March 26- April 2, 2010
Our family so enjoyed the swimming, sun and fun of Egypt last year that they begged to go again. This time we knew it would be our last though- sniff! sniff! The idea was for this week vacation to be primarily relaxing and little touristing. Last year we flew to the Northeast side of the Sinai Peninsula and this year we chose to go to Hurghada which is on the Red Sea but a bit further down on the larger section of Egypt.
And this year we also had the pleasure of traveling with the Duffy family. They have two girls near our girls ages- Britney and Sophie. Both of our families were looking forward to warmth and sun after a long rainy (and snowy) winter in the UK. The thought was that we could enjoy the coral reef snorkeling that Hurghada is famous for and poolside relaxing at the resort. Jeanne promised to keep the sightseeing to ONE day at the Valley of the Kings. This truly is not how we have traveled since we've been over to Europe though. But we must make the most of our opportunities... right? But for a change of pace this was supposed to be our RELAXING vacation.
HA!
We drove down the night before since Gatwick is a bit far to travel and London traffic is so unpredictable. Still we began the day tired. A 5 hour flight later and we were excited but exhausted. We met our tour bus in the airport parking and off we went to Jungle Aqua Park. We all were ready for the warm weather we felt through the bus windows!
We arrived to a magnificent massive reception that opened up to a never-ending pool. WOW! Walking to our rooms was a hike that continued past pool after pool after pool. The kids almost jumped in with their clothes on they were so excited! Then we walked past a kids slide and toy area! But much to the disappointment of the kids... we were told it was closed until the next day.
Here's a picture of this SMALL kids play area that we took the next day...
We finally found our cul-de-sac pool that our rooms shared and again we were SO IMPRESSED!
There was a fun stepping stone division between the small wading pool and the deeper swimming pool. It made for a great follow-the-leader path!
Beds for 5 but we actually had two rooms! It was fantastic! Exotic sheer curtains separated the kids beds from the king bed. It also had a massive walk in shower. Luxury!
The first day we explored the hotel and Cathy signed up for some much needed massages. The kids had a fantastic time at the kids area.
We explored all of the restaurant selections for lunch as the girls enjoyed dangling their toes in the gloriously peaceful pool.
But then Brittney learned the hard way what it's like to have a mischievous older brother...
Then Scott and Kevin went to the meeting to sign up for optional tours. So... it was SCOTT (not Jeanne!) who booked all of the weeks activities! Everyone please note that JEANNE didn't fill our days to the brim! So the itinerary was as follows:
Friday- Arrive in the evening
Saturday- Relax and sign up for activities
Sunday- Long day to the Valley of the Kings near Luxor
Monday-Relax and Water Park. Scott and I got to go on a date!
Tuesday- Snorkeling and boat ride to the reefs
Wednesday- Kevin and Cathy went to Cairo to see the pyramids while we spent some quality pool time with their girls!
Thursday- 4 wheeling, Go-Karting, Horse/Donkey/Camel riding, Dinner, 45 minute jeep ride to a Bedouin camp near some mountains, jeep ride back, ending in a variety show of a belly dancer, fire eater, and nail/glass walker.
Friday- travel home
The MASSIVE aqua park was located on the far side of the resort from us... but that was okay since we needed the exercise from all the food we ate at the 5 restaurants that we could choose from!
Sunday March 28
Luxor and.... Karnak Temple
We had to wake up and be at the reception by 5 am! Yikes! We stumbled on (last on the bus) and luckily found some seats mostly together. It was a 4 hour drive to Luxor though and we were pretty much wiped out before started the day!
The sun and excitement of being at the Karnak temple did get us moving though. And wow the structures were amazing! Here is the entrance that is lined for miles of lion-sphinx like statues (most of which are not excavated!)
Then when you enter the second massive gate (in the far distance in the picture above) you enter the remains of a pillared room called the Hypostyle hall- it was once covered and it is massive! In total there are 134 pillars.. and each pillar is carved with hieroglyphics and once painted bright colors. Very cool!
Walk through the hall and Karnak opens into more courtyards and various temples, statues and even an obelisk! (Notice Christina is trying to be an obelisk? She is really fun to travel with!)
Here she is crossing her arms like the statue of the Pharaoh.
