Off to explore Athens Greece this week!

Off to explore Athens Greece this week! Got the week off work for the Muslim holiday of Eid which comes after Ramadan...

Internet photo:

By the way, El Gouna was great! Both scuba diving and kiteboarding was really nice... Video to come in the next weeks...

This weekends Kiteboarding and scuba diving spot!

Going this weekend with some work friends to El Gouna... Its a resort town about 40km North of Hurghada and about 5hr South East of Cairo...

Here is a link to Google maps: El Gouna Map

The town is basically 100% artificial... The channels, the beaches.... But I hear its pretty cool!

All images in the blog can be clicked for a larger view!

Part 5: Hot air balloon ride over Luxor+....

Today started very early... Like at 4am! We were pick up in a van and then had a short boat ride from the East to the West bank of the Nile.

Upon arrival at the take off site we got to see the whole process of many balloons and baskets being unloaded from trucks and then inflated using large gas powered fans and the burners... Quite a sight! There was probably around 15 balloons!

The hot air balloon ride itself took us to get the best possible view of the Temple of Hatshepsut and the Valley of the Queens and Kings....

Next we visited the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens.... Unfortunately cameras are prohibited so we all together just left them in the car.

The Valley of the Kings has over 63 tombs, some simple pits in the ground and other very elaborate 120+ chamber tombs! This is where the un-raided tomb of King Tutankhamun was found.

Photos from Wiki:

The Valley of the Queens is the same concept but at a smaller scale. Main tomb here is the Tomb of Queen Nefertari. But its been closed for renovation for many years now and unless you are Japanese and have lots of money, you cant see it. The Japanese have apparently donated a lot of money in general so they get special privilege$.


Next stop was the Temple of Queen Hatsheput! This place is magnificent. It s a huge temple built at the base of a "mountain bay"... The incredible part is that only about half of it is left.

After going back to out cruise ship we went out for a Falluca ride on the Nile river @ sunset...

Fellucas are relatively primitive wooden sail boats primarily used in the calm waters of the Nile River, Red Sea and other bodies of water in the region.

In this picture if you look closely you can see our boat captains helper climbed up mid "mast".

When we got back to shore we were able to get a quick glimpse of the Temple of Luxor.

Part 4: Blast from the past... Egyptian Adventure with AC....

In the afternoon after the perfume museum we went back to the temple island of Philae for its Light and Sound show!

Here is a little more info on the temple and its history. Link to Wiki Article

That night we got on the cruise ship the Radamis II and woke up as we cruised down the Nile river toward Luxor!

Our first port was the Temple of Kom Ombo which is shared by the two gods Sobek and Haeroris. Kom Ombo is about 50km north/downstream of Aswan. Link to Wiki Article

Great color preservation!

Damage done by the Christians who later occupied the temple and used it as a church.

After we got back on board for lunch while we sailed to Edfu. There we took a horse drawn carriage to the temple which was about 10 minutes from the river.

Edfu is the best preserved temple in all of Egypt b\c after it was abandoned it got almost completely covered in sand! In some places you can see the change in the sand stone walls where the sand went up to. You can also see how the Christians who took over the temple later did not damage the walls b\c they were covered in sand.

The temple was built between 237BCE and 57BCE.

Link to Wiki Article

This whole was is engraved!

Then back on the ship to continue on out way to Luxor.
Here we are about to pass though a river lock.