Balloon Ride Over the Valley of the Kings

It was well worth getting up in the wee hours of the morning to watch the sun rise over the valley of the queens and kings from a hot air balloon.


Up, up and away!  My first balloon ride.  This is a popular tourist activity at Luxor. There were at least 25 balloons and the basket on each balloon held 28 people.


 The balloon pilot (in white) was very skillful at maneuvering us over the sights and even brought us down right at the airport at the flights conclusion.


The glow of sunrise over the desert where thousands of ancient tombs have been discovered.


Sunrise over the Nile.


John, Teresa and Scott mid flight.  Pat stayed on the boat.


There is a stark dividing line between the lush and fertile Nile farm lands and the desert.


Temple of Hatshepsut from the air. We will visit here on Saturday.

When our flight returned us to earth, we went back to the ship via van and water taxi.  That is me in the front.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Exploring Petra

Image
Our group lined up single file in the Siq, placed a hand on the shoulder of the person in front of us and shuffled forward with our eyes closed. Our guide Ahmad played the theme song from Indiana Jones as we gazed in awe at the Petra treasury building.  Some corny fun to start a day of exploration in the archaeological marvel that is Petra. The ancient ruins of Petra are astonishing in their size, they are amazingly well preserved, and they go on forever.  I would like to go back someday to take in the side trails and attempt the steep walk up to the monastery. To get to Petra you walk a mile down through the Siq, a narrow slot canyon that protected Petra from invaders. We looked at temples and ancient shopping malls.  Bedouins provide camel and donkey rides back up through Petra for people who get tired of walking. We walked. A lot. The Not Dead Yet Tour does Petra! The tomb area was open for exploration. Pat and Teresa are in the doorways. Another tourist photo bombed m...
Read more

Farewell to Cairo and Hello Karnak Temple

Image
 After long days of sightseeing in Cairo, followed by a way early wake up call, we were on our way to the Cairo Airport at 6 am to catch a flight to Luxor and board the MS Antares for a seven-day cruise on the Nile River. I was too sleepy to take an airport photo. Another photo that I didn’t get was a snapshot of the truly insane chaos of traffic in Cairo.  Cars, pedestrians, scooters, donkey carts and tour buses share the same narrow lanes of roadway in an oddly unspoken and graceful dance. Who needs a pedestrian crosswalk or traffic light when you have a horn! I felt pretty safe, but it’s definitely culture shock to see machine gun toting police on the street corners. There are armed but friendly (to us) security guards on the Viking tour buses who help fend of over zealous souvenir vendors. Moving on from Cairo, we landed in Luxor and were in the bus and on our way to Karnak Temple by 9:30.  Karnak is a huge ancient temple dedicated to the deities Amun, Mut and Khonsu....
Read more

La, Shukran is My Super Power!

Image
On our first full day in Egypt, we were fully immersed in history, culture and the Egyptian way of life. The first stop was the Cairo Mosque and Citadel. We learned about Muslim religious practices and enjoyed panoramic views of Cairo. One observation our guide shared was that many devout Muslim men have a dark patch on their forehead caused by bacteria from the prayer rugs. I looked at mens foreheads for the rest of the day! Or next stop was the Egyptian Museum where we saw the famous funerary mask of King Tutankhamen (no photos allowed) and wandered through galleries of artifacts. I needed two days here to fully explore the museum, but had to settle for two hours. This small sculpture of King Khufu, builder of the great pyramid at Giza was one of my favorites. Our evening jaunt to the Khan Il Kahlili market in the old city was unlike anything I’ve experienced before. Narrow streets and alleyways were lined with vendors hawking everything from housewares to souvenirs and more. We wand...
Read more