Dipping my toe back in the Nile

[RooFlyer]

Seti I was the second pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt during the New Kingdom period, ruling c.1294 or 1290 BC to 1279 BC. He was the son of Ramesses I and Sitre, and the father of Ramesses II.

The tomb was indeed probably the best of the ones I looked at. Entry via quite a long ramp (now steps) - this abt 2/3 way down..

 

[RooFlyer]

Wiki: Tutankhamun (c. 1341-1323 BC), sometimes referred to as King Tut, was an Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ruled c. 1332 – 1323 BC in the conventional chronology) during the New Kingdom of Egyptian history. His father is believed to be the pharaoh Akhenaten, identified as the mummy found in the tomb KV55. His mother is his father's sister, identified through DNA testing as an unknown mummy referred to as "The Younger Lady" who was found in KV35.[7]

Tutankhamun took the throne at eight or nine years of age under the unprecedented viziership of his eventual successor, Ay, to whom he may have been related.

As he died so young, his tomb was someone else's appropriated and is neither large nor elaborate. It is famous of course for being found by Howard Carter as intact, with all its treasures, which are now in the Cairo museum.









The mummy is in the tomb

 

[RooFlyer]

Rameses IX (ruled 1129–1111 BC) was the eighth pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt. He was the third longest serving king of this Dynasty after Ramesses III and Ramesses XI.

 

[RooFlyer]

We then drove across to the Valley of the Queens and visited the well known temple of Pharo Hatshepsut

Wiki:
Hatshepsut "Foremost of Noble Ladies" c. 1507–1458 BC was the fifth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. She was the second historically confirmed female pharaoh, after Sobekneferu. (Various other women may have also ruled as pharaohs or at least regents before Hatshepsut, as early as Neithhotep around 1,600 years prior.)

Hatshepsut came to the throne of Egypt in 1478 BC. As the principal wife of Thutmose II, Hatshepsut initially ruled as regent to Thutmose III, a son of Thutmose II by another wife and the first male heir. While Thutmose III had inherited the throne at about two years old, Hatshepsut continued to rule by asserting her lineage as the daughter and only child of Thutmose I and his primary wife, Ahmose.

Her husband Thutmose II was the son of Thutmose I and a secondary wife named Mutnofret, who carried the title 'King's daughter' and was probably a child of Ahmose I. Hatshepsut and Thutmose II had a daughter named Neferure. Thutmose II with Iset, a secondary wife, would father Thutmose III, who would succeed Hatshepsut as pharaoh.

By the time we arrived, I was feeling a bit crook, so sat in the adjacent cafe (there is also one in the main part of the Valley of the Kings) while the others took a golf cart up to the temple.





1994. They have reinstated some of the statues on the upper level since then ...

 

[RooFlyer]

Only about 1/3 of the identified pharos have had their tombs discovered, but not all - by a long shot - are in the Valley of the Kings.

In brief and possibly imprecisely, they were initially buried in adits off shafts ; then under pyramids (first being the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara, later at Giza) and then adits at the Valley of the Kings ...

From the Valleys, we had lunch at a local Egyptian household. I wasn't an active participant!! It was OK; I'm sure the others enjoyed it more.



Afterwards, we had the afternoon free at Luxor after checking into our hotel, the Sonesta St George on the Nile at Luxor. It was by far the best hotel of the tour and I jagged a room at the front on the 4th level and went to bed on arrival.

Website photo:

 

[RooFlyer]

We were in Luxor, after all, so I hauled myself out of bed after a couple of hours and walked down to the Temple of Luxor and there was a nearby bookshop that had been recommended to us.

First an edit. The twin to the Obelisk at the Place de la Concorde in Paris is here at Luxor temple, not at the Karnak temple as I mentioned above. . It was first moved to Alexandria before it was lifted by the French much later. The chap I studied in my doctoral thesis had the minor claim to fame in that 1804, after the Battle of the Nile, and when the British occupied Alexandria, he climbed the obelisk to remove the 'cap of liberty' that the French had left on it.





The well known Avenue of Sphynxes which connects Luxor and Karnak temples; several km long.

