10- 13 June

Sunday 10 June 0700  Gulf of Aden We have travelled 1253.3 Nm   from Dubai and we have to travel 1424 Nm to our next Port of Safaga.  Heading 249.3 Temperature on desk is 29.1 degrees.  Speeding 20.1 knots.  Wind speed 15.7 knots across the deck. 

Monday 11 June 0700  Red Sea We have travelled 1715.4 Nm   from Dubai and we have to travel 955 Nm to our next Port of Safaga.  Heading 310 Temperature on desk is 29.7 degrees.  Speeding 20.4 knots.  Wind speed 12.6 knots across the deck. 

Tuesday 12 June 0700  Red Sea We have travelled 2209.9 Nm   from Dubai and we have to travel 482 Nm to our next Port of Safaga.  Heading 328.3 Temperature on desk is 29.8 degrees.  Speeding 19 knots.  Wind speed 30.9 knots across the deck. 

We had a women’s day in the casino this afternoon where we could try all sort of gambling games and I enjoyed playing roulette. Holden poker and blackjack.  I won in blackjack and got into the final only missing out winning by about a few dollars.

I am going to a birthday party tonight as one of the girls is having a party before dinner tonight.  It will be an early night for everyone tonight as we are leaving the ship at 0600 hours tomorrow morning for the Valley of the Kings

  

Wednday 13 June 0600 – Egypt Safaga  Currency Egyptian Pound.

I was up and dressed and eating breakfast at 5am this morning ready for a very special day.  I have bought myself a new big floppy hat, got on cotton shirt and pants and have got 2 bottles of water.  It is supposed to be over 40 degrees in the shade.  I am really excited.

We have actually got our passports with us today; I haven’t seen it for well over a week.  There has been heaps of rumours about security and that we have to travel everywhere in convoy with armed escorts etc.  We have been subject to a number of bulletins from the Captain regarding the next 3 days.  Oh well!  A number of people have cancelled their trips for today and tomorrow.

We disembarked a few minutes after 6am and met our guide and boarded our bus.  This trip was organised by Narelle and not a Princess trip.  There we 43 of us instead of 1200.  Our guide was difficult to understand as he explained what was happening that day.

We left the Port of Safaga and surprisingly did not go through any security.  The port looked like the last 4, sand, heavy equipment and a lot of fences; we drove through a small port town and then straight into the desert.

We had a 3 ½ hour trip ahead of us as we travelled to Luxor which is the first and only town before our first stop.  Luxor marks the site of ancient Thebes, which was the capital of Egypt for more than 14 centuries, during the Middle and New Kingdoms.  The Nile flows through the area which is green and lush and a major contrast to the surrounding areas.  They grow corn, bananas and a number of other crops.  The Government is trying to move the people who live in the old part of the city as they are living on land that is rich in antiquities and the Government want to dig up the area.

Our first stop was the Temple of Karnak.  Oh my gosh, it was everything and more than I had ever imagined.  Over 134 hugh columns, a 97 foot obelisk of Queen Hatshepsut, it is impossible to describe my feelings.  It looked like the pictures I saw at school, James Bond and Indiana Jones had films based here.  We spent about 1 hour here, I didn’t find it hot but lot of the others did.

We then got back in the bus and travelled to the Nile River and got into small boats and crossed the river to a restaurant for lunch which was very welcome as we hadn’t eaten for over 7 hours and believe me for someone who force is fed every 2 hours it was an inviting sight.  The restaurant was what we had now got used to on tour, squashed in, buffet of western style food but clean toilets.

After lunch we travelled a short distance to the Valley of the Kings.  This valley has more than 60 tombs that can be visited, most of these are galleries excavated into the rock, with chamber at various intervals.  We went into the tomb of Rameses IV and Rameses VI.  We were not allowed to take cameras so I cannot show the amazing colours which are amazing considering how long they have been on the walls.  Even the graffiti is interesting as it was done by the Romans!  There was a bit of walking but thankfully a small train took us to the base of the tombs.  It was hot but a clear heat.    You could visit the Tomb of Tutankhamen but this was at an additional cost of 100 Egyptian pounds and of course we did not have enough time.

Every time we got out of the bus we were surrounded by boys and men trying to sell us everything from books, scarves, and scarab beetle statues and water.  They were certainly persistent.  Another trick they did was standing around asking for us to take their picture and then asking for money.

We then moved on to the Temple of Queen Hatshepsur which could be reached by a series of stairs, once again a mind boggling experience.  Heaven knows how they moved all that rock around.

We had one more stop before making the long trip back to the ship.  Most of the passengers slept the entire 3 hours.  I was sitting up the rear of the bus and when we stopped for a quick toilet stop, I noticed a young guard hop off our bus and he was wearing a short, mean looking automatic of some sort.  Not sure how long he had been on the bus on our return trip.

What a fantastic day, I can not believe that I have lucky enough to see these amazing sights.  Tomorrow will be another fantastic day.

I had a lovely meal at the Italian restaurant on the ship and called it a day.