Thursday, January 22, 2026

King’s Valley

The pictures are amazingly sharp and so colourful after so many years

We went to the king’s valley where we visited 4 graves 



This is one of the challenges a dead king would face on his/her way, a pit with snakes, no bridge



Osiris



When a king started raining he/she right away would usually start preparing for death by preparing a tomb and a mortuary temple



Some graves took quite a few steps down, guides are not allowed to go in and explain things, makes sense because there’s not that much space and with a guide you’d stay longer and hold up everyone else



We were the only ones going to Tutankhamen’s tomb, you had to pay extra, but I think it’s worth it, this picture is from inside his tomb, he probably was placed in a priest tomb because his wasn’t ready yet, he died very young and hadn’t started a tomb yet



Everywhere you had people wanting to do something, like take your pictures, and expect a tip, we’re getting used to it I guess 



Lots of places are like this where you walk through a market, every one wants to sell you something, our guide told us that they will say: a dollar, only a dollar, but it would always be more than a dollar. 



 

Wednesday, January 21, 2026

The Nile




We had lunch, I got the picture from the people from Finland across from us, the Italians are beside them, beside us are the people from Denmark 

Lunch was good but very fast



Egypt is the Nile is what RVL would say, the Nile is impressive, most people live close to it, understandable when you drive hours through the desert. Our guide told us that they are working on a fast train from Cairo to Luxor to where we are and back to the Delta maybe ready in 2030. It would bring a lot more tourists back. Because the drive is very long, you need 2 drivers because of that



Everyone hopes to get a tip and to encourage a good one they may let you do something, like steering the boat



The Nile is full with boats, small and bigger 






 These statues are the only thing left from a huge temple Rameses 2 built. The Karnak temple had a wall around it 20 meters high, 15 meters thick, so when the Nile flooded the temple was safe, here there was insufficient protection from the water. So everything is gone except the solid stone statues 

Karnak

 



Our day started with a 3am wake-up alarm 


It looked a lot like around the Dead Sea 

The first part we drove in the dark
We picked up 3 other couples 
From Finland, Denmark and Italy 
Nobody in the vann had English as his/her first language 


You pay for using the facilities 


The Karnak temple 64 hectares so pretty big


These sphinxes are now only here
They used to be from here to the Nile 
About 2000 of them
Rameses the second had them made



Impressive pillars


120 of them 
 


There was also a mudbrick wall made with straw
Makes you think of the Exodus 

Tuesday, January 20, 2026

A look around


The resort looks nice



We have a bench outside 



Not impressed with the bed situation 


We asked for a room with a bed for 2 people 



they let us move next door today, much nicer 



Tourist picture



View from our room





 

 

Fly away


Coffee at the airport 


Our plane



Olga is going back to Ontario 



We saw Olga’s plane



Holland



Germany 



The Alps



Egypt



Nile delta part



 Hurghada

Monday, January 19, 2026

Oma is 90


The Groesbeek group was well represented 



Lots of visiting 



The kids had fun








A highlight, singing “lang zal ze leven”




 The siblings with mom