Tom & I left the 2008 Celebration in the capable hands of Susan & Jake and jetted off to Egypt in February for a trip I have always dreamed of doing.  Egypt is a country of contracts. Like most civilizations that have evolved over thousands of years you find religions and wars played the major drivers for each era of change. However, in Egypt much is unchanged.

The people of Egypt eek out a living only along the river Nile, which flows from South to North through endless miles of sand.  Thousands of years of history unfolded along this life giving river which runs the length of the country. We began our trip in Cairo, then flew to Aswan, then took boats and planes down the Nile back to Cairo, a 10+ day trip.  I won’t cover the whole trip because it would take pages and days. I will tell you about two amazing sights we visited.

The first is Abu Simbel. This is a monument to two things: One man’s ego and the dedication of modern archaeologists to save Egypt’s treasures. Ramses II cut two temples into the sandstone hills in Nubia, which was what we currently think of as far southern Egypt near the Sudan border. He built this temple to impress on the people of Nubia that he was THE ruler and they shouldn’t mess with him. He was also very proud of his wife Nefertari and built a temple to honor her next to his. I can’t stress to you how far out in the middle of nowhere this place is. When modern civilization decided to build a massive dam on the Nile and create Lake Nasser, an international team moved both temples miles away and created a safe location for them above the lake level. This was a feat comparable to the original building and creation of the temples. It is meant to inspire awe and it works. We were awestruck!

The next jaw dropping experience for us was in the tomb of a noble man. These tombs are scattered throughout the smaller valleys around the famous Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens. This tomb was started and never finished, the workers simply walked away. It shows all the stages of art work from the first drawings to the final carvings. An amazing moment frozen in time of how the art work we so treasure was created.

We were astonished at the destruction of art work that was done by succeeding pharaohs, invading armies and new religions. Each seemed to want to destroy the images of those that came before and put their images in place of the others. Yet, nature protected many of the most ancient monuments by simply burying them in the vast sands of the desert to be discovered generations later after the ruler or war had passed. We were also surprised that places like the Temple of Karnak which was added to and remodeled endlessly for hundreds of years. Every pillar is carved with succeeding pharaoh’s cartouche and even christian symbols. Carved statues of Pharaohs, animals and obelisks covering many eons of rulers and art work are scattered throughout the acre plus site.

   We recommend you take this trip, but don’t recommend that you do it on your own. The language and cultural barriers and the difficult transportation and unstable neighbors make this a trip you want to do with a group. We chose Lindblad Expeditions. This tour was very well done and our guides (we had 2 for a group of 40) were out of this world. Our guide, Minal, spoke English, French and read Hieroglyphics! She gave us all sorts of in-sites into the people, the country, the history, the art and the politics of today. She truly made the trip!

Everyone asked if we felt safe. The answer is yes. Egypt wants its tourists to feel protected and has invested heavly in Tourism Police which are everywhere (not just on camels) and even rode on the busses and boats with us. We never felt unsafe. If you have always dreamed of visiting the pyramids , just do it.

Tom & Ann Morrow, world travelers.