Upper Egypt

We boarded the night train at Giza station and headed south to Upper Egypt. After twelve hours of restless sleep and 900 kilometers of railroad tracks we arrived in the city of Aswan. We went straight from the train to the bus and then to the temple of Philae. In order to get there we had to take a small boat to an island in the river. Philae is one of seven temples that were moved to higher ground during the construction of the Aswan Dam.  After our boat ride back to the mainland we had a chance to see the Aswan Dam before heading to our hotel. On the way we stopped at a quarry where large stones were carved out of the rock for temples and obelisks. One obelisk remains in the ground due to a large crack in it’s surface. In the evening of our first day we took a lovely ride on the Nile via felucca.  While on the boat we were hosted by Nubians who managed to get the students to move a bit to the music.

The next morning we left via bus for a three hour trip to the city of Luxor.  Upon arrival we checked into our hotel and took off for the Valley of the Kings. We had the chance to enter three tombs out of the many present in the valley. The temperature was approaching 110 degrees Fahrenheit and thus we had a sauna while in the tombs. In spite of the heat they were remarkable.

The next morning we headed to the temple of Queen Hatshepsut, and later the incredible ruins at Karnak. At midday a few of us had the pleasure of meeting the Governor of Luxor to talk about service options in his community. Our day ended with a visit to the Luxor temple at twilight.

On our final day in Upper Egypt we slept in! Later in the day we walked to the Luxor Museum which contains some sculptures that are truly masterpieces. In the evening we took the night train back to Cairo arriving home at about 6 in the next morning.