Nile Cruises 

Way back in the seventies the first Nile cruise for tourists has started sailing on the river Nile, then it started to be more common in late eighties.  

Early nineties some cruises were running between Cairo and Aswan for about 2 weeks long and suddenly stopped since 1997 for some security reasons, only after the Egyptian revolution they thought of getting them back but it seems that no many bookers wanted to go on these ones so only 3 or 4 cruises were run for that long cruise and then with no more bookings I think they stopped again waiting for more tourists wanting go on that kind of cruises. 

However most of cruises over the years were run between Luxor and Aswan although there are few ones behind the Aswan dam to be run between Aswan and Abu simbe, sailing on  what is called Lake Naser for visiting temples and Antiquities back from the pharaohnic period were built in the Nubian territory.

Nile cruises between Luxor & Aswan have some specific stops on the way , as if sailing from Luxor, the first stop will be the famous Esna Lock and if got enough time there you would be able to visit the temple of Esna then they keep sailing to Edfu where you have about 2 : 3 hours to visit the temple of Edfu and back to the cruise for sailing again towards Kom Umbo where you will have about 2 hours to visit the temple of Kom Umbo. again back to the boat and sail back to Aswan.

Normally Cruises schedule is 4 days from Luxor to Aswan ,  3 nights from Aswan to Luxor and 7 nights mostly start from Aswan though you can decide to join the boat from Aswan according to the boat's schedule. 

Meals on the Nile cruises are served in specfic times so you have to be there at the times scheduled for meals. all meals are included in the package price on all the boats, but drinks are not on most of them, so you better check with your tour operator about what is and what is not included on the price. 

To Enjoy a great and unforgettable Nile cruise in Egypt Sharm Day Tours can happily help you with this. just visit us  and find out more about our Nile Cruises here 

3 night cruise from Aswan to Luxor

4 nights cruise from Luxor to Aswan

7 nights cruise Luxor/Aswan/ Luxor

Sharm Day Tours

info@sharmdaytours.com

+201287003975

www.sharmdaytours.com

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Luxor

Luxor - Thebes 

Luxor is a small city lies on both sides of the river Nile, it's about 700 km to the south of Cairo. It's population is about 600,000 people. they live on both sides of city.30 % of them are Christians and the rest are Muslims.  The main profession for them is tourism, though agriculture represents a big  parentage of people working in it.

Luxor is a very old city and shows different eras  of the Egyptian history,  as it was the capital of  Egypt for more than 1000 years. it did hold different names like waset, