We woke up to find ourselves docked in Edfu. Our coach took us to Edfu temple. Some of the tourists travel there in a horse and carriage but they look in such poor condition that Great Rail Journeys stopped using them.

Off the coach, we first had to walk through the ‘Valley of the Vultures’.

Edfu temple is dedicated to Horus, the falcon headed God. He killed his brother, symbolised here by a hippo.

We returned to the ship and enjoyed a BBQ on the top deck as we continued cruising up the Nile, passing many different vessels and even a train!

We docked opposite Kom Ombo Temple.

This temple was dedicated to Horus and to the crocodile headed god, Sobek.

The columns and walls of the temple are intricately carved. These pictures show the medical instruments in use at the time, and the birthing chair.

Archaeological digs continue.

Mummified crocodiles were on display in the adjacent museum.

To get back to our ship we had to walk through 5 other ships!

In the evening we had an Egyptian buffet followed by music, dancing and games.

We have now docked at Aswan, ready for another exciting day tomorrow.

We left the ship and travelled to West Luxor, crossing the River Nile.

First stop was the Valley of the Kings.

We visited the tomb of Rameses IV.

The next tomb belonged to Tutankhamun.

Rameses III came next.

Then Rameses IX,

and the tomb of Merenptah.

Next we briefly visited one of the many alabaster cottage industries in the area to see souvenirs being made.

Back on the coach we travelled to Hatshepsut’s temple. She was an Egyptian queen.

Our last stop was the Valley of the Queens – which also includes many kings. The tomb of Amonchopeshfu, eldest son of Rameses III is famous for its beautiful wall paintings.

On the drive back to the ship we saw sundried tomatoes being made.

We got back to the ship just in time for lunch and disembarkation. We are heading south, up river.

We sat on deck for a while and we are now waiting for Marco, our Egyptian guide, to talk to us about modern Egypt.

Cocktails with the Captain later!

We left our hotel in Luxor, with its beautiful view of the Nile, and travelled to Luxor Temple.

The temple was built around the time of Tutankhamun, and later, Ramesses II.

An avenue of Sphinxs joins Luxor Temple with Karnak temple 3.5km away.

The walls and columns of the temple are covered with hieroglyphics and drawings which would have been very colourful when new.

The Romans added a church inside the temple around 5AD. They reused some of the stone from the original columns resulting in some drawings being upside down!

One picture shows a gathering around a table that looks similar to the painting of The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci.

The drawing below depicts the one armed and one legged fertility god. The story goes that all the men except him were killed which made him very popular with the ladies, who bore him many children.

We carried on to our ship, ‘Sunray’, and enjoyed an excellent Moroccan buffet.

After lunch we were off again – to Karnak Temple.

Karnak Temple followed Luxor Temple, begun in the middle kingdom (2000 – 1700 BC) and developed for another 2000 years with around 30 pharaohs contributing to it.

It is a massive site, the largest of all temples.

After our visit we headed back to our ship, stopping briefly at a papyrus art gallery.

We are back on the ship looking forward to dinner.

We left our hotel in Giza for the train to Luxor. We set off at 10.30am and arrived at 8.30pm. The journey was comfortable if not the cleanest. We had a substantial packed lunch provided by the Crowne Hotel which was enough for lunch and tea.

It was difficult taking photos due to the speed of the train and angle of the sun, but here goes …..

We were pleased to get on our coach and travel ten minutes to the Sonesta St George Hotel.

After walking 10,000+ steps yesterday I only managed 2,500 today but we travelled over 300 miles.

Only one night here then off on our Nile Cruise tomorrow!

Today we went by coach to Giza. The Great Sphinx was our first stop.

My dad was in Egypt in 1951/2 during his National Service so we are retracing his steps.

We walked around The Great Pyramid of Giza the last remaining 7th Wonder of the Ancient World.

Andy took the opportunity to climb the stone steps and enter inside the pyramind.

2km away from the Great Pyramid is the Great Egyptian Museum (GEM) which opened in late 2025 as the world’s largest archaeological museum dedicated to a single civilisation showcasing 100,000 artifacts including the entire Tutankhamun collection for the first time. All 5000+ items from the boy King’s tomb are displayed.

The museum is massive and would take several days to do it justice. We focused on the Tutankhamun exhibits.

The boy King’s organs were removed and placed in canopic jars, apart from the heart which is left in the body to be weighed prior to entering the afterlife.

Tutankhamun’s mummified body was placed inside 3 nested coffins which were placed inside a stone sarcophagus.

Buried with him were all the things he may need in the afterlife including many shabtis who would become servants to him.

This is the head of Anubis, the jackal shaped god who is god of the afterlife and protector of the dead.

His gold throne would be needed in the afterlife.

This boat was found in kit form buried near the Great Pyramid, ready to take the King across the river to the afterlife.

The first ever Great Rail Journeys group to visit the Great Egyptian Museum – January 2026.

We left our hotel and went to the fort built on the site of the Pharos Lighthouse, one of the seven ancient wonders of the world.

Back on the coach we headed west following the Mediterranean coast to El Alamein where we stopped to visit the Commonwealth War Cemetery. The battle of El Alamein was a major allied victory in North Africa and a turning point for British fortunes in WW2

We visited the museum nearby featuring many military vehicles.

We continued along the coast road to a hotel that, although closed for the winter, had offered to provide us with lunch.

For many miles we drove past hundreds of resorts and hotels that were all empty – used only in the summer months. Turning off the coast road we drove through desert to Wadi El-Natrun a fertile valley and then to a Coptic Christian Monastery where we were shown around by one of the monks.

After a long day our driver, Raphaelo, took us back to Cairo but this time to the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

We had dinner in a restaurant in the nearby shopping centre.

Very busy day today. After an early start we left our hotel to catch the 8.00 am train to Alexandria – Egypt’s’ ‘second capital.’ We travelled first class, very clean and comfortable. The journey north took two and a half hours.

Arriving in Alexandria we transferred to our coach.

Our tour of Alexandria began with a visit to the Roman amphitheatre which was discovered under a pile of rubble.

Back on the coach our journey took us to the catacombs through back roads reminiscent of India.

The catacombs were discovered when a donkey fell down one of the hidden shafts.

There followed a visit to the impressive monolith, Pompey’s Pillar.

Getting hungry now, we had one more visit to make – to the Library of Alexandria, the world’s most famous library of classical antiquity.

Finally, at 4.30pm we went to the restaurant overlooking the Mediterranean for lunch.

After a very welcome ‘lunch’ we were taken to the Hilton Hotel. Our room had a view over the sea.

After a five hour flight from Heathrow we landed in Cairo.

By the time we left the airport it was gettimg dark.

We drove on our coach through the traffic chaos to the Sheraton Hotel, overlooking the Nile.

We have a beautiful room with amazing views.

We had a buffet dinner with our travelling companions – a Great Rail group of 40 like minded people.

Time for bed.