Travel Plans: Today, after an early breakfast and hotel check out, we transfer to Cairo airport to board a plane bound for Luxor. In Luxor, we will board the Sonesta Star Goddess to begin our Nile cruise. After touring the West Bank and the Valleys of the Kings and Queens, we will set sail on the Nile headed south.

Why the West Bank: The minute you became the pharaoh, you started work on your tomb. Problems rose with grave robbers stealing the gold, jewels and treasures buried with the mummies to provide for the afterlife from the pyramids. The West Bank, across the river from Luxor, acted as a secluded spot for your mummy to spend eternity. The pharaohs of the 18th Dynasty stopped the tradition of pyramid building, and had their tombs tunneled deep into the mountain sides of the region. These complex catacombs were harder to rob and easily concealed. Even the tomb for Ramesses II’s many sons, which has over 100 rooms, remained hidden until only about 10 years ago.

Entrance to the West Bank: The Colossi of Memnon flank the outer gates of the largest of the temples on the west bank, that of Amenhotep III. They are the first monuments to greet you as you enter the West Bank necropolis. Despite being damaged by nature, ancient tourists, and faulty repairs 18 centuries ago, the statues are over 75 feet tall, and impressively beautiful. The statues are carved from blocks of quartzite and depict Amenhotep III and his mom and Amenhotep III and his wife and daughter. Due to an earthquake in 27 BC, these statues became known for a bell like tone that occurred on hot mornings as the humidity hissed out of the cracks and fissures. This turned them into instant tourist attractions, because hearing the song meant that the gods liked you. Tourists flocked in, including a Roman emperor or two. The song came to an end when the Roman emperor Septimius Severus “fixed” the statues in 199 AD by plugging whatever crack or hole was making the magic, and silenced them forever.

Temple of Hatsepsut: The area around the Colossi is where most of the major temples of the West Bank were constructed, and those of Thutmose III and IV, Amenhotep II, Sety I, and Ramesses III are still quite majestic. The amazing Tombs of the Nobles are also nearby. Up and around the road a bit, sits the most stunning, the Temple of Hatshepsut, who ruled as pharaoh for 15 years, and who is fittingly interred in the Valley of the Kings. She was the daughter, sister, wife and aunt (which, as you will recall, were overlapping categories) of the first three Tuthmosis, and her own reign was grand. Her temple is being lovingly restored by the Polish Centre for Mediterranean Archaeology. The temple is built into the side of the mountain, with a long ramp that leads across two giant terraces. Three columned facades are being restored, the first now completed almost to perfection. In its original state, the courtyards were filled with fountains and flowering plants and trees. Even now, it looks remarkably modern.

Valley of the Kings: The tombs of the pharaohs were located in the secluded Valley of the Kings. The name is a bit of a misnomer, because not all of the 62 tombs excavated to date are royal. (Those of nobles and the privileged were generally undecorated, and we won’t be seeing those.) The most famous tomb is the one that belonged to Tutankhamun, a relatively unimportant pharaoh who was hastily buried is a tomb probably not even intended for him. The tomb is famous because it was concealed under the village of the workmen who cut the tomb for Ramesses VI (one of the largest tombs in the valley), so when it was discovered in 1922, the tomb had all of its treasure.

Not all of the tombs are accessible (Hatshepsut’s, for example, is not), and of those that are, the authorities rotate which are available to be visited, so we cannot predict which ones we will see. Generally, they keep open a couple of examples of each of the three basic types. The early tombs have staircases and corridors, change direction and are decorated with scenes from the Book of the Secret Chamber. The middle stage tombs incorporate the Litany of Ra, and the dead pharaoh will appear before the falcon-headed sun god. In the last phase, the tombs are basically just huge sloping corridors, but a wide set of books are used as the basis for the art. Aside from the long downward corridor, the tombs generally have a well room (a deep shaft designed to foil burglars), a hall generally held up by pillars, and the burial chamber. Additional chambers and corridors would be added for decoration and such, or to bury a few extra relatives and guests.

Valley of the Queens: Most of the wives of the pharaohs and their children were buried in the Valley of the Queens, which is in the hills to the south of where their husbands were buried. Few are open to the public, and even the restored Tomb of Nefertari, one of the most impressive monuments in the West Bank, is open to only 150 people per day. The cliffs surrounding the valley make the experience spectacular. Perhaps because the tombs were laden with less treasure, greater effort was devoted to the wall paintings, which often remain reasonably intact. Egyptian art evolved significantly during this period, with paintings stretching across adjacent walls, and considerable more realism in the portrayal of the figures. Often modeled in low relief in plaster and then painted, occasionally an individual figure will break out from the scene.

