Edfu Temple, Afternoon off, and Party at Night

This entry is about day 7 of the trip, Tuesday 12/7

This morning at 7am the cruise docked at Edfu where we saw the Edfu Temple. This Temple was created at the time when King Ptolomy XII, the last Greek king of Egypt, ruled and therefore there was a significant Greek influence in the architecture. Zack told us that this temple was completely buried in the sand for thousands of years, and therefore was preserved and is still in terrific condition today. The temple was mostly devoted to the Egyptian God Horus, God of Protection. He is symbolized by the falcon, so there were a number of falcon statues all over the temple. He is also symbolized by a falcon head with a human body, and that hieroglyphic was in a number of places as well. Zack also told us that the people who discovered this place spend 40 years deciphering and publishing all the hieroglyphics in the temple! (Random note* There were really adorable stray cats here, as a matter of fact there are a ton of cats at most of the places we go and they look different; They seem to have bigger ears, smaller bodies, and piercing eyes!)

After an hour or so we went back to the cruise ship for breakfast, which was so good because they had an omelet station (woo!) We had the rest of the day off to relax on the cruise ship, which was fabulous; The top of the ship had a pool and a bunch of lounge chairs so it was great getting some sun.

After dinner the whole group of us had a party in the cruise lounge where we played games and danced and had fun with each other. It was a very cute group bonding experience. There was also a belly dancer and those spinning dress things again (I really have to find out again what it is called). This was the first day we had some down time and it was great, but I can’t wait to see what happens next!