Sharm El Sheikh Excursions

 

All you want to know about discovering the lost golden city in Egypt

Egypt does not stop amazing us about its new discoveries from the pharaonic period, and last days we got in the news a new discovery of the golden city in luxor (south Egypt), the city that was the capital of Egypt during the most of Pharaonic period in the Egyptian history.

“this could be the most important discovery since discovering the tomb in king TUT in 1902” those words of Dr. Zahi Hawass head of the team that discovered the golden city, as usual most of the expedition teams found the temples, tombs and many other thigs from the pharaonic time that describe us the pharaonic believes about the life after death, or their ceremonies during praying and mummies mummifications, but this time they discovered a hole city, a city where they lived, and that makes this discovery very important to know more about their daily life, how they lived? How they making the factories in this time? How the keep their crops? How they built their normal houses? and many more about the life during the time of this city, as the city dates to the region of Amenhotep III and continue to be used by King Tut Ankh Amon and King Ay. (3000 years ago)

 As per Dr. Hawass this city is the biggest discovery for an administrative and industrial city in the west bank of the Nile in Egypt, where we can find houses height about 3 meters and it is divided in streets.

Dr. Hawass added that they started the digging on September 2020, and within weeks, the formations of mud bricks began to appear in all directions, and they were astonished when they found that there were about the discover the large city in good condition of preservation, with rooms filled with tools of daily life.

The place of this city is between the temple of Ramses III in Madinat Habu and the temple of Amenhotep III in Memnon. 

After seven months of excavations in this city, several neighborhoods have been uncovered, including a bakery complete with ovens and storage pottery that serving the employees and the workers of the city.

While in the second part of the city they found partially administrative and residential districts, where we can find bigger and good organized buildings, and This area is fenced by a zig-zag wall, with only one entry point leading to interior corridors and residential areas. And this one entrance made us believe it was a kind of security in terms of being able to control entry and exit into closed areas.

And in the third part of the city, It was a workshop, as it includes on one of its sides the production area of mud bricks used to build temples and annexes, and the bricks contain seals bearing the cartouches of King Amenhotep III.

A large number of casting molds have been discovered for producing amulets and delicate decorative elements, and this is another evidence of the widespread activity in the city to produce the decorations of both temples and tombs.

Throughout the excavation areas, the mission found many tools used in industrial activity, such as spinning and weaving work, and rubble of metals and glass were also discovered, but the main area for such activity has not yet been discovered.

Two uncommon burials of a cow or bull were also found inside one of the rooms, and the search is still in progress; To determine the nature and purpose of these burials.

A good condition burial of someone was also found with their arms stretched next to them, and the remains of a rope wrapped around their knees, the location and position of this skeleton is somewhat strange, and there is more research on this matter.

A container containing two gallons of dried or boiled meat (about 10 kg) was found that bears valuable inscriptions that can be read: “Year 37, boiled meat for Love Day of the Third Dam from the butchery of “Kha” made by the butcher “Iwi”.

This valuable information not only gives us the names of two people who lived and worked in the city, but also confirms that the city was active and determined the time of King Amenhotep the Third's participation with his son Akhenaten.

The team also found a text inscribed on the imprint of a seal that reads: “Gem Ba Aten” meaning the province of bright-Aton, and this is the name of a temple built by King Akhenaten at Karnak.

A large cemetery was uncovered, the extent of which has not yet been determined, and the team discovered a group of tombs carved into the rocks of various sizes, which can be accessed through stairs carved into the rock, and there is a common feature of building tombs in the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Nobles.

The work is still in progress and the team expects to uncover untouched tombs full of treasures.

Full day visiting Amman City “the Old Philadelphia”

 

Amman city, Philadelphia of the Middle east as named by the Romans once before, a modern and historical city, sure this city will fulfill your desires if you like history, modern sights, art galleries, oriental cuisine and of course the hospitality of its people.

Before hitting to Amman and telling you what you can see and visit, there is a good thing here in Amman, that you can go in short drive less than 1 hour to visit other important places such as Jerash (40 minutes) from Amman, Monte Nebo (also 40 Minutes), floating on the Dead Sea (less than 1 hour) even you can go to Petra and come back to Amman in the same day but not in less than 1 hour it is approximately 4 hours driving from Amman.

 So, back to same question, what you can see in Amman in 1 day? To fulfill your desire that you have been in Amman and you did not miss anything.

Here is a list of what you should see in Amman:

1.        Amman Citadel and Archeological Museum.
2.       Roman Theatre.
3.       King Abdullah Mosque.
4.        Jordan Folklore Museum.
5.       Top roof night’s view of Amman.

For us, is the most important combination of Amman, where you can enjoy a bit of each aspect of this wonderful city without missing anything there.

