March 5, 2018

Egypt – Nile Cruise from Aswan to Luxor

Day 3 of trip was started with traveling to Aswan.

Our pick up time for airport is at 4:30AM. Thanks to jet lag we didn’t had problem waking up at that time. We requested for a box break fast from hotel and ate at 4AM at the hotel. Our Memphis Tour pick up driver was on time and there was one more person from Memphis tour got in our car near airport. He came with us inside and got us the boarding pass for Aswan flight with Nile Air and left us at the gate. What a service?

There were so many Chinese group travelers for Egypt, 3/4th of the flight is filled with them.

We were early to the airport for our flight NP 0081 (NILE AIR ) CAIRO to Aswan at 7:10Am. we got a small snack in the flight as well a Veg sand witch, beef sand witch with juice. We reached Aswan on time at 8:35AM.

There was Memphis travel manager at the airport for gathering and arranging our next step. He handed over to our guide for next 4 days Hassan. We traveled in mini van to the cruise ship location through old Aswan Dam. Guide Hassan is from Aswan and he started telling about our trip Itinerary .

We were supposed to be in Steigenberger Minerva cruise, but we got upgraded to Movenpick Sun Ray. Our rooms were not ready, so we were hanging out at the top deck and bar lounge. Kids were playing and we have been walking and exploring.

Seems like Egyptians eat Lunch and Dinner very late. Our guide at Cairo was also telling that they eat breakfast at 11Am, Lunch at 3PM and Dinner at 9 or 10PM. Our Lunch at cruise was 1:30PM. A nice buffet with some Egyptian specialties. They made Aloo/peas curry thinking that we were vegetarians.

We started our afternoon trip to Aswan with our Guide Hassan.

Aswan – Granite Quarry – Unfinished obelisk

The obelisk’s creators began to carve it directly out of bedrock, but cracks appeared in the granite and the project was abandoned. The bottom side of the obelisk is still attached to the bedrock.

The unfinished obelisk offers unusual insights into ancient Egyptian stone-working techniques, with marks from workers’ tools still clearly visible as well as ocher-colored lines marking where they were working.

We can see how people used to cut the stone and move with flood on Nile river. Red Granite was carried from this Quarry to built the Great Pyramid.

There are modern constructions are closing by this site.. you can see that in the first picture below..

Aswan – High Dam

By the time we reached High Dam kids were so sleepy, second one slept in Van and first one was Zombie walking. 10 hrs Jet lag hit us hard. There is heavy security near old dam , high dam. Check post and security on alert all the time.

Some Background : The dam is fed by the River Nile and the reservoir forms Lake Nasser. The dam was constructed to regulate the flow of the river, which serves the whole of Egypt.

Flooding of the Nile occurs annually, with almost half of the water being drained into the sea wastefully. The dam controls floods by regulating the flow of river and supplies water for irrigation throughout the year, which almost doubles the agricultural yield.

The dam also improved navigation across the Nile, benefiting the tourism and fishing industries. Water from the dam is used to feed 12 power turbines, which provides half of Egypt’s power demands. The reservoir also helps supply water during droughts.

Below image shows the Nile origin and full flow.

A small boat ride to the the Temple of Isis

The Temple of Philae

The Temple of Philae for Goddess Isis or Temple of Isis (goddess Isis, the wife of Osiris and mother of Horus)

The temple complex was dismantled , marked all the pieces with numbers and relocated to nearby Agilkia Island as part of the UNESCO Nubia Campaign project, protecting this and other complexes before the 1970 completion of the Aswan High Dam. It’s like build a temple with legos, dismantle and build same structure again. Is it even possible? seems like…

There were some pieces left after all the complex is rebuilt, those pieces have numbers, but no one knows where will they go.

first entrance