We are up early today to catch our charter flight to Luxor.  Viking takes care of all the logistics so it is pretty seamless!  The bus meets the plane to take all our bags to the ship,  our home now for 7 days, to take us on our first excursion today,  the Karnak Temple.   I was here 47 years ago and much had been uncovered since then.   There are 134 huge columns in the temple plus 60 acres is walls,  stairs, and ruins.  No sign of Johnny Carson,  BTW.

After checking into our wonderful stateroom on the MS Anteras, we saw the Luxor Temple,  in daylight into evening with lights!   Karnak was the temple of sun god Ra and the Luxor temple was temple of his wife.   Connecting the 2 is the Avenue of Sphnixes!  Gorgeous in daylight,  then with lights just after sunset.

Night lights add a special feeling

Our ship for the Nile is the classic Nile vessel,  the MS Anteras.  I will take more pictures around the ship as we explore,  so stay tuned!

Our stateroom

Pyramids are EVERYWHERE in Egypt!  We walked out on our balcony this morning and we discovered we could see the Giza pyraminds through the haze

We started our excursions today visiting the Step Pyramid complex in Saqqara. 

We were actually able to enter into another pyramid,  the only 1 in Egypt which still had some color on the ceiling., a blue field with stars.  

The tomb of  Kagemni there in that complex also has some more colorful painting still on the scenes of the temple walls.  They are scenes of daily life of the period, hunting,  fishing,  raising cattle,  etc. 

From the Saqqara complex you can actually see 2 other pyramids, the Bent pyramid and the red pyramid.  Both we’re built by the father of Khufu, the king and builder of the great pyramid.  

We had a chance to visit a carpet school where the families of the Saqqara area work.   The children start learning at about 10 years old and quickly learn how to tie the knots and follow the patterns,  to eventually join the family business.  Many of these beautiful carpets take months to complete!  They are made with silk,  cotton,  or wool, or a combination.

Both busses met for lunch together then traveled to Giza to see the complex there.   The 3 larger pyramids, Cheops, Khufu, and Menkaura are surrounded by tombs of royal family members,  workers who built the pyramids and nobles.  There are even several small pyramids for royal family.

First the largest. Cheops.   2 million 300 thousand stones weighing from 2.5- 15 tons each we’re used in its construction in about 2700 BC, a phenomenal feat even on today’s age!

Our 2nd stop at Giza, we could ride the camel and get the panorama picture of the 3 pyramids together.  Fun and a classic memory of Fifa for anyone.

Our last stop was to see the Sphinx and the temple compound below it

It has been a busy,  fun, wonderful day! 

We were met by our private guide. Ahmed Mido, for a quick tour in the Coptic quarter and then to the GEM

In the Coptic Quarter,  old Cairo, is the area where the early Christian community developed.   We walked the oldest streets there and saw some of the church and synagogue buildings

There one church built around the place Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus were supposed to have stayed when they fled to Egypt to escape Herod.  There is a church built over it, of course.  

We also visited the Hanging church,  named that because it was built in a space over 2 destroyed Roman towers.  We were able to be there for a few minutes during a Coptic service

We then had a couple hours to visit the new Grand Egyptian Museum, over 20 years in the planning and building.  It is spectacular architecture and will house their Amazing collection eventually with a  Grand opening July 3.  Right now,  only a portion is filled but there is a “soft opening” now. 

Inside the open atrium stands Ramses II, the spectacular statue,  as well as sweeping stairs with statues

There is a moving walkway up the side to make it easier to move up the full stairs.

We walked down to see more closely some of the features

At the top there is a view of the pyramids

On the left there are 12 Galleries open now,.  Another 12 will eventually open on the right.  Here are just a few examples of the displays

Eventually it will take many more hours to see just the important displays!  It will be amazing!  Even now,  it is a special place!

Sunrise on the Nile

We started with orientation with our guide,  Mohamed Samy, and then set off to tour the Citadel (1300,’s) and the Alabastor Mosque, of Mohamed Ali.  This is in the Turkish style,  like Hagia Sofia in Istanbul

We then went to the old Egyptian museum.   Many many of the pieces have been moved already to the GEM, the Grand Egyptian Museum, which has had its soft opening.  The Grand opening is July 3. 