But how long it takes visiting each place? For me in this day you should wakeup early as you can, have a good breakfast at your hotel, then let’s start this great day:

First you will go to Amman Citadel where you can enjoy at the archeological museum a series of well-designed galleries presenting Jordan History and cultural Heritage, also the ruins of Hercules Temple and Umayyad palace. For this visit allow about 2 hours. Then continue to King Abdullah Mosque, one of the beautiful mosques in Jordan and you can miss it because of its huge blue dome (30 minutes), So you can continue to The Roman theatre, dates back to the Roman period in Jordan when Amman called Philadelphia (1 hour), for lunch options, really you will enjoy it in Jordan because of its authentic cuisine, and you can try Beit Sitti Restaurant or Hashem Restaurant for a quick street food and Habiba for having a delicious Palestinian sweet (Kunefe with cheese) the called Naboulseya ( from Nables) 

Then you can go to the Jordan Folklore museum (1hour), where you can find a collection of the Jordanian and Palestinian heritage includes musical instruments, handicrafts and Mosaics.

By night now, as Amman originally was founded over 7 hills, so you can go to a lounge, Café or a restaurant for dinner and enjoy the views of Amman from up, it worth that.

And for sure a walk in the old city in Amman in the downtown where you can have a Tea there it one of the amazing things to do in Amman.

This our idea about a great day in Amman, but if you like more history and have one more day, go to Jerash and Ajloun Castle, you will go deep in History and Enjoy more ruins of the big city of Jerash.

And if you are more religious go to Monte Nebo and Madaba or you can even baptism in Bethany, the baptismal site of Jesus Crist on the Jordan River.

Pharaohs Golden Parade – Egypt 3th April 2021

 

Yesterday it was “Pharoah’s Golden parade” as Egypt transformed 22 royal mummies from the Egyptian Museum in Downtown to the new National museum for Egyptian Civilization.

I tweet about this event 3 days before telling the world about this event and asking you to watch this event and I wrote many details in this post of my blog:

https://travelalbablog.blogspot.com/2021/03/golden-parade-in-egypt.html   In English

https://travelalbablog.blogspot.com/2021/03/el-desfile-dorado-egipto.html In Spanish

A day before I remind all about this Event in another tweet. And even when it started, I remind all retweeting my tweet and tell everybody it is starting now.

 Then, I asked myself, why??

Why I did all that ?? it is high confidence in us as Egyptians that we will do something worth to be seen in over the world???

Or it just this feeling that the world missing because of the Covid-19 and what is happening in the world that a lot of us cannot go out and see Egypt??

I think it is just what are we missing, is being together, like the crowd in the stadium during a match, or in a live concert in a theatre.

It is being wait for something important, different that we are seeing in last year.

                 "The Royal Mummies March" only 40 minutes show, but the most impressive time

 Everyone has his reason, but we all enjoyed the show, because of it is time during this period of our history as we are missing to travel, visiting museums, seeing something different and exotic.

Because of the show itself, it was spectacular show watching the light show around the Obelisk, downtown Egypt after renovating, the Music was breathtaking by Hisham Nazih and Nader Abbasi the Maestro and his Philharmonic Orchestra, the Cinema stars that participated from different places presenting most important sightseeing in Egypt like the pyramids, the new grand Museum, Abu simbel and Saqqara, The Mummies vehicles…. And much more reasons.

But the most we enjoyed in this Egyptian night was the surprise that we had as the show supersedes our expectations from Egyptians.

 By the way the tweets impressions till now about 2679 with 141 engagements and 26 likes and still counting

Tweet link: https://twitter.com/TravelAlba1/status/1378670880197345282

And my average about only 200 impressions.

Golden Parade in Egypt

Egypt is set to host what will be one of the most memorable parades in history — the Pharaohs’ Golden Parade. That will be live on April 3, The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has been gearing up to relocate ancient Egyptian royal mummies from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo’s downtown Tahrir, to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization.

So, we thought that you should know about the events in this day:

-  The parade will include 22 mummies, 18 of which are kings and four are queens. All 22 date back to the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th dynasties.

-  The mummies that will be transferred include Pharaoh Ramses II, Pharaoh Ramses IX, Pharaoh Ramses VI, Pharaoh Ramses V, Pharaoh Seti I, Pharaoh Seqenenre, Pharaoh Thutmose III, Queen Hatshepsut, Queen Meritamen, and Queen Ahmose Nefertari.

-  Once the mummies arrive at the Museum, they will be put into restoration in a laboratory for 15 days, in order to be prepared and intact for installation in their new showcases.

- The mummies will be showcased at the Royal Mummies Hall which is decorated to mimic the “Valley of the Kings” where their original tombs were placed.

-  The parade will also feature various performances by Egyptian artists as well as star-studded appearances starting with Mona Zaki who is leading the stars during the parade, Sawsan Badr, Hussein Fahmy, Hend Sabri, Asser Yassin, Yousra, and many more.

-  According to the head of the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, the museum will be opening its doors to the public on April 4, 2021

-  The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization will be the first museum to be devoted to the entirety of Egyptian civilization. The museum is split into six thematic galleries that cover the dawn of civilization, the Nile, writing, state and society, material culture, beliefs and thinking, and the gallery of royal mummies.

-  The national Museum of Egyptian Civilizations is one of Unesco’s projects to help safeguard and preserve Egypt’s cultural heritage.