Captain’s Party: Tonight our Captain invites you to a cocktail party where you can meet and mingle with the ships officers and staff. Who doesn’t love a man in a crisp white uniform, especially when he’s buying the drinks!

Esna: The modern town of Esna is built over the Temple of Khnum, and only the hypostyle hall of the temple, some 30 feet below the level of the street, has been excavated. However, the temple is of great historical importance because the names and the activities of the Ptolemies and the Roman emperors are recorded up to Decius, who was murdered in 251 A.D. The decoration in the temple is elegant, with figures of the emperors and hymns to Khnum written entirely in hieroglyphs formed from crocodiles.

Edfu: The Temple of Horus in Edfu in the most completely preserved in Egypt, with its pylon, exterior walls and sanctuary all in near perfect condition. Its walls detail all of mythology and the politics of the time. It has the standard temple design. You enter through the separation between the massive pylons into a walled court. This wall continues around the entire temple. From the court, you entire a hypostyle hall, and from there, you cross another pylon into a smaller court fronting the building complex that contains the sanctuaries, tombs and chapels.

Egyptian Costume Party: A great tradition of these Nile cruise ships is the Galabayyas party, where you dress up in traditional Egyptian garb, and then try to dance to traditional local music. The dance steps are relatively easy, but when you are dressed like King Tut—or the Queen of the Nile—no one will care if you decide to just do your own thing.

High Dam: A visit to the Aswan High Dam is an inspiring experience. While its neighbors have experienced famines, Egypt has been spared because of the dam, and there is no longer flooding—an important consideration given that about 95 percent of Egypt’s population lives within 12 miles of the river. The first Aswan dam was built in 1889, but even after it was raised twice, it almost overflowed in 1946. The High Dam prevents this from occurring, and the beautiful Lake Nasser is the third largest reservoir in the world, stretching for 500 miles. The dam was created from tons of rubble (enough to build 17 pyramids) and provides about half of Egypt's power supply.

The dam, for all its good, has caused problems and controversy. First, paying for the dam caused havoc. Egypt requested loans from the World Bank. The United States initially agreed but then suddenly withdrew, presumably because of Nasser’s refusal to give up his county’s non-aligned status. Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal to help pay for the dam, and the United Kingdom, France, and Israel invaded. The Soviets stepped in to the “rescue” and provided the necessary money and technology. (They wore out their welcome over the next few years.) Once the project was underway, over 90,000 Nubians were relocated, and there was a wild race to save the artifacts of the region before they submerged. Now that the dam is finished, it is rapidly filling with sediment, which is decreasing its storage capacity, farmers use about a million tons of artificial fertilizer they did not need before, and the Nile delta faces erosion. Poor drainage of the newly irrigated lands has led increased salinity, which leaches back from the salty ocean sand below, and the stagnant hot water must be carefully monitored for parasites. Still, it is pretty, and no one misses the big famines.

Quarries: The tools used to cut the hard granite rock for the monuments of the pharaohs are unknown, but the granite cut in Aswan was hewn in massive quantities and used as far away as Thebes. The only tools that remain are copper, which would have been far too soft, and it appears that the ancients could bore granite at far greater speeds than we can achieve today. Perhaps the most famous quarry is the site in Aswan of the Unfinished Obelisk. The obelisk would have been the largest the world had seen, but flaws in the stone prevented its completion.

Temple of Philae: Philae is an island now buried beneath Lake Nasser, submerged by the High Dam. The main temple, the center of the cult of the goddess Isis, was relocated to the island of Agilika. Philae was a tiny island about four miles south of modern Elephantine almost entirely covered with temples and other monuments. The new location was carefully landscaped to make it resemble Philae as much as possible, and about 40,000 blocks weighing about 20,000 tons were moved to the new location. The temple is distinguished by several 60 foot tall pylons. The most beautiful part of the temple is Trajan’s Kiosk, which shows the Roman emperor making offerings to Isis and Osiris.

Talent Show: Whether you sing or dance or just dress up and prance, come and entertain us. Don’t worry if you are not quite ready for Broadway: talent is great, but enthusiasm works just fine.

Travel Plans: Today we step off the Star Goddess and board an early morning plane for Abu Simbel, which is at the very south of Egypt. After touring around for about three hours, we get back on the plane and fly back to our ship. Breakfast will be on the run, but we should make it to the ship by 1:30 pm for a nice proper lunch.

Abu Simbel: One of the most amazing things about Abu Simbel is that these monumental temples were all picked up and moved—had they stayed where they were, the rising waters from the High Dam would have covered them. Thirty countries worked for ten years and 23 temples were saved.

