Planning a Trip to Nile Valley

The Valley of the Kings (VoK) is a must-visit. By now, you probably know what to expect here - pharaonic tombs to your heart's content. A few practical tips on visiting VoK: 1) Best time to visit would be early afternoon (around 1-2 pm) when most tourists wouldn't want to venture under soaring temps. Suicidal? Not really. That would be the time when tombs have least number of visitors, when you can have them all to yourself, like me. Don't fret, there are shaded areas and the tombs are well ventilated inside-actually felt cooler inside the tombs. 2) Take some time to view the 3D fiberglass model of the site at the entrance - this gives a feel of the lay of the land, as well as clues on what to expect, and help you plan which tombs would be most fun to view. 3) Rethink plan to see Tutankhamun's tomb - most of the artifacts had been moved to the Egyptian Museum, so the empty tomb may not justify the extra fees , which you pay on top of the standard EGP 70 fee (good for 3 tombs). 4) Don't miss Tuthmosis III's tomb - one the earliest to be built, it's the least accessible, and the most fun to visit-you climb a steep hill, cross a steep ravine to the entrance, from where you descend several meters below ground, crossing a deep shaft built to entrap ancient robbers. Sounds complicated? Try it yourself and you'll know what I mean. Warning: not for the faint of heart! 5) Forget what guidebooks say about bringing water - in this most tourism-corrupted town in the world, price of bottled water should be pretty much the same everywhere. Bringing water would not only be cumbersome, water would also be useless after being exposed to the sun. You can buy water at the stores located beside the main visitors' area at the entrance. 6) Respect regulations on taking photos - being alone inside the tombs, I could have switched to my shutter-happy mode, but chose not to (taking pictures inside is not allowed). The paintings are in a delicate condition and any measure to preserve them should be encouraged. Happy tomb viewing!

Try to time your trip to Luxor for a Friday and stay at the Bob Marley Hostel for the best (free) food you have ever had in your life! Oasis is also a good place to stay. In low season, the walk away tactic works every time to decrease rates. And the Tombs of the Nobles and King Tut's Tomb were the highlights of the West Bank for me. Make sure you don't get short changed on the ferry.

Karnak is a miracle, there is still no danger there but soon it could change, so wait and see. Don t risk your life if you are not experienced enough in dealing with chaos war !!! BUT If you are experienced in it ,the is the best time because soon you will need special permit to travel to this area if Mubarak resists!!!

Go in the Egyptian winter.
Do not eat out of the hands of local shopkeepers.
Do not stray too far from the nearest toilet.
Enjoy.

The collection reflects the history and character of Nubia. Among other pieces the collection includes the statue of Ramses II, statute of Amenras, the head of the Shpatka, and the head of black granite of Tahraqa. The building of the museum is constructed in traditions of Nubian architecture. As it stands on a slope of a rock, its western part is one-storeyed, and eastern part is two-storeyed. The wide ladder conducts downwards from a lobby. Visitors are met with a breadboard model of a valley of the Nile on which tiny copies of the most interesting architectural monuments of Nubia are placed. The exposition is located by a historical principle. In essence, it is placed in the uniform hall divided into parts by partitions. Among exhibits sculptures and jewels, ceramics and frescos from walls of the flooded Christian temples, subjects of arts and crafts. In the right part of a hall - a breadboard model of the Nubian house with brightly painted facade, household stages with wax figures of inhabitants. You may see my VIDEO-Clip from my personal YouTube channel: 4 min 20 sec Egypt Aswan Nubian Museum 2007 You may watch my Nubia Museum high resolution photos on Google Earth in Aswan according to the following coordinates 24º 4' 46.69" N 32º 53' 18.36" E or on my Google Earth Panoramio Aswan Nubean Museum and Aswan Nubean Museum Inside.

Elephantine Island is the largest island in the Aswan area. It was the original centre of life here, with settlement dating back to 3000BC. We spent a couple of hours here, visiting one of the colourful Nubian villages. We walked around the village streets and had the chance to interact with some of the very friendly local children. We also got the chance to visit the home of a well respected resident who owns a fleet of feluccas. The photos do not do this place justice. It was really interesting to walk the maze of very narrow streets and learn a little bit about the Nubian way of life.

