For this organized tour we will be using the description of each day's activities as provided by the tour company (colored in pink). When we have some personal comments, they will be in yellow font.

[Friday] We found that it was a lot cheaper to fly from Houston to JFK Airport in New York City, spend the night in a hotel, then fly direct to Cairo, Egypt, than to fly from Houston to somewhere in Europe, before going on to Cairo. We also really enjoyed our stay at the TWA Hotel, which is connected to JFK Terminal 5, so you don't have to go out in the cold to get to and from the airport. The hotel rooms were modern and comfortable. The rest of the hotel can only be described as a TWA Airlines Museum. They had the building stocked with 1960's era items. It was really a destination. We really enjoyed the one night stay coming and going to Egypt.

It toured out that there was only one flight a day from Houston to JFK, and that was Delta Airlines. We flew DL3102 and left Houston at 12:41 pm and arrived in NYC at 5:02 pm EST.

< < < TWA Hotel at JFK Airport.

[Saturday] This afternoon at 1:33 pm, we departed from JFK to CAI on EgyptAir MS986 (a B777), and we arrived in Cairo the next morning at 6:30 am. It was a good flight in Business Class and we were able to get some sleep.

[Sunday] Arrival in Cairo - Start of 14 Day Egypt Tour or Optional Pre-Tour: Palaces of Cairo

As we departed the airplane, someone from Inside Egypt met us in the terminal and helped us to get our visas and get through customs. It worked smoothly and we were able to check into our hotel room early at the Marriott Mena House Hotel. We relaxed in our room for a while. Then we walked around the hotel inside and outside. The hotel was in sight of two pyramids. We could see them in the distance from the room's balcony. The room was large and comfortable.

In the afternoon, we needed to go to a pharmacy. We checked Google maps and found that there was one a couple of blocks from the hotel. We decided that we could walk there. As we started walking, a driver that was leaving the hotel asked where we were going and we told him and he said get in. We did (which probably is a little bizarre) and he took us, waited outside the pharmacy, and took us back to the hotel. I asked how much and he said whatever I wanted. I gave him 200 Egyptian pounds (I didn't really know how much that was) and he was satisfied. That was about $4.50 USD!

We ate dinner at 4:30 pm in the 139 Pavilion Restaurant. The food was delicious.

< < < View of pyramids from our hotel.

[Monday] Saqqara & Dahshour

[Wednesday] A Desert Tour to Fayoum: Qasr Qarun Temple, Wadi El Hitan, Magic Lake & Fayoum Pottery School

After an interesting 4X4 ride in the desert of Fayoum, we arrived at Qarun Temple.

< < Qarun Temple.

We then continued our exciting 4X4 ride to Wadi El Hitan. We visited the museum with bones from the large prehistoric whales found in that area of the desert, dating back to the time, millions of years ago, when this area was part of the Tethys Sea. We took a walk along a trail where some bones are still where they were discovered.

< < < < Wadi El Hitan.

Afterwards, we drove another exciting 4X4 ride a short distance to Magic Lake of Fayoum, one of Egypt's hidden natural wonders. Nestled within the vast desert landscape, the magic lake at Fayoum Oasis is renowned for its shimmering waters that appear to shift colors with the changing sunlight and light breeze.

< Magic Lake.

[Thursday] CRUISING THE NILE: Flight to Luxor, Karnak Temple Complex & Luxor Temple

Today started off very early. We got up at 2:30 am and checked out of the hotel, picked up our breakfast box, and took the bus to the Cairo Airport to fly to Luxor. Our flight left Cairo at 6:00 am on AirCairo. AirCairo was an Airbus A320, all economy seating. The seats were closer together than any other airplane we have been on. It was packed with mostly Egyptian travelers, but it only took an hour to get to Luxor. The flight was okay.

It was interesting on the way to the airport at 3:45 am, some of the stores open that time of the day. The following photos were of interest because one is of a supposed Apple/Google store, and the other was a meat market, with fresh meat hanging outside, and two cows tied out front on the street. Perhaps they were waiting their turn to hange in the night air!!

< Apple/Google store. < Meat market.

The Karnak Temple Complex (both monuments are connected by a 1.8 mile long Avenue of Sphinxes), were temples dedicated to Theban gods. The largest and most important of them is the one dedicated to the god, Amon. No expense was spared and during the 19th Dynasty some 80,000 men worked in the temple as laborers, guards, priests, and servants. The temple lay buried under sand for more than 1,000 years before excavation work began in the mid-19th century. Today, the huge task of restoration continues.

< < < Karnak Temple.

We enjoyed our first lunch on the boat. Our room on the boat was very large and nice (bigger than hotel rooms), and the service was 5-star+.

< Our boat, the Le Fayan II.

The Luxor Temple is said to be best viewed after sunset, when it is lighted up. It was built around 1400 BCE by Amenhotep III.

< < < Luxor Temple.

[Friday] Optional early-morning trip: Hot air balloon ride.

We decided that we were not interested in a hot air balloon ride. It was a good thing, because the balloons were not able to fly because the wind was too strong.

