If you are considering taking a Travel Talk Tour of Egypt then read by review of Days 1 and 2 and then Days 3 through 5.
Day 6:
Edfu Temple: We had an early 6am start to see Edfu Temple. We arrived at Edfu by taking a horse drawn carriage for about 10 minutes to the temple. Most of us hated the horse drawn carriage rides because the horses looked like they were starving. You could visibly see their ribs and protruding hip bones. Most of our drives tried to get tip money by saying that our horse, Monica, was pregnant. All of horses were named Monica and all pregnant. Sounded like a scam to me. I didn’t believe for a second that they would actually use any tip money to go towards feeding the horses.
While I wasn’t thrilled to get up at 6am since I was hungover from the night before, it was nice to be able to see a Temple with virtually no other visitors.
We had the rest of the day free until visiting Luxor Temple at night. Just when I thought we had seen it all, it felt like such a new experience to see Luxor Temple all lit up at night. It was gorgeous to see with all the backlighting. I could have actually stayed longer to play photo shoot. If you have a chance to see a Temple, any Temple at night, it is totally worth it!
Day 7:
Hot Air Balloon Ride: We had an extremely early morning with leaving the boat at 3:50am to go on a Hot Air Balloon Ride. I had missed my chance to go Hot Air Ballooning in Turkey so was excited to finally go. Yet I was nervous that I wouldn’t like the ride due to my healthy fear of heights. Luckily, I was worried for nothing. The takeoff was very smooth and the basket is high enough that I never feared accidentally falling out. We got to be the first Hot Air Balloon to take off that morning.
I had thought the Hot Air Balloon Ride would be cold since it was early in the morning and we would be at such a high altitude. Boy was I wrong! I didn’t account for the giant flame used to steer and navigate us. I thought the hairs on the back of my head would be singed off from the heat!
The Hot Air Balloon was very peaceful with views of the Valley of the Kings and Al-Deir Al Bahari Temple below. It was nice to see the temples from above. Towards the end of our flight, we were treated to a gorgeous sunrise that completed the experience
Al-Deir Al Bahari Temple: After breakfast, we headed to Al-Deir Al Bahari Temple. I was over Temples at this point! I was tired and hot and just wanted to get the sightseeing over with. Luckily, I was pleasantly surprised by Al-Deir Al Bahari Temple. This Temple had the most well-preserved colors of all the Temples we had visited. Just when I think I am visiting just another Temple and nothing will be different, there is something interesting to make it a completely new experience.
We had a brief 10 minute Donkey Ride that I really enjoyed. My donkey was a bit unruly and kept showing it’s teeth at me so I was a little nervous to get on it. Once I got on, a little boy around 6 or 7 came to take the reins of my Donkey, which he told me was called Minnehaha. The boy was having so much fun leading the donkey. He wanted to race the others in the group so at times he would start running and laughing and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying it. Unlike many kids we encountered, he didn’t ask for a tip or money.
Next stop was the Valley of Kings. The Valley of Kings houses 60 different tombs. With your ticket, you can see 3 of the tombs but many of them are being renovated. It is a separate ticket to see the Tomb of King Tut. Our guide let us know that the tomb is pretty bare and the main attraction is to see the Mummy of King Tut. He suggested that we pay extra at the Museum in Cairo for the Mummy room with 30 mummies instead.
I had been excited to see the colors at Al-Deir Al Bahari Temple but yet again it was a completely new experience in the Tombs. The majority of the colors in the Tomb were preserved and I finally got a good feel for what they had looked like back when they were built.
We made a stop for lunch only to find out that our bus had a mechanical problem that they had to fix when we came out. Travel Talk was nice enough to treat us to free drinks and a couple of Shishas while we waited. Luckily, the problem was fixed within 45 minutes and we were on our way back to Cairo on another 9 hour bus ride.
Day 8:
Egyptian Museum: We spent about 2 hours in the Egyptian Museum but you could easily spend a much longer time. The Museum was full of interesting artifacts from throughout Egypt. I was disappointed by the fact that many things weren’t labeled in the Museum. I feel like it is actually best explored with a guide. It was sad that the Museum contains billions of dollars of relics but the floors were dirty and the glass looked like it hadn’t been cleaned for years. They are about to open a New Museum within a couple of months so hopefully that one will be in better condition.
Our favorite room was the mummy room which contained about 20 mummies. It was totally worth the 150 Egyptian pounds or around $9USD*. It was interesting to see but you also felt a bit disrespectful as the Egyptian people had prepared for years for the death of their Kings to preserve their bodies and now they are taken from their tombs and put on display. I was surprised how well the bodies were intact. We could see eyelashes and hair on some of them. Although others were missing parts of their toes of fingers. The bodies were wrapped in cloth so what you could see was the feet, head, and the arms were crossed over the chest to signify that they were a King. The bodies seemed to be fairly skinny and the tallest mummy was 1.83 meters tall. No pictures are allowed in the mummy room or of King Tut’s Headdress.
After the museum, we visited both a Church and Mosque.
Then we went through the gauntlet of the market again. I was tired of being hassled so I quickly retreated to the cafe that we were meeting.
Sound and Light Show: They put on about a 45 minute show by the Great Pyramid and Sphinx. Really they just illuminate the Pyramids in different colors and at times they had an Egyptian cover the Sphinx. They tell a story during the show that was a bit weird and a found myself daydreaming instead of paying attention to it. It was cool to see the Pyramids all lit up but I could have done with 15 minutes of walking around. This is one thing that you could easily skip and not miss anything. The pictures below are all you need to see.
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