Day 4: Luxor!

This morning our alarms went off at 4:30 a.m., but I feel like our bodies really don’t know what day/time it was so it wasn’t as painful as expected.

We got dressed and went down to breakfast. The boat, the M/S Jamila, is a little older and very "mid-range" as far as fanciness and extras go, but it was great for us. The kids loved the rooftop deck which had a small (freezing!) pool and lots of lounge chairs and larger tables and chairs to sit at. Underneath the top deck was a level with a large lounge with bar, a souveneir shop, and some guest rooms (there were 66 cabins total). Beneath that was our floor which was all guest rooms. Then the lobby level, with some small shops and the smaller, single rooms where the guides stay, and then the bottom level with the dining area was located. The meals were always buffet style and quite good! We had two rooms right across from each other - the kids' had 3 beds and a bathroom and ours had a king and bathroom. Both were much larger than I expected (our largest rooms of the trip, actually) and had a little desk area with a mirror that worked great as a vanity. Everything was very clean and we slept so well. It was great to have one place to return to each night as we sailed to different stops to see so many amazing things.

We had a private guide, Jusef, who was wonderful and stayed on the boat with us. He'd tell us when we should meet him in the morning for whatever that day's adventures would be. The kitchen would open up 1 hour before the first group was heading out (everyone on the boat had a guide or group), so we'd eat and go. Jusef was awesome about knowing exactly when to leave and where to go first to avoid crowds as much as possible and it was always worth the earlier wakeup calls.

Which is why we found our tired selves heading out into Luxor before dawn in a van with a driver and Jusef. Our first stop was Karnak Temple, one of the largest and the most important in all of Egypt.

Built in 1970 BC, it was continually expanded and edited by later pharaohs over nearly a century.

Including Ramses II, of course. He is quite literally everywhere.

Jusef pointed out many unique features and identifying marks left by various pharaohs who contributed to it.

There is an Avenue of 1,000 Sphinxes, which originally ran all the way to the Nile and the Luxor Temple, and just so much detail everywhere.

The size and scale of the buildings is hard to convey.

We left Karnak as the sun arose and the buses were arriving and continued on to the Luxor Temple, guarded by two enormous statues of Ramses II. You can see a little purple-clad Cora running on the ground beneath them.

Constructed around 1400 BC, it was added onto by Tutankhamun and Ramses II and others.

The ancient Egyptians loved a hallway of columns and the size, thickness, and sturdiness of those columns these thousands of years later is pretty amazing.

From Luxor Temple we headed to the West side of the Nile (the temples are on the East side of the Nile, symbolizing life, while the tombs are on the West, symbolizing sunset/death) to the Valley of the Kings!

The Valley of the Kings was by far the most crowded stop we experienced the whole trip. I can't imagine being there in summer when the temperatures are 50 degrees higher, because it felt hot and nearly claustrophobic in December. It's absolutely worth the stop, and I'm so glad we saw it, but I'm also glad every other temple and attraction was considerably cooler and calmer. I didn't take any surface-level pictures, but imagine a valley between two mountains crammed with people like Magic Kingdom on a major holiday.

We toured three tombs. The Egyptian government determines which can be toured at which times of year, so as to rotate out the crowds of people and potential wear and tear. Tour guides must give their information outside the tomb and cannot accompany their guests within - this is to keep people moving (thank goodness) and also to keep talking and respiration to a minimum to avoid harming the paint within.

Because the painted decor within is absolutely incredible. The colors! The vibrancy, the detail, the saturation -- these walls were painted 4,000 years ago and look better than walls in my house after a couple of years. They were amazing to see. Everything else in the tombs has been removed to museums, so it's really just the physical structures and surfaces you're seeing, but they're incredible.

Next up was the Burial Temple of Queen Hatshepsut. It's huge, built into a mountain in the Valley of Nobles, and was used for services after her death. The temple itself is impressive, and so is she, as she brought vast wealth, trade, peace, and artistry to the land. As our guide said, Egypt did best when ruled by a woman.

Though for all the impressive things he told us, I think the kids mostly remember that Queen Hatshepsut married her half-brother and then her step-son.

After a quick stop at the Colossi of Memnon (we were all pretty done), we were back on the boat for lunch. It set sail at 1 pm and we spent the rest of the day napping in the sun (me), working out (James & Landon), coloring (girls), and watching the beautiful countryside as we sailed by (all of us).

We enjoyed afternoon tea time where Landon pretended to like tea in order to eat all the biscuits. By the end of the trip he could drink a cup of tea with only two sugars (down from six) and barely make any face at all. He now frequently announces, "I drink tea." at random, though he has not actually had tea since leaving Egypt.

It was pretty surreal to realize it was Christmas Eve. I have zero regrets about taking this trip when we did, even if it meant missing our traditional Christmas Eve and morning, and the kids agreed, but they also felt strongly we weren't doing it again because Christmas requires cousins and home and far more sugar cookies. But being together with this crew is all I need (as long as we got to do the cookies and other traditions before we left!).

The sun sets fairly early- around 5 pm- and dinner usually started at 7:30 or 8, so we spent most early evenings up on the deck coloring or reading and enjoying the fresh air before it got too cold.

We got ready for dinner and the boat put on quite a show and display for Christmas Eve! You can't tell because we're too tall, but there's a lovely decorate tree behind us!

The crew went all out on the dinner, with lots of holiday and New Year's touches and food sculptures.

After dinner was belly dancers and whirling dervishes. You know, your usual Christmas Eve stuff.

We were in bed by 9:30, wishing our family 8-9 hours behind us a very Merry Christmas Eve and excited about the next day's adventures to come!