Luxor - Part 3: Egypt February 2022

 Friday, February 18, 2022 (continued)

We cruised into Luxor early enough for a visit to Karnak before dark!  One of my favorite temple complexes other than Habu Temple.  I have been to Karnak twice for the night light show and 2 other times during the day.   You really need more time than we had to properly see more of the complex but we definitely hit the highlights.  For me those huge magnificent columns are some of the main things to see.  There are so many of them and they tower over everything!

You get a double dose of those columns because I always take so many photos of them

One of our group photos taken with Kay's phone I believe.  She's in the photo!

Other cool things to see . . .

This large scarab has some magic attached to it . . . if you walk around it 7 times!  I didn't do that but saw other people.

The group photo in front of Karnak . .   looks like we all made it including Kay and Yasmina!

Back to the boat for our last evening . . .

When we returned to the boat, we had a class with Khairya Mazin, the last of the Mazin sisters who is still teaching Ghawazee style.  She has become quite popular for groups and individuals to go to her for a class when they visit Luxor.  I went to her flat for a class in 2013 during the Journey through Egypt 4 lead by Sahra Kent.

During the pandemic,  I attended a zoom on-line event where Saidi musicians played several pieces and she danced to a few of them.  I really enjoyed that so I had no doubt I would find lots to keep me interested even though I wasn't dancing.

I wasn't disappointed.  I loved the music and everyone dancing was having a good time.  I spotted at least one female passenger who came up to the front of the bar where we were located to join in for a little while.

The rebaba player was so good.  It almost made me want to get one to learn how to play.   I saw some for sale when we visited a musical instrument store in Cairo/Mohamed Ali Street.   I didn't even ask how much they cost,  Can you imagine what the neighbors might think when you practice?   :-)

I have a few video clips where Khairya teaches then dances with members of the groups . . . here's one of the longer ones . .Khairya with zills       

. . .  but this might be the most fun . . .  she is dancing with a stick with the Saidi music:  Khairya-Stick-Saidi

After class we went to dinner, then came back to the bar later to watch a belly dancer and a tannoura dancer.  I think they were making the rounds of the docked boats because they had short shows.  It was a full evening so that was fine.

Photo courtesy of Vickie Ng

Tannoura photos courtesy of Nikki/Seraphina

Saturday, February 19, 2022

Saturday was the last day on the boat and our last day in Luxor.   We had to be all packed up before our day began so luggage could be stowed on the bus.  

Meanwhile, we all crossed over to the West Bank to make stops at  Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut's Temple.  I am hurrying through these myself as I have been here before a few times.   I have lots of photos from those previous trips but I have to show something of the group!!

I went into one of the tombs but decided to sit outside for awhile instead of going in others.  The amenities have expanded since the last time I visited.  I remember when the place where the shady cafe sits was a concrete slab.  I hate to date myself but I remember when there wasn't a cafe or a concrete slab, hmmmm.  These spotty memories have sent me back to look at photos from 2005, 2012, 2013 and 2017/2018.

Ok, I don't want to include photos from a prior trip but I can't resist one photo from Nov 2018  . . . the view to the east from the top of the steps of Hatshepsut's Temple from this trip might not make it too apparent that Karnak can be seen across the Nile.  Maybe if you enlarge the photo or squint . . .but look at the photo below this one . . . .

Hatshepsut's Temple as seen from Karnak Temple on the east side of the Nile, Nov. 2018 

A quick visit to an alabaster factory . . . I think I have been to a few at this point and I still had to buy a Bastet for my collection and another for my neighbor who stopped by to look after my cats.

During the demonstration, the workmen here had all been coached to say "Oh, my god!" right on cue during the narrative.
 

photo courtesy of Mary Ann Daniels.

After the alabaster factory, we headed back to the Nile to get on the motorboat for a cruise to Banana Island for  lunch and Tahtib class.

The restaurant we visited is Aladdin's Banana Island. There is a banana plantation on the island along with a few other things tourists can see.  We didn't have time for that with the tahtib class after lunch.

Photo courtesy of Nikki/Seraphina

The Banana Queen!  I tried to  lay claim to the title but Jessica claimed it! 

"Ana Mawz Malika!!!!!" 

Both above photos courtesy Kay Wheatley

The restaurant is mostly open air and the group was seated in the outside section.  There are lovely painted and cloth decorations inside and out.

The Tahtib class was after lunch.  I chose a nice comfy spot to watch and take some more photos.  This is quite  a scenic spot with the Nile in the background.

Off to Luxor Temple  and our last stop before heading to the airport . . . Yes. I know. I try to sneak in as many photos as I can of the Nile with all the sailing/cruising vessels.

Luxor Temple

Still some daylight left when we arrived with lots of photos a bit shady depending on which direction you are facing.

The Avenue of Sphinxes . . . maybe I will be in Luxor  at another time with more time to walk it to Karnak . . .  someday!

Finished our visit to Luxor Temple and headed out to the airport for our flight back to Cairo . . . Whew!!  What a day!   I never do this much in one day.  I am usually quite lazy, lol.  I think we did in one day what I might have spent 3 days doing if on my own.  I would have spent way more time  sitting by the Nile or cruising on the Nile.  Every trip has its own flavor.

