Nile River, Egypt Photo Gallery

Seeing the Nile River when flying into Luxor.
Flying in to Luxor.
The Temple of Karnak was believed to be the spot where creation began. They also believed it was a point of interaction between the god Amun-Ra and Egyptians.
This is a close up view of a hand made brick using straw.
Gatekeepers.
Chapel of Ramesses III.
Hieroglyphs all over and you can see some of the color.
I know the circle stands for the god Ra, but that's about all I can explain here.
The Hypostyle Hall built by Seti I.
The are gigantic stone columns standing 80 feet tall.
The obelisk on the right was erected by Thutmose I (reign c. 1520 - 1492 BCE) while that on the left by Hatshepsut (1479-1458 BCE).
Cartouche carving with a sacred scarab beetle. This beetle is known for rolling a ball of dung along the ground as it moves this food source around. Ancient Egyptians associated this with the sun moving across the sky and thus the scarab is associated with sunrise, creation, and resurrection.
The Sacred Lake is the largest of its kind and was dug by Tuthmosis III (1473-1458 BC)
The beetle scarab monument dedicated to the god Ra.
Second Pylon entrance intro the hypostyle hall.
The Avenue of the Sphinxes connects Karnak Temple with Luxor Temple.
The MS Farah, our home on the Nile River cruise.
The main stairway on the MS Farah.
The main lobby on the MS Farah.
Our room on the MS Farah was bigger than I expected.
The ship's pool, which was very refreshing in the hot weather!
Looking out my window at the Nile River.
Luxor Temple, constructed over hundreds of years by Amenhotep III, Ramses II, Tutankhamun, and other pharaohs.
Another shot of The Avenue of the Sphinxes.
The great Court of Rameses II.
The active Abu Haggag Mosque is located within the temple, standing on the ancient columns themselves. That part of the Luxor Temple was converted to a church by the Romans in 395 AD, and then to a mosque around 1,200, which is more than 4,000 years of continuous religious worship. That door was ground level before the excavation.
Court of Amonhotep III.
Alexander the Great inscribed in Egyptian royal cartouches next to his depiction dressed as a Pharaoh of Egypt.
Roman Imperial Niche.
This is what the Valley of the Kings looks like. Who would know that all these kings were buried here in graves dug into the mountainsides.
Entering the Tomb of Rameses IV.
This tomb is in The Valley of the Kings. It is so colorful and detailed, filled with illustrations to supposedly help in his afterlife.
The colors are so bright and we were told that these have never been restored. They are just as they were found.
I thought they were blowing big bubbles, but it's the god Ra giving life.
More details-I was is impressed with these tombs!
In our 2nd tomb-This was the tomb of Rameses IX.
Such beautiful paintings/carvings!
More paintings.
A monkey in the tomb.
Ra in the boat.
More Ra with a goddess.
In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. We saw these in all the temples and tombs.
This is the 3rd tomb we entered. It was the tomb of Rameses I.
Horus leading the way.
So many details!
The walls were completely covered with color.
The tomb area was pretty crowded.
This tomb, and as many were, had a steep decline to go in and steep incline to get out.
This is King Tut's mummy, the only one in Valley of the Kings.
King Tut's feet. We learned a lot about the mummification process.
Since he died so young they didn't have much time to complete his tomb. It's small and not decorated as elaborately.
More of King Tut's tomb.
Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut.
This colossal sphinx portrays the female pharaoh Hatshepsut with the body of a lion and a human head wearing a nemes–headcloth and false beard.
On the 2nd level of the temple.
The images of Hatshepsut were destroyed when her step-son became king when she died.
Cobras, Ra and stars on the ceiling.
Do you see the stingray here? Marine life was on the wall in this area.
This is detailing the journey to the land of Punt, a significant foreign adventure during her reign.
I can't remember what the guy drinking milk straight from the cow symbolizes, but I found it interesting.
Tall Osiride statues of Hatshepsut.
Valley of Queens.
The tomb of Khaemwaset, one of the sons of Ramesses III.
I love the way the fabric is painted here, with some looking translucent.
More beautiful paintings in his tomb.
Entrance to there tomb of Amon-Hir-Khopshef.
As in the previous tomb, this son of Ramses III died too young to pass into the divine presence of the gods of the underworld unaccompanied.
Look at the detail in the painting!
More of the tomb.
The details of the cobra on the headress and eye make up.
So many details and such vibrant colors!
The Colossi of Memnon are two enormous statues of 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Amenhotep III.
Our first towel animal, a swan and beautiful heart!
The locals like to hook their boats to our ship to catch a ride up the river.
There were many riverboats leaving Luxor at the same time.
Fishermen along the Nile river.
At the locks local guys in boats came to sell their merchandise.
Moving into the lock.
A friendly Egyptian in a little boat in the lock with us.
Leaving the lock.
Brian and I dressed for the Egypt night on the Nile Cruise.
The 2nd night a cobra towel animal.
This is where the boat was docked in Edfu.
There are so many riverboats on the Nile at the same time! When docked they hook together and if your boat is on the outside you walk through the other boats to get to off.
Edfu, a Ptolemaic temple, built between 237 and 57 BC, is one of the best-preserved ancient monuments in Egypt. The temple is dedicated to Horus, the avenging son of Isis and Osiris and falcon god.
Ash, our guide, led us to chairs and shade while he gave us information about this best preserved temple at Edfu.
