Pyramisa Isis Corniche Hotel Aswan

Plan: Early train from Luxor, straight onto our luxurious cruise-- definately splurged for this part. The ship is rumoured to be one of the nicest in all of Egypt. We will see the Kalabsha Temple, Beit El Wali & Kiosk of Kertassi before spending the night in the harbour on the boat. I know... I know... I promised that I would get this updated sooner. I am sorry. The good thing is that I took really good notes, and my memory is still fresh. So, here we go. (That and it is a lot easier to a...

16 April We arrived in Aswan and went straight to the hotel. The rooms were not ready, so we spent a couple of hours by the pool. I got bored. Everyone tired and wanted to rest, so I arranged a boat trip and camel ride. This was one way to get everyone going again. We met the boat, by the hotel, at 2:30 and crossed the Nile to the Tombs of the Nobles for the start of the camel ride. Due to a misunderstanding the camel ride started at the top of the ridge. We had to walk up and visit the tombs...

May 25, 2009 For those of you who thought the Pyramids of Giza were buried somewhere in the vast desert, as I did - I'd like to formally educate you now! Before reading on, however, keep this in mind - In the last 8 months or so I've truly tried to turn everything negative in my life into positive thinking, so please, don't scoff at the following. I just thought I'd share with you a little tidbit about the Pyramids. Built 1,000's of years ago by hundreds of thousands of Egyptian workers for t...

It's very easy to over-romanticise about travel, and even more so when you're writing about it. However, there are some places that cannot help but be viewed through eternal rose-tinted glasses, and Alexandria is most definitely one of those. The home of pharaohs and conquerors, Alexandria was for centuries Egypt's gateway and the centre of the known world, and so, perhaps fittingly, this was where I first set foot in Egypt, after many many years of dreaming about doing that very thing. Descr...

We had an early wake up call from the train at 6am to get ready for the first of three days in the Aswan area. Once we left the train we had to pay for our tickets and transport to Abu Simbel the following day which costs 445 pounds [a bit of an increase for using GAP, others did it on their own for significantly cheaper but we ended up with more time at the site in the end].

After we reached our amazing hotel, Isis, which was on the Nile and complete with granite bathrooms and amazing...

We arrived in Aswan just after 1030. Both boys are doing a great job carrying their packs. Although it was only a three minute journey to the hotel, we were grateful for the ride as it is already hotter than we get at home in July. The hotel is right on the Nile and has awesome boulders built into the room. We have a suite so the boys have some space and so do we. Free afternoon so I think some time by the pool and a walk through the Market.

Took a second class overnight seater train to Aswan from Cairo...only about 12 hours! Settled into our hotel mid morning and spent the afternoon and evening touring the Nile on a motor boat around Elephantine Island. We had dinner with a local Nubian family and goofed around with their kids while enjoying the home cooked meal. Made our way back in the dark for a much needed good nights rest. Aswan is considered Upper Egypt although it is located south of Cairo...go figure. The Nubian's are lo...

Today was a long day. We had a 5:30am wake up call before we started our drive to Aswan. It was a long drive in a very uncomfortable bus and I tried to read a newspaper which made me a bit car sick. We arrived in Aswan at about 10:30am and our hotel is right on the Nile which is cool. We had a few minutes to take our stuff to our rooms and freshen up before we went to the Aswan High Dam and the temple of Philae. The High Dam was not overly impressive, I was tired and either still not feeling ...

Today was quite a frustrating day. I got up late and had breakfast and then chilled in my room before heading off in search of an internet cafe. I couldn't find one on the main road so I wandered through the bazaar thinking there should be one near there. I still couldn't find one and the shop vendors were very aggressive and would stand in my direct path and then not let me move. I turned down the first main street I could find to get back to the corniche. As I walked along I saw McDonalds a...