Heard the Contiki news? Egypt & the Nile is BACK! Starting May 2011, one of our bestsellers returns to the mix as another amazing destination to choose for your next Contiki. Take advantage of 6% savings (reflected in tour price!) Plus, save $200 off your trip with our current Match Your Deposit promotion – this offer ends today! Click here for more details!
Want a taste of what the Egypt & The Nile trip is like? Take it from Contiki traveler Kelley Last, and sit back, relax, and read her travelogue below!
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Contiki Travelogue: Egypt & The Nile
Guest Post by: Contiki traveler Kelley Last
With all the news coming out of Egypt lately, I am even more grateful that I got the chance to visit the country when I did. We had an amazing time there and although the news coming out of Cairo was sad, we’re very happy that the country found the strength to initiate a well-needed change. My husband and I had been planning our Egyptian vacation with Contiki for over a year. Seeing the Ancient Pyramids was definitely on my bucket list. Since the tour was relatively inexpensive, why not! We were on the tour from October 30 – November 6, 2010, just a few weeks before the uprising began. Here’s a glimpse into our amazing trip.
We flew direct from Los Angeles to Cairo with a five-day layover in Dubai (which we highly recommend if you’re traveling through the region!). We landed in Egypt completely excited, a little nervous and ready to start an adventure! After meeting our tour manager, Sherif, and seeing our itinerary, we knew right away this was going to be a trip we look back on for the rest of our lives.
There is something so fun about being with 40 other world travelers who are equally as excited about seeing Egypt as we were. This is our third Contiki tour, and we were anxious for it to begin!
Sherif told us on the bus: “Welcome to Egypt. You are going to see King Tut’s treasures and his golden mask, you will ride a camel around the pyramids and then go inside them, you will kiss the sphinx and walk on the Sahara desert—and that’s just what we’re doing today!” This is why we love Contiki. You know without a doubt you’ll be seeing all the highlights in a city. The days were long, but we were so amazed by all the wonders, we didn’t even notice.
Seeing the Egyptian Museum was pretty awesome. The artifacts inside are thousands of years old. The highlight of course is King Tut’s golden mask, tomb and treasures. You read about this in middle school, but to actually be standing in front of it was breathtaking. We also saw the mummies of many pharaohs, including Ramses II. We couldn’t take any pictures inside the museum, but we had a fantastic guided tour.
Little did we know that just a few weeks later, that museum would become the center of a revolution. The place where we stood became the focus of the world as the government changed hands.
Then we hopped on our tour bus and headed toward the Giza Plateau. We just couldn’t believe that we were actually standing right next to the Pyramids! We’d look up and just gawk at the magnificence of these structures. They are the only surviving ‘ancient wonders of the world’, and we felt so lucky to be in their presence.
Then our whole Contiki group went on a camel ride in the Sahara. I didn’t think I’d like it (I mean, camels are kind of dirty!) but it was incredible. It changed the perspective of how you look at the pyramids (and brings you back in time a little!)
We enjoyed some free time walking around the Pyramids… and even going inside them! For a few extra bucks, you can walk down the burial shaft into the middle of the pyramid! How many people can say they’ve done THAT! Just incredible.
We also made our way over the Sphinx. People had warned me that it’s much smaller than you’d imagine… and it was. But it was still amazing to see in person. I’m pretty sure my 7th grade history book had a picture of the Sphinx on the cover. I never thought I’d actually get to see it in real life!
That night, we boarded our overnight train to Aswan. I was a little nervous about this, but it was fine. We each got a little room with surprisingly comfortable beds. It wasn’t first class by any means, but it was an adventure and it really wasn’t that bad. One tip: Bring your own sheets. The ones they provide are clean, but I slept better knowing exactly what I was lying on. We purchased travel sheets ahead of time. They can be easily packed and you never know when you might need them!
We woke up in Aswan the next day. And it was so gorgeous. Very different from life in Cairo. We stopped to see the ‘little dam’ and the ‘big dam’. The Russians built this a few decades ago for the Egyptians to help stop the yearly flooding of the Nile. (The history of this country fascinates me!)
We stopped at few more places before arriving at the ‘unfinished obelisk’. This was supposed to be the tallest obelisk ever built by man, but it cracked before it was finished. It provides a rare look into how they ancient Egyptians engineered their society.
Then we boarded a Felucca (basically a sailboat, but better!) The Nile River runs south to north, but the wind blows north to south. This is how the ancient Egyptians were able to travel BOTH ways up and down the river (thus the reason their civilization thrived).
We docked for a little while at the Aswan Botanical Gardens. A Lush Oasis rich with exotic plants. This was one of Irving’s favorite stops on the trip.
Our little boat took us to a bigger cruise ship (which would be our home for the next three nights!) The room was really big and comfortable. The rest of the day was spent exploring the ship, visiting a perfume shop and touring the Aswan Market.
