Were you starting to worry about us? We have been very busy the last few days and on the move so it has been impossible to write. I"ll catch you up.
We took an organized tour to the West Bank of Luxor. We had a great guide, Nana, and were with only 13 other people. Some groups have 30 or more so we were fortunate. Nana was very good at explaining things to us, she kept everyone on schedule, and her english was very clear so we were quite happy with her. We went to Valley of the Kings and went into 3 tombs. You are not allowed to take cameras in there so we don't have any pictures but we did buy some postcards. The tombs were amazing. The colors are so vibrant still and the level of detail is fascinating. From Nana's "lesson" when we first got there we were really able to pick out some neat details in the tombs and their significance. After that we went to Hutshepsuts Temple. She was the female pharoah. When Nana was explaining the history behind Hutshepsut, Cora played the part of Tutmohse III so now we call her Tutmohse. Tu for short. Oh wait, we already call her that.
After that it was Valley of the Queens where we went into three tombs as well. Then on to the Colossi of Memmnon. Sounds like not much, but the whole trip took 7 hours and we were all exhaused when we got back. Six tombs was plenty. While we were there we saw excevations going on and pottery being put back together. Not displays. Real digging and piecing history back together.
After resting in our room for several hours (it was a hot, dusty, exhausting day!) we went to a little restaurant around the corner and had "meat pots." We had seen these the day before and thought they looked good. It was a hot, bubbling stew of lamb, peppers, onions, and potatoes in a tomato based broth. Came with bread (pita), rice, and salad. 10LE! Thats about $1.80. It was so good that we had it for dinner the next night as well!
The kids were wiped out at that point--and we were pretty tired of them too--so they stayed at the hotel while Steve and I walked around and took a horse carrige around Luxor. That was really nice. We also found another good bakery. Egyptians really like their sweets. Before going to bed that night we set up a felucca boat trip for the next day.
Feluccas are the very tall masted sail boats that you see in almost all photos of the Nile. Unfortunatly there was very little breeze, but that made for a very slow, leisurely trip. Sort of. The captain had his two boys helping him that day and they would walk along the bank and pull the rope. They also rowed when necessary. They were 10 year old twins. Tate laid on the padded bench and listened to his ipod. Not that we would have let him in the water anyway. There are parasites in the Nile that we were told to carefully avoid.
As part of that day we took a one hour camel ride along the Nile flood plain. It was great. Exactally how I would want to take a camel trip. Quite, green, scenic. Not surrounded by tourists and hawkers around the pyramids. Anyway, we all really loved it. Especially Cora.
We then went to an island to hang out for a few hours. Tate, Cora and the boys all played. They tried to get Tate and Cora to come in the water with them, but we put the fear of painful death into them so they stayed out. If you know Cora, you can imagine how hard that must have been for her.
After watching the sunset on the Nile, we hurried back to our hotel to pack up and head to the train station. Remember my description of the train from a few nights before. Well, this made up for it. The sleeper train was wonderful. Quiet, clean(ish--this is still Egypt!) and the kids were thrilled with the compartments. Unfortunately we had to wake up at 3:45 am because the train pulled in at 5am. Why 3:45? We don't know either but the stewards knocked on our door several times and delivered a breakfast (more bread!) at 4:15.
So, that leads to today. Once the train pulled in we set off for the bus station so that we could get our bus to Taba. It was a 7 hour bus ride but the scenery was interesting. Once we got out of Cairo it was full-on desert all the way until the Taba turn off. The desert varied, but it was still barren and sandy.
Once we started decending to the Red Sea, we drove through rocky mountains and canyons that were amazing. So interesting. Unfortunately, there was some bad, American military movie on the TV, so I was the only one that saw the scenery.
Once we arrived in Taba, it was border crossing time. First out of Egypt and into Israel, then a taxi to the Israel/Jordan boarder. All in all, it took 2 1/2 hours, we had to show our passports 15 times, change money three times, take 2 expensive taxis, and schlep our stuff on and off our backs countless times to have it x-rayed. I also got into a battle of wills with a Jordanian taxi driver, but I won't go into that because it still makes me mad.
Now we are at our hotel in Aqaba, Jordan. This is a resort town so everything is much more expensive than what we have been paying. Quite a shock! But our guest house is very nice (remember, it is all relative), we are across the street from the beach, the weather is warm, and the only goal for tomorrow is figuring out how to get to Wadi Rum on Sunday.
