Semiramis III

This was supposed to be a holiday of a lifetime as we also celebrated our Silver Wedding Anniversary on this trip, the flight out was on a Thomson aircraft which was filthy and on top of this we were informed after boarding that the video equipment on the aircraft was not working (why were we not told before boarding so we could have got something to read as it was a 5 hour flight).

On landing at Luxor we transferred to the MS Semiramis docked just outside Luxor, we then found out the cruise didn't until the following night as more passengers were boarding the next day.

Once the cruise got underway the crew and the guides were excellent and it made up for the problems of the flight, the temples were out of this world the valley of the Kings and Queens were fascinating, on out arrival at Aswan we had booked to visit the temple at Abu Simbel, we could have gone by air but decided to travel overland by bus, although this was a 3 hour trip it was in my opinion the best way to travel as we got to see the sunrise over the desert and on the return journey we saw all the mirages in the desert.

from Aswan we sailed back down the Nile and watched the world go by, which was bliss after all the rushing about going to all the ancient sites, it was over 45degrees in the sun so everyone tended to stay in the shade, (a word of warning if you go to the alabaster or perfume factories beware the high prices , we found when we went to Cairo and Luxor markets we could buy the same things for less than half the price that was charged on the organised tours)

We transferred to the Sheraton Hotel on our arrival back in Luxor for the second week of the holiday and were very pleased with this hotel, the staff were so nice, the room was very comfortable, and although we didn't have a Nile view it didn't matter as we were by the pool most of the day.

My sister had arranged a balloon flight for our anniversary and I can recommend this to anyone who is thinking of doing it, to watch the sunrise over the desert while 3,000 feet in the air then looking down at Hapsetshut's temple looking so small takes your breath away.

It was Ramadan when we were there so at 6 pm every night the streets were empty and you could walk up the road to the restaurants without being pounced on by all and sundry.

We also booked up to go to Cairo to see the Pyramids as you can't go to Egypt and not see these wonderful monuments, but Cairo was just chaos it looked like an earthquake zone after a major tremor with some beautiful buildings in between.

Would we return to Egypt, yes as the country is so full of history, but we will be better prepared as to what to expect.

If you are thinking of going on a Nile cruise just do it but watch out for the prices in the factories that you are taken to.

Well all that's left for me to say is a great big thank you to Amro who took us to all the ancient sites on the cruise, what he didn't know wasn't worth knowing.