The Valley of the Kings (VoK) is a must-visit. By now, you probably know what to expect here - pharaonic tombs to your heart's content. A few practical tips on visiting VoK: 1) Best time to visit would be early afternoon (around 1-2 pm) when most tourists wouldn't want to venture under soaring temps. Suicidal? Not really. That would be the time when tombs have least number of visitors, when you can have them all to yourself, like me. Don't fret, there are shaded areas and the tombs are well ventilated inside-actually felt cooler inside the tombs. 2) Take some time to view the 3D fiberglass model of the site at the entrance - this gives a feel of the lay of the land, as well as clues on what to expect, and help you plan which tombs would be most fun to view. 3) Rethink plan to see Tutankhamun's tomb - most of the artifacts had been moved to the Egyptian Museum, so the empty tomb may not justify the extra fees , which you pay on top of the standard EGP 70 fee (good for 3 tombs). 4) Don't miss Tuthmosis III's tomb - one the earliest to be built, it's the least accessible, and the most fun to visit-you climb a steep hill, cross a steep ravine to the entrance, from where you descend several meters below ground, crossing a deep shaft built to entrap ancient robbers. Sounds complicated? Try it yourself and you'll know what I mean. Warning: not for the faint of heart! 5) Forget what guidebooks say about bringing water - in this most tourism-corrupted town in the world, price of bottled water should be pretty much the same everywhere. Bringing water would not only be cumbersome, water would also be useless after being exposed to the sun. You can buy water at the stores located beside the main visitors' area at the entrance. 6) Respect regulations on taking photos - being alone inside the tombs, I could have switched to my shutter-happy mode, but chose not to (taking pictures inside is not allowed). The paintings are in a delicate condition and any measure to preserve them should be encouraged. Happy tomb viewing!

The Colossi of Memnon are situated on the main road to the West Bank monument area. All tourist's groups have here stop for some minutes - so, you can take photos! These two gigantic statues (around 17m high) were cut from two massive granite blocks, brought from quarries near Cairo. And once they stood at the entrance gate of the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III. Nowadays almost nothing remains about this temple of Amenhotep III. Statues represents the pharaoh Amenhotep III (Dynasty XVIII). There are very interesting story - after an earthquake in 27 BC, part of the northern colossus collapsed and from then on each morning at sunrise, the statue produced a strange musical sound. Ancient :-) Greek and Roman tourists :-) came to hear this sound, and gave statue the name of "Memnon" - a Trojan hero, the son of Eos and Titan, who sang to his mother each morning at daybreak. It's a legend, but in reality the sun heating up the stone produced this strange sound. In the third century AD northern statue was repaired and the mysterious singing was never heard again. But as a result of the legend the statues of Amenhotep III became known as the Colossi of Memnon. There is no entrance charge or restrictions on photography.

The Luxor Museum is lilliputian when compared to the humongous Egyptian Museum in Cairo. But what is lacks in size, it easily makes up for it in presentation and quality. The exhibits are carefully and professionally done by the people behind New York's Brooklyn Museum - well-chosen, comprehensively labeled and meticulously arranged. Easily, the star attractions are the mummies of pharaohs Ahmose, founder of the New Kingdom, and of Ramses I. Bathed in soft lighting within darkened interiors, the mummies in their glass niches project an eerie but mysterious aura. Looking at Ramses I's mummy (have a pen light ready), one could still see his short, curly hair covering portions of his head. It's amazing to think this pharaoh pre-dates Jesus by nearly 1,300 years! Incredible. The other interesting exhibits include the section on Egyptian military technology which should make every military enthusiat's mouth water. I've always been fascinated by chariots and seeing a real one (Tutankhamun's hunting chariot) made my day. At first, I thought the fee of EGP 70 - more expensive than Egyptian Museum's EGP 50 - was too steep an entrance fee. Overall, it was worth it. I've learned so much from Luxor Museum than from the Egyptian Museum. Before proceeding to the main gallery, stop by the mini-theater at the entrance for a brief presentation on Thebes - it's a bit cheesy but it brings you into the right mood for what could lies ahead - a peek into the glory of ancient Egypt. During summer, the museum is open from 9am-1pm and from 4pm-10pm. Photos not allowed inside.