 

[Kerrodt]

@RooFlyer I am loving this trip report of yours. It has got me motivated and excited to put Egypt back on my "must visit" list after a couple of false starts in prior years. I also like the look of the Intrepid itinerary that you are on. A coupe of practical questions if I may:

1. What sort of luggage are you and the tour group using - regular suitcases etc? I know that some Intrepid tours encourage backpacks rather than suitcases.
2. What sort of clothing is appropriate in the weather conditions there for this time of the year? I see in your pics lots of people in polo shirts, long sleeve shirts, and shorts i.e. very casual and relaxed dress code, rather than something more protective for harsh heat and sun conditions. What are your thoughts on this?

Many thanks.

 

[RooFlyer]

1994





The river boats don't seem to have changed much in 28 years!!



The bookshop was disappointing. In all of Egypt, I've never experienced such apathy in a merchant .Pretty expensive for Egypt, too. My usual souvenir of a trip is a book about the country, but this time I didn't buy anything.

 

[RooFlyer]

@RooFlyer I am loving this trip report of yours. It has got me motivated and excited to put Egypt back on my "must visit" list after a couple of false starts in prior years. I also like the look of the Intrepid itinerary that you are on. A coupe of practical questions if I may:

1. What sort of luggage are you and the tour group using - regular suitcases etc? I know that some Intrepid tours encourage backpacks rather than suitcases.
2. What sort of clothing is appropriate in the weather conditions there for this time of the year? I see in your pics lots of people in polo shirts, long sleeve shirts, and shorts i.e. very casual and relaxed dress code, rather than something more protective for harsh heat and sun conditions. What are your thoughts on this?

Many thanks.

Thanks

I went HLO (just) as this was my only destination. Most went with a suitcase and small bag; many of them were also doing the Intrepid Jordan tour afterwards, or had been elsewhere on their journey. We mostly travelled around places in a approx 16 seater minibus (for 13, incl guide) and the luggage got stacked in the back OK. No backpacks - this is the 'Premium tour' . All cases are taken to/from the bus & your room by porters at the various hotels etc, and you IDed your case before it was loaded onto a bus to make sure it was there.

It was high 20s to 30 every day. I was in shorts and shirt sleeved shirt most days and only a couple of times used sunscreen. It wasn't too bad. Most of the outdoor excursions were in the early morning or late afternoon. I also had long pants and long sleeve shirts for evening, as it got chilly after sunset.

Next year, the 'Premium Egypt tour is extended by a day, which will make it a bit less hectic at Aswan. I'd recommend having an extra day in Cairo (or two) and arranging through your hotel a visit to the Step Pyramids of Saqqara (1/2 day) and some of old Cairo (very old Coptic churches and/or Citadel and some mosques). If you haven't been to Jordan, I'd recommend doing that afterwards, as a number of pax on this trip did. I'll do some summing up at the end of this TR.

 

[Kerrodt]

Thanks mate, you're a superstar. Yes, I'm looking at the Jordan extension as it seems very attractive.

 

[RooFlyer]

The next morning we flew back to Cairo - Nile Air. An extremely cramped seat.







Ouch!



After lunch we went into old Cairo. Unfortunately our proposed tour of the Al-Azhar Mosque, established in 970 couldn't go ahead as it was a religious festival; in fact we had to be out of the area by 4pm. So we had a walk around the old souq area of Khan al-Khalili and had a coffee at a pre-arranged coffee shop




the place was crazy busy; I didn't feel unsafe walking around, but I was on top guard.





Here comes trouble



Yes, it got round

 

[RooFlyer]

Unfortunately we didn't walk near the Al-Azhar mosque but we did go past the Al Hussein mosque, originally constructed in 1154, and reconstructed in 1874. The then Ottomans adopted the 'gothic revival' style, so the main building looks all the world like a Christian church.








We had coffee at reputedly Cairo's oldest coffee house. The Team

 

[RooFlyer]

Our hotel for the final night of the tour was the Novotel el Borg on Zamelek Island, quite a fancy address. Didn't turn out that great. My room faced the Nile - yay!



BUT this joint, right out in front (to the left of pic above) was a floating nightclub and really opened up until about 3:30am - noise defeated my ear plugs AND the aircon running. Plus there were the speakers of a minaret just outside my window Call to prayers start around 5:30am.



