Snorkeling in The Red Sea, aka facing my Apheichthyophobia

This entry is about Day 13, Monday 12/13

Today I had one of the greatest experiences of my life; snorkeling in the Red Sea.

We woke up early for breakfast and left for the boat around 8:30am. About 30 of us, including Prof. Ghaly, drove a couple of minutes from the hotel to get to the dock with the boat we would be spending our day out in the sea on. Once on the boat we were told we would be stopping at 3 choral reefs during the day, and be served lunch; did I mention that everything only cost $20 for the day?!

The first stop was Paradise Island and we were taken to the shore with a small boat. Did I mention that the weather in the past few days has been SO COLD?! So yea, we knew snorkeling was going to be rough with the wind and whatnot. Once we got into the water with our flippers and masks, the water was actually very warm and pleasant. Once we swam out a couple of meters, we were right above these amazing choral reefs full of beautiful tropical fish; if you didn’t know this, I have a phobia of fish getting very close to me/touching me, so I was really facing one of my biggest fears by doing all of this. Luckily, the fish never came extremely close to us and we were able to look down at everything. It was all pretty amazing and I had never done anything like this before. After doing this for about an hour or so, we were FREEZING when we got out!

Finally we made it back onto the boat for lunch; swimming makes me so hungry, I was completely stuffing my face! Next we made it to our second location, which was right in the middle of the sea. This time we jumped right off the boat rather than walking in from the beach. The water was much deeper here, and the choral was much bigger and colorful. It was pretty surreal being in this environment. I hate to admit it, but I was having a mini panic-attack in this spot because the fish were swimming all around me at one point. I was freaking out for a bit, but eventually made it back to the boat without anyone really noticing. Besides the minor setback, I was really glad I was able to get myself in the water and that the fear didn’t stop me from living and experiencing an amazing site.

The third stop was right after the second one. Unfortunately I was so tired at this point, not to mention at this location the fish were swimming right up to the boat, so I sat out for this round of snorkeling. The snorkeling as a whole was so great; I’m really glad I did it. I was so amazed at how much I enjoyed it that I bought a video of our experience (not to mention it was the first time I had ever done this, and I figured it was worth $25). The whole day was so much fun, and I was nice being on a boat all day. It would have been even better if it was hot out, but it was an amazing environment and experience.

The Coldest Day of Relaxation

This entry is about Day 12, Sunday 12/12

Today was the first day I was able to completely relax for an entire day. I woke up early around 7am (without an alarm waking me up) and went to another buffet breakfast, which is always my favorite. Ben, Ceillie, Shelby, and I all went to the beach around 10ish and laid out on the beach (reminder that it is the Red Sea! So cool!). Unfortunately it was very windy, and even when directly in the sun it was very cold. We only stayed outside for a few hours. Eventually we packed up and went to lunch, where Ceillie, Shelby, and I had cheeseburgers (don’t judge me I was craving red meat!). They were pretty good considering how hungry we were. We all spent the afternoon napping (catching up on the many hours we haven’t slept during the week) and eventually woke up for dinner.

Dinner was the usual: lots of carbs, and a little bit of cheese. After dinner a bunch of us went outside the hotel to see what kind of shopping was around, but it was the same thing we’ve been seeing everywhere else; scarves, perfume, hookahs, etc. Every person was hassling us so we only stayed out for about 20 minutes. When we went back to the hotel we got hot chocolate to warm up from the cold. I’m not going to complain about the cold though because I know it is so much colder at home in New York. I’m about to go to sleep early because we have to wake up early for snorkeling tomorrow morning!

Greetings from Hurghada!

This entry is about Day 11, Saturday 12/11

This morning we left our hotel in Luxor and headed towards Hurghada, which is a fairly new city on the Red Sea. We enjoyed a delicious breakfast buffet and then left at 10am for a 4 hour drive across the Eastern Desert.

Driving through the Desert was an interesting experience; literally the only thing around was the road we were driving on. I took some naps hear and there, but the drive actually went by considerably quick. We luckily took a pit stop in the middle, which was legitimately in the middle of nowhere.

