Egypt: Cairo and Lake Nasser

The sunset over Lake Nasser was beautiful as we relaxed on the sun beds of the top deck. The lake waters are so calm so the ship sails smoothly and it really is so nice to be here.  Lake Nasser was formed with the completion of the High Dam and the water stretches south of the dam for nearly 500 km into Sudan. The lake is the world’s largest reservoir and is just stunning to cruise on.

 Cruising on Lake Nasser - our ship the Prince Abbas - we are on 2nd level

The temples and ancient ruins of this Nubian part of Egypt have all been relocated due to the building of the High Dam. UNESCO organized much of the work and it is truly amazing to see how these wonderful temples have been saved and restored.

 We were able to walk to the temples of Abu Simbel form our ship– it was over 43C, so hot. The temples were wonderful, got some good photos and all the history from our guide Mohamed. Abu Simbel was carved out of a mountainside in the 13^th century BC by Ramses II and was relocated in the early 70’s with the completion of Egypt’s High Dam.

Cairo 

 We visited the Cairo Tower - the funds for the tower were donated by the American CIA for communications, but now it is an observation tower with the best views of Cairo. A small lift took us up 185m (610ft) to a viewing platform where we caught our first glimpse of the pyramids – through the smog and heat haze…….

 

We stayed at the Cairo Marriott, a historic hotel & former palace built for Princess Eugenie in 1869 with beautiful gardens and public spaces. It is huge, with over 1,000 rooms in spread over the complex. We dined at the Egyptian Nights restaurant in the gardens of the hotel – a great choice as we enjoyed two great tagine meals.