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A nile cruise is a magical way to experience the 7000 year history of Egypt because the largest concentration of temples lies along the river Nile between Luxor and Aswan.
This 7 day cruise starts in Luxor, which has been called the greatest open air museum and is probably the oldest tourist destination in history.
The ship is the Oberoi Philae, a vessel built in 1996 with 50 luxurious cabins and all amenities. A true floating luxury Hotel.
The ship sails north to Quina .
The wonderfully preserved temple of Dendera is a rare sight to behold.
The main temple dedicated to the Goddess Hathor, goddess or pleasure and of love, usually represented as a cow, or a woman with a cow’s head.
Its hypostyle hall has towering columns inscribed with hieroglyphs. The massive stone roof is rich with painted reliefs. Under the temple are dark chambers and underground passages. The courtyard has a rare statue of the god Bes the patron of childbirth.
After Dendera the ship sails back to Luxor.
A beautiful sphinx way leads to the entrance of the temple of Luxor.
Built by Ramses the Great it was dedicated to the god Amun.
A couple of miles north is the spectacular Temple of Karnak.
Built over more than a thousand years by generations of Pharaohs Karnak is the largest religious complex in the world. The great “Hypostyle Hall” is an incredible forest of giant pillars, covering an area larger than the whole of Notre Dame Cathedral.
The West Bank is a quick boat ride across the Nile, Here a baloon ride gives an overview of the immense funerary valleys below. The Valley of the Kings, is a vast City of the Dead where magnificent tombs were carved into the desert rocks, decorated richly, and filled with treasures for the .
In the next valley rising out of the desert plain as if carved out of the limestone cliffs, is the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut ,Ancient Egypt’s only female Pharaoh.
On the way back to the river Nile, the road passes by the famed Colossi of Memnon, the only survivors of a once imposing temple.
The ship sails south to Essna.

The Oberoi Philae ranked 3rd in BEST SMALL SHIPS OF THE WORLD awarded by Conde' Nast Traveller, USA in 2009

http://www.oberoihotels.com/oberoi_philae

filmmaker: CompulsiveTraveler

country: Egypt

channel: arts & culture