Anyway, we are now currently located at the Continental Resort in Hurghada and it is again another beautiful hotel. My room is right on the first floor so I can walk right outside my patio to the pool and beach areas. Did I mention that the beach is the Red Sea?! How cool is that!

Tomorrow we have the option to go on 4-wheelers and camel rides, but I’ve done this in the past so I’m planning on relaxing on the beach for most of the day; definitely looking forward to that. The following day I am planning to go snorkeling with a bunch of people at some great coral reefs in the red sea. I’ve never gone snorkeling so I’m definitely excited, and hopefully my fear of fish doesn’t interfere! Internet is also expensive in this hotel so I will be posting when I can. Remember to leave me comments if you want any questions answered or want to know anything in particular :)

Karnak & Luxor Temples & The Light Show at Night

This entry is about day 10 of the trip, Friday 12/10

Today we got to sleep a little bit later (woo!) but unfortunately I woke up with my stomach issues again.Luxor, which means “the palaces,” was definitely a change from the places we have been in the last few days. It seems to be a very desirable place for tourists (there are so many hotels), and there are great markets. We learned that Luxor has been the place where most antiquities have been found all throughout Egypt, over 35% being those belonging to the great King Ramses II. Even to this day there are new discoveries being made.

The first stop of the day was Karnack Temple, which is the largest temple in Egypt. This temple was humongous! It wasn’t in amazing condition because it had been destroyed and was reconstructed, but you could tell that in it’s day it was colossal. It had so many columns full of hieroglyphics and obelisks in amazing condition.There were a number of unique things we saw at this temple. One were the sphinxes at the main opening of the temple in that they all had ram heads rather than the traditional lion heads. Some of the hieroglyphics here are the largest hieroglyphics in all of Egypt. We also saw a scarab monument that belonged to Amenhotep III. Zack told us that if we ran around the monument 7 times, it would bring you love and fertility. Naturally the group of us couldn’t resist looking like doofy tourists, so we all did it!

Next we went to Luxor Temple, which was built by King Ramses II, but like Karnack Temple, other people added onto it. On our way to this temple we learned something very interesting; apparently the 2 temples used to be connected by an avenue of sphinxes, which wasn’t discovered until recently. Many buildings that have been built on top of this avenue will eventually be demolished in order to restore the sphinxes to their former glory. Part of the temple was even built by Alexander the Great, and Zack pointed out his name to us in the hieroglyphics. Up until this temple was discovered, it was completely covered with sand, and therefore, other buildings were built on top of it including a Mosque, which still exists today.

After lunch, we got back to the hotel, and Ben and I were able to finally go to an internet café next to the hotel (at another hotel) and catch up on what’s been going on in the world, and our blog entries. After our glorious hour with internet, we hopped back on the bus to go back to Karnack Temple for another light show. Unlike the lightshow we saw at the pyramids earlier in the trip, we walked through the temple as the lights and narrative told the story of the greats who had to do with the temple’s history. The later half of the show was very cool because it incorporated one of the pools into the show.

After this, Professor Ghaly took a bunch of us to this really great market, but it was a bit overwhelming. These people who own shops in the markets in this country are so impressive to me; the way they lure you in when you’re not interested in buying anything is unbelievable. I bought a few knick-knacks of course.

Hurghada is the next stop for us, which is supposed to be beautiful. Always looking forward to how each day tops the last!

Valley of the Kings, Alabaster, and Crazy Merchants

This entry is about Day 9, Thursday 12/9

After our three glorious days on the Nile Cruise, we woke up early to check out at 7am and headed to the famous Valley of the Kings, which I have been looking forward to since before the trip! The Valley is located on the West Bank near Luxor and is home to 63 Royal Tombs, including that of Tutankhamen. The reason these tombs were built into the mountains of limestone in this location was because the ancient Egyptians eventually stopped making pyramids because of grave robbers. They decided to hide tombs to make them harder for people to find, which is definitely the case because they are still discovering new tombs to this day! Those who worked on these tombs had to live in the West Bank to secure the fact that nobody would expose the location of these tombs.

