Down South to Aswan and Luxor

I arrived back in Cairo from Bahariya Oasis and barely had any down time at Wake Up Cairo before heading out on another adventure.  The last tour that I booked was a five day excursion to Aswan and Luxor.  There were two other girls from the hostel on the tour, coincidentally from the U.S, and I was happy to hear that I would have some familiar faces on the tour!    We all went to the train station to catch an overnight first class train from Cairo all the way down south to Aswan.  I have been on many "first class" trains that were rough but this was actually a very nice, comfortable train ride.

Our guide was waiting for us at the train station where we quickly dropped our stuff off at the hotel before beginning our tour.  From the hotel we went to the Aswan Dam and then continued onward on a mellow boat ride to Philae Temple.

Aswan Dam

Philae Temple had a great location with the Nile River as the backdrop to this ancient temple.  One main benefit to the tour was that we had a historical guide for each site which is very necessary for Egyptian tours.  Most of the time I enjoy exploring on my own but it is extremely valuable to have an expert explaining the significance of the sites in such a historical place.

 One thing that I learned quickly in Southern Egypt is that you will get exhausted and dehydrated extremely fast.  After eating dinner and showering I passed out so quickly! We had to wake up bright and early the next morning at 4am to drive to one of the most southern cities in Egypt, Abu Simbel, to see the Abu Simbel temples.  There is high security there so each tour bus had to wait for a police escort vehicle to take them to the sight.  The temples were very interesting as it is two twin temples carved out of the mountainside right next to each other.

From the Abu Simbel temples we took a quick drive to meet our felucca crew for an overnight felucca ride  Once we entered our home for the next day we had a fully prepared lunch already set up.  It was so nice to chill out with the slight breeze and enjoy lunch while cruising down the Nile River.  Within about 10 minutes of finishing lunch we all passed out on the boat.  It was a much needed nap and the mellow boat ride helped to keep me asleep!

Felucca naptime

A feast

After a glorious nap I found myself sitting on the edge of the felucca, taking it all in.  It is so peaceful out there and is certainly a nice change of pace from the very touristy temple sites.  We had yet another wonderful meal from our guide as we parked the boat on the shore for the night.

Felucca Chef Master

The group

With a recharged battery I was ready to keep moving through the Egypt temple route.  The felucca went a bit north towards Luxor where we were picked up to continue on our way.

Next up is a report on the famous temples in Luxor as well as my beach bummin' adventures in Dahab!