Our guide described an interesting way that ancient Egyptians multiplied larger numbers. First you wrote the problem (example of 15 x 13 uses our number system symbols instead of their Egyptian symbols). Under the larger first number you would write the number and one beside it to the right. The row below would double both columns (15 and 1 would become 30 and 2), and then repeating the doubling process (as shown below) until the sum of the right hand digits is greater than the second number that is being multiplied... in this case "13". Then to get the answer to the problem eliminate rows until the sum of the right hand column adds up to the column number "13". So 1+4+8=13. That means that you add the remaining left hand column numbers and that is the answer to your problem. Therefore any good Egyptian mathematician would solve 15x13 = 15+60+120 = 195... interesting!
Nile River
After 6 hours on the bus and visiting Karnak we were ready for a cool spot for lunch and food! We stopped at a nice hotel with buffet lunch that was actually quite tasty! It overlooked the Nile river which made it all the more relaxing.
After lunch we sat out in the shade of trees in the garden terrace. But it was time to move on to our ferry across the Nile where our tour bus was to meet us.
A picture of Madison in-De-Nile
Statue of Memmnon
Valley of the Kings
Please note: pictures posted for the Valley of the Kings came from the internet... I didn't take them! The reason was that the Egyptians have tightened security on the Valley of the kings so photographs were not permitted at all! There was something about how our tour guide said it that we knew they weren't kidding. So when we entered our first tomb for Ramses we still were surprised when a rather large Englishman was tackled. He easily held away his Iphone defending himself from the small Egyptian. The confrontation got rather heated and by the time we were trying to walk out he was being escorted by two guards. We exited listening to the man defend himself that he didn't take any pictures and showing the pictures on the screen... then we heard behind us a very loud "I'll delete it!! I'll delete it!!!"
Lesson learned- but a little late for the large Englishman who lost his Iphone.
But back to our visit to the Valley of the kings... When we first entered the small museum we saw a rather cool 3-D display showing the valley and the tombs that have been found.
What made this display extra special was the underside that showed how the network of tunnels zagged down into the ground.
Here is what a typical tomb looked like. Although we kind of expected an Indiana Jones type of crawling tunnel, these were wide and elaborately decorated... and shorter than expected. The colors are beginning to deteriorate and therefore the rule about cameras (and their sometimes unintended flashes)
The outside of the tombs was just a plain dusty valley with tomb entrances stacked rather close to each other.
We chose not to pay extra to go to the tomb of King Tut. Although it was something high on Jeanne's list, when we heard that the mummy of King Tut is located inside as an attraction to make money for the government against all advice of conservationists (as it is deteriorating rapidly from the humidity, heat and exposure)- we decided against it. Somehow it didn't seem right.
We didn't know that the Valley of the Kings was so warm even in late March... but it was! I couldn't imagine what it would be like in June-August. WAY too hot! So we were thankful to be visiting in the spring and that we had an air-conditioned bus with cool water waiting for us.
Queen Hatshepsut Monument
Our last stop was this imposing structure built into the mountains behind. It was built by a Queen who adeptly maneuvered her way into being a PHARAOH! Statues show her with a beard!
Here is the entrance to her tomb.
We were shuttled back in train cards pulled by a CATERPILLAR forklift! Kevin and Scott laughed at the sometimes unusual uses of Cat machines! So funny we had to get a picture!
Monday (and Wednesday)
Water Park dayWe had several days on the slides. And we all had a blast. There were slides of all sorts for all ages.
A view of the water park from the top...
Here Madison is trying out the big yellow...
And Scott...
The big blue isn't for timid sliders...
Here is one that Christina was able to master! Such fun!
There also was a steep orange, a big family raft (that we capsized the first group slide), dark tunnel, a green one that you met in the middle and had to bounce or scramble around until you could finally slide down the final part, twisting slides, Slides for mats, two toilet bowl slides... and perhaps a few more... it was a kids dream water park!
The kids were seriously concerned about dinner and what we were going to eat so we ordered take-out pizza and gyros. When we travel... we travel in style! (not)... but at least we had happy kids and comfortable beds!
It seemed that we should have been at church. But we were in southern England and didn't know where to go. Our solution... go to a castle! Arundel Castle was featured in the recent movie "the Young Queen Victoria". It is amazing how the castles seem to be so similar after awhile. But this was a nice castle that is actually still occupied by royalty.
Since it was Easter weekend they had a special medieval show with knight and horse demonstrations. We also got to watch how they cooked and even made armor! Quite interesting!
