We were in Cairo for the first four days of your Egypt-2007 tour holiday.


We stayed at the Hilton Cairo - which is Cairo’s oldest 5-Star hotels. It is showing its age somewhat, but it does still have a lot of character. And like most of the Cairo buildings - it's very "concrete" looking.


Being a privilege Hilton Honours VIP member, I managed to get a free upgrade - which meant we had a room over-looking the Nile. Not bad at all!


During our tour of Cairo, we visited the Egyptian Museum, located just around the corner from the hotel, and enjoyed a fantastic Ramadan Special Set-Meal in a floating restaurant - fantastic!

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!

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.

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.

The Sphinx of Giza is a symbol that has represented the essence of Egypt for thousands of years.


The body of a lion with the head of a king or god, the sphinx has come to symbolize strength and wisdom.

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!

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.

This was the original of the two Dams located in Aswan. The "Low Dam" was constructed by the British in 1899 and operational in 1902. It was designed by Sir William Willcocks.


The initial design was soon found to be inadequate, and the Dam had to be raised twice, between 1907-1912 and 1929-1933. After a further overflowing threat in 1946 a second High Dam was chosen to be built.

The Low Dam almost overflowed in 1946, and it was felt that instead of raising the Dam was the third time, a new "High Dam" was to be build approx. 6km (4miles) up the river.


Planning began in 1952, but the British and US funding was withdrawn in July 1956 and it was only thanks to the Soviet Union in 1958 did the project finally progress. It was completed on 21 July, 1970.

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!