Dave's View of Egypt

What a sensory overload experience! We landed in Luxor and I immediately headed to bed and after a long night’s rest was able to shake the gut, fatigue and malaise that had afflicted my departure from Africa. No opportunities were lost however, as the next day was unbelievable. We started with an early morning bus departure for the west bank of the Nile and the Valley of the Kings. We were able to see the sites Deb described. The valley is rock desert and by that time of morning was approaching 100 in the sun. They didn’t allow video cameras in the valley and no cameras at all in the tombs. We will not have much in the way of pictures for that part. We went to a couple of other temples. Then the fun began. We all loaded on felucas for lunch on the Nile. As Deb mentioned, it was a real Chinese fire drill getting the boats to the doc and loaded in what is quite a current on the river. We had a 3 course fully catered meal with linen and china while sailing ( actually towed in line since there was no wind) across the river and docking at our hotel. It was wonderful and by Egyptian standards cool under the bimini and along the water. We went for a brief shopping trip. 6 of us loaded in a large bus which drove about 5 blocks and around a rotary to come back the other way and park two blocks diagonally from the hotel. We were not to happy with that shop so asked for another and they loaded us on the bus and drove about 200 yards down the street. ( They didn’t want us to walk too much in the heat :>) Then after a brief rest in the latter afternoon, we all dressed up to load horse carts by couple for a night ride to the Temple of Luxor which was just for us and all lit beautifully. What a treat marching in to Aida through the lions lining the path. We had a formal banquet with classical music and then finally a disc jockey before bussing back to the hotel. The day was overwhelming.
This morning we flew to Cairo and the pyramids. The only thing I can say about Cairo is “filthy”. The city now runs right up to the pyramids. It takes some of the wonder out of them. However, they have cleared the opposite side and you can at least get one clear view through the smog. Then it was back to the plane for our flight to Morocco. It was beautiful driving into the city at night. More from here later.

Dave