We took the small boat across the Nile River to the Valley of the Kings. By digging their tombs deep into the Theban Hills, pharaohs from Tuthmosis I (c 1500 BCE) on hoped to stop robbers stealing the priceless possessions buried with them. It was an unsuccessful strategy. We first went inside the Tomb of Ramses VI.

< Our boat.

The Colossi of Memnon are two massive 60 ft stone statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III (circa 1350 BCE) located in the Theban Necropolis on the west bank of Luxor. Representing the king seated on his throne, they originally guarded the entrance to his mortuary temple, which was once the largest in Egypt.

< The Colossi of Memnon.

The first tomb we went inside was Ramses VI. They are down steep narrow shafts into the mountainside.

< < Tomb of Ramses VI.

< < Tomb of Merneptah.

< < Tomb of Ramses I.

Next we went inside the Tomb of Ramses V/VI. Originally built for Ramesses V and later usurped by his uncle, Ramesses VI. It is celebrated for its, vibrant, detailed, and largely intact astronomical and funerary decorations, including the Book of Gates and the Book of Caverns.

< < < Tomb of Ramses V/VI.

We ended the day by visiting an Alabaster shop, where everyone was given the opportunity to learn how they make the beautiful bowls. And, of course, they were for sale.

We went back to the ship and ate lunch, as the ship began sailing up river bound of Edfu.

[Saturday] CRUISING THE NILE: Kom Ombo Temple

We actually overnighted on the ship in Luxor, and in the morning, we rode in horse carts through Edfu to Edfu Temple (The Temple of Horus). It was buried under sand and silt for nearly two thousand years.

< < Riding the horse cart in Edfu.

< < < < Edfu Temple.

We rode the horse carts back to the ship, and as we ate lunch in the ship, it began sailing up river to Kom Ombo. We arrived in time to go to Kom Ombo Temple.

< < Sailing up the Nile River between Edfu and Kom Ombo.

In the afternoon when we reached Kom Ombo, we departed for the Kom Ombo Temple. The temple was begun in the second century BCE. It is dedicated to two gods - the falcon god Haroeris and the crocodile god Sobek.

< < < Kom Ombo Temple.

As the sun was getting ready to set, we visited a Crocodile Museum, with crocodile mummies.

< Crocodile mummies.

After returning to the ship, as we ate dinner, we began sailing up river to Aswan.

Today was another day that started very early at 4:00 am, with a 4-hour bus ride from Aswan to Abu Simbel. After we reached Abu Simbel, we toured the two temples.

The Great Temple of Abu Simbel and the smaller Temple of Hathor were hewn out of a solid cliff in the 13th century BCE. The temple complex was relocated in its entirety in 1968 to higher ground to avoid it being submerged by Lake Nasser, the Aswan Dam reservoir. It was reassembled on this site, which was made to appear like the original site.

< < < Temple of Abu Simbel.

< < Temple of Hathor.

After a 2-hour tour, we rode the bus back on the 4-hour drive to the ship where we had lunch.

After lunch, we visited a school in Aswan, where we were given a lesson in Arabic. I don't think we learned much.

< < An Aswan school.

We ate lunch in a Nubian village across the river from our ship.

< Where we ate lunch.

Riding through the streets of Aswan is interesting. No telling what type of transportation you will see.

< < On the Aswan street.

After we returned to the ship, we were entertained in the ship lounge by a Nubian musical group. They were quite energetic and got some of the audience involved in their dances.

< <

[Monday] CRUISING THE NILE: Unfinished Obelisk in Aswan, Temple of Isis on Agilkia Island

After breakfast on the ship, we boarded a small boat and went across the Nile to the Unfinished Obelisk. It was started over 1000 BCE, but never finished. Had it been completed, it would have weighed 1,197 tons and stood 131 feet high. Three sides were quarried before a flaw was discovered in the stone and the obelisk had to be abandoned.

< Unfinished Obelisk.

Afterwards, we went to the Philae Temple and toured it. The temple was originally on the island of Philae. When the Aswan Dam was built, the temple had to be moved to the island of Agilika. The project was completed in 1980, and the island of Agilika was landscaped to look like Philae.

< < < Philae Temple.

We ate lunch at an Nubian restaurant.

< Where we ate lunch.

[Tuesday] CRUISING THE NILE: Edfu Temple

Views from the ship as we travel down the Nile toward Luxor. Guys were trying to sell table cloths to people on the ship and we sailed along :-).

< <

[Wednesday] CRUISING THE NILE: Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, Valley of the Queens & Medinet Habu

Today was another busy day in Luxor. We took a small boat across the Nile to the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut. The temple was built during the 18th Dynasty. It was damaged by Ramses II and his successors, and Christians later turned it into a monastery.

< < < <Temple of Queen Hatshepsut.

Next, we visited the tomb of Queen Titi. She was married to one of the pharaohs of the 20th Dynasty.

< Inside tomb of Queen Titi.

We then visited the tomb of Amonchopeshfu who was a prominent prince of Egypt, primarily known as the eldest son and appointed heir of Pharaoh Ramesses III (20th Dynasty). He died young, around age 15, and is buried in the Valley of the Queens.

