Today seemed like a relatively quiet day, yet I'm totally exhausted. What I thought was too much meat at lunch yesterday was probably slightly more serious as I had to clear the bowels a few times overnight :( Fortunately things settled down by the time it was time to go out. Turns out the parents had something similar, mum more so. But everyone else was ok. Took some imodium just in case.
Out the door by 7am this morning.
First item on the agenda was a horse and carriage ride around to the temple at Edfu.
It's fricken huge!!
Temple of Horus from the ticket office
A beautiful temple, that we wandered around for a while.
The Temple of Horus at Edfu
Artwork on the lintel of the Temple of Horus
Statue of Horus
Western wall of the courtyard in the Temple of Horus
Inner wall of the Temple of Horus
Inside the inner sanctuary of the Temple of Horus
Inner sanctuary of the Temple of Horus
Photo by Dad
Columns in the Temple of Horus
Burnt ceiling of the Temple of Horus
Inside the Temple of Horus
Courtyard of the Temple of Horus
Mum, Dad and me with large statue of Horus at the Temple of Horus
Photo by Mum
Inner building of the Temple of Horus
Artwork on the lintel of the Temple of Horus
The Temple of Horus at Edfu
Then back on the horse and carriages back to our ship.
Walking between the ships to get to the MS Giselle at Edfu
Set sail and continued north.
I had an attempt at sleep, not sure if successfully. Also tried to do some photo selection for the blog.
Came up on deck a bit before 12pm so we could watch the ship going through the locks at Esna dam. I don't think I've ever been through a lock so that was pretty fun. There were some brazen vendors on row boats throwing things up for stories to the deck of our ship trying to get people to buy things. Some of them were attaching themselves to the ship and going through the locks with us - craziness! I wonder if any of them ever get squished..
Merchants in a row boat trying to sell towels
Barrage at Esna
Row boat going into the lock with us
Cruise boats in the locks at Esna
Closing the back gate of the lock at Esna
Water draining out of the lock at Esna
Heading out of the lock at Esna
Power station on the locks at Esna
Lunch then another siesta attempt.
Eastern banks of the Nile near Nagaa Al Masaid
Coming into Luxor it was amazing how many cruise boats there are. Of course the majority of them are probably sitting idle at the moment. Along with the other Movenpick ship we were travelling together with, we parked next to five ships! So to get off and on our ship we had to walk through the foyers of a total of seven ships!
Decorations on the pylons of Luxor Bridge
Cruise boats at Luxor
Pulling up alongside the MS Miriam at Luxor
Mum shaking hands with a passenger on the MS Miriam
Photo by Dad
In Luxor we got a bus to the temple of Luxor. oK so *this* is where they got the inspiration for the city in The Ten Commandments. There's a row of something like eighty sphinxes outside the temple! And this was only a small part of what was once a much longer street. Another beautiful temple, this one having had to be restored significantly. Light was a bit bad (it was very late in the day) so not the best for photos, but did get some nice ones at some angles.
View south along the Avenue of Sphinxes towards Luxor Temple
Obelisk at Luxor Temple (there used to be two - the other was moved to the Place de la Concorde in Paris)
Columns in Luxor Temple
Great Court of Rameses II
Great Court of Rameses II
Abu al-Hagga Mosque
Photo by Mum
Ramses II statue at Luxor Temple
Great Court of Rameses II
Colonnade at Luxor Temple
Court of Amenhotep III at Luxor Temple
Byzantine frescos at Luxor Temple
Inside Luxor Temple
Ancient stones at Luxor Temple - like a massive jigsaw puzzle
Luxor Temple
Obelisk and Luxor Temple
View along the Avenue of Sphinxes to Luxor Temple
Avenue of Sphinxes
Luxor Temple
Luxor Temple
Sunset over the Nile
Back to the boat, then dinner, then photos and blog. Annoyingly they won't let you settle your bill til 9pm, which is a bit dumb because I plan to be in bed by then (or at least on the way to it!)
Edit. Just as I was about to start brushing my teeth reception called and asked me to come settle the bill. Pity it wasn't a couple of minutes later, I would have said no, I'll do it in the morning. Don't mess with tired people dammit!!
Distance covered on the GPS: 127 km
Steps walked: 9604
Photos on the Canon: 268
Photos on the Sony: 27
Videos: 16
EGP Spent: 56
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