March 2, 2023

We thought yesterday was busy!  Today was wonderful and exhausting.  

We were up at 4am to put our luggage out, eat breakfast and get on the bus to go to the airport in Cairo for our flight to Luxor.  It really doesn’t matter what airport you go to, the chaos of processing 68 people through gathering the luggage, transporting it and the people through various forms of security, checking the luggage and then loading the plane is crazy time.  But we succeeded.  It’s noisy, confusing and not fun.    The Viking tour chartered a plane from a petroleum company so we were not involved with the local travelers.  Our flight was just one hour.  

Here’s a shot leaving Cairo.  Cairo is a city that isn’t probably one of our favorites.  We never felt safe enough to venture out of our hotel.  The city is very dirty.  Trash everywhere, the canal is filled with refuse, the buildings are torn apart, dogs and cats roam looking for food and the noise of so many people is unnerving.  

Here is the view of Luxor as we landed.  Luxor is very green as it is on along the Nile.  There are less people, but there is still the refuse, broken down homes and animals roaming.  

We drove to the Karnak Temple.  It is a beautiful and overwhelming place.  The Karnak temple is the largest religious building ever built.  It was built over 1300 years beginning in the 16th century BC.  It is huge and amazing to walk through. 

We boarded our boat MS Antares in time for lunch at 1:00pm.  We have a lovely suite, with a sitting area and plenty of room to stretch out.  One wall is windows so we can watch the scenery as we travel.  We were so tired, but still had safety exercises to do, as well as unpacking.  I laid down and fell asleep for about an hour.  Bob woke me up so we could go on our next tour to the Luxor Temple.  I will admit I was a bit cranky, and even considered not going to the Luxor Temple at 5:30 pm.  I’m so glad we went.  Again, an amazing walk through time.  The Luxor Temple was built circa 1400 BC by Amenhotep III and Ramses II.  It was a beautiful sight at night.  

We came back to the ship and by the time we got into bed it was 10:30 pm.  That was a long day!  

You know when you travel, all sorts of things happen.   Both good and bad.  Mostly good of course.  The cruise people have loaned each of us a “whisperer”. I love it and hate it!  You wear a lanyard with the box attached to ear buds.  This way we can hear our guide easily around all the other people talking.  However, I have nearly choked myself many times between the ear bud wires, the lanyard, the hat chin strap, and the bag I’m carrying.  No matter how carefully I wrap the various wires and lanyard around the box, it always comes out in a tangled mess like this.  I almost threw it out the window of the bus, but then remembered that it’s not really mine to give away.

We are still waking up around 5 am, but that’s not really a bad thing.  Each day is filled with more tours and more amazing sights.  It never ceases to make us pause and wonder what it must be like to live here surrounded with thousands of antiquities as you go about your day and life.  There are so many temples, statues and they keep finding more all the time.  It must be surreal to pass by acres and acres of items that are hundreds of thousand years old as you are trying to make a living and live a your life for today.  

We have a security presence around us when we travel by bus and when we are visiting sights.  It is a blessing and also a realization that we are so lucky to not have to worry about this type of security issue when we go about our life at home. 

This trip is one of those trips that we will never forget and will change our perspective forever.  

Hope you are enjoying our blog.  Please excuse the random margins.  Blogger has a mind of it’s own!

Bc and Gc.