< < < Tomb of Amonchopeshfu.

Next, we visited the tomb of Prince Khaemwaset It was built for a son of Ramesses III. Discovered in 1903, it features well-preserved, colorful paintings of the prince with various deities.

< < < Tomb of Khaemwaset.

< The ladies of our tour group at the Valley of the Queens.

After a big lunch at the New Memnon Restaurant, we went to visit the Temple of Medinet Habu. Medinet Habu is one of the less visited sights in Thebes. The mortuary temple of the early 20th Dynasty pharaoh Ramses III was first excavated in 1859. In later years, the temple was appropriated by the Coptic Church, ironically preserving some polychrome reliefs, which the Christians had covered with mud.

< < < < Temple of Medinet Habu.

We decided to take the optional excursion to Dier el-Medina. The craftsmen, servants and laborers who worked on the royal tombs lived in the village of Deir el-Medina, also known as the Workmen's Village, to the south of the Valley of the Queens. They were buried nearby in tombs intricately decorated.

< < < < Tombs at Dier el-Medina.

[Thursday] Flight from Luxor to Cairo, Citadel of Salah Din, Mohamed Ali Pasha Mosque.

We had to get up at 5:15 am to take our breakfast box and depart at 6:30 am to luxor Airport to fly back to Cairo. Kay and I and another couple flew with one of the guides on AirCairo. The rest of the group flew on a EgyptAir flight at about the same time. Our A320 was fully loaded.

Upon arrival, we all left on the bus to the Citadel of Salah Din and Muhammad Ali Pasha Mosque. The Citadel was home to Egypt's rulers for almost 700 years. It was originally founded in 1176 by the Muslim commander Salah al-Din. The Muhammed Ali Mosque dates from the 19th century.

< Citadel of Salah Din.

< < Muhammad Ali Pasha Mosque.

Afterwards, we went to our hotel and checked in. We ate dinner in the Aura Restaurant of the hotel.

< < <

< < Street scenes in Cairo.

< Our 5-star Four Seasons Hotel in Cairo.

< Interesting building outside our hotel room windows.

[Friday] Citadel of Egyptian Museum, Civilization Museum.

We took the optional excursion to visit the Egyptian Museum. This is the old museum that was the main museum before the Grand Egyptian Museum was opened in 2025. It is well worth the visit. We were limited on time.

One of the most interesting items we saw was the Narmer Palette. Dating from about the 31st century BCE. It contains some of the earliest hieroglyphic inscriptions ever found. The tablet is thought by some to depict the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the king Narmer.

Also, from the 6th Dynasty was a wooden statue of Niankhpepikem, and overseer of Upper Egypt, shown carrying a backpack, the earliest representation of this type of bag.

< Egyptian Museum. < Narmer Palette.

< The early backpack. < Akhenaten's coffin lid from the 18th Dynasty.

After touring the Egyptian Museum for a couple of hours, we went to the Civilization Museum. They have a very large number of mummies in this museum. We spent 2 hours there.

< < < The Civilization Museum.

After we finished touring the Civilization Museum, we at lunch at Naguib Mahfouz Restaurant. This is a famous 5-star restaurant located in the Khan el-Khalili bazar. It is so famous, that it doesn't have a sign on the front of the nondescript building tucked in the chaos of the bazar. The food was good.

< Our tour group minus one couple.

After lunch we walked through the Khan el-Khalili bazar.

< < < Khan el-Khalili Bazar.

Next, we went back to the hotel to prepare for an early exit from the hotel tomorrow morning for our flight back to the USA. But later this night, we enjoyed a very nice Farewell Dinner in the hotel. We got to say goodby to Khaled, our Tour Leader, and Walid, our Egyptologist Tour Guide. They and the other staff were excellent. We enjoyed the delicious dinner.

[Saturday] Departure - End of Egypt 14 Day Tour or Optional Post-Tour: Alexandria

We got up at 1:30 am and met in the hotel lobby at 2:15 am for our ride to the airport. Our flight on EgyptAir MS 985 (B777) left Cairo at 5:30 am and we arrived back at JFK Airport at 10:41 am. It was a good flight and we were able to sleep some in Business Class.

After we arrived and went through customs, we picked up our bags and checked into our hotel room at the TWA Hotel. We had to wait a few hours for them to get our room ready. We ate lunch in their restaurant. The temperature outside was below zero and lots of snow on the ground.

< Our bags are somewhere in this mess!!! < Lots of snow outside!

[Sunday] This morning we got up at 6:00 am walked to Terminal 5, then rode the Airtrain to Terminal 4, where we took Delta DL596 at 9:00 am to Houston. We arrived in Houston at 11:47 am and took Uber home. It was nice to be back home again.

This draws to a close our to Egypt. We hope you enjoyed the photos and brief descriptions of our activities. God willing, join us again soon for another travel adventure.

Goodbye for now,

Lawson & Kay

In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord at its border. And it will be for a sign and for a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the Lord because of the oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Mighty One, and He will deliver them. Then the Lord will be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day, and will make sacrifice and offering; yes, they will make a vow to the Lord and perform it. (Isaiah 19:19-21 NKJV)