Egypt - memories of 12/12

In Dec 2016 it will have been 5 years since I went on a truly incredible trip to Egypt. I am posting this now as the organiser, Barbara Meicklejohn-Free, is doing another trip in February 2017. 

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12/12/12 - at dawn we find transport (thankful I had a horse as the camels misbehaved), 12 of us headed into the desert to view the pyramids. A once in a lifetime experience!

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Never boring! Typical sites in Egypt: camel trains, fishermen, wildlife, pet crocodiles in a Nubian's front living room and camels in a truck. There is always plenty to buy - trinkets, jewellery, rugs, high quality oils, spices, cotton products......or just relaxing on deck watching the banks of the Nile drift past.

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Salah El-Masekh explaining some texts in Luxor. He is the site dig manager at Luxor where they had just started unearthing a huge bathing area outside the main temple entrance. An article he wrote about the baths appeared in the Ancient Egypt Magazine (Vol 12 Issue 6 June/July 2012). 

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Exploring the temples and sacred sites of Egypt requires long hours in transportation, walking and lots of climbing! Not for the faint of heart, we even crawled along narrow tunnels of lesser known pyramids (there are over 100 in Egypt alone), usually home to several bats. Frequently we were at temples as dawn broke, which generated some lovely photographs and meant it was quiet. Saw and photographed the infamous 'flower of life' drawing. Sadly it is very faint and in an inaccessible spot - in an archway over water - so it is a long distance shot.

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Diamond Grid - wonderful picture of rainbow diamonds in light pouring from behind the Sphinx, mirroring the pyramid behind.