Luxorious Travel

Founded by Alexander the Great in 332 BC, and the capital of Cleopatra's Empire, Alexandria lies strategically on the Mediterranean coast. It was once the home of the world's largest library and the Pharos Lighthouse which was an ancient wonder of the world, however both landmarks were destroyed long ago and today the town offers more of a French colonial charm. We spent two days strolling along the corniche, seeing different sights and museums before catching the train back to Cairo. In Cairo we got on the night-train south along the Nile confusingly taking us from Lower Egypt to Upper Egypt, arriving in the Nubian part of the country and the town of Aswan the morning after. In Aswan we saw the world's third highest dam, aptly named The High Dam, and it was damn high. Then started our temple-run tour, seeing Philae and the impressive but hard to reach Abu Simbel. We stayed one night cruising the world's longest river in a felucca (traditional Egyptian sailboat) before heading north to Luxor where our temple-spotting continued. We checked off Kom Ombo and Edfu on the way up before adding: Hatshepsut, Luxor, Karnak and the tombs in the Valley of the Kings once we had gotten to the city. So we have now seen thousands of hieroglyphs and our study can only come to the conclusion that there is not a single one which depicts the classic "Walk like an Egyptian" pose, and this must therefor be a myth either started by The Bangles or of unknown origin. After two days in Luxor we caught the night-train back to Cairo, where we now have a day to kill before moving onto new destinations...

In garnment related news: A testament to how much walking we've done is the fact that both of us have worn out the shoes we started the trip with, and thus have had to reward ourselves with new footwear, suitingly on or slightly prior to Christmas, which should hopefully last us a while.