Amir Sadek

6 of us had planned for a 10day trip to Egypt..... We were super excited yet just a small nudging feeling about the safety.... given the recent history of this ageless country....But once our feet touched the soil of Cairo..... The nudging sensation vanished as if the goddess Isis conjured a magic trick.....After it was a roller coaster of awe, fun, adrenaline rush!!!! Thanks to the excellent organization by our guide and friend Amir...Our hotel at Giza for the Cairo stay... Mercure Le Sphinx..... Grabbed our fancy just by its sheer distance from the great Pyramids!!! It is a nice place with good food..... And also good restaurants within walking distance...Hares provided the perfect mix of history and geography of the post-coptic and post-Islamic era of Egypt while taking us around the amazing Coptic churches and Muhammad Ali mosque in the Salah al-din citadel.The thirst to see the tombs of the pharaohs of 3 great ages of Ancient Egypt became even more intense with our visit to the Cairo museum..... For those who think it's all about King Tutankhamun.... Beware!!!! The mummies of the several great pharoahs are even more thought provoking about the extent medical sciences practiced by the ancient Egyptians.... You have to pay 150egp to them....Then... the thing which comes first to our minds when asked about Egypt..... The collosal, the grand, the magnificent Pyramids!!! The oldest pyramids in Saqqara makes you question about the effort and finnese of the ancient Egyptians who built structures like the step pyramid 4700 years ago....But the your senses become numb... Once you enter the Giza pyramid complex.... The great pyramid, the Sphinx... Their magnitude and granduer is simply mesmerizing....The well chalked out plan by Hares..... next led us into the Sahara... Soon we realized that Egypt was not about pyramids... The natural formation of the Black desert, the UNESCO protected Crystal mountain pumped the adrenaline.... And then!!! The White Desert!!!! 40000yrs ago beneath the Mediterranean.... This stretch of the Egyptian Sahara was a fairy land..... Salt based white structues popped up randomly from the earth forming shapes of chicken or a rabbit or a Sphinx or the bust of queen Nefertiti.... And then at night.... Never before had we seen the sky so clear.... We lost count of the number of shooting stars we saw... The constellation almost touched us and so did the milky way!!!!But in this middle of nowhere place we still got 2G!!!!And brilliant Bedouin dinner courtesy the Bedouin friends of Hares....After a slightly hectic journey from the white desert via Cairo we reached the extreme  southern city of Aswan.... Our guide Mohammad.... Passionately explained the importance of the high dams, lake Nasser and the unfinished Obelisk by queen hatepshut...Yet again we were knocked off by the sheer granduer of the breathtaking island temple on Nasser lake.... Philae dedicated to goddess Isis... Built in the Greco-Roman reign in Egypt... The temple displays vast collections of Heirelographics depicting beliefs of the ancient egyptian rulers and priests.... Abu Simbel...the city right at the border of Sudan....was the next spot.... Here we saw the display of size and power of the most powerful pharoah Ramases II....Statues going up to 20metres in height was a common place here.... We lost track of the chambers and the innumerable inscriptions!!!Yet the organization by Hares worked wonders.... Our trip to Luxor from Aswan was in a cruise ship on the Nile!!!!The cruise was refreshing and we gazed the banks of Nile absorbing the fresh breeze and the rural livelihood of Egyptians...On the way, we took stops to see the Kom Ombo and Edfu temples..... Before entering Luxor, yet another man-made structure took us into awe.... The Esna lock....Luxor exploration would simply be incomplete if you didn't take the early morning Hot-air balloon ride.... The view of the Ramses II temple, valley of Kings  and the city of Luxor makes you realize perhaps the $100 charge is justified for it...The valley of Kings, Queen Hatepshuts temple, the gigantic Karnak temple complex bombards you with sense of ridiculously large size the ancient Egyptians considered as legitimate structures....Finally last but not the least the Luxor temple...... The view of the temple when lit up after evening seemed the final spell Goddess Isis cast on us.... These excellent memories for the 10days tour were possible due to smooth planning by Amir  and his team..... Luxor City travel