We slept amazing well on the ship. But we had to wake up at 3:30am to catch a plane that would take us to Abu Simbel. That sounds ridiculously early, but believe me. You will be glad you did this! It was only a 30 minute flight, and I slept the whole time. When we arrived, the sun was just coming up. This excursion is definitely worth it. Abu Simbel is a really special place that you have to see to believe.
Abu Simbel was built in 13BC by Ramses II. Originally, it was carved into a single piece of rock on a cliff. However in the 1960s, when they built the dam on the Nile, they had to move the temple. Otherwise, it would have been forever under water. So they literally cut the temple out of the earth, block by block, removed it from its original place, and rebuilt it on higher ground. Inside, the temple is stunning (but you can’t take pictures). The most amazing part is that deep inside the temple, there is a statue of Ramses that used to be covered in gold. Twice a year, when the sun rises, it hits at just the right angle and the rays would reach inside and light up the statue. Genius!
Then we flew back to Aswan, and enjoyed a glorious nap on the sundeck of the cruise ship. Then we watched the sun set over the Nile.
After dinner, we docked at Kom Ombo and we got to tour the ancient temple. It was built in 180BC by Cleopatra. But Cleopatra wasn’t Egyptian, she was Greek. Her influence can be seen on the design of the temple. The temple was originally constructed to worship crocodiles! The Egyptians feared the crocodiles that lived in the Nile, so they thought if they built a temple to worship them, maybe they wouldn’t hurt the people.
We had a fun dance party on the ship that night, and everyone dressed up in traditional garb. So fun!
The next day, we explored Luxor. Our first stop was the Temple of Horus in Edfu. It was built in 200BC and is the most well-preserved temple in Egypt because it was covered in sand for nearly 2,000 years.
We had another really relaxing afternoon cruising on the Nile. In the evening. We went to a Papyrus shop to learn how they make it. And then we headed to Luxor Temple, built by Ramses II. Recently discovered was a two mile row of Sphinxes connecting Luxor Temple to Karnak Temple. One by one they are restoring them.
Contiki did a fantastic job organizing this tour. Going to see these amazing temples at night was really cool. You avoid the midday heat (remember, it’s Africa… it’s hot!), you avoid the crowds of tourists, and you get to have the sites all to yourself. We really enjoyed this.
The next day, we got to go to the Valley of the Kings. This was for sure my favorite part of the trip. They didn’t allow cameras to be taken onto the grounds (major bummer), but it was kind of nice to look around and take it all in without worrying about capturing it on film. There are 63 tombs that have been uncovered so far in the Valley. Each one is noted with ‘KV’ for ‘Kings Valley’. They are listed in order of being discovered. The newest one was found in 2006, I’m sure there are even more to find if they keep digging! Of course, the most famous tomb is King Tut. You have to pay a little extra to go into his, but it was totally worth it. Since he died so young, his tomb wasn’t elaborate or big, but it was jam packed with treasures when Howard Carter found it in 1922. All of the tomb’s treasures, outer coffins and the golden mask are in the Egyptian Museum, but his sarcophagus is still inside the tomb.
While we were driving out, we saw archaeological crews still digging. I wonder what amazing things still have yet to be discovered.
We stopped at a few more sights before visiting the Temple of Karnak. It is truly amazing that they could build these temples without cranes, machines and computers. I loved wandering around this temple. It was massive!
Later, we took another overnight train back to Cairo. In the morning, We had one last tour of the city that included visiting the Citadel. The rest of the afternoon was spent at Saqqara and the Khan Al-Khalil Market (the largest in Cairo). And in the evening, we headed back to the Pyramids to see the laser light and sound show. The show itself was kind of funny, but to sit outside at night and stare at the pyramids and sphinx one more time was incredible.
The tour ended the next morning. It’s always bitter sweet to say goodbye to our new friends. We had a blast. This tour was a little different from the Europe tours we’ve done. It had more adventure and but also more leisure. It was a really nice balance. The crazy and busy was intertwined with lots of cruise ship relaxation too.
Irving and I kept telling each other how exotic and adventurous we felt on this tour. It felt like a million miles away from our Los Angeles home, but yet so accessible and easy with Contiki. I would have been scared and nervous to see Egypt on my own, because it is a difficult country to maneuver. As a traveler, you always have to be vigilant and aware of your surroundings no matter where you go, but Contiki takes care of all the logistics and makes it easier to enjoy yourself.
For more photos and an expanded review, check out my blog: http://kelocity.com/traveling/egypt-the-nile
Kelley is a self-proclaimed world traveler and has taken three Contiki tours (and counting)! She is originally from Boston, but now calls Los Angeles her home. When she’s not traveling, she’s running marathons, watching soccer games, eating cupcakes or planning her next trip. You can follow her adventures (both big and small) on her blog: www.kelocity.com or on twitter: @kelocity.
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