Category — Egypt & Israel Trip

Today we had the opportunity to visit the Valley of the Kings.

Our day started early this morning with a trip to Queen Shephapsut castle.  It was an impressive place nestled in a mountain near Luxor.  Most of it has been rebuilt, but it still looks like it did when she lived there.  Because they are still exploring the site, there are numbered stones everywhere.  In addition to the castle, they have also found over 50 tombs of nobles  in caves nearby.

After leaving the castle, we went to the Valley of the Kings – where they burried the majority of the kings.  All of the tombs are dug deep inside the mountains.  We visited Ramses the 4th and Ramses the 3rd tombs.  We were so impressed with both.  The ingravings and colorings were awesome.

We spent the rest of the day on the boat traveling down the Nile.  It was actually nice to have a day where we just relaxed for awhile.  We layed on the top deck of the boat reading and taking in some sun.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today we continued our trip on the Nile River.  We spent the entire day in Al Asur.  We started the morning with a tour of the  Nile River damn.  Then we went to another ruin, but to be honest, I cannot remember its name.  They are all starting to run together.  The good news is that at a very rudimentary level, we are stating to recognize and be able to read some of the Hieroglyphics.

After going to the ruins, we found a McDonald’s and had breakfast.  We then boarded a boat headed to a remote village.  Once there, we got to watch a picture being made out of sand inside a bottle.  Then we went to a man’s house who had crocodiles in cages in his living room.  He took them out, and we actually held them.  

From there, we went to a school at the village, where a teacher there taught us lessons in Arabic. I learned the alphabet. 

The ride on this part of the Nile River was absolutely beautiful, especially the tremendous sand dunes surrounding the river in this area.