We could not take any pictures on the rooms with the Tutankamon golden items,  but we were able to see some of pieces that have not been moved yet.  

Other interesting pieces from the earliest times. 4900 years ago, the early kingdom

This 1 also shows the Sphnix

I also caught the new GEM, Grand Egyptian Museum from the plane too

Our lodging,  the Sheraton Cairo, on the Nile!

What a cool day for our last day in Malta! 

We woke to find a marathon ruining outside our hotel!  8 years ago we were in Barcelona and had a similar experience!  They ran on the street right below our hotel room here!  A 5K walk passed first,  then the elite runners,  1 and 2 passed by.  i believe best time was 2 13.

We took the ferry over to Valletta with the intent to see the war museum at Fort St. Elmo.  To our surprise  and delight, there was a reenactment of grandmaster Valletta and the Knights of St. John coming to the islands of Malta in 1530.  It only happens occasionally,  the next in about 2 weeks,  so we were very lucky to come at the right moment!

The ceremonial arrival of the Grandmaster Valletta, the founder of the city.

Each flag was presented to the Grandmaster and the flag of St John, the red field with the white cross

The flags and who they represent,  knights of St John came from each of these regions, originally in the 1100s to liberate Jerusalem from the Turks, then to Rhodes, where they ran hospitals for the pilgrims.  When the ottomans drove them out, they came to Malta in 1530. 

The first 3 flags are representative of regions of France

They also enacted a sword fight

After the reenactment, we visited the war museum which covered the entire history of Malta.

The George cross,  awarded to the countrymen of Malta, the only time in history it has been awarded to a whole country

We walked to the Lower Barakka Gardens for the view

Then we decided to walk up to the city center for lunch.   We stopped again at the Valletta market.  Soup and sandwich,  Maltese street food style

We encountered another,  our 3rd serendipitous event!  A competition for Carnival in Malta, where dance teams were competing in the Republic square in the heart of Valletta.   We had seen a group on Gozo, practicing,  when we visited from St Paul’s Bay!  We just couldn’t figure out what that group was practicing for! 

Just a few more street scenes,  then back to the hotel for a rest.

We cruises out of Sliema, around the peninsula is Valletta and the 3 fortified cities across the grand harbor this morning for a totally different view of Valletta

Valletta and the side facing Sliema

Out of the harbor by Sliena, into the Mediterranean and around St Elmo Fort into the Grand Harbor

Around ship yards and loading socks off the working harbor

And back out into the sea toward Sliema

Sliema is more modern,  but you can still find a few balconies,  like Valletta

Lunch of felafel and gelato! 

But just a short distance.   We changed locations from St Pauls Bay to Sliema, just across from Valletta.  Our bus trip was about an hour,  but the distance was only about 9 miles.   We are staying our last 3 nights here at the Londoner, the tall black hotel here.

Across this bay is Valletta, and along the coastal walk are many ferries and boat rides, 

Tomorrow we will do some more exploration of this area is the island

Dinner was too good not to mention!  Carpaccio, brucetta, mushroom risotto ( no picture…. we must have been hungry)  and profiteroles for dessert!  (Little cream puff pastries with a chocolate mousse on top)

And our nighttime view is pretty spectacular too

The country of Malta has 3 main islands,  Malta and Gozo are the 2 bigger ones,  Comino has only 3 inhabitants,  and a dog.   Today we joined a trip over to Gozo by bus and ferry. 

  On the island we visited several places of interest.   One of the many Megalythic sites on the islands is Ggantija. There were 2 temples there built between 3600BC and 3000BC, older than the pyramids of Egypt

We visited a place called an inland sea.  There is a huge opening cave from the sea that fills a Lake with salt water.   Small boats then take you out to the sea and into small caves along the coast

Along the same coast, we took a small train (without a track) to visit some salt flats,  some of them dating back to Roman times.  They run along the Rocky coast approximately 3 km

We ended out your in Victoria,  the capital of Gozo, named for Queen Victoria to celebrate her golden jubilee.  St. George’s Basilica,  one of 2 of the island,  in on the center of the old town.

There is a Citadel there from 1515

The views must be wonderful from the top. We just stayed near the base and these were our views of the island towns nearby.

It was a very full day. But enjoyable!