As soon as the noise opened up I went down to get a new room (changes to now have been freely given where ever we went), but no available rooms in the other side of the hotel, only facing the Nile (I wonder why!!). I went down again at 3:30am and really let fly and ... miraculously, a room was found at the back. . Nice morning view but I was totally pi**ed off at the hotel, knowing that OI could have had a quiet room.



For dinner that night, we drove to a Cairo family's flat. It was an hour away, which was pushing it a bit and it was pleasant enough but I think overall missed the mark.

On return to the Novotel we all said our goodbyes and offered our tip to our excellent guide. BTW, tips for all the other services we got on the tip - all the mini busses, the porters etc etc were covered by the tour. That was a real blessing. The tour ended after breakfast.

I was staying on in Cairo for another day and had most of this day free too. However as I was a zombie through lack of sleep so nothing much happened. I was booked into the Conrad, a few km along the Nile, on recommendation of @boomy - and some kind arrangement by him of a good rate. I also went for a Nile suite; extravagant, but I usually end my trips to less comfortable parts of the world with a little comfort .









View (19th floor) by day and night. The little boats which are lit up are party boats; loud but unlike the boat last night, they move on.





Wonder how much these places opposite are worth?

 

[RooFlyer]

After exploring the hotel, I mainly mooched around and relaxed; not up to doing anything outside. Not hot enough for the pool. Naturally I found the Executive Club where i had drinks and snacks (= dinner) on both nights and breakfast. Pretty good, but I thought it might be a bit better. Sigh ... I survived

Canapes / snacks. the wines were ... Omar Khayam (again!!). Boomy will remember it.





To sum up the Conrad, where I had 2 nights - its pretty expensive and I thought it should have been better for the price. The service (staff) were about the same as I found in other places - competent enough but not starring. The tour guide they arranged for me (see next posts) was bad - I'm emailing the concierge who arranged it to complain. Will explain in the relevant posts. I got zero info about the hotel & facilities when I checked in (on the exec lounge floor) and later when I dropped by to find out about things I was actually given the wrong info about the restaurants (one was closed, the other was not a place "for a quiet drink"). The bar I went to had no staff, apparently. No-one. When I arrived at my room the grill was hanging out of the aircon. Fixed quickly, but really? Lots of little things; again, I'm talking about these relative to the price.

 

[bPeteb]

Paid an extra A$27 to go into the burial chamber; highly recommended unless yo are claustrophobic - or very unfit. Its warm to hot and a lot of steep climbing.

Entry and exit thought a 'modern' robbers adit. The constructed entry is above this.

Walk along a rough tunnel for a bit

View attachment 307754

Then up the first incline, a bit tight. People coming down have to pass you ...

View attachment 307755

Then up a much longer incline, the Grand Gallery Again, two ways.
Then a 10m crawl or very low stoop to the burial chamber. Hard to avoid getting people in the pic

JUST NO! I got anxious just looking at the photos. bAlt would be in there taking photos for us

 

[bPeteb]

Do you have your own photo scanner?

I'm thinking about going through my old negatives/prints but don't want to spend a bomb on either a scanner or a scanning service. There seem to be some inexpensive scanners, but they get very mixed reviews.

We bought a cheapie years ago to scan all of dad's slides. Worked a treat.

Bought a more expensive version (not expenisve at all) that will do slides, negatives and prints last year to scan his photos. Again, does the job. Bought it from kogan

 

[RooFlyer]

We bought a cheapie years ago to scan all of dad's slides. Worked a treat.

Bought a more expensive version (not expenisve at all) that will do slides, negatives and prints last year to scan his photos. Again, does the job. Bought it from koganView attachment 309191

Do you have to take the 35mm slide film out of their frames?

 

[bPeteb]

Do you have to take the 35mm slide film out of their frames?

Not with the old one. They just sat in a tray. I'll get this one out (only done photos so far) and have a look. Stay tuned

 

[TheRealTMA]

Do you have to take the 35mm slide film out of their frames?

@RooFlyer FWIW: I use an Epson V850. Does a stunning job. Scan's 24 slides or negatives in holders automatically with colour correction. This is an expensive scanner but Epson make quite a few cheaper version which do essentially the same job.

Contact me for more details if you are interested.

 

[bPeteb]

Do you have to take the 35mm slide film out of their frames?

Can't find the slide / negative tray but the slot looks the same on the new version thats now only $99! Slide just fits in tray