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Full day Cairo, Classical day to visit the most important in Cairo

 

Cairo – Or greater cairo- most of people thinks that only cairo is the capital of Egypt, although the capital of Egypt is greater Cairo that means (Cairo, Giza and a Small city north of Cairo called Qalyubia) the three cities together make what we called it greater cairo the capital of Egypt.

In Greater Cairo we have some important places to visit, if you are in Egypt you should not miss one of it.

Here is an order about those places:

1-    Giza Pyramids.

2-    Egyptian Museum.

3-    Stepped pyramid and Saqqara Necropolis.

4-    Saladin Citadel and alabaster mosque of Mohmed Ali.

5-    Coptic Cairo.

6-    Khan Khalili Bazaar.

7-    Sailing the Nile.

Cairo is one of the most crowded and chaotic cities in the world, so expect heavy traffic during the day till late night, as Cairo known a sleepless city.

 But if we have only one day in Cairo which is a short time to spend in this big city what we can do, how we can mix this day to feel satisfied about our visit to this city, and moving between the mentioned sights will make us loose a big bite of this precious time.

First of all, we need to know how long it takes our visit for each place without calculating the traffic time between sights, here I will give you an idea about that:

Giza pyramids about 2 hours as minimum, Saqqara necropolis about 2 hours as well, Egyptian Museum about 2 hours (watching the masterpieces only as it will take 3 days to see everything there) Saladin Citadel where you can find inside the Alabaster mosque of Mohamed Ali about 1 hour and half, Coptic Cairo visiting the hanging church, Abu Serga where the holy family found a refuge and Ben Ezra Synagogue all that will take about 1 hour and half, for Khan el Khalili bazaar just walking in the narrow streets and have tea on its old cafes to feel the orient atmosphere will take about 1 hour without shopping, and for sailing the Nile there are some options 1- rent a sail boat on downtown if you are looking for a quiet trip but you should do this option before sunset or a Nile cruise where you can have dinner while sailing the Nile and enjoying a belly dance show, this cruise about 2 hours.

Here are the options for this day:

-     Option one: Pyramids, Egyptian Museum, Saladin Citadel and a walk on Khan El Khalili bazaar while by night you can do the dinner cruise. As you can see in this day you have a pharaonic sight to pyramids, culture sight to Egyptian museum, Islamic sight to the alabaster mosque and Khan El kahili as you can visit it by night.

 -     Option two: going early morning to Saqqara necropolis then back to Giza pyramids then visiting the Egyptian museum and Khan el Khalili bazaar you still can see mosques in Khan El Khalili area. And Nile cruise by night.

 -     Option three: Giza Pyramids, Egyptian Museum, Coptic Cairo and Khan el Khalili bazaar.

 As you can see Giza pyramids and Egyptian museum present in all options and I can go to option twenty and I will keep both because you cannot miss any of those 2 sights.

Of course, in Cairo you can find more options for sights such as Islamic museum, Al mo’az street, Mohamed Ali palace, Cairo Tower, Memphis area, garbage city and so many sights but those sights the most important that you should not miss in one day to Cairo.

Next posts will be detailed about those sights

Travel to Egypt

 

EGYPT

 Ancient mysteries, charming bazaars and monumental pyramids. Egypt is forever enchanting. 

A source of obsession with travellers for centuries, there is still much to discover in this mysterious and vibrant country. Egypt welcomes you with grand Pharaonic temples and its meandering River Nile.For years we are deloping our itinearies our itinear bespoke itineraries and handpick the most passionate, knowledgable personal to bring it to life, to discover Egypt from‘Garbage City’ toTutankhamun’s burial chamber. And sailing the waterways of the world’s longest river.Egypt is considered as the most tourist-friendly country in the Middle East and Africa because of its travel-friendly environment and great hospitality.

Travel to Turkey

 

TURKEY

 Turkey is friendly, beautiful, culturally rich and good value for money. Also it is modern enough to be comfortable yet traditional enough to be interesting. Turkey is one of the world's top 10 travel destinations, welcoming more than 35 million visitors every year. 

A place where east meets west, history meets modernity and dramatic architecture meets natural wonder; Turkey is a veritable crossroads of cultures.

The birthplace of turquoise waters, step onto pristine shores to gaze up at skies dotted with hot air balloons as they drift over steaming thermal springs and cities laced with exotic spices. From Romans, Ottomans and Byzantines, a flurry of historical figures and empires have made their mark on this magical country that was once a stopover along the Silk Road. It’s true, a holiday in Turkey unveils whole new worlds. Looking to explore one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world or simply stroll through the grand city of Istanbul? With us, expect this and much more. From a street vendor’s hot, fresh corn to the just-caught-and-grilled herring in a Michelin-starred restaurant; from soaring mountains to white-sand beaches and crystal-blue water; from a whirling dervish performance to a serene Turkish bath, this magnificent country of cultures will inspire and delight. Let us show you Turkey’s many sides in unparalleled comfort and peace of mind.