The Temple of Ramesses II, the most magnificent monument in Nubia, was dedicated to Ramesses II and to the four universal gods Ptah, Re-Harakhte, Amun-Re, and Ramesses II himself. (He was deified after his 64 year reign.) Unlike most temples, it is not free-standing, but rather the façade was cut from the cliff face itself, hewn into a pylon surrounded by four seated statues of Ramesses II. The northern wall of the central hall was decorated with an extraordinary relief of the great battle won by the pharaoh against the Hittites, and the standing and seated statues are stunning. The temple was built at the height of the Egyptian empire, which brought peace with the Hittites, who ruled from Iraq to Palestine, and rule over Libya.

The Temple of Queen Nefertari was also saved. Nefertari was the most beloved of the wives of Ramesses II, and the temple has a beautiful relief of Nefertari watching lovingly as her husband smites his enemies. The most unusual feature is that the façade is not simply monster statues of the pharaoh or the gods. Typically the statues of the pharaoh’s family would be miniatures compared to the big man himself. Here, Ramesses special love for Nefertari is clear—the whole family stands tall.

Aswan: Nubia once occupied the area between Aswan and what is now central Sudan (the country immediately south of Egypt.) Now a barren desert, it then had seasonal lakes and savanna that supported a large population. Nubia was part of the Kushite Empire until around 1500 BC, when it was conquered and incorporated into Egypt. It was a rich and dynamic region, with great resources such as gold, ebony, ivory, and slaves. (The name, Nubia, comes from the ancient Egyptian word for gold.) Once colonized, Nubia and her people became thoroughly incorporated into Egyptian culture. Egypt was ruled by Nubian pharaohs for about a century, who at that point were probably more Egyptian than the Egyptians themselves. One such pharaoh, Shabako exalted traditional pyramids, and as a result, Nubia had more pyramids than Egypt. The Nubian Museum was completed in 1997, and houses a magnificent collection of treasures from the area.

Kom Ombo: There were many temples dedicated to Horus, and this is not the largest (we will see that one later). The outstanding feature of this Temple of Horus is that it is actually the unique unification of two adjacent temples, one dedicated to crocodile-headed Sobek, god of fertility and creator of the world, and the other to falcon-headed Horus, the solar war god. Each temple has its own entrance, chapel, etc. In the hypostyle hall, a central row of columns separates the gods.

The Temple of Horus was built by the Ptolemie pharaohs, descendants of Alexander the Great and his generals, who ruled Egypt for almost three centuries. To give you some idea of the complex social relationships of the time, the temple’s hypostyle hall is decorated with scenes of Ptolemy VIII accompanied with his sister and ex-wife (Kleopatra II) and her daughter, his wife, Kleopatra III. Kleopatras II and III both ruled as pharaohs, and continued to marry their siblings. Keeping it in the family was a long-standing Egyptian tradition. One result of this inbreeding is that there is a lively discussion among Egyptologists as to which pharaohs had what genetic disorders. The Kleopatra that fell in love with Mark Antony was the scrappy VII, who actually slept with several boys who were not in her immediate family.

Thebes: The most generally used name for this region is “Thebes,” which includes Luxor, Karnak and the West Bank. The region contains the largest surviving concentration of ancient monuments in the Nile Valley. Of little importance during the Old Kingdom (3100 to 2183 BC), Thebes became the major residence of the pharaohs during the Middle Kingdom, waxing and waning depending on the degree to which they worshiped Amun (the blue sky god who merged with the sun god, Ra.) Thebes was the burial place for dozens of pharaohs across five different dynasties.

Karnak: The Temple of Amun was built, enlarged and rebuilt over 1,000 years. It is the largest temple complex in Egypt, and one of the largest religious buildings in the world. (Napoleon’s engineers calculated that the entirety of the Notre Dame would fit into its Hypostyle Hall.) The east side of the temple is built among three gigantic pylons, with the Kiosk of Taharqo (one of the Nubian pharaohs), the Barque Shrine of Sety II, and the Temple of Ramesses III between the first two, and the Hypostyle Hall between the second and third. The west side of the temple contains within its walls obelisks, shrines, the Solar Chapel, with the Middle Kingdom Court at its center. If this sounds overwhelming, it is, and it makes up only a portion of the complete complex of temples. Other temples within the walled complex honor Monthu (a sun god), Akhenaten (the pharaoh who revolutionized religion in Egypt, leading to a decline in the decadent power of the priests of Amen), Opet (the hippopotamus goddess, mother of Osiris) and Khonsu (the mood god). Walking out of this complex down the Avenue of Sphinxes leads to the temples of Mut (the goddess consort of Amun) and Ramesses III (the deified pharaoh).

Travel Plans: We disembark the ship in early morning and fly back to Cairo. Our new hotel, the luxurious Conrad Cairo Hotel, is located in the heart of the city.

