The entire group, with one exception, joined in a tour of Cairo and the Pyramids at Giza along with the Sphinx. The day dawned warm and partly cloudy and everyone was excited to see one of the great wonders of the World.
Unfortunately, our 10:00 AM arrival ended up being 10:45 as Princess decided to bring boxes, freight and several local folks onboard before clearing the vessel for passenger disembarkation. Little did we realize this delay would have major consequence as our tour ended.

via travelblog.org

We met with our tour group last night. There are two others doing our tour, a couple from Singapore. There are three others women doing 'Essential Egypt' which is the same as our tour without the last few days on the Sinai Peninsula. Our tour guide/Egypologist's name is Victor, he gave us a brief rundown of our tour and all of the additional costs/optional activities.

via travelblog.org

Few nations in the world rouse such worldwide mystique and awe as Egypt. An ancient country, Egypt has been a unified state for 5,000 years. While most other nations were still hunting and gathering and learning to build huts, Ancient Egypt perfected one of the most colossal structures of all time—the Pyramids of Giza—and rose out of the constant passage of time by establishing something truly amazing.

via destination360.com

Deir el-Bahri is located on the west bank of the Nile River. There it sits greeting spectators as they enter the Valley of the Kings. The site is comprised of three temples, the Mortuary Temple of Mentuhotep, the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut II and the Mortuary Temple of Thutmoses III. The Temple of Deir El-Bahri is one of the most characteristic temples in the whole of Egypt, due to its design and decorations. It was built of limestone, not sandstone like most of the other funerary temples of the New Kingdom period.

The temple, designed by Senenmut, governor of the domains of Amun, in co-operation with the chief treasurer, Djehuty who recorded that he acted as chief, giving directions, I led the craftsmen to work in the works of Djeser-Djeseru. Hatshepsut was unique because she took on several male adornments while she ruled Egypt. Unlike most women of that time, she attached a false beard, wore male clothing, and was depicted in statutes as a pharaoh.

via wayfaring.info

The Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut is the focal point of the Deir el-Bahri (“Northern Monastery”) complex of mortuary temples and tombs located on the west bank of the Nile, opposite the city of Luxor.

Hatshepsut was a rare female pharoah. The temple known as Djeser-Djeseru ("Splendor of Splendors ") was designed and implemented by Senemut, royal steward of Hatshepsut, to serve for her posthumous worship.

A 100-foot causeway leads to the temple, which consists of three terraced courtyards covered in sculptural reliefs. Most of the carvings of the queen herself were destroyed by her stepson and successor, who hated her for the way she treated him.

It is hard to imagine it now, but these terraces were filled with gardens and trees - a man-made oasis in the desert. On the top terrace is the Djeser-Djeseru, a colonnaded structure built into a cliff face that rises sharply above it. From a distance, the temple looks like the Egyptian hieroglyphic for Nun, a four-step pyramid. Nun was the primordial mound from which Amun was born.

via sacred-destinations.com

Discover the numerous historical sights in and around ancient Cairo, including the Pyramids, the Sphinx, the Egyptian Museum and much more. Fly to Luxor to visit the spectacular Valley of the Kings, ancient Thebes, magnificent Karnak and Luxor Temple. Your deluxe four-night Nile River cruise will take you to Edfu to explore the Temple of Falcon God Horus. Stop in Kom Ombo and marvel at Crocodile God Sobek's Temple. In Aswan, enjoy a Felucca sailboat ride, visit Philae Temple and Aswan High Dam. Why not visit Abu Simbel before your trip to Mediterranean Alexandria.

via centralholidays.com

The pyramids of Giza are the only surviving Ancient Wonder of the World and one of the most famous tourist attractions in the modern world. They are some of the oldest sacred sites in our index and certainly among of the most impressive. (The Great Sphinx of Giza has a separate article.)

Although it is clear the pyramids were used for the burial of pharaohs, the construction, date, and possible symbolism of the Giza pyramids are still not entirely understood.

This mystery only adds to the attractiveness of these ancient wonders and many modern people still regard Giza as a spiritual place. A number of fascinating theories have been offered to explain the "mystery of the pyramids," one of which is summarized below.

Giza is the most important site on earth for many New Age followers, who are drawn by the pyramids' mysteries and ancient origins. Since 1990, private groups have been allowed into the Great Pyramid, and the majority of these have been seekers of the mystical aspects of the site. But even the most skeptical visitor cannot help but be awed by the great age, grand scale and harmonic mathematics of the pyramids of Giza.

via sacred-destinations.com

Huge and majestic red brick building complex built in 876 by the Turkish governor of Egypt and Syria. It was built on the site of present-day Cairo and includes a mosque surrounded by three outer ziyadahs, or courtyards. Much of the decoration and design recalls the 'Abbasid architecture of Iraq. The crenellated outside walls have merlons that are shaped and perforated.

via britannica.com

The Great Sand Sea of the eastern Sahara is aptly named; an unbroken mass of dunes the size of New Mexico which smothers the barren frontiers of Libya and Egypt and is home to not one living soul. Parallel dune ridges run north-south for hundreds of miles, and anyone journeying here has to be exceptionally well prepared, as there's not a single well or water source in 150,000 square miles --extreme even by Saharan standards.

