TEMPLE OF KARNAK – www.egypt.travel
Famous for its Hypostyle Hall that was immortalised in the screen adaptation of Death on the Nile, the Temple of Karnak is vast.
TEMPLE OF LUXOR – www.egypt.travel
Located in the ancient city of Thebes, known today as Luxor, this temple was added to over the centuries by a panoply of rulers, ranging from the famed Tutankhamun to Alexander the Great!
TEMPLE OF QUEEN HATSHEPSUT – www.egypt.travel
Hatshepsut was Egypt's greatest female Pharaoh. She fought off male pretenders to her throne for over 20 years and this is her temple.
VALLEY OF THE KINGS – www.egypt.travel
Although early Pharaohs had sought to proclaim their greatness in death by building grand pyramids as their graves, later pharaohs figured out that these were beacons to tomb robbers so chose instead to hide themselves away in a Valley cemetery.
COLOSSI OF MEMNON – www.egypt.travel
These are the first ruins visible when arriving by ferry and are, according to recent discoveries, the sole remains of a funerary temple that was once even more gigantic than the complex of Karnak.
TEMPLE OF HORUS AT EDFU – www.egypt.travel
This is the best preserved temple in Egypt, built by the Ptolemies, family of the famous Cleopatra. It contains a granite shrine that once housed a solid gold cult statue of Horus.
VIKING PREMIER – www.discoveregypt.co.uk/nile-fleet.php
This was Danny’s transport and accommodation down the Nile. For more information on this particular boat and the rest of the Discover Egypt fleet visit the link above.
LUXOR – www.egypt.travel
The ancient city of Thebes continues to thrive today.
MUMMIFICATION MUSEUM - +20 (0)95 237 0062
Displays include both human and animal mummies, as well as items that were buried alongside them to accompany them into the afterlife. There is also extensive coverage of tools and the processes used in order to mummify bodies |
WINTER PALACE HOTEL – www.sofitel.com
This vestige of Nile glory has counted the likes of the Tsar of Russia, Winston Churchill and Nicholas Sarkozy amongst its guests. It is also here that Howard Carter announced his discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb.
ASWAN – www.egypt.travel
Renowned as the home of the High Dam, Aswan’s harbour is awash with feluccas, the traditional Nile sailboat that tourists are welcome to travel on. For more information on the town, its souks and other activities visit the website above, or to find out more about the Dam itself and Lake Nasser that resulted from its construction, visit: www.egypt.travel/index.php?nav1=destination&id=10
ARCHANGEL MICHAEL COPTIC ORTHODOX CATHEDRAL
Located in Aswan, this Cathedral is a central point of worship for one of the world’s oldest strands of Christianity, the Coptic Church. To find out more about the Coptic faith that remains strong today throughout Egypt visit: www.egypt.travel/index.php?nav1=activities&type=8
NUBIANS – www.egypt.travel
These are the original people that lived along the Nile close to the Sudanese/Egyptian border. With the building of the High Dam they lost their homeland and were dispersed around the country. Many ended up in Aswan, and the Nubian villages on the outskirts of the city are a great place to visit to understand more about the Nubian story.
OLD CATARACT HOTEL – www.sofitel.com
This is a romantic Nile classic, where many of the Great and the Good of the last two centuries have stayed, including Agatha Christie, who penned part of her Death on the Nile here.
TEMPLE OF ISIS ON PHILAE – www.egypt.travel
The temple was created as an ode to Isis and the Nile, the creator of all things. Unfortunately the real Philae disappeared beneath the waters with the creation of the Aswan Dam but the temple itself was saved and relocated.
TEMPLE OF ABU SIMBEL – www.egypt.travel
This World Heritage Site, saved by UNESCO in the 60s, was painstakingly taken apart, piece by piece, and then put back together again away from the rising waters of Lake Nasser. |
Egypt is the world’s oldest tourist destination. It also saw the first ever package holiday organised by Thomas Cook nearly 150 years ago and that holiday was a cruise down the Nile. Danny Robins experiences one of the most romantic journeys in the world. He cruises between Luxor and Aswan and takes in some of the greatest monuments on the planet. He also finds out just how important tourism remains to a country that’s home to a quarter of the Arab world.