Egypt Air needs education on customer servicew and flight connections but the wait and boredom at the airport is worth it.

spend an hour or two walking through the local Luxor souk. It's a museum of incredible anthropological interest. Likely, the lifestyle and traditions of these merchant farmers and their customers have not changed in millenia! Various foods are sold; from vegetables and onions to chickens and intestines, not to mention other animal body parts. Ropes, fabric, clothes and more; everything that is used in the daily lives of the average local Egyptian. You can watch bread being baked as it has been for centuries, and women carrying cabbage on their heads as they have for nearly as long, while others are choosing the live chicken to purchase. For photos of a day in the life of the Luxor local souk, check out my travelogues: "Just Another Day" and "All Your Basic Needs".

Activities, to go see the Aswan Dam that has created the largest man-made lake in the world. It is easy to get to by taxi.

Abul Simbel is AMAZING...worth the quick flight from Aswan to see.. it's incredible that these monuments (Ramses) were built into the rock.. a

Aswan, Egypt's sunniest southern city and ancient frontier town located about 81 miles south of Luxor, has a distinctively African atmosphere. Its ancient Egyptian name was Syene. Small enough to walk around and graced with the most beautiful setting on the Nile, the pace of life is slow and relaxing. Days can be spent strolling up and down the broad Corniche watching the sailboats etch the sky with their tall masts or sitting in floating restaurants listening to Nubian music and eating freshly caught fish. In Aswan the Nile is at its most beautiful, flowing through amber desert and granite rocks, round emerald islands covered in palm groves and tropical plants. Explore the souk, full of the scent and color of spices, perfumes, scarves and baskets. View the spectacular sunsets while having tea on the terrace of the Old Cataract Hotel (Named due to the location of the Nile's first cataract located here). Aswan has been a favorite winter resort since the beginning of the nineteenth century, and it's still a perfect place to get away from it all. Every night Nubian dancers and musicians perform in the Cultural Center, just off the Corniche. Folklore troupes recreate scenes from village life and perform the famous Nubian mock stick-fight dances.
Dancers at the Cultural Center Aswan is a strategic location which currently houses a garrison of the Egyptian army, but which has also seen ancient Egyptian garrisons, as well as that of General Kitchener, Turkish troops of the Ottoman empire and the Romans. The city proper lies on the east bank of the Nile. Relax here, visit a few mosques, but then prepare for an adventure. The bazaar runs along the Corniche, which continues past the Ferial Gardens and the Nubian Museum, and continues on to the Cemetery, with its forest of cupolas surmounted tombs from the Fatimid period. Just east of the cemetery in the famous area quarries is the gigantic Unfinished Obelisk . Just to the south of this, two Graeco-Roman sarcophagi and an unfinished colossus remain half buried in the sand. The most obvious is Elephantine Island , which is timeless with artifacts dating from pre-Dynastic times onward. It is the largest island in the area. Just beyond Elephantine is Kitchener's Island (Geziret el-Nabatat). It was named for the British general Haratio Kitchener (185--1916) and was sent to Egypt in 1883 to reorganize the Egyptian army, which he then led against the Sudanese Mahdi. But the island is known for its garden and the exotic plants the Kitchener planted there, and which continue to flourish today. On the opposite shore (west bank), the cliffs are surmounted by the tomb of a marabut, Qubbet el-Hawwa, who was a local saint. Below are tombs of the local (pharaonic) nobles and dignitaries. Upriver a bit is the tomb of Mohammed Shah Aga Khan who died in 1957. Known as the Tomb of the Aga Khan , it is beautiful in its simplicity. A road from there leads back to the Coptic Monastery of St Simeon , which was built in the sixth century in honor of Amba Hadra, a local saint. Just up river a bit, there is also the old Aswan dam, built by the British, which was enlarged, expanded, but unable to control the Nile for irrigation.

Its too hot, head north up the nile asap. Always drink bottled water.

What an amazing place to visit! Many sights, smells and food! Careful not to drink the water though! Check out the sketching on the temples.... and imagine what the colours would've looked like when originally done!