World Tour, March 22-24, 2023, Egypt VI
On Wednesday, March 22, we checked out of the cruise ship (still docked at Aswan) and traveled by car and boat to the Philae Temple Complex.
This complex used to be on the island of Philae on a cataract in the Nile. This was above the Aswan (Low) Dam so it was often flooded after the dam was built. With the Aswan High Dam creating a reservoir between the low and high dams (about 4 miles apart), the Philae Temples would have been permanently flooded. Instead, the temple complex was cut apart and reconstructed on a nearby island - Agilkia. Since it’s an island, you have to take a short ride on a boat to get there!
When finished with our tour of the Philae Temples, we were taken to the Aswan Airport and caught a flight to Cairo where we stayed in the same airport hotel as before. The next day we ubered to the Turquoise Pyramid View Hotel right next to the Giza Pyramids. On Friday, March 24 we toured the pyramids. We had thought the hotel was close enough that we could just walk from the hotel. But after a while and in consultation with the hotel staff, we realized it was going the be along walk! So, the hotel found us a guide and driver and we toured the pyramids with them as well as some of downtown Giza. We stayed another night at the Turquoise Hotel. It was Ramadan. It is illegal for Egyptians to consume alcohol during Ramadan! We couldn’t find a local restaurant that would serve wine. But right across the street was the Marriott Mena House Hotel and we had two plush dinners there!
On the morning of the 25th we ubered back to the airport hotel - in a driving rainstorm! Turns out Cairo has no storm sewers (at least not on the highways we were on). That made for an interesting ride.
On the 26th, we left Cairo on a 9:10 am flight to London where we connected with a flight to Newark and arrived there around 7 pm.
CP means photo by Candace.
Clicking on a photo below brings up a larger version. You can also activate a slide show.