World Wonders: Egypt and Jordan Travel Notes
MAY 10, 2024 – TRAVEL DAY TO CAIRO (Day 152)
We took a taxi to the Sharjah airport. We enjoyed breakfast in the lounge and then had lunch on the plane. Everything went smoothly as we touched down in Cairo. Doug and Margaret were already at the Mena Hotel waiting on us as they flew in yesterday while we were touring Dubai.
I really have to give a huge thanks to our MISR Travel Rep, Mohammed, who met us as soon as we deboarded the plane in Cairo. MISR contracts with Avalon to escort guests through the nightmare that customs, immigration, and airport security can be, especially with language barriers. He was so good at helping us navigate our way to the transfer bus to the hotel. He was fantastic and it meant a lot to us to have him there helping. Thanks, Mohammed!
The ride to Mena House Hotel through Cairo, was very interesting. The city had many buildings in very bad condition. This was exacerbated by the way homes had pillars sticking up so that floors could be added to the building. We found out later that this is common as a son takes a wife, the house is ready for him to add an upper floor for his new family. The air was very dusty and everything was brown as paint was not used on many of the buildings.
Then we saw the great pyramid! The Mena Hotel is historic, in that it was originally constructed by the King of Egypt to house guests when the Suez Canal was opened. Since then, it has continued to be the host for important guests like President Jimmy Carter as he negotiated peace with Israel in the 1970’s. There have also been many movies filmed on the grounds. It was a beautiful oasis in the middle of the desert just out of town. Our favorite spot was at the 139 Restaurant (Great Pyramid is 139 meters tall) looking at the pyramids while we ate our meals or enjoyed a glass of wine in the evening. When there are weddings at the Great Pyramid, they light it up, which they did for 2 of our nights. It is a view that we will always remember.
MAY 11, 2024 – CAIRO, EGYPT TOUR (Day 153)
Our tour officially started this morning as we headed up the hill from our hotel to check out the Great Pyramid. I bought a ticket to actually go inside the pyramid along with Doug and Margaret. Gwen decided to not participate and it was a wise decision on her part as her knees would not have done well on the low ceiling inside. Also we were bent over as we climbed at a steep angle to reach the tomb room. Gwen did get to climb on the pyramid and get a picture at the entrance.
There are actually 9 pyramids that make up the Giza pyramids. Three
large ones, for pharaohs, and six other pyramids that were smaller, that they believe were for their wives. It was a short bus ride over to a nearby temple where we would get our first glimpse of a sphinx. We headed to Sakkara where we had lunch and would get to see a very well preserved tomb at the Step Pyramid Complex. The carvings were very interesting and we’re highly detailed. We then
went inside the Pyramid of Teti. Gwen was able to go inside the pyramid here. There is some speculation that Joseph stored food there for the famine that is mentioned in the Bible. Our guide, Asher is really personable and being an Egyptologist, has a lot of knowledge of the things we are exploring. He reminds us a little of Roman, our guide from Israel, as they have some similar traits. Our group is only eight people which is nice.
We had time to relax at the hotel after touring. We decided to eat at another restaurant that is on the hotel property. Alfredo’s is an Italian restaurant that has some nice outdoor seating that overlooks the pool area. But, we couldn’t resist going back to 139 Restaurant to enjoy a nice evening of drinks and while listening to music coming from another wedding on the hotel grounds. It started out a little loud at first, but then they settled down to what turned out to be nice pyramid watching music.
MAY 12, 2024 – CAIRO, EGYPT TOUR (Day 154)
Brian stayed at the hotel, as he didn’t feel up to touring. The day started at the Citadel, where we also toured Muhammad Ali’s mosque. After this we went to the Egyptian Museum. There is so much to see here. The building itself, is historic. I was thankful for Ash and his guidance to show us around and explain what the important things were. King Tut’s display was amazing, with the gems and designs on his multiple sarcophagi. You have to see it with your own eyes, as there are no photos allowed here.
