I have always wanted to visit Egypt as it is home to one of the oldest civilization in the world. Our friends had been to Egypt a few years back using the services of Memphis Tours and recommended them highly. We (group of 6) did the same, a 10-day package tour customized to include a visit to the Valley of Queens. Days 3 – 5 was on Nile cruise ship.
- Day 1 – fly into Cairo
- Day 2, Fly to Luxor – Valley of Queens, Ramesseum, Medinet Habu
- Day 3, Luxor – Karnak and Luxor temples
- Day 4, Luxor – Valley of Kings, Hatshepsut, Colossi of Memnon
- Day 5 – Edfu, Kom Omba
- Day 6, Aswan – High Dam, Unfinished Obelisk, Temple of Philae
- Day 7, Aswan – Abu Simbel
- Day 8, Cairo – Pyramids of Giza and Sakkara
- Day 9, Cairo – Day trip to Alexandria
- Day 10, Cairo – Egyptian Museum, Coptic Cairo, Islamic Cairo, Egyptian Market
We made this trip in the middle of February when the weather was pleasant and temperatures mostly in the mid 70s(F) during the day. Normally, this is peak tourist time, but, because of the war in the neighboring country, it was not too crowded. A trip to Egypt will involve visiting a lot of temples and tombs. The following list of terms and historical facts will help enrich your trip.
Cartouche – Egyptian hieroglyphs representing a name surrounded by an oval. The oval surrounding their name was meant to protect them from evil spirits in life and after death. You can see Cartouches of Egyptian pharaohs on all the temple walls and columns as well as Tomb walls.
Reliefs – The walls of temples and tomb are decorated with reliefs, which are basically artwork that is a combination of images, symbols, actions, cartouches, and objects used in everyday life. The reliefs can be of 3 types:
- Sunken – hieroglyphic text on the walls of tombs and temples are of this type.
- Low relief – the sculpture projects only slightly from the surface. War scenes on the Pylons and towers of temples are of this type.
- High relief – the sculpture projects at least half or more of its natural circumference from the background (see pics of Abu Simbel)
Decorations in tombs – Ancient Egyptians were obsessed with afterlife. The tombs are decorated to create a pleasant afterlife for the dead person. You will see paintings of religious activity, offerings to God and the person’s journey through the afterworld.
Temple architecture – Egyptian temples were meant as places for gods to reside on earth. Successive kings would add to the temples, making some of the complexes enormous, an example is the Karnak temple whose precinct on the longest side is 1837 ft(560m) long. All the temples that you will see have similar Architecture:
- Pylon – a huge entrance
- Followed by a Fore court – Courtyard in front of the building. This could have huge columns.
- Vestibules – this could be either a passage, hall, or a room to the interior of the building.
- Hypostyle Hall – Rows of huge columns supporting the roof.
- There could be a Central Court
- Finally, the Sanctuary
To get a perspective on how old the sites you will see in Egypt are:
- Step Pyramids in Saqqara are the oldest – Built in 2670-2650 BC, they are about 4700 years old and about 100 years older than the Pyramids in Giza.
- Pyramids in Giza – Built roughly from 2550-2490 BC, about 4600 years old
- Karnak Temple in Luxor – Built in 1979 BC, it is about 4000 years old
- Luxor Temple, Luxor – Built in 1400 BC, they are about 3400 years old
- Abu Simbel – Built in 1244 BC, it is about 3300 years old
The Pharaohs and dynasties of ancient Egypt:
- Dynasty 4 – About 2500 BC
- Khufu or Cheops – Built Great Pyramid at Giza, the largest one
- Khafre or Chephren – Son of Cheops, built the Pyramid of Khafre
- Menkaure or Mycerinus – He built the pyramid of Mycerinus
- Dynasty 18 – About 1300 BC
- Tuthmosis IV – Left his son (Amenhotep III) an empire of immense size, wealth, and power.
- Amenhotep III – He ruled well with the wealth and power that his father left him.
- Akhenaten or Amenhotep IV – He was famous for abandoning worship of many gods and being the father of Tutankhamun.
- Tutankhamun – Son of Akhenaten, he ascended the throne at the age of 9 and reigned until he died at the age of 19. He restored the traditional polytheistic form of ancient Egyptian religion. He became most famous after the discovery of his tomb in Valley of Kings in 1922. They found a whole lot of treasure in his tomb including the famous golden mask.
- Dynasty 19 – About 1200 BC
- Ramses I – Father of Seti I and grandfather of Ramses II
- Seti I – His tomb was discovered in Valley of Kings
- Ramses II – He was the most famous of all the Egyptian kings. Most of the temples have huge statues of Ramses II at the entrance as well as inside.
- Dynasty 20 – About 1100 BC
- SethNakth – Father of Ramses III
- Ramses III is the origin of the big family of Ramseses from III to XI
Egyptian Gods – You will see many Egyptian gods painted/sculptured on the walls of temples and tombs and offerings made to them in these paintings.
- Ra – God of sun and considered one of the most important deities.
- Osiris – God of death, associated with afterlife and resurrection.
- Amun – God of air and wind and was depicted as ram-headed. He combined with Ra and became Amun-Ra, the king of the gods and the god of the sun.
- Horus – God of goodness and Light
- Seth – God of war
- Ptah – Creator God
- Isis – God of love, healing, fertility, and moon
Cruising the Nile – You can cruise either from Luxor to Aswan or the other way. Most cruises from Luxor to Aswan start on Mondays (4 days long). We cruised from Luxor to Aswan and most of our guided tours began quite early in the morning. If you are not a morning person, or want flexibility, you could book the cruise yourself and just hire a local guide in Luxor/Edfu/Aswan etc. or just do a self-guided tour in these places.