10 Things We Loved About Egypt

• We loved our guide. We met our guide the first morning and he stayed with us the entire trip. He went on the Nile Cruise with us and every morning he had a bus waiting for us. He was extremely knowledgeable about ancient Egyptian history and very enthusiastic about sharing it with us. He was great with our kids. He included them, played cards with them and gave them prizes for answering his questions correctly. He arranged wake up calls for us and customized our touring schedule especially for us. Without him, the Collins family would have been lost in Egypt.

• We loved the sites. Amazing testimonies of the ingenuity and dedication of the ancient Egyptians. Seeing the temples and pyramids that were thousands of years old was awe inspiring. The kids loved going deep, down into the earth into a tomb. They loved the hieroglyphics that were everywhere in the temples and told the stories of old. The ancient Egyptians were determined to write down their history and they did....everywhere.

• We loved the market in Cairo. Bustling and crowded, twisting alleys and steep stairways leading to treasures aplenty. Coffee and tea in tiny cafes while Cairo shuts down for morning prayers. We bought alabaster, papyrus paintings, mother of pearl boxes, cartouches, figurines and more fun stuff for great prices. It was fun bargaining with the salesmen to try to get a good price.

• The Nile Cruise was amazing. We were aboard the Movenpick Royal Lotus. The food was great and the accommodations comfortable with huge windows in every room to see the beautiful Nile shores as we sailed along. One of the highlight was just watching the scenery and local homes, children and families pass by. We started our cruise in Luxor. We visited the two temple there, the Karnak temple (dedicated to king Amun) and the Luxor temple, both amazing. We cruised to Edfu and visited the Edfu Temple (or Tofu temple as Will called it) and the Temple of Kom Ombo (dedicated to two gods, Horus and Sobek, the crocodile god) and sailed on to Aswan. On the boat we had a party one night where we were to dress up in traditional Egyptian galabiyyas, which we had bought from floating salesmen earlier that day. What an experience. The boatmen would throw the dresses up for inspection and after negotiating a price we would throw the money down to them from the top deck of the ship. Another night was a Nubian party. Our friend Susan was pulled from the crowd to learn some Nubian dancing and later Cole, our friend Zac and our guide, along with Zac's Mom joined the Conga line.

• We loved Aswan. In Aswan we took a felucca ride (sailboat) and visited a Nubian village. At the village the children were able to hold a Nile crocodile while the parents enjoyed a cup of tea. We were here at sunset on the last day of Ramadan, and our guide and his friends broke their last fast with dates and juices. Tomorrow would begin the celebration of Eid, several days of festivities.

• We loved traveling with our friends, the Crouch family. They have children the same ages as our children. Mr. Crouch's parents traveled with us and they were so easy to get along with. The kids all did great with what probably seemed like endless site seeing. Our group was upbeat, ready for anything and did not complain. It was a pleasure traveling with this group.

• Bill had a first class ticket for the trip home. He had been to London on business prior to this trip and met us in Cairo. He let me take his place in first class on the way home. It felt like a 3 hour mini vacation. Thanks, Bill.

• In Edfu, we took a carriage ride from the boat to one of the sites. That was great fun for the kids especially. This temple was dedicated to the ancient Egyptian god Horus, whom Cole had to do a report about last year. On the ride back to the boat, our little friend was holding her money for the carriage ride loosely in one hand and in the bustle of carriages and people someone snatched her money and then on the ride home her sunglasses flew off and were lost. It was a bit traumatic, but we made it back to the boat and the kids enjoyed swimming and ice cream.

• In Cairo, we toured the Coptic Christian area and visited a cave under the Church of St. Sergius where it is believed that Mary, Joseph and Jesus stayed for a time when they went to Egypt to escape Herod. We also visited the Hanging Church built on top of an old Roman fortress.

• We loved the Pyramids. On our last full day of touring we visited the Pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx and the Solar boat museum. The Pyramids, built in less than 100 years to serve as tombs for their dead kings, are the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World to survive. The Sphinx dates to around 2500 BC and is the earliest known monumental sculpture in Egypt. The Solar boat is a full size ancient boat discovered in pieces lying in a pit beside the Great pyramid. Experts spent 14 years putting it back together and it has it's own air conditioned museum to display it's glory. The whole pyramid complex was amazing (how many times have I written amazing in this post?).