Thursday, March 29, 2012

Luxor, Egypt 3/2 - 3/5

After reenergizing in Abu Simbel we flew to Luxor, where we were immediately swarmed with pushy taxi drivers. Luxor is one of the major attractions that draw tourists to Egypt. It's also the start of many Nile cruises. Needless to say, this city was swarming with tourists (many from European countries) and people trying to sell you something.

Armed with a list of places to see, we hired a guide and driver through our hotel and set off to explore as much as possible.

See a closer view of our interactive map.
Many of Luxor's highlights are located on the west side of the Nile, where the sun sets on the necropolis dedicated for temples of the deceased. Our first stop was the Valley of the Kings; the burial site of many pharaohs of Egypt's New Kingdom. This is where the famous King Tut's tomb was discovered. We then saw the Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut. The temple once had a lush exotic garden and portraits of the Queen depicting herself as a male Pharaoh with royal headdress, kilt and false beard. We also visited the great Temple of Medinet Habu. Lastly, we saw the rarely visited Valley of the Nobles, which is the burial site for the high officials of Egypt.

Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut.
Our guide knew much about history but not about taking pictures.
Queen Hatshepsut and Queen Laure.
Temple of Medinet Habu.
Ditched the crowds of tourists to check out the Valley of the Nobles.
Wall paintings were well preserved at the Valley of the Nobles
where they were long buried underground.
Since the sun rises to the east, this side of the Nile is for the temples of the living. Our guide first took us to Karnak Temple. Before the Nile was dammed, this temple was once connected to the Nile River. Multiple rulers made additions to the temple. Some parts were left unfinished and gave archeologists clues explaining ancient Egyptians' construction techniques. Karnak Temple was connected to Luxor Temple by a street called dromos which was lined with Spinxs on both sides. Today, much of the street is still being excavated. Our guide spent a fair amount of time breaking down the hieroglyphs and explaining the stories etched and painted into the walls and columns. He also bought us to the Luxor Museum and explained the highlights on display.

Laure with our guide at the entrance to Karnak Temple which connected to the Nile.
Column abandoned while under construction.
Q decided to finish up the job.

Dromos connecting Karnak and Luxor Temple.
The god of fertility's penis turned black after being touched throughout the ages.
Q claims to have abstained from touching it.
We spent the afternoon and evening exploring Luxor on our own. We walked around the city and along a newly renovated river front, checked out the bazaar, had dinner at a Lonely Planet reccommended restaurant, and checked out Karnak Temple's Sound and Light Show. The Karnak Sound and Light show was relatively interactive compared to other shows we saw in Egypt. We were led as a group through the temple as projected images and audio explained the temple's history.

Luxor's new Nile promenade.
Luxor's Bazaar.
Sound and Light show at Karnak Temple
Although Luxor is filled with western hotels on the east bank, we decided to get off the beaten path and stay at a small independent hotel named Desert Paradise Lodge located on the west bank. The owner (originally from the area) worked with a Swiss expat to create a western friendly atmosphere while preserving the local architecture.

Courtyard of the Desert Paradise Lodge
Breakfast at the Hotel. Best omelet in Egypt.
Dinner at the Desert Paradise Lodge
Outdoor hallway to our room
Swiss expat lives next door to the hotel with her pets donkeys, chickens, rabbits, and cats.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Abu Simbel, Egypt 3/1 - 3/2


After bribing a Cairo airport security officer with 20 Egyptian pounds (3.31 USD) to let us take our Cairene lamp on the plane, we were on our way to Abu Simbel.

See a closer view of our interactive map
Upon arrival at the Eskaleh Ecolodge in Abu Simbel, we were greeted with locally grown fresh hibiscus juice and an opportunity to relax while completing the checking in process. Eskaleh's theme is inspired by the history of the Nubian people who lived in the area since ancient times. In the 1950s, the Egyptian government built the Aswan Dam at the cost of displacing many of the local Nubians from their lands. In 2005, a Belgian named Fikri built Eskaleh to preserve every element of the Nubian culture from the lodge's architecture to their sustainable farming practices.

Drinking fresh juice from locally grown lemons and hibiscus
Eskaleh Ecolodge built in the Nubian architectural style
Our room
Replica of an ancient donkey powered water wheel for irrigation
Sustainable biodiverse farming
Abu Simbel is relatively calm and hassle-free, compared to other tourist destinations in Egypt. We took the afternoon to stroll through the village and had schoolchildren greeting us with joyous "hellos" and "welcomes". Drivers would do the same while honking their horns as they passed. Most tourists visit Abu Simbel on a tight schedule via cruise or tour bus to see the monuments without taking the time to explore the actual village. We were happy to spend some time amongst the friendly locals while also supporting their economy.