Now it is 9pm here and I have been up since 3:45am so I am going to call it a night.
We took an organized tour to the West Bank of Luxor. We had a great guide, Nana, and were with only 13 other people. Some groups have 30 or more so we were fortunate. Nana was very good at explaining things to us, she kept everyone on schedule, and her english was very clear so we were quite happy with her. We went to Valley of the Kings and went into 3 tombs. You are not allowed to take cameras in there so we don't have any pictures but we did buy some postcards. The tombs were amazing. The colors are so vibrant still and the level of detail is fascinating. From Nana's "lesson" when we first got there we were really able to pick out some neat details in the tombs and their significance. After that we went to Hutshepsuts Temple. She was the female pharoah. When Nana was explaining the history behind Hutshepsut, Cora played the part of Tutmohse III so now we call her Tutmohse. Tu for short. Oh wait, we already call her that.
After that it was Valley of the Queens where we went into three tombs as well. Then on to the Colossi of Memmnon. Sounds like not much, but the whole trip took 7 hours and we were all exhaused when we got back. Six tombs was plenty. While we were there we saw excevations going on and pottery being put back together. Not displays. Real digging and piecing history back together.
After resting in our room for several hours (it was a hot, dusty, exhausting day!) we went to a little restaurant around the corner and had "meat pots." We had seen these the day before and thought they looked good. It was a hot, bubbling stew of lamb, peppers, onions, and potatoes in a tomato based broth. Came with bread (pita), rice, and salad. 10LE! Thats about $1.80. It was so good that we had it for dinner the next night as well!
The kids were wiped out at that point--and we were pretty tired of them too--so they stayed at the hotel while Steve and I walked around and took a horse carrige around Luxor. That was really nice. We also found another good bakery. Egyptians really like their sweets. Before going to bed that night we set up a felucca boat trip for the next day.
Feluccas are the very tall masted sail boats that you see in almost all photos of the Nile. Unfortunatly there was very little breeze, but that made for a very slow, leisurely trip. Sort of. The captain had his two boys helping him that day and they would walk along the bank and pull the rope. They also rowed when necessary. They were 10 year old twins. Tate laid on the padded bench and listened to his ipod. Not that we would have let him in the water anyway. There are parasites in the Nile that we were told to carefully avoid.
As part of that day we took a one hour camel ride along the Nile flood plain. It was great. Exactally how I would want to take a camel trip. Quite, green, scenic. Not surrounded by tourists and hawkers around the pyramids. Anyway, we all really loved it. Especially Cora.
We then went to an island to hang out for a few hours. Tate, Cora and the boys all played. They tried to get Tate and Cora to come in the water with them, but we put the fear of painful death into them so they stayed out. If you know Cora, you can imagine how hard that must have been for her.
After watching the sunset on the Nile, we hurried back to our hotel to pack up and head to the train station. Remember my description of the train from a few nights before. Well, this made up for it. The sleeper train was wonderful. Quiet, clean(ish--this is still Egypt!) and the kids were thrilled with the compartments. Unfortunately we had to wake up at 3:45 am because the train pulled in at 5am. Why 3:45? We don't know either but the stewards knocked on our door several times and delivered a breakfast (more bread!) at 4:15.
So, that leads to today. Once the train pulled in we set off for the bus station so that we could get our bus to Taba. It was a 7 hour bus ride but the scenery was interesting. Once we got out of Cairo it was full-on desert all the way until the Taba turn off. The desert varied, but it was still barren and sandy.
Once we started decending to the Red Sea, we drove through rocky mountains and canyons that were amazing. So interesting. Unfortunately, there was some bad, American military movie on the TV, so I was the only one that saw the scenery.
Once we arrived in Taba, it was border crossing time. First out of Egypt and into Israel, then a taxi to the Israel/Jordan boarder. All in all, it took 2 1/2 hours, we had to show our passports 15 times, change money three times, take 2 expensive taxis, and schlep our stuff on and off our backs countless times to have it x-rayed. I also got into a battle of wills with a Jordanian taxi driver, but I won't go into that because it still makes me mad.
Now we are at our hotel in Aqaba, Jordan. This is a resort town so everything is much more expensive than what we have been paying. Quite a shock! But our guest house is very nice (remember, it is all relative), we are across the street from the beach, the weather is warm, and the only goal for tomorrow is figuring out how to get to Wadi Rum on Sunday.
Now it is 9pm here and I have been up since 3:45am so I am going to call it a night.
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