Postcard: Prague

Charles Bridge in Prague, Czech Republic.

Luxor

Luxor seemed to have arrays of objects, whether that was bikes, chairs, statues or columns.

Felucca Boat on the Nile

We departed Aswan by boat—we’d spend the rest of the day, and that night on a local felucca boat, piloted by the handsome Nubian man above.  The felucca is the traditional boat for Nile transport.  It uses a lateen sail, which is triangular, and the main spar pivots on the mast, which allows it to navigate under bridges when needed, while giving it a very tall sail the rest of the time.  Below, you can see several feluccas moored, with their sails tied up, but the hinged spar is easier to see.

Aswan

The night train from Cairo arrived in Aswan around 8:30; we’d been fortunate, as delays are common, but we were on time.  Mudi managed to arrange an early check-in for us at our hotel, which got a cheer, as that meant showers.  We regrouped at 11 to take a boat to Philae temple.

Across the water, it looked small, but as we got closer, it became clear how large and extensive it was.  The entire site has been moved, as the original location is now under water in lake Nasser, where the Nile has been dammed.

Postcard: Dresden

Fountain in Dresden, Germany.

Cairo

We visited Egypt in May of 2013, when it was very stable.  We were not worried about physical security, but we knew it could be a chaotic place for Westerners, so it was one of three places in our travels where we chose to travel with a tour group (day trips aside). The other two were the Inca Trail hike and our boat trip in the Galapagos, both of which you can't do any other way than on a tour.  After some research, and passing (and being passed by) the groups from G Adventures on the Inca Trail and being very impressed by their gear and organization, we picked a three week G Adventures overland tour of Egypt and Jordan. Originally Lana had been looking at a tour that would have taken them from Egypt, through Jordan and Syria, ending in Turkey. Unfortunately, while things were stable in Egypt in May of 2013, they certainly weren't in Syria, and G Adventures had stopped offering that tour a while before we could have chosen it.  We couldn't have been more happy with our choice of tour company--but more on that later.

We spent 11 days in Egypt before continuing on to Jordan for another week.  Here’s an overview of where we traveled inside Egypt, with subtitled travel modes:

And to give you a bit of an idea of what G Adventures tours are like, here's a group shot that our guide insisted on:

Postcard: Krakow

Parade in Krakow, Poland