Down the Nile

You can board the luxury cruisers at Aswan or Luxor, but I prefer sailing from Aswan.
We spend 3 nights on this small luxury cruise ship stopping along the way to visit the temples of Kom Ombo and Edfu. The 5***** cuisine 3 times a day is delicious. A Galabaya (traditional dress) night sees the female guests dressed as Cleopatra for a night.
If 5*****cruise ships are not for you their is a the option of sailing down the Nile on a Falucca. I did this once in high winds so it took forever to get from Aswan to Luxor, but in better conditions alot of fun.
Once landed in Luxor we visit the Luxor Temple where they are still finding artifacts under the grounds surrounding the temple.
Karnak Temple is magnificient, with contributions by many of the great pharoahs of the past. In the evening we return for the sound and light show...a dramatically lit walk through time.
The Luxor museum has a small tasteful exhibition of many of the items found on the grounds of the Luxor Temple.
We make our home in a small Egyptian owned and operated hotel on the west bank.
As one sits in outdoor cafes across the road from ancient temples and watch the village life go by one feels as though you have been transported back into biblical times.
Women dressed in black with bundles of sticks piled high on their heads herding sheep
home at days end. Men on camels carrying freshly cut cane, children on donkeys carrying the largest cabbages I have ever seen. Everyone asking us were do you come from?? South Africa?...Bafana Bafana!!! Nelson Mandella!! "Welcome to Egypt" they call to us. The genuine warmth and hospitality is wonderful. I walked alone in the desert at dawn, in the evenings an after dinner stroll, never did I ever feel unsafe.
From our windows we view green fields and Habu Temple, the funerary temple of Ramses III. Here we find the most colourful depictions of life in ancient Egypt. It is difficult to believe the work is over 3,000 years old. Located on the west bank are the Tombs of the Nobels, Dir El-Medina, and the Valley of the Kings and Queens.
We were fortunate to visit Queen Nefertari's tomb on 2 occasions.
The first time I saw it I understood what AWE was. The colours are breathtaking, the finest details intact, and nothing has been touched up. Five million US $$ was given by the Getty family in San Francisco to restore and preserve this tomb of a queen.
We were picked up just before dawn to go hot air ballooning. What a thrill as we soared high up into the sky, then coming down again gliding over the tops of palm trees. As the sun rose in the sky everything turned an amazing pink.
We sailed over Queen Hatshepsut's Temple, Ramses II funerary Temple,the village of Habu, and so very close to the Colossi of Memnon we could almost touch it.
Our landing was smooth and we did a grounding dance with the balloon crew...and got the Tshirt.