Breakfast buffet. I take some pictures. I had a one egg omelet, mini pastry, grapefruit juice, tea. It's a shame I don't have more of an appetite to do justice to all the breakfast buffets we've had at our hotels and this ship since we arrived in Egypt. It's just so very hot.
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| Egg station |
Left tip envelopes in box by reception desk. Settled bill. For drinks there was no charge for tea or coffee but all others had a charge. Our bill came to 665.03 LE. This was for laundry twice and all our drinks. Roughly a bit over $100.00 but I paid cash Egyptian/LE. Saying goodbye to everyone was hard. Our table group was so nice. Robert was a good guide. The only negative is that with yesterday's excursions we really needed to have more time. I would have liked much more time at the Valley of the Kings, Temple of Hatshepsut, Karnak, and Luxor. I would have liked a 5 night Nile cruise so that yesterday wouldn't have felt so crammed full. Do sightseeing from 5/27 over two days instead of the one. We get certificates for our Nile cruise. I bought the DVD of our Nile cruise for $35.00 USD. We leave the ship at 8:00 am.
LUXOR. We have a driver and a guide Ahmed that is going to take us to
Abydos and Dendara. First we drop off our luggage at our hotel-
Steigenberger. We will check in when we return. Nice scenes of every day life as we head towards Abydos. It will take us almost 3 hours to reach
Abydos. Along the way we stop at a roadside stand selling food. Our guides buys us these
long rolls stuffed with tomatoes and cheese. Also drinks-water and Fayrouz pineapple drink. Delicious.
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Traffic
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Road construction
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ABYDOS. Built during
Seti I reign. Constructed of limestone. L shaped plan.
Cult center of Osiris. Abydos was once a huge walled town. Lovely bas reliefs. Ramses II (son of Set I) completed the construction of the Temple of Seti. My pictures from the Temple of Seti I are weird but to lighting and spotlights. Some of the pictures have a green and yellow hue to them. The Cenotaph of Seti/Osireion is half buried and inaccessible due to flooding. Built of massive blocks it once enclosed a room containing a mound surrounded by a moat (symbolizing the first land rising from the waters of Chaos at the dawn of Creation) where a pseudo-sarcophagus waited resurrection. I bought a great book with detailed information. We spent 1 1/2 hours here.
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Admission ticket
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Book I bought
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Mostly missing First Pylon
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Remains First Pylon
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Second Pylon
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Portico of Seti I temple
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Ceiling
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Some think this shows a helicopter, submarine, space ship
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Ceiling
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Seti I receives blessings from Isis
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Think this is Seti with sun god Amun Re
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Osiris returned to life by his wife Isis who turns into a bird to conceive Horus
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| Carved baas relief-cartouche of Seti I with name Men Ma'at Re |
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Seti I with Anubis, guardian of the dead
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| Seti I with Horus |
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| Ramses II and prince Amenherkhepeshef lassoing bull |
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| Seti I with Isis receives royal scepters from Horus |
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| Thoth granting years and power to deified Seti I |
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| Isis and Seti I lifting Djed pillar |
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Hypostyle Hall
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Takes around 2 1/2 hours to drive to
Dendara.
DENDARA. Located near
Qena.
Temple of Hathor. Many attributes-body of the sky, living soul of trees, goddess of gold and turquoise, music and revelry. Best known for association with Horus Graeco-Roman creation, built between 125 BC and 60 AD. The temple facade shaped like a pylon with 6 Hathor-headed columns. Here and inside Hathor appears in human form rather than a cow. Because this section was built during the reign of Tiberius it depicts Roman emperors making offerings to the gods. The Hypostyle Hall has 18 Hathor-headed columns and an astronomical ceiling. This is a symbolic representation of the heavenly bodies, the hours of the day and night, and the realms of the sun and moon. I bought a book here also. I've been buying these inexpensive paper back books. Good way to remember what I saw. Spent around 1 1/2 hours here.
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Admission ticket
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Book I bought
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Birthing Temple
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| The 6 Hathor-headed columns on the temple facade |
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Renovations
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| Hypostyle Hall |
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| Ceiling-Nut who gives birth to the sun at dawn and swallows it at dusk |
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Astronomical ceiling-Osiris seated in a boat with Isis and Nephtys
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| Eye of Re in its barque/boat |
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Roof
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| Dendara zodiac |
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| Richard went down into the crypt |
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Richard
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Ahmed explaining the outer wall reliefs
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Cleopatra VII and her son Caesarion as Pharaoh
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Sacred Lake has no water!
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Lion gargoyle
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STEIGENBERGER. We arrive around 5:30 pm. It's been a long day. This is a much larger hotel than I expected. It's quite lovely. Check in goes fine and our luggage that we left this morning can now be taken to our room. Our room is #215. Very spacious. It has 2 full size beds which is great. A sitting area with 2 arm chairs and a table. A desk and a TV. A large bathroom with a tub. Nice toiletries. Our balcony has 2 chairs and a table. We have a view of the Nile and the hotel pool.
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Beds were spacious and comfy
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Sitting area
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| Bathroom |
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Bathroom
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| View of the Nile and the pool |
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| Our balcony |
Dinner is at our hotel
CASA DI NAPOLI-Italian. I had Penne All' Arrabbita-homemade pasta with spicy tomato sauce, fresh basil, and garlic and it was yummy. Richard had Zuppa di Pesce Mediterranea-seafood soup and Insalata Caprese-a salad of tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. We both had gelato-chocolate, strawberry, and carmelito. The restaurant is located in the hotel's big courtyard. There were belly dancers performing in the courtyard.
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| Menu |
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The restaurant has indoor and outdoor seating
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| Lots of courtyard tables for the different restaurants |
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