Until the 1930s, this hyper-arid region had barely been explored, but during WWII, clandestine German and British desert patrols, including Count Almasy, aka The English Patient, probed this remote area, spying on each other's movements. Today, the area still remains largely unknown and is so rarely visited that 60-year-old tire tracks are still visible on certain surfaces.

via gonomad.com

When my friend suggested that our next biannual trip be Egypt, I have to admit I wasn’t overly excited at the idea. I mean, I love the food and the ancient and exotic cultures of the Middle East, but I also had visions of swarms of tourists driving past the Sphinx in their air conditioned buses. To mitigate the imagined crowds, we chose to go in March, after the high season ends, and our plan worked beautifully. I found Cairo to be very calm and relaxing, sort of like life is a warm summer day over and over, its people stoic but shy, and aside from the truly famous things like the Pyramids at Giza, we encountered very few tourists.

We stayed in the Ezbekieh quarter of the city, about twenty miles east of the Nile and the tourist strip, close to the peaceful Ezbekieh Gardens, Opera House, Central Railway Station, and downtown commercial drag. Walking around the immediate hotel area was extremely pleasant, with a marked absence of touts, a plethora of coffee houses (ahwe), and local places to eat. The coffee houses are filled with men at outdoor sidewalk tables, enjoying sheesha (waterpipes), shai ala bosta (tea) and a game of dominoes, watching football (Champion’s League was going on) or just talking. Women are rarely seen in the coffee house, but otherwise are plentiful on the streets, some wearing the hijab and some not.

via travelsinparadise.com

In the neighborhood of Cairo you can do quite a few activities. These include camel safari's in the desert, Felukka rides on nile river and other things.

Another trade mark of Cairo is to go horse-back riding in the desert. If you take a left on Pyramids Road, about one kilometer before you reach the Pyramids, the same way you would go to the Sound and Light Show, you’ll find a large number of stables with foreign names to attract tourists. i.e. “AB Stables” and “EuroStables”. Most of the stables have really good quality horses, a lot better than the ones you’ll find right by the Pyramids. Many rich Egyptians who own horses keep them here to be looked after. The prices range from 20LE to 40LE, depending on the horse and on the stable. What’s nice about this place is that it’s located at the edge of civilization, beyond it are miles and miles of pure desert, so if you like horses and are capable of riding them, you can enjoy an hour of nothing but gallop. The best time to ride is during sunset, and if you’re up to it, riding by night is ecstatic. While riding be sure to ask the guide to take you up the hill, where you can catch a superb view of the Three Pyramids and the Sphinx.

via world66.com

Traditionally, tourists in Sweden have come from the neighbouring countries of Denmark, Norway and Finland. However, in recent times, Sweden has become a much more popular destination with tourists from other parts of Europe; especially Britain and Germany, as well as from countries outwith the continent. But while many tourists restrict their visits to the most obvious destinations in Sweden, such as Stockholm, there are also many less frequented spots of beauty to visit in the country. The city of Gothenburg, for example, offers a range of cultural delights and attractions to enjoy.

Located in the province of Västergötland on the west coast of Sweden, Gothenburg is the second largest city in Sweden; as well as the country’s largest university city, counting some 60,000 students among its inhabitants. Perhaps due to the diverse composition of the city’s population, Gothenburg's cultural offerings are both rich and varied. Its architectural heritage is interesting, dating back to the seventeenth century. Its eighteenth century buildings date back to the time of the East India Company - which made Gothenburg one of the most important trading cities in Europe - while its nineteenth century architecture centres on the main street of Kungsportsavenyn. Today, Gothenburg's architecture is led by figures like Gert Wingårdh, who began as a post-modernist in the 1980s and still maintains a significant sway over the city's architectural developments.

via global-travel-articles.net

Karnak is a complex of temples, pylons and ruins in the Upper Egypt, north of Luxor. Its the largest religious complex in the world – a huge construction, no less great than the Giza pyramids. This great conglomeration of buildings was erected without any definite plan.

It took two thousand years to build the Karnak temples – from generation to generation, pharaoh to pharaoh. Even though a great part of it was destroyed, what was saved is of great importance for historians. Its one of the biggest ancient architectural conglomerations on earth. Some of its constructions were dismantled by the pharaohs's followers and then used as building material for some other constructions. The complex was dedicated to Amun-Re, who became the chief Egyptian god after Thebes got the status of the country's capital, that is why the principal precinct of Karnak is called the Precinct of Amun-Re. There are other temples within the complex, but this one is the largest and the longest. The temple contains 10 pylons, 6 along the main entrance, from west to east. A fantasic view it is: huge halls, inner yards and sanctuaries enchant everyone who looks inside.

via articledashboard.com

Fairmont Towers, Heliopolis is a new high-rise hotel in Cairo with 247 rooms and suites, three restaurants and more than 30,000 square feet of function and meeting space. It has a large atrium with tropical gardens and palm trees, and will have a spa added by the end of the year. Next door is another hotel that Fairmont acquired - work will begin there next month and that will be known as just the Fairmont Heliopolis. It too will have three restaurants, as well as 588 guest rooms, outdoor tennis courts and indoor squash courts.

via aluxurytravelblog.com

Thebes was the capital of ancient Egypt during the 11th Dynasty (Middle Kingdom) and most of the 18th Dynasty (New Kingdom). Today, Thebes is probably the richest archaeological site in the world and also one of the largest. It can be divided into three areas: the cultivated land between the Nile and the desert, the low-lying desert and the barren desert cliffs and mountains...

via travelblog.org