Egyptian Museum of Antiquities: The Egyptian Museum, without doubt, holds the greatest collection of Egyptian artifacts in the world. The ground floor displays larger objects running chronologically running clockwise from the left. Upstairs are the treasures of Tutankhamun and Case H, which contains the small masterpieces for which the museum takes especial special pride.

Travel Plans: Alexandria is a bit less than 150 miles from Cairo, but the city’s special ambiance makes it worth the visit. We will be back in Cairo for dinner.

Alexandria: The second largest city in Egypt, Alexandria is the country’s principal port. Located on the Mediterranean at the western part of the Nile delta, the city’s cultural heritage make it feel less middle-eastern than any other city in Egypt. Founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BC, Alexandria was the capital when Egypt was first ruled by Macedonia, then by the native-born offspring of Alexander’s generals, the Ptolemaic pharaohs, and finally by Rome.

Little of ancient Alexandria remains, because of the great decline of the city during the Middle Ages and the earthquakes that occur every few centuries. The city was generally ignored by tourists and treasure hunters until very recently. The greatest treasure was the temple and lighthouse built in the 3rd century BC. The structure was about 400 feet tall, and remained one of the tallest man-made structures on Earth for many centuries. One of the Seven Wonders of the World, it was destroyed by two earthquakes in the 14th century AD. Its remains have been found in Alexandria's Eastern Harbor by divers, and recent satellite images have led to great excitement.

The most striking ancient monument standing is the misnamed Pompey’s Pillar, the only remaining part of a magnificent Temple of Serapis. After his defeat by Julius Caesar in the civil war, Pompey fled to Egypt. The locals murdered him and sent his head back to Caesar because they thought this would please him, perhaps not realizing that Pompey was his son-in-law. Mediaeval travelers believed he must be buried here, and that the capital atop the corner served as a container for his remains, even though the pillar was not constructed until several hundred years later. The pillar is the tallest ancient monument in Alexandria, almost 100 feet high, and amazingly has remained standing and intact despite repeated earthquakes.

Nearby are the famed Catacombs, which were rediscovered because of a donkey accident in about 1900. Dating back to the 2nd century AD, the catacombs were cut from the living rock on three overlapping levels. The central well has a spiral staircase leading to a large vestibule. Niches, a rotunda and a domed kiosk surround the well.

Islamic Cairo: After the agonies of rule by the Byzantine Empire, the Egyptian people were indifferent to capture of the country by the early Muslim generals. Egyptian Christians of the Coptic sect were especially hostile to Byzantine rule, but the high taxes and corruption over time made the rule from Baghdad progressively less popular. In the 9th century AD, the local governor established the first autonomous Muslim state in Egypt. The shift between external and local rule continued for hundreds of years, with an occasional crusade or plague tossed in for good measure. The problems resembled those of the rest of the Muslim world, who argued whether the successors to Mohammad should be by election on based on heredity. Of those who favored the latter, the most successful in Egypt were the Fatimids, who based their claims on power through the direct decent though the prophet’s daughter. This was last Arab dynasty to rule Egypt, falling to the great general Saladin in 1171. He began work on the Citadel, an impressive series of buildings within a fortress, as a place from which to command his armies. Construction continued for almost 700 years, and the complex served as the seat of government until only about 150 years ago.

Rule of Egypt after Saladin brought Abbasid Khalifs, Mamluk Sultans, and Ottomans before Europe invaded again. The expulsion of the French in 1800 by combined British and Ottoman troops, and the resulting chaos finally proved enough. The people of Cairo turned to Mohammad Ali, the Ottoman general, to restore order. He defeated the British, and, after inviting them to celebrate at the Citadel, murdered the rebellious local Mamluk officers, who were the last to contest his power. He and his family ruled for almost 150 years, and thoroughly modernized Egypt. Built inside the Citadel is the Muhammad Ali Mosque, designed by a Greek architect following Ottoman designs with a few ancient and Mamluk decorations thrown in for good measure. Reminiscent of the mosques of Istanbul, its walls are covered with a beautiful alabaster finish, and it is often called the Alabaster Mosque. The terraces in the back offer a terrific view of the city.

Old Cairo has Coptic treasures, and the Coptic Museum has the famed Nag Hammadi Codices (which we can direct you to if you are not much of a shopper), but at this point we are off to the bazaar. The Khan al-Khalili is Cairo’s most famous bazaar, selling silk, clothing, fine jewelry and kitsch. Egyptians are very friendly people, famously hospitable, but the key word to a good deal is “haggle.”

Farewell Dinner: Join your ROmanCE VOYAGES staff and all your new friends for a fabulous farewell dinner. Toast to a wonderful adventure and firm up all your plans for your next ROmanCE VOYAGE.