One From Each Place: A&K Egypt And The Nile

I can’t recall another event in recent memory that has brought along with it so much content after the fact. Our normal process, hopeful of giving readers a good idea of any given travel experience is actually like, usually begins in advance, as we prepare to go. We try to take you along for the ride too, trailing off and moving on to other topics after the fact. Abercrombie & Kent’s Egypt and the Nile Small Group Journey seems to be the trip that keeps on giving. Today we get back to a standard post-travel photo feature series, One From Each Place. This gallery has my favorite photo from each place we stopped where photos were possible so it’s all about the destinations, in no particular order.

Unique to touring Egypt, we were required to present a ticket at many major attractions. Apparently bundling is not a concept that has spread to Egypt which worked out just fine for us. The part of those tickets we retained made for great souvenirs.

Also helpful and a bit of a tip: Make the first photo shot of an attraction that of the ticket. Later, if the scenes collected along the way start to run together in your mind, this little bit of documentation will be helpful. Also helpful; traveling with luxury travel company Abercrombie & Kent, we never stood in line to buy one of these tickets. Instead, Egyptologist Ibrahim took care of that, passing them out to us at each place.

A website to become very familiar with before visiting Egypt: The Supreme Council of Antiquities and their list of sites, quoted here with links to more information on each interesting place.

Luxor Temple

“Founded perhaps as early as the reign of Ahmose, but begun certainly by the time of Hatshepsut, Luxor Temple was constructed primarily during the reigns of Amenhotep III and Ramesses II (all during the New Kingdom, ca. 1500-1200 BC). Other kings, including Tutankhamun, Horemheb, and Alexander the Great, also added decoration or minor structures to this gem-like temple” says Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities. Read more here

See more in our Giza Pyramids Flickr Photo Album

Komombo Temple

“The site of Kom Ombo hosts the Ptolemaic Temple of Herwer (Haroeris) and Sobek, as well as a smaller, Roman-Period temple to Hathor, and a Nilometer. The Temple of Haroeris and Sobek is noted for its symmetrical construction: two entrances, two sanctuaries, and a line of symmetry that divides the temple into the domains of Haroeris and Sobek. The worship of Sobek, the crocodile god, is an example of the manner in which the Egyptians turned dangerous creatures into protectors.” Read more here

See more in our Giza Pyramids Flickr Photo Album

Philae Temple

“The original site of Philae lies underneath the waters of Lake Nasser; however, with the help of UNESCO, the entire temple was relocated to a new island, Agilkia, just south of Aswan. The earliest monuments on the island date are from the reign of Nectanebo I, while the largest structure on the island is the Temple of Isis, whose earliest decorations date to Ptolemy II.” says Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities. Read more here

See more in our Giza Pyramids Flickr Photo Album

Edfu Temple

“The site of Edfu contains the most complete and best-preserved temple in Egypt, the Ptolemaic Temple of Horus. This was constructed between 237 BC and 57 BC on top of the remains of earlier temples.

The reliefs that cover the walls, columns, and doorways of the temple constitute an extremely important source of information about ancient Egyptian religious and political thought” Read more

See more in our Giza Pyramids Flickr Photo Album

Valley of the Kings

“Nestled in the cliffs on the west bank of the Nile at Luxor, the isolated Valley of the Kings is home to the tombs of the great pharaohs of the New Kingdom (1550 – 1070 BC). They are hidden within a wadi (or valley) formed over millennia by rainfall and water runoff. The first known pharaoh known for certin to have built a tomb within the valley was Hatshepsut, although many Egptologists believe that Thutmose I was the first to locate his tomb here.” Read more

See more in our Giza Pyramids Flickr Photo Album

The Unfinished Oblisk

“Saqqara is located south of modern Cairo, on the west bank of the Nile river, and covers an area over 6 km long and more than 1.5 km wide. It was once part of a larger system of cemeteries that spanned the modern sites of Giza, Abusir, and Dahshur. The area was first used as a necropolis during the 1st Dynasty, and continued to be used for burials for the next 3,000 years. This site also became a center for ‘animal cults’ from the Late Period (ca. 712 – 343 BC) onward, and ibises, falcons, baboons, cats, dogs, and bulls were interred here in special cemeteries.” Read more

See more in our Giza Pyramids Flickr Photo Album

Karnak Temple

“Karnak, located on the East Bank at Thebes, is one of Egypt’s largest surviving temple precincts. Founded in the Middle Kingdom, it had become Egypt’s principal religious center by the New Kingdom. It was devoted primarily to the god Amun, a local Theban god joined with the sun god Re to become king of the Egyptian pantheon. Kings from the Middle Kingdom through the Roman era dedicated architectural elements such as pylons (monumental gateways), courts, temples, and shrines to the precincts of the Theban triad: Amun, his consort Mut, their son Khonsu, and the war god Montu, creating the sprawling zone we see today.” Read more