We ended up having lunch at a place on the Nile River with typical Egyptian food. I had the mushroom chicken, which was different than anything I’ve ever had. After lunch we toured a Coptic Christian area and a couple of churches. One, from the 3rd century is called Saint Virgin Mary’s Coptic Orthodox Church, also known as the hanging church, because its nave is suspended over the passage of a gatehouse. They believe this is where Jesus’ family stayed in this area when they fled to Egypt. The other church from the 4th century is Abu Serga, also named for Saints Sergius and Bacchus, who were martyred for their Christian beliefs. Around 100,000 Christians were martyred in history here. We also visited the Ben Ezra Synagogue where they believe that Baby Moses was found near the Nile.
We went back to the hotel and I went to the swimming pool. The pool was unique because the top of the pool is even with the sidewalk around it. It was very cool to swim in. It was also Mother’s Day, so I got texts from the kids. Brian and I had dinner at the Hotel 139 soaking in the great view!
MAY 13, 2024 – LUXOR – NILE RIVER CRUISE 1st Day (Day 155)
Our day started very early, leaving the hotel at 5:00 AM for
the airport. We flew to Luxor with our entire group. When we got to Luxor, we
immediately went over to the Karnak Temple. It was a place where ancient Egyptians believe they could interact with the God Amun-Ra (Ra), who supposedly is the father of each Pharaoh. After being on the go all morning, we headed back to our boat, the Ms. Farah, that would take us up the Nile river to Aswan.
We checked out the room and then headed for our buffet lunch. Service is over the
top with this cruise line. The boat being mostly empty (about 25 out of normally 125) due to it being the end of their touring season and the unsettling news in the Middle East, made it feel as if the waiter was eager to have something to do to help you.
After an afternoon break, we went to Luxor Temple. The temples here are amazing and this one contained two tall obelisks. It’s hard to understand how these ancient people could build these magnificent structures. Even Alexander the Great had a section built for himself here. We ended the day with a nice dinner on the ship and went straight to bed. We were exhausted. There is still more to see here in Luxor and our ship doesn’t leave dock until tomorrow early afternoon. Asher has plans for another excursion in the morning.
MAY 14, 2024 – NILE RIVER CRUISE 2nd Day (Day 156)
After breakfast, we headed out to the Valley of the Kings. We visited 3 tombs, with one being King Tut’s. Though all the jewels and treasures were in the museums, his mummy was on display inside the tomb. King Tut’s tomb looked to be hurriedly painted and not engraved into the stone as some of the others. It might have to do with the fact that he died unexpectedly around the age of 19. Some of the tombs were decorated and painted so beautifully. We toured the tomb of Ramses IV and Ramses IX and Ramses I. It got pretty confusing to keep track of who succeed whom as you can’t assume that just because they had the same name that they were in the same bloodline. Ramses I has one of the nicer tombs, but all the tombs seem to tell the same type of story with their hieroglyphics. Evidently Amun-Ra showered every pharaoh with blessings to prove that they too, were gods. As we were leaving the Valley of the Kings, we saw the tallest human shaped statues in Egypt that have been found to date. There are many active archeological sights that are continuing to open up the history of Egypt.
We were on to the Valley of Queens for more tombs and then to the Temple of Hatshepsut, which was built by the only female Pharoah (She stole the title from her step-son) After our tour finished, we went back to the boat around noon. We had a chance to hang out on the boat’s top deck and enjoy the views. We could not believe the number of boats on the Nile River doing the same type of cruise. At one point we saw 11 other boats just around us. We watched with great interest as our boat approached the locks. It was a very interesting process. As we waited our turn, the Captain put us alongside another boat. I reach out to shake hands with a couple on the other boats top deck who were enjoying beverages. Next thing we know, we are sharing travel stories. The couple was from the UK and we had a lively conversation with them for about 10 min. till the crew pushed off to go through the locks. It was kind of fun to interact with someone on another boat from another country.
One of the unique things we had never experienced on any cruise were the Egyptian people trying to sell us merchandise so aggressively. It not only happened at every historic site, but even on the water. There would be two guys in a very small canoe type of boat that would come alongside of our boat and throw a rope out to tie off. The would be pulled along by our boat while calling out to us to sell us merchandise. You would be sitting on the top deck and you could hear them going “hello, hello, hello”.
