Our February 2006 short break took us on a Nile Cruise. We flew directly from London  to Aswan where we joined the MS Hamees, sailing North to Luxor and stopping at the Temple of  Edfu en-route.

One of the highlights of the whole tour was a one and a half  hour early morning trip by  Hot Air Balloon, to watch sunrise over the Valley of the Kings at Luxor.

On our return sail to Aswan we squeezed through the lock at Esna where we were surrounded by an armada of small boats selling all sorts of goods.  We stopped briefly at the Temple of Kom Ombo before our arrival back in Aswan.

Next morning and we took a 3.15 am coach trip to view the magnificent Temples of Abu Simbel at sunrise. Returning by lunch, in time for a Felluca sail around Aswan.

We finished our stay with a morning visit to the Temple of Philea,  and a visit to the Aswan High Dam.

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Christmas in Sharm El-Sheikh

We returned to Egypt for a week over Xmas 2006, this time to the Red Sea resort of Sharm-El-Sheikh. The weather was lovely until we took a day trip to visit the Monastery of St. Katherine. We climbed higher and higher into the mountains passing into rain, hence the rainbow over the desert, and finally into snow.

The monastery, which was built at the site where Moses saw the 'Burning Bush', sits at over 5000 feet above sea level and is considerably cooler than the Red Sea coast.