Edfu lies approximately half way between Luxor and Aswan. Our ship birthed there for the night and we visited the temple in the late afternoon, with few other tourists. While this meant we had the site to ourselves, it also meant that the traders in the bazaar outside didn’t have any other punters to hassle !

The temple is dedicated to Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris, the falcon headed god, commonly seen branding current Egyptian companies. The temple was built in the Greek Ptolemaic period and completed by the father of Cleopatra VII (the one played by Elizabeth Taylor). It is one of the best preserved.

The Temple of Hathur, the Egyptian goddess of the sky, of women, fertility and love, was built by Egyptians during the reign of Greeks/Romans. The temple was built at Dendera to demonstrate that the Romans were accepted by the Egyptian gods.

As our ship had not been able to sail north of Luxor travelled by minibus (the other four of our group skipped the trip), although the journey was made quicker by the police allowing us to use the newly built desert highway which we were told is not always the case for tourists. We were rewarded by having the site almost to ourselves.

Hatshepsut (1473-1458 BC) was rare in being a female pharaoh. Initially she ruled as regent for her infant nephew and step-son, the future pharaoh Tuthmosis III (1458- 1425 BC) but then became pharaoh in her own right. It is believed that the temple was defaced by Tuthmosis III in an attempt to erase her from history.

Our guide suggested a way of remembering her name “It’s like hot chicken soup” !

This is a memorial temple built by Ramses III (1186-1155 BC) dominated by Funery Temple. It is close to the Valley of the Kings on the “West Bank” of the Nile, opposite the main city of Luxor which is predominently on the “East Bank”.

Largely built by Amenhotep III (1390-1352 BC) and Ramses II, the longest reigning pharaoh, (1279-1213 BC). It is connected to Karnak by the 3km avenue of the Sphinx. The temple sits close to the Nile and surrounded by the current city of Luxor.

Karnak is a temple complex large enough to contain ten cathedrals. It was built, added to and changed over a period of 1500 years. It is dominated by the temple of Amun-Ra – the sun god and Egyptian equivalent to Zeus.

We flew from Cairo to Luxor and joined our ship for a week on the Nile. Due to low water levels in the river, initially we did not go very far as it was not possible to navigate the section north of Luxor. However, we were straight into our schedule of early starts, temples and tombs.

We were in the same group of six with the same guide and driver for all the sight seeing. Our guide, Wael was quick to pick up the pace and sense of humour of our all British group. Wael qualified at Cairo university in tourism, guiding and Egyptian history/archeology sixteen years ago. Sadly, though due to the impact on tourism in Egypt of political unrest and the pandemic, he has only had around six years of good work.

Coptic Cairo contains the oldest church, oldest mosque and oldest synagogue in Cairo; although some of the buildings are newer, some date back to the 9th and 10th Centuries. We visited the Hanging Church (named for its location above the gatehouse of the Babylon Fortress), Church of St George and Monastery of St George. In addition we walked through the Coptic cemetery where families have, what appear to be, small houses for their dead. The Ben Ezra synagogue was closed for renovation.

While estimates vary, today around 20% of the population of Egypt are Coptic christians. It is common to see churches and mosques close to each other in the towns and villages along the Nile.

The Citadel is built at the top of Cairo. You are supposed the be able to see the pyramids, but this is impossible due to the air quality. Some of the initial building materials were removed from the pyramids. The main attraction now is the 19th Century Mosque of Mohammed Ali (nothing to do with “the greatest”). In its courtyard is a clock given to the Egyptians by the French in exchange for the obelisk in the Place de la Concorde, but it arrived damaged and has never worked. We were surprised by how few tourists there were at the Citadel – for many Cairo is a staging post including only the pyramids.

A new museum is being built to house many of the artifacts including the finds from Tutankhamun’s tomb, but this is not expected to open until 2023. The current museum in Cairo was built in 1901 to the design of a French architect. Navigation of the museum is almost impossible without the assistance of a qualified guide, which we had. You would spend days there unless directed to the highlights and many displays do not have labels.