The first Tomb we visited was that of King Thutmose III, which we learned was a very important king because he was the first King to say that he wasn’t a God, rather he was a human being just like everybody else (until Ramses II who said he was a God, an it seems to me he must have been very into himself!). His tomb was one of the most recent that was discovered. It was located much higher up in the mountains than the rest of the tombs, therefore it makes sense that it was harder to find. We had to climb up a number of stairs to get to this tomb, and once we entered we had to climb down into it. We learned that the Egyptians preferred building the tombs downward because it was as if they were closer to the underworld that way. This tomb was small compared to many others, but it was an interesting one because it looked a lot different than any other hieroglyphics we had seen; they weren’t carved into the stone, rather they were painted and looked sort of like stick figures. The sarcophagus was still inside as well which was cool to see. This sarcophagus was shaped like a cartouche (the object Egyptians wrote names in). Archeologists also learned about funeral ceremonies from this tomb.

Next we visited the Tomb of King Ramses III, which was much bigger that that of Thutmose and the colors were very intact. Because many of these tombs had been suffocated in the mountains for thousands of years, they were preserved in great condition. This tomb contained the book of the dead, which shows a scale measuring the heart of the king against a feather, and if the heart is lighter they will go to paradise. We also visited the tomb of King Ramses IX, which was very similar in size and had amazing hieroglyphics. This tomb wasn’t finished in time for the death of this king, so there is evidence that it was rushed. These tombs were much bigger than that of Thutmose III because they ruled for a longer period of time.

Finally we saw the tomb of King Tutankhamen. We learned that this is the second smallest tomb in all of Egypt, but is the most famous because it was so intact when it was discovered by Howard Carter in 1922. Inside the tomb we were lucky enough to see the mummy of King Tut as well as the famous golden sarcophagus everyone is familiar with! The reason his mummy was there was because there is a 5 year study being done on the mummy to see how they can better preserve it, so the mummy was incased in a glass box with a numberof sensors around the tomb. The scenes that surrounded the sarcophagus were pretty perfect and were also painted as opposed to carved inside the stone. Unfortunately we weren’t aloud to take pictures anywhere in the valley, but trust me, it was extremely cool.

Next we visited the Temple of Hatshepsut (or Deir el-Bahari, which means “Northern Monestery) who we learned was one of the most famous Queens in Egypt’s history. We learned that she was one of the first people to create a botanical garden in Egypt, and they know she did so with many imported plants from Africa. There are even remains of the trees she had in front of her temple from thousands of years ago!

After this we went to an Alabaster Shop. Alabaster is a popular stone that they have in Egypt and you can buy many statues and figures made of this material. We got to see some people hand crafting many objects, and some people even bought things from the shop. After this we had lunch with “home style” Egyptian cooking. The food was very good, but I wasn’t able to splurg because my stomach hasn’t been my best friend these days.

Finally we arrived at our next hotel, the Steigenberger Nile Palace Luxor, which is a very beautiful hotel, but no free Internet! (I will be on as soon as I can to finally post these entries) After check-in we went on a sailboat on the Nile for about an hour or so and it was very relaxing. We played games and sang songs and got to watch the sun set.

After we got back to the hotel, Professor Ghaly took us to a local market, which is 3km long! It was a really great market and they had everything I’ve been looking for. I got a bunch of scarves and shot glasses (yea Andrew and Liv I’m thinking of you!). It was really nice finally getting some gifts, but the merchants were crazy! They all made me smell their spices and they would chase me down the street if I didn’t want to buy anything from them! All I have to say is, window-shopping is IMPOSSIBLE in Egypt. If you stop and gander at ANYTHING, you will regret it if you’re not that interested! (Refer to Ben’s blog for specifics on occurrences in the market)

Once back at the hotel a bunch of us ate at an Italian restaurant in the hotel, which was awesome, and I immediately passed out when I got to my room. This trip is EXHAUSTING, but it’s worth the beating my body has been taking.

Day 8: Dendara / Abydos Temples

I am still working on this entry.. I promise I'm going to catch up on everything in the next day or so!

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!