The highlight of our visit to Aswan was our visit to Philae Temple. There were other things I have to write about, especially the hotel where we stayed. And I have some back story to share.

I planned to write about Abu Simbel last night. But all the planning I did for this trip turned into a big snafu yesterday, as war broke out in Israel, and I spent the evening reworking all my plans. I’ll write about that later. For now, I’m trying to stay positive, so I will focus on…

We started the day today in Daraw, a small village with a busy market. The rest of the day we just sailed to our final destination, Aswan. We’re still on the boat tonight; tomorrow we return to dry land. We didn’t see any sights today. Other than the market at Daraw, and a visit with some…

We started the day yesterday visiting a craftsman in Fares before continuing upriver to Kom Ombo. The temple there offered some new things to see as well as enhancing our understanding about the images carved in temple walls. Then in the evening Mo gave us a great talk and Q&A about Islam.

Yesterday we started the day with a visit to Besaw Island for what OAT calls “A Day in the Life.” Then we continued south to Gebel el-Silsila, the site of an ancient sandstone quarry. It was a low-key day in terms of seeing sights, and that was okay with all of us, I think. It’s…

Yesterday was a light day activity-wise, but there was one big highlight: our visit to the Temple of Edfu. This wasn’t the most visually-stunning temple we’ve seen, but it is the most intact temple ever discovered in Egypt. So it did not fail to impress. In fact, the story of the Temple of Edfu is…

After visiting Karnak yesterday morning, we drove out of Luxor about an hour south to Esna. There we visited the small but spectacular Temple of Khnum. Then we boarded our dehabeya “Asiya” and set sail up the Nile (heading south). After about four hours we stopped for the night at Higz. We met a local…

Luxor became a major city starting with the 11th Dynasty, around 2050 BCE. Its height came around 1500 BCE and lasted about 400 years, encompassing the 18th, 19th, and 20th Dynasties. The ancient Egyptians called it Waset, meaning “city of the sceptre.” The Greeks called it Thebes, and the Arabs named it Luxor (“palaces”). A…

Yesterday after our visit to the Pyramids of Giza, we met Raheem, who talked to us about women in Egypt. She shared about her own experience as well as the role of women in society. This was part of OAT’s “Controversial Topics.” Unfortunately, one member of our group made it far more controversial than it…

Today we visited the Pyramids of Giza. In addition to getting a good dose of history, I learned something every visitor to this important site should know: there are no gifts. Nothing is free.

The main item on yesterday’s agenda was a visit to the Egyptian Museum. We started off with an orientation meeting at our hotel, where Mohamed (or Mo, or Dino) gave us an overview of what to expect. And because this is my third OAT tour, I got a pin!

Here are some first impressions of Cairo. I arrived this morning, got a ride from the airport to the Cairo Marriott, where I’m staying for the first three nights in Egypt, and walked to a nearby restaurant for lunch. After lunch I came back to my room and desperately needed a nap after two long…