TGIF! After a hiatus, I join FriFotos for another week to celebrate the theme “Close-up.” I’ll show you photos of my favorite ancient ruins and other close-up shots from sights I’ve encountered throughout my travels in Egypt. Enjoy!
The Ramesseum: Luxor, Egypt
The mortuary temple of the infamous “Ramses The Great,” The Rammesseum is kind of an off-the-beaten-path ancient ruins site. In fact, when I visited back in June 2008, I had the whole place for myself — midday! It was great. I even had time to kill as my cabbie wouldn’t come back for another hour:
Beheaded! Oh yeah, Karma…
Feet?
Love staring up high statues
Town’s ferry: Luxor, Egypt
I traveled throughout Egypt independently. My morning routine included reading up the history of most sites I visited before heading out. For Luxor, one of Egypt’s top tourist towns, I simply took the local ferry (picture below) to the West Bank, bargained down a daily rate with a cab driver (in Arabic!), and saw all sights on my own. Later that day, I took the same ferry back, hired a pink bike (US$1.50/day), and saw the rest of the town’s sights. Best game plan ever!
local Luxor ferry, Egypt
My favorite soft drink in the whole wide world: Fayrouz pineapple
Fayrouz, not to be confused with Lebanese legend Fairuz, means “turquoise” in Arabic. She happens to be my favorite Arab singer. And favorite color. And favorite drink. The universe knows me well.
I don’t ever drink soda, but when I do, it’s FAYROUZ
Hatshepsut temple: Luxor, Egypt
This shall be the Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, the only woman Pharaoh! She wore a fake beard in order to look like a man in statues and drawings. Rumor has it that people from her kingdom attempted to destroy all evidence of her ever reigning. Clearly, they failed. GIRL POWER!
Strong woman in history: Hatshepsut, “the Djeser-Djeseru” or “Holy of Holies” (Wikipedia)
We are powerful
Oh, today I found out this was also the site of the massacre of 62 people, attack conducted by Islamist extremists back in 1997 (according to WIkipedia)…
I’m a huge fan of Hatshepsut… so well done. I would enjoy that tour you did, even if it looks ridiculously hot!
my “tour” involved paying for a spot on an already-hired van and taking in the site by myself! Independent travel at its finest 😉
Awesome post! love the pictures… I’m sure like most others, Egypt’s pyramids are on my must-see list!
actually… The Pyramids of Giza were a disappointment to me. 🙁 click on that link to read about my experience! And I visited them about 3 times…
Hi. This was fun to read. I like your pictures. Keep up the great work. You were awesome to go on your own, I’m too scared to do that. I admire women who do travel on their own. One thing though, I believe Cleopatra was the last Pharaoh. When she died, the Pharaohs were no more.
Debbie: Cleopatra was Greek and was never a real pharaoh. She was a ruler, no doubt about it. Yet, Cleopatra was never an official, sole ruler of Egypt 😉 good to mention this infamous woman, though!
Glad this was a fun read and that you liked my pictures. I love traveling solo and, indeed, I’m not scared! I take what I like to call calculated risks: thoroughly research an area before traveling solo to make sure I take all the necessary precautions 🙂