Overall our boat was very nice. We swam in a decent sized pool for the size of boat we were on. We enjoyed our view as we cruised up the Nile and we got to read and relax with friends.
MAY 15, 2024 – NILE RIVER CRUISE 3rd Day (Day 157)
Another day on the Nile cruise, which has been so nice. Our first
stop today, was Edfu. This would be the site of the best preserved Ptolemaic Temple of the god Horus. This was an amazing temple and was so much fun to tour. We are starting to get a little overloaded with all the hieroglyphics and the meanings behind them. It is almost like you are being immersed in a foreign language, but you start to recognize certain images and know the meanings behind them. We then went back to the ship to cruise further up the Nile until 5:00 PM.
We then stopped at Kom Ambo, Egypt to tour another Ptolemaic temple, this one belonging to Kamamba. This temple served 2 gods and was divided down the middle to have mirror images of large rooms. The temple was dedicated to both, the crocodile headed God, Sobek and the first God of the Kingdom, the falcon headed god, Horus. The unique feature of this temple was that it had a calendar inscribed on the walls with the tasks that had to be done each day of the month. There were also inscriptions and artwork of surgical equipment engraved in the walls. Next door to the temple ruins, there was a crocodile museum with crocodile “mummies” on display.
Our dinner on the boat was held on the top deck. It was Egyptian night, so most of the guests had purchased some kind of traditional Egyptian clothes. We kept it pretty simple, but still had a great time. Dinner was BBQ, and the food was pretty good. All in all, it was a lot of fun and we continued to hang out as we didn’t want the night to end.
Today was our guide, Asher’s birthday. After dinner the staff brought him a cake to our table to celebrate. I am pretty sure it was the first time it had ever happened to him. He was used to guests getting cakes and was surprised that guide would get that kind of treatment. It may have been because the amount of guests were low, but for whatever the reason, it was fun to celebrate with him.
MAY 16, 2024 – NILE RIVER CRUISE 4th Day (Day 158)
It’s our last day on the boat. We had a long breakfast with good conversation and then we went up on the sun deck to hang out for a while. Gwen and I worked on the website and photos. We then had a nice lunch and spent some time reading by the pool. At 4:30, we got off the boat to take a smaller boat to the other side of the Nile to a Botanical Garden on an island. It was a nice stroll and a good change of pace to what we had been doing. After the gardens, we walked through the Aswan market where there many unique spices, fish, and clothing. The shop owners are aggressive here as they shout out to you on both sides. “Let me help you spend your money” was a common phrase, as well as, “I don’t know what you are looking for, but I have it right here.”
It was our last night for dinner, but we didn’t have much time to visit after as we all headed to our rooms to pack up. Gwen went down to enjoy the Nubian show that had come on to the ship to entertain the guests. They succeeded in getting most of the guests on to the dance floor to dance. Doug even got up and played the drums.
MAY 17, 2024 – NILE RIVER CRUISE 5th Day (Day 159)
Everyone was up early to leave the boat. We loaded all our luggage and set out to do what we do best, go on a tour. Our first stop was at a granite quarry to see an unfinished obelisk. The ancient Egyptians had started the process of creating a large obelisk but as they got half way through it developed cracks so they abandoned it. It gives us some insight in their construction methods.
We took a second boat ride to the Temple of Isis. It is located between 2 dams that had been built in the 70’s. The temple would have been flooded by the water level changes, so it was totally dismantled and moved to higher ground. It was carefully reassembled to look like it had always been in its new location on the island of Philae.
After our tour, we flew back to Cairo, now staying at the Hilton Hotel which is closer to the airport. It’s a very nice hotel with multiple businesses located on the first floor. It was attached to the Waldorf Astoria by a large lobby lined with restaurants. We invited the other couples to join us for drinks and dinner, but only Dave and Lani took us up on the offer. We started with some drinks in the Pub onsite, then we decided to have some Thai food for our dinner.
