The Best Of Egypt (Summer 2025)

Hey!  How you DUNE? Get it?  How you dune?   I think this Egyptian heat is already making us delirious.  Or maybe it was the three flights (17+ hours) to get here.  Or maybe it was the thirteen hours we spent passing time in airports between Baltimore, Dallas, London and Cairo.   Let's just say we are glad to finally be here.  Our Trafalgar tour officially starts in two days, so we pre-planned a few adventures in the meantime to get things started.  It seems our tour company does not recommend participating in any third-party activity where our safety is a liability.  Sorry, Trafalgar!...but Egypt has lots of camels and I'm definitely planning to put my ass between some humps on this trip!  A few other activities we deemed "must do" while in the desert included dune surfing, ATV's, and a desert safari ride.  We accept full responsibility for dying in the desert this summer. We searched the Viator travel website in search of ...

Today we would have the opportunity to explore the new Grand Egyptian Museum  located just outside the city of Cairo on the Giza Plateau.  For more than a century, the Pyramids and the old Egyptian Museum had been about a 45-minute drive from one another.  This new crown jewel of Egypt is now located a short 2km from the Pyramids and is one of the largest, most modern, and most renowned museums in the world.  You can also see the Pyramids through the main gallery windows... Today we would get to meet our Trafalgar tour guide and some of the members of our group!  This was another pre-tour optional excursion that was offered to those of us who arrived early.  Were we really looking forward to a day at the Egyptian museums?   We've learned that museums can be hit-or-miss depending upon your interests and how interactive some of the exhibits are.  While this museum is quite impressive.....it did suffer from a few misses.  Although this museum ha...

Our Trafalgar tour officially began this morning when we received our 2:30am wakeup call at the hotel.  Yup!  You read that correctly .  Our travel group was scheduled to fly to Luxor on an early flight from Cairo.  Once we arrived in Luxor, the tour would continue on the Nile River. Check out our luxury riverboat for the next five days! Luxor, often called the "world's greatest open-air museum," is a must-visit destination for its unparalleled concentration of ancient Egyptian temples, tombs, and monuments.  Luxor was the ancient city of Thebes , the capital of Upper Egypt during the New Kingdom.  Among the highlights of Luxor are the 3400-year-old Luxor Temple and the Karnak Temple Complex, the Valley of the Kings (and Queens), and the massive stone statues known as the Colossi of Menmon. Upon arriving in Luxor we started our day by visiting the Karnak Temple.  In ancient Egypt, Karnak was not a person, but rather the name of a vast templ...

How much does it cost ?     You can't go anywhere with Leonard without hearing those five words!  He's known to be quite the cheapskate back home, but I can usually get him to splurge a little when we travel.  We both want to experience as much as possible on these trips.....and, it's no secret, nothing is cheap (except beer on the cruise ship!). A hot air balloon ride was not even an option heading into this Egypt trip.  One of the couples in our tour group happened to mention this activity when we arrived in Luxor.  The Trafalgar tour company once again discourages activities like these due to safety concerns.....but our tour guide wound up offering to book a sunrise balloon ride over The Valley of Kings for anyone who was interested. This was something Jenesa and I actually debated, because we had spent a lot of money on a balloon ride during a previous trip to the  Australian outback ....and it was a little disappointing.   The Valley of...

Speaking of Valleys.....we happen to have our very own famous Valley back home.  Who needs to travel across the Atlantic to visit the Valley of the Kings.....when we can drive 20 minutes to the Valley from our house in Pennsylvania and feast on some of the best broasted chicken in the state!  Here's a quick shout out to our very own Valley Tavern ! The Valley of the Kings is located on the west bank of the Nile River near Luxor, and this small area contains a staggering amount of exquisitely decorated tombs of Egypt’s ancient kings.  This area is also dominated by the peak of al-Qurn, a pyramidal shaped mountain that echoes the appearance of the ancient pyramids of Giza. In these limestone hills, more than 60 tombs were excavated and decorated with intricate reliefs and images. It is believed that this area was chosen as a burial ground in order to avoid the tomb robbing that was occurring at the Pyramids of Giza and the Nile Delta. By carving these tombs deep withi...

Before leaving Luxor today, we visited a local family as part of Trafalgar's Be My Guest program. Through these experiences, Trafalgar guests are invited into a local’s home, where they talk about their craft, their way of life, and their family heritage.  Who wants more bread? You can check out the  Be My Guest  experience using this link to our  All In The Family blog page. This afternoon our Nile River cruise ship actually started moving!  We've been docked in Luxor for the past two days while exploring this archaeological paradise !  Now we begin sailing upstream towards Edfu, where our next stop will be at the imposing Temple of Kom-Ombo tomorrow evening. So.....what's on the itinerary for the rest of this afternoon?  It looks something like this - 1.) grab a book to read, 2.) go to the sundeck on the ship, 3.) find a lounge chair in the shade, 4.) cool off in the pool, and 5.) try to avoid dehydrating by drinking lots of Heineken!  ...

We certainly didn't expect to see Elton John in Egypt, but Crocodile Rock was our next stop on the Nile River.  After cruising all day we finally arrived at the Temple of Kom-Ombo, where life remains much as it was a thousand years ago.....minus the crocodiles!  The temple is located within a short walk from the docks and very unique because it is in fact a double temple, dedicated to Sobek the crocodile god , and Horus the falcon-headed god . The layout combines two temples in one with each side having its own gateways and chapels. In addition to beautiful column capitals, the temple of Kom Ombo also features fascinating scenes decorating its walls. Calendars list festivals and other cultic activity, along with their dates and accompanying rituals.  During the Roman Period, in the 2nd century AD, a scene was carved featuring what are believed to be surgical instruments, demonstrating how sophisticated ancient Egyptian medicine was.  Look for yourself and see if you...