile to Aswan Botanical Garden then Nubian Village. Nubia was the ancient kingdom locate in modern day south Egypt and Sudan. There are currently about 9,000 Nubian residents in the village. They live a very simple lifestyle and create colorful African style art. We toured a native’s house, played with a baby crocodile, and the kids got Henna paintings of a flower & ankh symbol of life. We ended the tour with a delicious Nubian lunch. In the afternoon, we had trouble getting internet connection in the room and behold … Santa Claus showed up to fix our technical issues and bearing little gifts for the kids. Grateful for the Muslim Christmas spirit.

12/25/10: Quiet and easy Christmas Day. Short tour of Nubian Museum then the rest of the day free. Nubians believe themselves to be direct descendants of ancient Egyptians. They believe modern Egyptians have been “diluted” by Greek, Roman, Arabic and other European influences. Unfortunately, much of their culture and monuments are submerged in Lake Nasser after the Aswan Dam. Remnants have been collected and documented at this museum.

12/26/10: Woke up at 4pm for 6:15am flight to Abu Simbel for the great temple of Ramses II and his wife Nefertari. Temple of Ramses II is the old documentary of a battle, between Egypt and Hittites at Khadesh and also depicts Nubian prisoners involved in the construction. The innermost sanctuary contains Amun, Ra, Ptah, and Ramses himself deified. Beside his massive temple, he built a temple to Hathor, dedicated to his beloved wife Nefertari. He actually had over 40 wive and 100+ children. The monuments relocated in the 1960s block by block due to flooding from the Aswan Dam and an artificial mountain was created to support the immense structures. Returned to Aswan shortly before noon to read msnbc.com headline news about bus crash killing 8 Americans on the same trip this morning. We were originally scheduled to take the same convoy but changed plans just a few days ago.

12/27/10: Last day of planned tours in Egypt, exploring Aswan: High Dam, Unfinished Obelisk in Granite Quarry, felucca sailing to ruins on Elephantine Island and along the Nile.

Low fat meal helps you to give purchase generic cialis more high performance. Plus, viagra doctor free chewing tobacco can result in a development, which leads the blood vessels to constrict all over within the body, as well as in the private part of men results into erectile dysfunction. It is estimated that more than 80% of buy cialis miamistonecrabs.com snorers who have tried it. They perceive that if they would tell clearly when you should expect the delivery of the medication. brand viagra mastercard

Luxor

Luxor is situated on the Nile in upper Egypt near Thebes, the ancient capital of the New Kingdom. Majestic temples to triad with god Amen head on Nile’s east bank, home of the living, rising sun. Valley of the Kings necropolis on Nile’s west bank, home of the dead setting sun. Famous pharaohs (Ramses, Tutmos, Amenhotep, Hatshepsut, and Tut) then buried in hidden chambers in hopes of thwarting tomb robbers.

12/17/10: Arrived in Luxor. After a quick lunch, we took a tour of the east bank with impressive 16 acre Karnak Temple complex, with ram avenue, pylons, standing obelisks of pyramid topped column constructed from single granite, hypostyle hall of 134 carved gigantic columns, sacred lake for harvesting lotus making ritual perfume, and scarab beetle statue. Many pharaohs from Middle and New Kingdom contributed to the construction of Karnak including Ramses II, Hatshepsut and Tut. The smaller Luxor Temple, 2km away, was originally connected to Karnak and used by early Christian church & Muslim mosque on same site. 24 statues of gods & pharaohs were recently unearthed, hidden during the time of Akhenaten, who tried to abolish polytheism. Lit by artificial light.


A number of online suppliers also buy sildenafil australia offer free samples of erectile dysfunction medication. Lycopodium: It has pain in the pit of stomach when the hypochondria are pressed and pain in hypochondria when price viagra the pit of stomach is pressed. It is natural, safer and more affordable solution to viagra prescription http://appalachianmagazine.com/2017/03/03/5-things-we-learned-about-wvu-basketball-in-the-regular-season/ those struggling in the bedroom due to erectile failure. The flow of cGMP canadian pharmacy for viagra in is responsible to failure of sexual activity.
12/18/10: Started west bank tour at Valley of the Kings: 63 tombs found, 14 open to public. We explored 3 chambers with the most colorful, well preserved hieroglypic inscriptions and paintings of goddess Mut. Tut’s tomb was discovered here by Howard Carter in 1922 but is now empty. Additional entrances have been found in 2006 and still under excavation. Continued to restored Hatshepsut’s Temple, the female pharaoh after her stepson Tutmos III destruction. Ended with brief photo stop at the Colossi of Memnon.

12/19/10: Went off the beaten track through small towns & countryside to Abydos Temple of Osiris. Construction was started by Seti I then continued by his son Ramses II. Instead of the usual single sanctuary, this contained 7 for Osiris as well as Horus, Isis, Amen, Ra Ptah and also Seti himself deified. Well preserved hieroglyphics of various legends. Learned to read cartouche of pharaohs, Seti’s raised relief carvings vs Ramses’ sunken relief. Continued tour to Dandara Temple of Hathor, wife of Horus, goddess of love. Includes only carving of  famous Cleopatra in Egypt.

12/20/10: We boarded the 2 month old MS Farah for a leisurely 4-day cruise along the Nile River from Luxor to Aswan. Before the ship started sailing, Loke revisited Karnak & Luxor temples for some final shots.

Cairo

Cairo is sits on the Nile delta of lower Egypt near Memphis, the ancient capital of the Old Kingdom. This is the period of grand pyramids, tombs of pharaohs. Learned about mummification and mythology. Modern Cairo, largest African city, is a thriving metropolis known as City of 1,000 Minarets for the numerous mosques and predominately Muslim population.

12/14/10: Arrived in Cairo after a short overnight in Rome. Stayed at Mena Oberai House, King Farouk’s old hunting palace next to pyramids during 1950’s.

12/15/10: Toured Giza pyramids compound with 3 pyramids of Khufu, Khafre, with Sphinx and Menkaure. Made several stops: (1) inside largest Khufu Cheop’s empty pyramid and his mother, saw restored solar boat (2) took camel ride to panorama of 3 pyramids in desert (3) great Sphinx and temple for 2nd pyramid.
The people at Life Enhancement understand the role satisfying and good sex plays cialis properien in the life of every man as well as woman. It is currently in Phase cialis uk IIb trials. hMaxi-KhMaxi-K is a form of gene therapy using a plasmid vector that expresses the hSlo gene, that encodes the alpha-subunit of the Maxi-K channel. You can get the better of viagra online ED Erectile Dysfunction is a complex disorder. Recently singer Rod order cialis Stewart claimed that his male organ experienced shrinkage after he became addicted to steroids.

Buffet lunch then had papyrus making demo for Judgement Day & Tree of Life purchase then carpet school for silk, wool, and tapestries. Oldest Zosser’s step pyramid in Sakkara built of several levels of mastabas, designed by architect Imhotep. Saw the bent pyramid of Dahshur. Finally, visited ancient capital Memphis with Ramses II statue and alabaster Sphinx.

12/16/10: Started at Egyptian Museum for symbolism and quick overview of ancient Egyptian history. Saw King Tut’s mask & treasures and mummies of royalty. Explored downtown Cairo: Medieval Citadel of Saladin, Muslim mosques & Coptic Christian churches where the Holy Family was believed to have visited while hiding from King Herod. Ended the day at the colorful open market El Khalili.