See more in our Temple Of Karnak Flickr Photo Album

Mit Rahina Museum

“The few remaining ruins of the great city of Memphis are located mainly around the small village of Mit Rahina. Egypt’s administrative capital was located in this general area from the beginning of the Early Dynastic period until the late New Kingdom, and remained important throughout Egyptian history. The principal remains at Mit Rahina date to the New Kingdom and later. The temple of Ptah, tutelary god of Memphis, was at one time one of the grandest temples in Egypt. Today only a fraction of the temple remains, along with an enclosure containing the ruined palace of Apries north of the Temple of Ptah. A palace of Merenptah was also excavated in this area.” Read more

See more in our Mit Rahina Museum Flickr Photo Album

Cheops Boat Museum

“Built in the shadow of the Great Pyramid at Giza, the Khufu Boat Museum houses the largest royal vessel ever found in Egypt. Discovered in 1954, this boat had been dismantled in ancient times and placed in a pit to the south of the pyramid. A second boat still lies in a similar pit directly to the west of the first pit. Scholars are divided over whether these boats were symbolic solar barks for the king to use in his afterlife, or funeral boats, used to transport Khufu’s funerary equipment to his pyramid.” Read more

See more in our The Solar Boat Flickr Photo Album

Giza Pyramids

“Giza is located west and south of modern Cairo, in the vast desert imagined by the ancient Egyptians to be the land of the dead. Guarded by the Great Sphinx, the plateau is dominated by the massive pyramids of Khufu (Gr. Cheops), Khafre (Gr. Chephren), and Menkaure (Gr. Mycerinus), all of whom ruled Egypt during the 4th Dynasty (c. 2500 BC). The royal pyramid complexes, which include temples, causeways, and satellite pyramids, are surrounded by tombs of the elite-members of the royal family, the nobility, and the priesthood. At the foot of the plateau, south of the Great Sphinx, lie the Cemetery and Town of the Pyramid Builders, where the men and women who constructed the royal and elite tombs on the main plateau lived, worked, and were buried.” Read more

See more in our Giza Pyramids Flickr Photo Album

The Egyptian Museum Of Antiquities

“The Egyptian Museum in Cairo contains the world’s most extensive collection of pharaonic antiquities; no visit to Egypt is complete without a trip through its galleries. The original collection was established in the late 19th century under Auguste Mariette and housed in Boulaq. The objects were moved in 1891 to the palace of Ismail Pasha in Giza before being transferred in 1902 to the current building at Tahrir Square, which is the first purpose-built museum edifice in the world.” Read more.

See more in our Egyptian Museum Of Antiquities Flickr Photo Album

The Step Pyramid

See more in our Step Pyramid Flickr Photo Album

Not every place we went required a ticket for admission though. See other favorite scenes from our Abercrombie & Kent Small Group Journey at our new Egypt And The Nile photo narrative on Exposure , live now:

See More Of Our Abercrombie & Kent Small Group Journey

At ChrisCruises.com via these previous posts:

Facebook Photo Albums:

Photo Album: A Day In Egypt With Abercrombie & Kent
Photo Album: The Temple Of Luxor
Photo Album: Favorite Images From Egypt
Photo Album: The Temples Of Abu Simbel
Photo Album: The Cairo Bazaar
Photo Album: The Citadel, Amman Jordan
Photo Album: Little Petra
Photo Album: The Lost City Of Petra

Flickr Members see ChrisCruises Photo Albums
(Not a Flickr member? sign up here for free and get 1T free photo storage-must be signed in to see)

Exposure Photo Narratives – Big photos that tell the story. View on largest screen you have for best experience.

Egypt And The Nile With Abercrombie & Kent
The Enchanting Land Of Jordan (coming soon)

Pinterest Photo Boards

A&K’s Egypt And The Nile- one photo from each place
A&K’s Jordan (coming soon)

Chris Cruises

Cruise news, tips and inside information

RIVER CRUISING

CUISINE

OCEAN CRUISING

One From Each Place: A&K Egypt And The Nile

Luxor Temple

Komombo Temple

Philae Temple

Edfu Temple

Valley of the Kings

The Unfinished Oblisk

Karnak Temple

Mit Rahina Museum

Cheops Boat Museum

Giza Pyramids

The Egyptian Museum Of Antiquities

The Step Pyramid

See More Of Our Abercrombie & Kent Small Group Journey