We finished our day at the Grand Hotel with falafel sandwiches from Gad.  We ate a lot of falafel sandwiches because we always seemed to be rushing around.  It was nice when we had time to sit for awhile to eat something more.  Our lunch on Banana Island was nice so maybe I will have the opportunity to do that again . . . when I go back to walk the Avenue of Sphinxes.

Cairo/Alexandria in another post . . . or maybe I will split up a bit more by topic to make smaller blog posts.  Seriously, the last 3 are already too long!!  I have photos from the Islamic Museum and the NMEC in Cairo, the Tannoura show, Alexandria Library, more dance shows in Cairo.  

Stay tuned for more blog posts on my February 2022 trip . . .  but don't hold your breath . . . these last few might take awhile.

If interested in joining another adventure with Kay Taylor and Farida Adventures, check here:  Farida Adventures

There just happens to be another trip organized for November 2022.

Cruising on the Nile/Kom Ombo/Edfu/Locks at Esna - Part 2: Egypt February 2022

Thursday,  February 17, 2022

The Nile cruise begins . . .

Docked for an evening visit to Kom Ombo.   Last time I was here in 2013, it was during the day.  A lot more tourists here this time and we just had a short walk from the boat.

Sometimes, I get rather fixated on columns . . . .

Then other times, I love to look at the scenarios and hieroglyphics on the walls

I think that is the moon peeking out but with so many bright lights to keep us from stumbling over the various obstacles in the way, it was hard to tell at times.   ;-)

Back to the boat for dinner as we started cruising again to Edfu.  There was a galabeya party schedule for 21:30 but for some bizarre reason, I had scheduled a massage at the same time.  I thought I would be finished early enough to attend part of it but   the guy took too long and then he wanted me to schedule another appointment . . . nope, nope, nope, my budget was already over the limit.  

The Concerto photographer probably took all the group photos before I would have gotten there anyway . . .  I borrowed someone's photo from the evening to show you how well everyone else did at getting into their colorful garb.

At least I could hear the music up on the deck from the dark room where I was getting the massage.

Friday, February 18, 2022. 

Sometime during the night we docked at Edfu and it was an early morning rise to get off to see Edfu. . .  5:45 am!

There were lots of carriages waiting to take us to the site.   We were all assigned to a carriage and told we needed to remember to which number carriage we had been assigned.  They didn't want any mixups and this ensured that we all made it back as we  couldn't leave without all of us in the carriage.

For some reason my brain wasn't functioning to take photos of the horse carriages, so I asked some in our group for photos. 

Vickie Ng's photo of back of carriage to remember the number

Photo taken by Kay Taylor

I love this photo taken by Nikki/SeraphineOfScotland.  Below are more of her photos taken at the end of our visit.

Edfu is another site that I visited in December 2013.  So early in the morning it seemed so different. . . .  Particularly approaching the site by carriage.  But it is still the same with many more tourists.

I just had a look at my photos from 2013 . . . because it was later in the day, some of the photos are a bit better with more sunshine and bluer skies.  Each visit is different of course . . . always notice something that was probably overlooked before.

Ahmed trying to gather us for an explanation about Edfu.

The whole group . . . look who has the crabby look, lol.

After Edfu, some of us had a wild ride back to the boat as the drivers really get into the spirit of the race . . . or maybe they just wanted to get back faster to see if there were more tourists to take to the site.  There is a lot of maneuvering of the boats as they are basically stacked up several deep at the docking site.  You had to be careful to get on the right boat as they would be switched around while you are gone.

We were all handed a chit/ticket when we debarked which we had to hand back in when re-boarding.   That helped them to keep track of the count of people leaving so, hopefully, no one gets left behind.  Not like it is possible when you have an organizer and guide counting to keep track of everyone.   But I have a story later about that, lol.

Back on board, we headed to breakfast and the boat started cruising again . . .   going through the locks at Esna while headed to Luxor  . . . 

But first . . .  more towel art!!  They made up the room during breakfast so I found this one when I got back.   Very clever!

Most of us spent a lot of time on the deck just hanging out and watching the Nile go by even if it was a bit windy.  Mostly it was just watching the water as we went along, but after awhile, we began to notice all the cruising boats. It felt like we were in a race and the Concerto seemed determined to get to the head of the queue. . . Blowing its horn as it passed as many boats as it could.

Then there were the enterprising guys in the small boats as we approached the locks.

They even threw their wares up on the deck . . . one landed in the pool!!  They were quite expert at doing this but I imagine it must be quite tiring to do this with so many boats.  And did they actually sell stuff??   If they flung it onto the deck, how did they get their money??

They came so close to the boat that it looked dangerous to me.

As we approached the locks, queued up and went through , there was a lot of activity even if it was a slow process but quite interesting.   Lots of passengers were lining the bow of the boats to observe the whole process.

Our boat passed under a bridge while going through the locks.

I started taking some video at this point.  I wanted to show the different vehicles but it seems not as many interesting ones showed up and by interesting, I mean unique to Egypt.  I do have a lot of photos showing various transportation options from other trips to Egypt

Opening Locks at Esna  . . .  this is a much longer video to watch but it is interesting.  The water levels change, the lock gates open and we cruise through.

Good bye, Esna!!!

On to Luxor . . . .To Be Continued in Part 3.

If interested in joining another adventure with Kay Taylor and Farida Adventures, check here:  Farida Adventures

There just happens to be another trip organized for November 2022.