Day 5 – Monday, November 10: Optional Hot Air Balloon Ride, Temple of Karnak, Flight to Cairo, Grand Egyptian Museum, Overnight in Cairo
Following a longer night’s sleep, almost the entire group departed from our hotel at 4:45 a.m. for a unique and amazing hot-air balloon ride experience. It was another great day here in Egypt. The weather was predictably sunny again, with highs in the 80s.
Hot Air Balloon Ride
An early morning hot-air balloon ride was made available to us for $130/each. Although it required another early-morning rise, the experience was spectacular! We enjoyed seeing the sunrise as we floated about the Nile River, Valley of the Kings, and the mortuary temples located on this western side of the river. We ascended up to about 1,600 feet high above ground below. The bright colors of the balloons along with the contrasting green of the Nile Valley and glowing brown of the desert made the flight scenic. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for sure! We were all glad we did it! We returned to the the hotel for a quick breakfast before departing the hotel at 8. We read part of the Joseph story from the end of Genesis as we left for the
Temple of Karnak
It took only 15 minutes from the hotel to arrive at the Karnak Temple. It is really a massive complex of five temples. This temple was first built around 2100 BC (conventional dating). Many Pharaohs are honored here, including Thutmose III (who had 18 military victorious campaigns and took Megiddo in Israel), Seti I, Ramses II (who reigned 67 years and lived until 91 years of age, 1303-2113 BC, conventional dating). We also saw the many pylons, the Hypostyle Hall (built by Seti I, later refined by Ramses II, It consists of 134 columns), the obelisk of Hatshepsut (the largest one), the Sacred Lake, and the relief of Shoshenk. Some suggest he was one in the same as the Pharoah called “Shishak” in the Bible (I Kings 14:25-28 – although there are historical and archaeological inconsistencies with this theory). Another biblical connection included Tim (2 Kings 19:9 – “Tirhakah, the king of Cush” was the Pharoah who served to threaten Sennacherib, the Assyrian, during the days of Hezekiah). The grandeur of Karnak was incredible!
We left Karnak at 10:20 and drove directly to the Luxor Airport for our flight back to Cairo.
“The balloon ride over Luxor was a spectacular way to begin this new day. Wow… it was a beautiful scene to see out 50 hot-air balloons in the air at one time. The ride was smooth and peaceful. The view below in all direction and the sunrise was incredible!”
Cairo
The flight to Cairo was delayed close to two hours. This caused us to re-arrange our program today (we will visit to the new Grand Egyptian Museum until tomorrow afternoon before our evening flight to Amman, Jordan). So as we landed in Cairo slightly after 4 p.m., we drove directly to Sovatel Hotel in downtown Cairo. The Cairo traffic and “culture” was interesting to encounter! The hotel (another beautiful one!) is located right on the Nile River.
Day 5 – Tuesday, November 11: Sakkara, Egyptian Museum, Camel Rides, Pyramids, and Sphinx, Evening Flight to Amman, Jordan
