The Brigatti On-Line Gallery

Cairo Solar Boat Museum - Day 3

Wed, 08 Nov 2017 06:52:30 +0000

Our particular Tour Operator, Bales Worldwide, had an additional benefit, to visit the Solar Boat Museum, located behind the Pyramid of Cheops.

During excavation in 1954, to build one of the access roads, a discovery was made with a set of stones that seemingly covered a pit. Upon further inspection, they located 1,244 cedarwood parts.

It was reconstructed, by being stitched together using ropes made of vegetable fibers, and after its reassembly, the boat measuring 43.3m (142ft) long and is now housed in the Solar Boat Museum.

Aswan - Nile Beauty Cruise Ship - Days 5-12

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 12:20:20 +0000

The Flotel's Nile Beauty Cruise Ship was our Floating Hotel was the 7 day trip along with the River Nile.

It was over 10 years old but had all of the facilities that we would need, nice sized cabins, window view, en-suite facilitates, television -and the sun terraces was fantastic!

It even had a nice plunge pool!

Aswan - Nubian Show - Day 11

Mon, 05 May 2008 22:38:44 +0100

London Heathrow - Concorde - Day 13

Mon, 05 May 2008 22:04:22 +0100

During our return Coach journey from London Heathrow, we saw one of the Concorde plans just outside one of the BA Hangars. Truly, an engineering site! Shame they aren't flying any longer! Ho-hum!

Return Flight Over Greece - Day 13

Mon, 05 May 2008 22:01:53 +0100

During our return flight, we flew along to the coast of Greece and with the clear skies, enabled us to see a number of the magical Greek Islands that exist - including the infamous Santorini.

Earlier on the year, Greece suffered a number of major forest fires, and the scale of this disaster was evident flying over the Countryside, with a lot of blacken and charred landscapes very much present.

Egypt Cairo and Nile Cruise Holiday - Sept and Oct 2007

Mon, 05 May 2008 21:59:53 +0100

I treated my parents to a holiday to Egypt, where we were had a Bales Worldwide guided holiday.

Our itinerary included 4 days in Cairo to visit the Pyramids, Sphinx and the Egyptian Museum. We then flew to Aswan to catch a Cruise Ship on the Nile sailing towards Luxor for a 2-day stopover. We visited Kom Ombo and Edfu on the way 'down the river' towards Luxor. We then travelled back visiting Kom Ombo and Edfu 'up the river' and arrived back at Aswan for a complete 7-day round-trip cruise. We flew back to Cairo for an overnight stopover for our flight back the London Heathrow.

A lot of fun, plenty of early starts, definitely a lot of sight-seeing, and a few relaxing moments in the mix too! More importantly, a thoroughly overdue but well deserved break!

Aswan - The Temple of Philae - Day 6

Mon, 05 May 2008 21:59:04 +0100

Philae Island was a rocky island in the middle of the River Nile, south of Aswan.

The Ancient Egyptians built a beautiful and magnificent Temple on this island for the Goddess Isis, but the Temple became submerged after the first Aswan dam was built in 1906, and it was not until the seventies that many nations attempted to save the Temple.

Firstly, a cofferdam was built around the Temple and the water was drained. Next, the Temple was dismantled and transferred, stone by stone, from the submerged Philea Island to the redesigned Egilica Island. Each and every stone had to be numbered, and then replaced, in the same position, in the new location. It was a massive, and very complicated, project taking over 9 years to be accomplished. The Temple of Philae was reopened in 1980!

Aswan - Granite Quarry - Day 6

Mon, 05 May 2008 21:58:01 +0100

These granite quarries were used to remove many of the stones used for the monuments near Aswan.

The quarrier's would did oblong holes along the lines to be cut, then drive wooden wedges into the cuts. They would then soak the wood with water and when the wood expanded, the granite would break, so they could then remove the stone.

In the quarry, there is an example of one of the Unfinished Obelisks.

Kom Ombo - Temple of Kom Ombo - Day 6

Mon, 05 May 2008 21:57:20 +0100

The Temple known as Kom Ombo is actually two temples consisting of a Temple to Sobek and a Temple of Haroeris. In ancient times, sacred crocodiles basked in the sun on the river bank near here. The Temple has scant remains, due first to the changing Nile, then the Copts who once used it as a church, and finally by builders who used the stones for new buildings.

Aswan - Botanical Gardens on Kitchener Island - Day 12

Mon, 05 May 2008 21:25:29 +0100

We visited the Botanical Garden which was used by the Nubians to settle in it and they called it Jet Narty. In the year of 1899, Lord Kitchener took the island to be a place where his campaign can rest, and call it the lord's house. After his death, this island belonged to the Ministry of Agriculture and Elephantine Island. The island named Elephantine as it was a major ivory trading center or because Egyptians first saw the Elephant in this district. The island is considered a natural boundary between Egypt and Nubia.

Kom Ombo Sunset - Day 10

Mon, 05 May 2008 20:59:21 +0100

Whilst at Kom Ombo, we relaxed and watched a magical sunset.

Kom Ombo - Ship Collision - Day 10

Mon, 05 May 2008 20:59:01 +0100

Whilst some of the passengers (the other tour group) disembarked at Kom Ombo - to visit the Temple - the one we had visited on the previous journey, we relaxed on the boat and watched the world go by.

We were sitting in the front of the boat, and noticed that two other ships who were moving on the waterway, collided in front of our eyes. An amazingly loud bang sounded - and it subsequently prevailed that this was the first of these types of incidents. Luckily, we weren't involved in this.

