Swimming With the Jellyfish

Well, the last 3 days were just like living in a dreamland.

Our first full day in Hurghada we decided to go snorkeling. We left the resort early in the morning and got on a larch yacht-like boat for an hour ride out to sea. Our escorts found us a good location and we snorkeled and dove off the edge of the boat for about an hour or two. We swam amongst the jellyfish and all sorts of colorful fish big and small. I also saw an eel at one point!

For lunch, we docked on a beach and ate at an outdoor restaurant. We got to spend about 30 minutes on the beach until getting back on the boat.

We then went to another location and snorkeled and dove some more. This was my first time snorkeling and it was so much fun. The first stop I took a while to get used to the breathing since I have asthma, but the second stop I felt much more comfortable and had a blast! On our way back to the dock we found a pack of dolphins! Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures. We returned to the resort around dinner time and had the rest of the evening to do as we pleased until our lecture. Our lecture was from one of Professor Hamad's closest friends, Judge Samir. He spoke to us about the Egyptian judicial system and the outcome of the preliminary presidential election.

Our all-inclusive drinks from Carlos!

Sarah and I with the sunset on one side of the dock and me with the moon on the other side

I scheduled an Egyptian Massage for the second day at the resort. The massage was a mix between a normal, Swedish massage and a therapeutic massage. It was very interesting, but quite relaxing. At the resort we got all the fresh squeezed juices and coffee drinks we wanted. We wrapped up our lecture on the Egypt-Israeli conflict; then for the next 24 hours were free to swim, relax, eat, or do anything else around the resort until our 36 hour excursion back to the states.

Our last night we got to go to dinner at the hotel - I chose to go for seafood!

Then we had some more birthday celebrations after dinner!! Happy Birthday to my Camel Riding Partner In Crime Alex!!

Birthday boy and girl dancing

And a last delicious banana, nutella, crepe breakfast before our journey home

We had some time to kill between flights in Cairo. So we went to a restaurant for food of course. Enjoying the menu options...

Then a man showed us his "balancing silverware with toothpick" party trick!

Phil bought this giant tube of mentos at the duty free store. Since he refused to model it for me, Emily stepped in.

We claimed our original spot in the Istanbul airport. Nap time?

I want to thank everyone who has kept up with my blog! I am now back home safe and ready to travel to Chicago on Saturday! Wishing everyone a wonderful summer!

Leaving the Cruise - Off to Hurghada

While still in Luxor, we debarked from the cruise and made a stop at the Luxor Temple before leaving for Hurghada. The temple was very unique as Christians inhabited it and made it a church centuries after the temple was built; christian style paintings are plastered over the original art work and cover some of the walls. There was also a mosque built above the temple's pillars before the temple was uncovered.

Christian Paintings

Mosque

The temple's columns are built to resemble a temple garden of papyrus flowers, with short, closed flowers on the outside, and much taller, bloomed flowers on the inside.

(Left) Closed Papyrus flowers on the outside (Right) Open, taller Papyrus flowers on the inside

Sphinx Avenue is a road that covers a two-mile stretch from Luxor Temple to Karnak Temple. The road is guarded by 2 rows of sphinx, one on each side.

How cool is that? And they're still demolishing buildings and uncovering more of the street!

(It's absolutely amazing the things they still haven't found in Egypt today. So much history still remains!)

Sarah and I being rebellious by touching and jumping off of ancient history

Following the temple, we took off on a three hour bus ride to Hurghada. When we arrived, we gawked over the beauty of our all-inclusive, five-star resort, and took a walk to the beach. The beach wasn't exactly fit for swimming as there were numerous star fish and jelly fish covering the shallow surface. Check out the place on TripAdvisor!

Massive lobby

Jellyfish on the rocks

After exploring the hotel, we got suited up for a gala dinner by the pool. I'm still in shock at the amount of food they had; especially the dessert table! The table of desserts was probably just as large as the table for the main course. Overall, we had a wonderful first night in the beautiful Hurghada.

Alex, Me, Chloe, and Jamison

Sooo much food!

I'll Take You to The Camel Shop

We woke up Tuesday still cruising down the Nile, but by the time we were done with breakfast we had docked in Kom Ombo to visit the temples of Sobek and Horus. This temple was dedicated to two gods, and is the only temple of this kind in all of Egypt.

Kelly, Maggie and I posing inside the temple

 We learned that women gave birth in the temple and saw some interesting birthing scenes in the art on the walls.

(Left) Image third from the right shows that the temple was used for births. (Right) Birthing chairs

The temple also had one of the only complete Ancient Egyptian calendars.

We then saw a Nilometer. This looked like a large well, in which the people would use to predict crop growth, but most importantly, taxes. We ended our visit by walking through the Mummified Crocodile Museum and with some shopping. I bought a Galabiya (traditional Egyptian dress) and a Rababa (traditional Nubian instrument).

(Left) The Nilometer (Right) Mummified Crocs!