Boats are in many scenes, because of how the Nile was used in their life.
Now inside the court of offerings, which is surrounded on three sides by 32 columns.
I wish I had Ash here with me to remind me what he said about all the hieroglyphs, but I think the god Horus is pouring oil blessings on the pharaoh.
The columns all have different floral capitals.
Look how detail this carving is!
The pharaoh is burning incense to Horus.
This is the sanctuary of Horus.
Such beautifuly preserved carvings! The pharaoh is pouring oils.
These were so big and tall and the carvings even deeper to make a 3-D effect.
The face has been chiseled out. One theory is that the early Christians did this because they didn't want these pagan gods on display.
Brian is demonstrating how deep the carvings were here.
More of the huge carvings!
The circle on a "T" is called an ankh or the key of life and was a symbol of eternal life.
More carvings.
The walls were covered and it was so much to take in! It was sensory and information overload!
The tall double hat meant that the pharaoh was in control of upper and lower Egypt.
Brian looks very small in comparison to the temple.
An area of hand made bricks.
Hieroglyphics are very interesting to look at.
The animals built for us were very elaborate. The elephant's eyes were bottle caps.
There were small cruise sail boats on the Nile river, also.
Along the Nile river.
Egyptian men celebrating by the river.
Temple of Kom Ombo, unique in Egypt as a double temple - dedicated to two deities, crocodile-headed god Sobek and the first "god of the Kingdom", the falcon-headed god Horus.
This piece of wood is original to the temple.
All of these temples were full of color and this column shows a little of it.
A beautiful carving on the wall.
This is a calendar with 3 seasons on the right and days and months on the left.
I believe this is showing Isis giving birth to Horus. It has been touched many times for good luck in childbirth.
The face of the crocodile god.
This relief is showing medical equipment, which of course I found interesting.
More huge carvings, notice both are holding the ankh.
A side view of the courts, which keep getting smaller as they go to the sanctuary.
Both deities, Sobek and Horus.
Mummified crocodiles in a museum beside the temple.
Sunset on the Nile River.
Another night and a cool dude!
This was a familiar sight on the Nile river, lush green growth and then the dessert rising up behind it.
4th night-Now a crocodile animal!
Our boat captain when we took a little ride to a botanical garden island.
Margaret & Doug, Lani & Dave, and Ash our guide on the boat ride.
Brian, Derek and Teresa on the boat ride. We were a small tour group of 8, which was so nice.
The Aga Khan Mausoleum on top of the hill.
The sands of the dessert right across from the Aswan Botanical Garden, 2 completely different environments.
A walkway in the Aswan Botanical Garden.
Do you want to hold a crocodile like Ash? No, thank you!
Derek, Ash and Brian walking through the garden.
Gmelina philippensis Lamiaceae or Parrot's Beak.
I think Cassia fistula or Golden Shower Tree
These boys paddle around the boats coming to the botanical garden to sing for tips. Our boat captain ran them off because of bad behavior earlier this day.
There were many sail boats in the Aswan area.
The Old Cataract Hotel where Agatha Christie was inspired to write Death on the Nile.
At the Aswan Market you could buy the colorful clothes of the Nubian people.
There were many spices there. The big piles of burgundy color are dried hibiscus.
I loved these beautiful quilts. They made me think of Mom.
Have you ever seen a coffee shop in the back of a car? We have now.
Also, have you ever seen a bunch of dogs sleeping on top of cars? Now we have.
The guy with the wagon has been going through the trash to collect anythings that can make him some money.
My last towel animal was a monkey. Towell animals are such fun!
The unfinished obelisk-This would have been the largest obelisk at 1,200 tons if it had been completed.
Work on it was abandoned because of flaws in the stone and the presence of multiple fissures.
Ash demonstrating the long process it would have been of polishing the granite.
This obelisk was believed to have been commissioned by Hatshepsut (c. 1473–1458 BC) for the temple of Amun in Karnak.
Old Nubian Guest House on the boat ride to Philae Temple.
Philae Temple Complex-It's on an island between the Aswan Low and High Dams. Also, it was one of the temples saved and moved to a higher elevation.
The outer court of the Temple of Isis, built during the reign of Ptolemy II (Egypt's Greco-Roman Period).
There is graphiti on the walls from 1798.
Looking out from the island towards the Lower Dam.
This temple is dedicated to Isis, the goddess of healing, birth, and magic, her husband Osiris, and their son Horus, one of Egypt's most important gods.
What do Brian and Doug find so interesting?
There were many carving showing Isis and Osiris caring for Horus.
Brian is concentrating on what Ash is telling us.
We saw crosses carved into the temple. This temple was used as a church in the 6th century.
More graffiti from 1841.
Another cross.
A niche and altar.
The goddess Isis stretching her two wings to protect her husband Osiris. They think the early Christians destroyed the faces of the gods.
Bes Playing a Harp, Temple of Hathor.
A door at the Temple of Hathor.
The Kiosk of Trajan, build early in the reign of Augustus, but never completely finished.
More graffiti.
The Kiosk of Trajan from the boat.
Heissa Island, an old Nubian island. Many boats are waiting to take tourists to the temple, but there are few tourists.
A train going by the Nile river.
Along the Nile River.
The monument of Arab-Soviet Friendship (Lotus Flower) commemorates the completion of Aswan High Dam in 1970.
The Aswan High Dam.
Delonix regia, commonly called flamboyant or royal poinciana.