Edfu - Temple of Horus - Day 10

Mon, 05 May 2008 20:29:37 +0100

The Temple of Edfu is an ancient Egyptian temple located on the west bank of the Nile in the city of Edfu. It is the second largest temple in Egypt after Karnak and one of the best preserved - the temple is dedicated to the falcon god Horus.

Esna Sunset - Day 9

Mon, 05 May 2008 19:44:47 +0100

We had a relaxing journey back to Esna Lock; I took some nice photos of the sunset as we approached the Lock. We were hoping that we would make it through the lock relatively quickly to enable us to moor at Edfu for a nice evening walk (this didn't happen!).

Luxor - Template of Luxor - Day 9

Mon, 05 May 2008 17:41:49 +0100

Luxor Temple is a large Ancient Egyptian temple complex located on the east bank of the River Nile in the city today known as Luxor (ancient Thebes) and was founded in 1400 BC.

Many festivals were celebrated in Thebes. The Temple of Luxor was the centre of the most important one, the festival of Opet. Built largely by Amenhotep III and Ramesses II, it appears that the temple's purpose was for a suitable setting for the rituals of the festival.

Luxor - Temple of Karnak - Day 9

Mon, 05 May 2008 17:19:41 +0100

The Karnak temple complex, universally known only as Karnak, describes a vast conglomeration of ruined temples, chapels, pylons and other buildings. The complex is a vast open-air museum and the largest ancient religious site in the world. It is probably the second most visited historical site in Egypt, second only to the Giza Pyramids near Cairo.

Luxor - Hot Air Balloon Flight - Day 9

Sat, 03 May 2008 16:10:00 +0100

We took a Hot-Air Balloon flight - early on Day 9 of our holiday, where we took a boat ride to take us across from our current East-Bank location to join the Balloon on West-Bank.

The right took over an hour, and was an amazing flight over the West-Bank, across the Nile - viewing some of the amazing sights that we had previously visited, and then onwards to the East-Bank. We had a magical sun-rise, and we had a few occasions when one of the fellow Hot-Air Balloons create an Eclipse of the Sun as we travelled...

Luxor - Valley of the Kings - Day 8

Sat, 03 May 2008 14:51:02 +0100

The Valley of the Kings stands on the west bank of the Nile, across from Thebes (modern Luxor), within the heart of the Theban Necropolis.

The Valley of the Kings is a valley where for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th century BC, tombs were constructed for the kings and powerful nobles of the New Kingdom.

Colossus of Memnon - Day 8

Sat, 03 May 2008 14:41:23 +0100

The Colossus of Memnon (known to locals as el-Colossat, or es-Salamat) are two massive stone statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III. When they say massive, they really mean it, these are two amazing sandstone statues!

Luxor - Valley of the Queens - Day 8

Sat, 03 May 2008 14:41:10 +0100

The Valley of the Queens holds far more than graves of queens. High officials had been buried here before the first queen. In addition, royal children were buried here next to the queens. There are 80 tombs all together, most are closed.

The tombs were built according to patterns from the Valley of the Kings, but on a smaller scale.

Luxor - Temple of Queen Hatshepsut - Day 8

Sat, 03 May 2008 14:40:56 +0100

The Temple of Deir El-Bahri is one of the most characteristic temples in the whole of Egypt, due to its design and decorations. It was built of limestone, not sandstone like most of the other funerary temples of the New Kingdom period.

The Temple was built for the great Queen Hatshepsut (18th Dynasty), to commemorate her achievements and to serve as a funerary Temple for her, as well as a sanctuary of the God, Amon Ra.

Esna Lock - Day 7

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 22:25:58 +0100

Once we departed Edfu, we had to past through the Esna Lock - and the dozens of 'boat-sellers'. The sellers were actually saying cloths (not Boats, Ahem!). They would throw the cloths onto the boat deck (sometimes 4-decks up), and then start to bargain away. This is where you can tell the good hagglers from those who haven't got a clue.

Anyway, the order of getting through the lock seemed to be pot-lock, but we were told that there was an order of some kind, like you picked up an invisible ticket from the counter and waited your turn. It was the lock-authority in control, and we ended up waiting for almost 2 hours (which wasn't bad in comparison - as this was a quiet time!) Anyway, we made it through the 2-locks, so upwards we went!

Cairo Pyramids - Day 3

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 22:25:19 +0100

On Day 3 of our 4-day stay in Cairo, we took a mini-bus outside of the main City, to witness one of the great wonders of the world, the famous Egyptian Great Pyramids.

We saw the 9 main pyramids that made up the complex, and I actually went inside one of the corridors of the Great Pyramid - a task in its own right!

Cairo Camel Ride - Day 3

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 22:23:00 +0100

I was the only member of the Tour group that was game for a Camel ride. I always wanted to do this, so took this great opportunity to have a go!

It was a bit lonely but in the landscape setting, it was a great outing indeed.

Oh, and say hello to Moses, the Camel.

Evening Entertainment - Day 7

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 21:24:52 +0000

There was an Egyptian-Themed Evening on Day 6, which involved a Galabian Party.

The early evening event started with a traditional Egyptian Belly Dancing followed by "Whirling Dervish" performance. Amazing stuff!!

Edfu - Day 6

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 20:02:48 +0000

The town of Edfu is a City located on the west bank of the Nile 56km south of Esna and 105km north of Aswan. On the way North, we only moored briefly, and we didn't visit the Edfu Temple. We were expecting to visit this on the back back.