Village bazaar
We hired a private boat through our hotel to take us around lake Nasser. We didn't know it ahead of time but we got the see the temples as they were originally intended to be seen. In the 1300s BC, Pharaoh Ramses II built the two massive temples by the Nile river to impress and intimidate travelers entering Egypt. Here's Laure being intimidated:

View of temples from the Nile river
Boat captain bidding us farewell
At night, we watched the Sound and Light show. It's an hour long show projecting a video on the monuments explaining some of its history. It's a bit cheesy but fun to see huge projections on these enormous temples.

Great Temple of Ramses II at night
As a prevention from losing the temples to flooding from the construction of the Aswan Dam, UNESCO relocated them to higher grounds where they stand today roughly preserving their previous appearance and orientation. We woke up early at 5am to walk and see the monuments at sunrise. This is the optimal time as the sunlight shines all the way into the innermost sacred sanctuary lighting up the scupltures of Ramses II and pharaonic gods.

Ramses II needed four ridiculously huge statues of himself to intimidate travelers
Sunlight shines into the sacred sanctuary in the early morning
Although Ramses II had many wives and children, he built the smaller temple in honor of his favorite Queen Nefertari. He even made Nefertari's statues as tall as his own, which is extremely rare during pharaonic times. Maybe he was trying to make up for having sex with so many other women.

Temple of Hathor and Nefertari
Some of the carvings and paintings inside the temples have been beautifully preserved after over 3000 years. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos inside, which means you'll need to go there to see them yourself. The guards were nice enough to allow us to take this photo of the interior while Laure stood in the doorway; technically she was outside.
A peak inside the smaller temple
We were starving by the time we left the temples. When we got back to our hotel, they arranged a beautiful breakfast on the roof top terrace for the two of us. The hospitality we received in Abu Simbel and the relaxing atmosphere made it a perfect stop to unwind.
Rooftop breakfast

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Cairo, Egypt 2/27 - 3/1

Before planning this vacation, we didn't know much about Cairo. After a bit of research and eventually making friends with the locals, we realized there's much more to the city than 5000 year old stuff.

See a closer view of our interactive map
Our visit to Egypt would only be complete with a trip into the dessert to see the the Pyramids of Giza. We hired a driver and a guide to show us the popular historic attractions and a few places off the beaten path. We saw Memphis (the ancient capital), the Step Pyramid, the Bent Pyramid, the Red Pyramid, the Pyramids of Giza, and the Spinx - all during a sand storm.

Since many tourists are currently wary of Egypt's political unrest, we frequently found ourselves outnumbered by souvenir merchants and camels. The highlight of our tour was exploring the inside of the Red Pyramid completely alone. Unfortunately we don't have any pictures of the interiors of any tombs. To best preserve the interiors, no photos where allowed inside any ancient ruin throughout Egypt.

Sphinx and Khafre's Pyramid
Alone at the Bent Pyramid
On our first night, we met up with the local Couch Surfing group; a volunteer-based network connecting travelers with members of local communities. The Cairo group is primarily made up of Egyptians and a handful of expats from a few Western countries. They took us under their wings and made us feel right at home. We were lucky enough to hang out with them every day we were in Cairo.

Sailing a felucca on the Nile with our new friends in Cairo
Top: Wael
Middle: Q, Laure
Bottom: Christine, Yasmine, Rania, Mohammed, Amr, Heather
We knew little about Egypt's food before visiting. We were quickly introduced to their delicious food by following the advice of our new friends, especially Rania. Laure's favorite dish was stuffed pigeon and Q's favorite dish was Kushari.

Wael and Laure eating Kushari
We were able to visit the Egyptian Museum, Coptic Cairo, Citadel of Saladin, and the Khan el Khalili bazaar. Our absolute favorite attraction was the Tannoura show. It's a free performance which takes place at Wekalet El Ghoury, a building historically used to lodge merchants that traveled to Cairo. The hall is located in the city's main bazaar and well worth the extra effort to find. The performance is an hour long treat for the eyes and ears with traditional music and whirling Tannoura dancers in colorful outfits.

Mohamed Ali Mosque inside the Citadel of Saladin
Tannoura show
The most stressful part of visiting Cairo was riding inside taxis. The lack of seat belts and the chaotic traffic didn't put us at ease. Crossing the street was a close runner up.

Driving the opposite direction around Tahrir Square
The most difficult part of our trip was saying goodbye to our new friends. We hope to some day have the opportunity to host them in San Francisco. Insha'Allah.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Amsterdam 2/26

Hello, everyone. We've recently returned from our vacation and would like to share some photos with you!

Laure between the a and the m

On our first day, we spent an afternoon at Amsterdam, Laure's number one most beautiful city in the world. We took the train straight from the airport to Central Station and hopped on a canal boat tour of the city. After our overview of the city, we spent the remainder of our time checking out the ladies of the red light district and wandered the beautiful streets and alleys. We unfortunately did not take a tour of the Anne Frank House due to time constrains. On the bright side, we have an excuse to come back.

See a closer view of our interactive map

Glass Top Canal Tour
Amsterdam has more canals than Venice

"The Breast" by unknown artist in the Red Light District