Ancient Egyptian Temples Along the Nile

Egypt has such an incredible wealth of history, temples and ruins. Many of these historic sites are located along the Nile River, either in or close to the city of Luxor (the ancient city of Thebes). In order to see some of these ruins, Lisa and I booked a three-night Nile River cruise that went from Aswan to Luxor. For this part of our trip, we organized everything through a tour agent, the only time in our round-the-world journey that we hadn't made all the arrangements independently. The package deal included a driver, our rail transportation, the boat trip, and an Egyptologist guide for four days, for not much more money than it would have cost us to book it all in sections.

In order to join the Nile cruise, we first had to take an overnight train from Cairo down to Aswan, where we boarded the boat. The train was pretty nice, better than the ones we had used in either Vietnam or India. Once in Aswan, we spent some time touring local sights, including the Temple of Philae, and were able to take a felucca ride (sailboat) on the Nile. We spent the next three nights on board the boat, stopping along the way to see the Temples of Edfu and Kom Ombo. It was a nice way to not only visit these temples, but also to experience the Nile. When you see the villages along the river, and notice how the belt of green farmland by the water contrasts with the dry desert landscape beyond, it is easy to appreciate how the Nile River truly is the heart of Egypt.

The final two days of our tour were spent in Luxor, where the most magnificent ancient monuments are located. These include the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings, and the Karnak and Luxor temples, among other sites. It's a bit mind-boggling to contemplate the achievements of the ancient Egyptians in building all of these temples and tombs. Many of them are at least a thousand years older even than the ruins of classical Greece, and the size and detail of some of the monuments is astounding.

Here is a partial view of the front wall of the Temple of Edfu. Can you see Lisa in the pink shirt down in front?



And here is a painting that is thousands of years old on a wall at Karnak Temple. Notice the hieroglyphics in the upper part of the painting...