Weddingbee Blog

On our third day of our honeymoon adventure we left the busy city of Cairo for our flight to Aswan. We had purchased a small new bag for our new clothes (they barely filled the bag, of course) and took this with us to the airport. We phoned one last time to find out if our luggage had been found, but were given no answer other than the fact that another flight from Johannesburg had landed so it “might” be there.

On arrival at the airport, our transfer representative decided to help us retrieve our luggage (they all felt really bad for us being on the ’moon and all). He hurried us onto a bus and we raced to the next terminal. 40 minutes later filled with multiple checkpoints, armed guards, frantic communication between our representative and airport officials, and our little blue bag suddenly came into view. Our reunion, while wonderful, was cut short as we were now running late for our flight to Aswan. Racing through the airport, we boarded our flight and were even witness to our two little bags boarding the flight below.

A little over an hour later we arrived in Aswan. A whopping 40 degrees (104 degrees Fahrenheit), Aswan was blindingly bright and dry. Our transfer swiftly collected us as our tour guide was already waiting for us on the cruise - to take us to our first tourist sight.

Emile, a former English teacher, was a welcome face throughout our trip. A deeply religious Coptic Christian, he entertained us to no end and even arranged a special surprise for us on our last night when he found out  we were newly married. We had no idea we would have our very own guide the whole journey down the Nile; at first it seemed a little weird, as we thought it might be nice to wander the temples at the back of the pack, but in the end it was a real blessing as we came and went as we pleased and ended up learning and seeing a lot more.

Our first stop was the unfinished obelisk. Aswan is built on a quarry, and it is here that many of the blocks of granite used for pyramids, statues and obelisks were cut from the ground. The unfinished obelisk at Aswan was an over-ambitious project, intended to be 40 meters high, but the slab cracked during removal and was abandoned. This unfinished project shows us today just how ancient Egyptians were able to cut solid granite with such precision (but I’ll leave that up to you to discover for yourself).

After visiting the quarry we journeyed to the Aswan High Dam, built to stop the flooding of the Nile…

And then we traveled by Nubian water boat to the Philae temple. This temple was once under threat by the rising Nile waters, but was one of the many temples rescued by national and international efforts. The entire structure was moved from one island to a higher neighbouring island.

Our first temple experience was surreal. Looking at the walls and pillars, it is hard to comprehend just how old they are. You stand in disbelief, thinking there is no way these are the REAL thing. But the further down the Nile you go, the more you start to see how history has ravaged them: graffiti from Romans, Greeks, and even those of Napoleon’s army can be seen on many pillars and walls.

After the temple we returned to the boat, changed, and found a spot on the sun deck.

The heat is intense and takes serious getting used to. We were pretty worn out by the time we returned to the cabin. When we entered we were met with a reclining figure made of towels on our bed. I had read about the towel structures the cruise staff liked to make for guests, so I was pleased to see our cruise had them, too.

The next day we woke early to visit the Kom Ombo temple…

And after lunch we journeyed by horse and carriage to Edfu temple. I must admit this journey almost killed me as I started to suffer severely from heat stroke, but made it to the boat just in time to rest and re-hydrate.

(in the horse and carriage)

(in front of Horus)

I slept most of the afternoon away but woke in time to watch the sunset out our window as we sailed on to Luxor.

On day 3 on the boat, we woke early once more to visit Karnak, the largest known temple complex in Egypt. This is a must visit when in Luxor and can take you many days to explore properly. The obelisks, forest of pillars, and avenue of sphinxes were by far my favourite aspects of this temple.

Straight after this we visited the Valley of the Kings, entered three Tombs (each still beautifully painted) and purchased a pair of alabaster statues from a local factory near the iconic valley. While at the Valley you’ll enter an information area which has a perspex model of the area. Be sure to take a look underneath, as the model shows how each tomb goes deep into the ground, one even 150 meters deep.

The heat of the tombs had worn us down a bit but we pressed on to the next temple honouring the only female Pharaoh to be buried in the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut.

Before calling it a day we decided to visit Luxor temple, the temple closest to where we were docked. This temple has very clear remnants from the country’s two most prominent religions today. Within the temple walls, on top of many years of buried rubble, stands a fully operational mosque, and towards the temple’s end, there are traces of a Last Supper fresco and altar used by the Coptic Christians.

(Luxor temple with the mosque visible in the background on the right)

(Me with Emile at the entrance to Luxor temple)

The temple is still under repair and I believe the government is looking to relocate the mosque (over 300 years old) and also to reconnect the temple to Karnak which was once joined by a 3km row of sphinxes (of which many have been found and restored), by relocating the homes and buildings within its path.

We arrived back to the ship in time for lunch and to retire to our room to find this spooky surprise from the hotel staff…

The rest of the day was  spent reminiscing and reading by the pool until the sun went down.

On day four we packed our bags and headed to the nearby Sheraton to relax and prepare for our journey home. Once again we had full view of the Nile and watched the Felucca boats sail by. A travel programme came on TV in the hotel room while we packed and talked about the wonders of Cape Town. It made us smile and think about home.

Our journey came to an end after a whirlwind week, but it was well worth the effort and dramas we’d experienced organising it and getting there. It was a magical experience, and Mr Lightning and I are unlikely to ever forget our first adventure together as man and wife.

In part 4 I’ll finish up our Egypt report with our tips for travellers.