MAY 18, 2024 – CAIRO, EGYPT TOUR (Day 160)
We didn’t have too early of a start as we headed out at 8:30. Our first stop was the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. It was very
interesting and it turned out to be a good day to visit. It is National Museum Day in Egypt. All the other museums in Cairo were free of charge today. With the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization being the exception. That drew a lot of the crowds away for us. This museum is known for having the mummies of most of the Pharaoh’s. There was a special exhibit that allowed us to go from room to room to see them, while telling us their contributions to Egypt. It was a little weird to see them all.
We left the museum to go on a true sail boat on the Nile. The boat is called a felucca, which was a tradition
wooden sailing vessel. Back in the bus, we ate a very traditional lunch of
falafel in a pita and a bean pita. The consistency was a little unusual, but the tastes were pretty good.
We then visited the shops of Khan el-Khalili. It was the most interesting of all the market areas we had visited. Gwen and I ended up buying some small original paintings on papyrus. After our shopping, we went back to the hotel for a rest and said our goodbyes to Ash.
Our tours had come to the end. He had become more of a friend than a guide. We had some great conversations on several of our nights hanging out. He was so knowledgeable and really helped us to have a much better understanding of Egyptian history.
We spent the evening hanging out in the pub with the same 6 of us as the night before. This time we ate our meal at the pub. With the night winding down, we said our goodbyes to Dave and Lani, assured we would see them again when we get back to The Villages.
MAY 19, 2024 – TRAVEL DAY TO AMMAN, JORDAN (Day 161)
We had a leisurely morning until we left for the airport around 11:00 AM. We got to see Mohammed from MISR again and he did a great job helping us get through the administrative requirements to get on our flights to Jordan. We were picked up at the Amman Airport by our new guide, Ismail, and his driver, Mohammed (no relation to the one in Egypt). As we were driving through Jordan on our way to Wadi Musa, we found out that Jordan suffers from lack of rain and water. Ismail gave us a lot of history and demographics on his native country.
We stopped to get water and a bathroom break at a roadside Bazaar. They are definitely set up for tourists. There were beautiful crafts and furniture that were all hand made, but stupidly expensive. Two chairs and a table were in the 10’s of thousands of dollars. We surmised that guides and drivers were either pressured to bring guests there or that they probably got some form of kickback on any purchases. We did not have too much pressure to buy, but that was definitely the purpose for being there. Although everything was high craftsmanship, I am not sure where any of that furniture would fit in our home.
We finally made it to Wadi Musa (valley of Moses) near Petra, which seemed to come up suddenly with the terrain changing drastically from plains to step hills. Wadi Musa is a nice town of about 7,000. We were taken to the Petra Sky Hotel, which was a new hotel for our guide as his previous hotel had shut down for lack of business. It was sad to us because we were the only guests in the hotel. So only 2 of 25 rooms were generating income. When we booked our tour, we had declined the 5 star hotel options and requested a 3 Star hotel. I think Petra Sky lost a star somewhere along the way. It sufficed and we understood the situation that everyone was in. We were going to see The Treasury and The Monastery at Petra and that was all that really mattered. We found out later Petra Sky would also be closing after our stay due to lack of business. The war in Gaza had consequences for more than just Israel as it was impacting many countries in the region. Most tourists were staying away. Ismail told us that normally he was booked several months out, and that he was able to book us on short notice, because of the lack of tourists.
We were taken to a nice restaurant called Elan Restaurant, for a traditional Jordanian meal. We really enjoyed the meal and it was nice to know that most restaurants will feed a guide and driver if they bring in paying customers. We bought some bottled water to take back to our hotel. Tomorrow will be a tough day with a lot of walking and climbing and we need to get some rest.
MAY 20, 2024 – WADI MUSA/PETRA, JORDAN – PETRA (Day 162)
This day is going to be a killer! I would like to say we got a good nights rest, but I hate to lie. With cars revving and squealing tires late into night and a 4:00 a.m. Call to Prayer wake up, that came from a speaker 30 yards from our windows, it was not a peaceful night. I know they are MORE RELIGIOUS here since their Call to Prayer comes 30 minutes earlier than those in Egypt.
