Alright everybody, all of my huge trips from Praha have finally come to an end. I have gone thru nearly all of my funds, taken about a thousand trains and planes, and seen so much of this beautiful world. Now it is time for me to wrap up my studies, recooperate here in this beautiful town of Prague for about a month, and then hit up Germany for one last hoorah before coming back to the States.
This past week, I travelled to EGYPT! where I met up with Jill, a halfway point for both of us, since I’m here in Central Europe and she’s all the way down in Uganda. We started our adventures in Cairo, and saw and touched the great Pyramids of Giza on our first day! After the camel ride thru the desert, we caught a night train to Luxor, where the Valley of the Kings (King Tut’s tomb), Luxor Temple, and Karnak Temple are all located, with the Nile River–which we floated across– running between the core of town. After 3 days in Luxor, we were off to Alexandria.
CAIRO
Saqqara, Entrance to Temple Area of King Moser
Imhotep’s Palace/Tomb for King Moser
King Moser’s Step-Pyramid/Ziggurat at Saqqara
DI: Horse/Camel station at Giza
Our desert guide and the ladies on our painful camels; you guys out there: ALWAYS CHOOSE THE HORSE
The Great Pyramids of Giza of course (I touched the big one on the right)
Whose are those two romantics?
This is as close as we got to the Sphinx on day 1, but dont’ worry, we returned.
Some modern Egyptian Construction, more to come in Alexandria.
Hooray for Arabic, oh wait, I don’t speak or read Arabic, whoops
LUXOR
View across the Nile to the West Bank, where we see the Valley of the Kings
Valley of the Kings
Me and Jill at King Tut’s tomb.
An fantastic model of the VALLEY, depicting all of the tombs and where they lie below the surface.
Queen Hatshepsut’s Temple, locally known as Al-Deir Al-Bahari
View from the top of the climb at Hatshepsut.
A local who invited himself in the pic, they’d be cool if they didn’t always ask for tips afterwards.
RAMESSEUM _ House of Millions of Years _ Huge temple of Ramesses, our favorite until KARNAK!
Wanna scale figure, I’ll show you a scale figure
So huge, this is one of the fallen ruins I wish they would restore, so amazing
Check out the HYPOSTYLE Lotus-based Columns
The huge pylon opposite the temple where our ‘guide’, shown here, led us to a lookout point, legal? – we don’t know. Amazing? – truly.
As scary and fun as it looks
Up top view of RAMESSEUM.
VALLEY OF THE QUEENS – like our taxi driver said, not so impressive, and we had our worst hassling encounters yet.
Closed for reparations, of course
Temple MEDINA Al HABU, a bonus find thanks to our driver, and a truly amazing place.
Original paint was still intact all over the complex, hooray for shade!
The COLOSSI of MEMNON, guarding what used to be the MORTUARY TEMPLE of AMENHOTEP III, supposedly the largest Egyptian Temple, even larger than that at KARNAK, however, it was built on the flood-plain, so it decayed so rapidly, it can not be known for certain.
LUXOR_DAY THREE
The AVENUE of SPHINXES, connected Luxor Temple to KARNAK
KARNAK and the Temple of AMUN-RE
Here’s a plan, for those of you interested. This is the largest temple in Egyptian history! It took 2 hours just to reach the back wall, walking in a straight line! Who knows how much we missed to either side.
Most famous pose in Egypt, for pharoahs and tourists alike.
Entrance to TEMPLE of LUXOR
Our last sunset in Luxor, taken from our cool rooftop pool/club. Now onto Alexandria, via night train to Cairo and morning train to Alexandria.
ALEXANDRIA
In Alexandria, there is a beautiful blend of Egyptian, Greek, and Roman cultures, not to mention the amazing coastal location along the Mediterranean. After Alexandria, it was back to Cairo, for a visit to the oldest Islamic Mosque in the Arabic World, a closer return the the great Sphinx of Giza, and a visit to the endless Egyptian Museum, where we saw the actual treasures from all the temples and tombs we saw previously, and saw in person the golden headress of King Tut Ankh Amun!
After some sad good-byes, it was back to Prague, where I am now resting and catching up on everyday life, and trying to get a handle on everything that is going on: traveling, studying, saying farewells, etc. I hope that everyone is enjoying some wonderful Spring weather, and I hope you enjoy these pics. I will be in touch after I finish up this semester, and the next post will ideally be from Deutschland! Tata for now.
The coolest taxis in the world, here is our favorite Peugot.
The Mediterranean, hello again!
Our 4-Star, looks like an island resort, hotel
An idea of what the Great Lighthouse may have looked like; one of the original Seven Wonders of the World!
The ROMAN AMPHITHEATER
VILLA of the BIRDS, located just behind the Amphitheater.
PILLAR of POMPEII, actually built for Diocletian, we got here right when it was closing, but they let us pop our heads in for a quick peek.
Oh yeah, this taxi driver knows how to decorate! Also one of our safer driving experiences, coincidence? I’ll let you decide.
BIBLIOTHECA of Alexandria, finished in 2002, and built to restore Alexandria to its former world glory, one of our favorite modern sites, and my favorite library in the world to date.
Many of the treasure of Alexandria were taken from below the surface of the sea, after being accidentally discovered years ago.
Return to CAIRO
SAYYIDNA Al-HUSSEIN, the oldest mosque in the Arabic world, we got in after being hassled by a local for nearly 4 hours, ugh.
The EGYPTIAN MUSEUM – incredibly large, and where we saw the actual golden headress of King Tut!
Pictures weren’t allowed, and here in Egypt, there actually are penalties for disobeying, but it was amazing!
CITADEL_here we had an amazing lunch, there are perfect views of the city, and we visited yet another mosque, Great Mosque of MOHAMMED ALI, built in 1830.
Amazing skyline, look closely for the pyramids in the back!
Hi Sphinxy, yes, we returned to say good-bye.
Farewell Egypt, you showed me so much, and I have to return someday, cuz I missed ABU SIMBEL of all places. Tata for now, hope you all enjoyed the pics as much as I enjoyed taking them, bumpy camel rides and all.
