"This Christmas vacation we traveled over the Mediterranean Sea to Egypt! It was a fantastic, eye-opening and educational vacation. We were there for a week but I am going to tell you about my favorite day! Today, we woke up very early (like every other day) and hopped on to a small boat and went to a Nubian village.
We went on these small boats...
Our guide, Robert, helped everyone get board the boats...
Lindsey and I found some comfortable seats...
While we were going down the river, the crew taught us some Egyptian songs...
It was a lot of fun sitting up on top of the boat...
Mom and Dad enjoyed the boat ride...
A little while later, we arrived at the Nubian village...
The chief of the village owned about 8 homes and had given one to each of his daughters(Mom thinks they were his wives). We got to visit one of the homes where a couple of women lived with their young and beautiful children...
We got to experience many different things such as looking at real crocodiles, which were sadly cooped up in a small stucco area placed in the middle of the room. Everyone was anxious to see them and I was very happy to see that they were only about 3 feet long and not 12!
The women were also selling beautiful handmade bracelets made of wooden beads which we treated ourselves to and then I (Sarah) went to get a Henna tattoo. I got one of the Egyptian Eye. I loved it!
Nicholas and Lindsey tried smoking huka...
After visiting the Nubian house, we wandered around the village...
Lindsey stopped to say hello to this camel...
Afterwards, we got back on the boat and went to ride a camel, which I KNOW I will never do again! To go along with it, my sister, Lindsey, and I both got on a camel together and had a mute man who was leading the camel and did not even speak Arabic! That was when he showed his true side of being meant to be a mime! Our camel was very charming…except for his breath, but he always had to be at the front of the line galloping……….truly not my thing!
Here we are heading off into the desert. I am clinging to Lindsey for dear life!
Dad's camel wasn't too sure he wanted Dad to get on his back. Dad doesn't look too sure he wants to be on the camel's back either!
Here we are out in the middle of a desert riding camels and this guy is on his cell phone!!!
Mom took this shot while she was on a camel so it's a bit out of focus, but you can see I'm not thrilled with this experience...
Here we come back from our ride. Nicholas had to ride with another boy from our group...
After riding the camels, we got into different boats called feluccasand went sailing on the Nile. It was really fun, especially for Dad...
Our Egyptian captain...
Even I, who sometimes don't like sailing, had fun!
Next they took us in the small motor boats to visit the first Aswan Dam, built in 1902 with the help of the British...
We later visited a beautiful botanical garden filled with flowers, plants and trees from all Egyptian soil and country.
A view of the river from the gardens...
This was my favorite day in Egypt because I got to experience things instead of looking at them." by Sarah
The rest of our day(continued by Susie)...
On our way back to the cruise ship, we passed the Mausoleum of the Aga Khan, distinguished Imam of the Ismaeli Muslims who chose this spot as his place of eternal rest due to the air of peacefulness it emanates...
After lunch aboard the ship , we went off for the afternoon by bus to visit the new Aswan Dam and the Temple of Philae...
ASWAN DAM: Built in 1960, the dam was a collaborative effort between the Soviets and the Egyptians. It took ten years to build and formed the biggest artificial lake in the world; Lake Nasser. A few more facts about the dam; 35,000 workers were necessary to complete it, it is 3,830 meters long, 111 meters high, 970 meters wide at it's base and 40 meters wide at the top. Lake Nasser is more than 500 miles long, and provides irrigation and electricity for the whole of Egypt.
The temples on the Island of Philae started to become flooded after the construction of the first Aswan Dam in 1902. Between the years of 1972-1980 UNESCO mounted a gigantic rescue operation to move these temples to higher ground. We took small boats out to the island of Agilkia to visit the temples.
PHILAE
Built during the final Egyptian dynasties and in Graeco-Roman times, the Temple of Isis is the most important temple on the island. Isis is the wife of Osiris, god of the underworld, and mother of Horus. The cult of the goddess Isis was transferred here to be near the Island of Biga where the Ancient Egyptians believed the body of Osiris to be buried.
Being out in the Egyptian desert, under sunny, warm skies it was hard for us to remember that it was Christmas Eve! Of course, we were much closer to Jesus' birth place and in a climate like that of the first Christmas than ever before in our lives. The French celebrate Christmas on the evening of the 24th and the crew of the ship made a big celebration for everyone. there was a entertainment before dinner, an AMAZING display of culinary magic for all to see followed by a delicious, four course meal with champagne for all!!
Tomorrow we leave the ship to visit Abu Simbel and then fly to Cairo for the second half of our vacation. See you!
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