A Tour for Two

Our Cox and Kings independent "tour for two" began at Cairo International Airport, where we were escorted by our Emeco Travel representatives to our hotel in Giza.

Giza

Our hotel, the Oberoi Mena House, is one of Egypt' most luxurious hotels. It was originally built as a hunting lodge and later converted into a hotel in 1869. The hotel combines original Arabesque Islamic architecture with a new garden wing creating a modern luxury resort. The hotel is set in 40 acres of lush green gardens and many of the rooms have breathtaking views of the Pyramids.

On our first morning we visited Memphis and Saqqara. The highlight of the tour was the Step Pyramid Complex of Zoser, built around 2650 B.C.

The next day we visited the Great Pyramids of Giza. Our day began with a claustrophic climb inside the pyramid of Cheops to the burial chamber. It's hard to describe the sense of awe and wonder one feels being at the very center of the Great Pyramid.

Considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Great Pyramids of Giza are the most visited monuments of Egypt. The pyramids of Cheops and Chephren, which have stood for 46 centuries, are the largest, while that of Mycerinus is smaller but still impressive. In front of them lies the Sphinx.

Abu Simbel

Thanks to a $40 million UNESCO effort, Ramses II's Great Temple of Abu Simbel was moved out of the way of the rising waters of Lake Nasser in the 1960s. Guarding the entrance the four famous colossal statues of Ramses II sit majestically, each more than 20 meters tall, with smaller statues of the king's mother Queen Tuya, his wife Nefertari and some of their children. Nearby is the equally impressive rock-cut temple of Hathor.

Abu Simbel is one of the most impressive archeological sites in all of Egypt, not only for its historical significance, but for the great engineering success in moving these temples to their present location.

Aswan

Over the centuries Aswan, Egypt's southernmost city, has been a garrison town, the gateway to Africa and the now inundated land of Nubia, a prosperous marketplace at the crossroads of the ancient caravan routes, and a popular winter resort.

Our hotel in Aswan, the Old Cataract Hotel, was featured in the Agatha Christie movie 'Death on the Nile'.

The Oberoi Philae

The excellent cruise ship staff on the Oberoi Philae pampered us for four nights from Aswan to Luxor. The paneled public areas were elegant; the cuisine was excellent.

Philae Island

South of Aswan and relocated to another island to escape flooding in the 1960's, the Temple of Philae was dedicated to Isis, who found the heart of her slain brother, Osiris, on Philae Island. Most of the temple was built by the Ptolemies and Romans, and early Christians turned the hypostyle hall into a chapel.

Kom Ombo

The Temple of Haroeris & Sobek at Kom Ombo was rebuilt by the Ptolemies in the 2nd century BC.

The dual Temple of Sobek and Haroeris [the local crocodile-god and the falcon-headed sky-god, respectively] stands on a promontory at a bend in the Nile near the village of Kom Ombo, where in ancient times sacred crocodiles basked in the sun on the river bank.

Edfu

The Temple of Haroeris & Sobek at Kom Ombo was rebuilt by the Ptolemies in the 2nd century BC.

The dual Temple of Sobek and Haroeris [the local crocodile-god and the falcon-headed sky-god, respectively] stands on a promontory at a bend in the Nile near the village of Kom Ombo, where in ancient times sacred crocodiles basked in the sun on the river bank.

Luxor

Our stop at Luxor encompassed a wide range of sites. In the morning we visited the West Bank sites of Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, Madinet Habou and the Colossi of Memnon on the West Bank.

The West bank of Luxor was the necropolis of ancient Thebes, a vast City of the Dead where magnificent temples were raised to honor the cults of Pharaohs entombed in the nearby cliffs. The valley is dominated by a barren mountain called Al-Qurn. The tombs were designed to resemble the underworld, with a long inclined rock-hewn corridor descending into either an antechamber.

In the afternoon we visited the East Bank temple of Karnak. This is one of Egypt's major tourist destinations. The sheer grandeur of Luxor's monumental architecture, and its excellent state of preservation have made this city a great tourist spot. Built on and around the 4000 year old site of ancient Thebes, Luxor is an extraordinary mixture of exotic history and modern commercialism. At the height of its glory and opulence, from 1570-1090 B.C., the New Kingdom Pharaohs made Thebes, their permanent residence and the metropolis had a population of nearly one million.

The Luxor Temple was built by the New Kingdom Pharaoh Amenophis III, on the site of an older sanctuary dedicated to the Theban triad, is a strikingly graceful piece of architecture on the banks of the Nile. It was added to over the centuries by Tutankhamun, Ramses II, Nectanebo, Alexander the Great and various Romans. At one point the Arabs built a mosque in one of the interior courts.

Back in Cairo, we saw the Egyptian Museum, Old Cairo with its Coptic churches and markets, and the Citadel- site of the Mosque of Mohammed Ali.

Kerak and Petra, Jordan

Kerak Castle was built in the 12th century A.D. by the Crusader, King Baldwin I of Jerusalem. It commands specatular views of the surrounding areas.

The rose-red city of Petra was built 2000 years ago as a temporary refuge by nomadic Nabataean Arabs - Bedouins - who came north out of Arabia. Journey down through the Siq, a huge crack in the Nubian sandstone, to reach el Khazneh - The Treasury, and the city beyond. A lost city for one thousand years, Petra was not fully uncovered until 1958; the rugged hills which protect the buildings and tombs make this an extraordinarily peaceful place.