After our visit, we got free time to lay out on the deck in the hot hot sun as we continued cruising. Lunch and a lecture on the history of Islamic Egypt and the Egypt-Israeli conflict followed.

In the evening we had a Galabiya party and watched the boat go through the locks.

(Left) Trygve, Alex, Jamison, Phil and I in our Galabiyas (Right) About to go through the lock

 

On Wednesday we had already arrived in Luxor before we woke up. Luxor has 60% of the monuments in Egypt and 30% of the historical monuments in the world. It was the capital of Egypt in 1200 B.C. following the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt. On the West Bank of the Nile are several historical places: The Valley of the kings, The Valley of the Queens, The valley of the Nobles, Early Medina, and many temples.

We started in the Valley of the Kings before it could get too hot and dry for the day. We entered the tombs of King Ramses IV, King Ramses the VI, and a tomb originally used by Twosret then reused and extended by Setnakhte. We could not take any pictures, but the tombs were magnificent with huge rooms, tall ceilings, and so many details in the art on the walls.

We then visited the temple of Queen Hatshepsut, also known as the Deir el-Bahri Temple.

After our visits, we had lunch and part two of our lecture on the history of Egypt, Islam, and the Egypt-Israeli conflict. I am being greatly tested on my knowledge of history, which is definitely a major weakness of mine, but it is really refreshing to be lecture on something other than numbers and business for a change!

In the evening we went to see the Karnak Temples in a sound and light show. This place is massive! I couldn’t believe how big it was compared to all of the other temples we had visited. It is many temples, as opposed to one, because each pharaoh added their own touch to the temple when they were in rule. 

Title: Sarah and I have been working hard at composing some musical numbers in reminiscence of our travels around Egypt. Camel Shop, our first single, is sung to the tune of Candy Shop originally performed by 50 cent (or "Fiddy Cent" as all the youngins like to pronounce it). Our second single is No Drink, sung to the tune of No Sleep by Whiz Khalifa. We have high hopes and dreams for our Egyptian Album. Be looking for the release and tour dates after we successfully graduate college. Any donations can be made to the Habitat for Humanity under the name of our band, "The Pharonics".

That Lawn Mower is Plugged In.. (Sunday – Monday)

Sunday we packed up to leave Alexandria and stopped at the Royal Gardens (Montzah Gardens) and the Library of Alexandria before leaving for Cairo. We visited two beautiful palaces and got to take pictures of the Mediterranean Sea.

Palace for the Queens

 

Royal Palace - Even the last president, Mubarak, was still staying here when he was in power

The Library of Alexandria was total nerd love for me. We got a tour of how the library was built for natural light and sound, and learned about all the cool things inside the library like a printer that prints a full book including the pages and cover in as little as five minutes. They also have the only supercomputer in a public library and accessible by the public. We got to see some of their museums including the ancient manuscripts and artifacts museum. 

Such a happy nerd!

While at the library, one of the girls noticed a pain and bruise on her ankle. It started to swell pretty rapidly and she was taken to get a cast because she had hurt her ankle while sleep walking! We’ve had some interesting stories about sleep walking and sleep talking on the trip. It has been quite entertaining! Before officially leaving town we stopped at the same restaurant as the night before and had a large seafood lunch/dinner. 

Of course, I had to get another Turkish Coffee

We took a bus to Cairo, boarded a plane, and flew to Aswan very late in the evening.

Monday has been quite the struggle with only four hours of sleep (we didn’t get in until 2 a.m. from our travels). We visited the High Dam built by President Naser and finished by President Sadat. It is the biggest dam in Egypt and used to control the flooding of the Nile as well as the main power source for Egypt. It contains enough blocks to build 17 Great Pyramids (2,300,000 blocks) and preserves Egyptian history by being shaped like a pyramid. We also visited the memorial between Egypt and the Soviet Union.

The other visit of the day was to the Philae Temple. The temple was located on Philae Island but after being flooded from the building of the High Dam, the temple was cut into pieces and relocated to Agilika Island. We had a short boat trip to the island.

 The beautiful designs and pictures inside the temple

More bus snacks!

 

After our visits we boarded our CRUISE!!! The ship is magnificent! We had lunch which was absolutely delicious and then took a much needed nap! At 5 p.m. we went out on a sail boat on the Nile to watch the sun set. We sang a Nubian folk song and enjoyed the nice weather. Nubians are the local people of this area. They had villages up and down the Nile around Aswan, but their villages were destroyed from the creation of the High Dam. 

With Phil, Jamison, and Alex on the sail boat. Check out those life vests!

As for my title, we actually saw a lawn mower at the high damn memorial that had to be plugged in. It looked like the man was vacuuming his grass.

I’m currently writing this in my room as I wait for dinner to be served. Tonight we plan to go shopping in Aswan at the local markets. Our cruise will take off at dawn tomorrow and we will make one stop and then head to Luxor!

Hope all is well back home!

Tess