Upper Egypt, Part One

Yesterday morning, we returned from our trip to Luxor, Aswan and Abu Simel. This section of Egypt is known as “Upper Egypt” even though it is Southern Egypt. As the Nile flows northward to the Mediterranean Sea, “upper” refers to “up the river.”

Our first stop was Luxor, via overnight train from Cairo. This, along with so many aspects of our trip, turned out to be a cultural experience. The overnight train consisted of cabins (Here with my roommate, Peggy):

And dinner: (Umm… not the best I’ve had.)

A beer I can not recommend:

And a club car:

(I didn’t hang around too long here, pricey drinks and too smoky.)

The porters then came around to pull out the beds:

Our tour guide, Selma, said that only tourists took this train. We weren’t sure if this was due to security or financial reasons. (With Egypt Air flying to Luxor and Aswan from Cairo, maybe the issue was time.) For the most part the train followed the Nile and/or one of the drainage canals parallel with it.

Normally I can sleep anywhere - planes, trains and automobiles. This ride was a bit rough; the train kept jerking and stopping.

Arrive at Luxor, we boarded our cruise ship. The ship, The MS Nile Odyssey, was part of a large fleet; very British in every way. There was tea time at 5pm, four course, sit-down dinner at 8pm. Lunch was a large buffet. As lovely as the food was, when it’s reaching 40C, I really didn’t feel like have stuffed duck, mashed potatoes and gravy for lunch. There were some salads, but with my recovering stomach, I really didn’t want to chance raw veggies.

With the sweltering heat, we toured the sites either very early in the morning, or late in the afternoon. Our first temple was Karnak.

With these ancient temples, you soon find how inadequate the English language can be in conveying size and scale. “Big” just doesn’t cut it. “Enormous” comes close, but still does not capture the height, as it is subjective.

We then went on to Luxor Temple:

This ancient Egyptian temple was buried under sand for over a thousand years. Where part of the temple was sticking out, the Egyptians built a mosque, which is still there and in use. (The tourist below are in the ancient section that was buried.)