Anyway, with a minimal breakfast, we were off to see Petra! The walk down to The Treasury is around 2 kilometers along a fairly even pathway that has been cemented through the rocks. It was a beautiful walk. Ismail tried to trick us by calling our attention to some different colorings in the rock walls, until he finally says “No, look, this is what I really wanted you to see”, as we look up and there is The Treasury, at the end of the passage bathed in sunlight. We couldn’t believe how few people were here. We got to explore around and take some pictures, then it was off to see The Monastery.
The Monastery would be a much more difficult monument to see. Not only is the walk uneven and rocky, there would be about 800 steps included to get up to it. Ismail informed us that, due to bad knees, he now takes the donkeys up the trail. He asked if any of us needed one also, but we all declined. After all, we had been getting so many steps in every day, and though it wouldn’t be a cake walk, we could manage. About a 1/3 of the way up, Gwen and Margaret caved and said they needed a donkey. Ismail gave up his donkey along with a Jordanian guy who provided the donkey rides. So the girls had a ride, and off they went. We hadn’t progressed very far, when the same guy came back down with the donkeys. The girls had made it to the top and he came back for Ismail. At this point, Doug decided he needed a donkey ride also. I was determined to make it all the way without a ride, so I set out on a faster pace now that all the gimps were gone. I guess my knees were a little better than I thought. I made it to the top shortly after the other and we were rewarded with a great view.
The Monastery was quite impressive. We sat on a couch at a cafe that is only a short way across from The Monastery and just took in the view while rewarding ourselves with ice cream. Again, there was hardly anyone around, maybe 20 people, if I included those working the little shop. It was interesting that a young woman had placed herself on a stone directly in the center where some were trying to take pictures. Another woman had gone up to here to ask if she would move so she could get a picture of The Monastery without anyone in it. This was rare as there were usually large crowds. Doug heard about her refusal and decided that he would go up and do something about it. When he asked the woman politely if she would move, she told him that she did not speak English. Doug moved closer to her intruding on her personal space, while looking down at what she was doing on her phone. This irritated the woman enough, that she asked him to please move. His response, “Exactly, that’s what I want you to do.” I think she got the message, as she got up and moved off to the side so everyone could get their pictures.
We walked around a little on top to get some great views of the countryside from this vantage point. After making our way back down, we had a late lunch at Sujaya Restaurant. It was a local cafe with local foods. We then rested back at the hotel for a while. Later in the evening, we wanted to go to one of the 5 Star hotels and have drinks and dinner. Ismail insisted on coming back to the hotel to take us to Movenpik Hotel that had a nice rooftop restaurant. We had some wine, but only some nuts as they had a set buffet dinner that night. We then decided to go down into the hotel and sit in the pub. We were able to order some pizza that hit the spot. The inside of this hotel had beautiful decor. We really enjoyed just chilling and talking about all that we had seen.
MAY 21, 2024 – AMMAN, JORDAN (Day 163)
It would be an easy day today. We were going to take the 3 hour ride back to Amman, while stopping along the way for some photo ops. The first stop was at Shobak Castle. This castle was one of the military fortresses used by the Crusaders. It was strange to be out in the middle of the desert. We decided to go to one more spot that is popular with hikers. If the skies had been less dusty, we could have see the Negev Desert from that point. Some of the area looked somewhat like a painted desert. We stopped for lunch at another bazaar. It was similar to the first one, but had a buffet lunch area.
We finally reached Amman, where we would be staying at the Opal Hotel. We had booked that hotel as it was close to the airport and had a beautiful pool. In fact it had 2 beautiful pools, as they were segregated. Some places are harder than others to adapt to the local culture. We just decided to stay in our room and work on photos and reorganize our suitcase for the trip to Geneva. We even washed some clothes in the sink and hung them out to dry on our balcony. Things dry faster here with the heat and lack of humidity.
We had dinner at the hotel with Doug and Margaret. Gwen had a pistachio chicken dish that she liked, while I found something to eat. We said our goodbyes, as we would be parting for about a month. We really wanted to get a good nights sleep, but you are never sure. Gwen and I would be getting up much earlier as our flight would go out about four hours earlier.
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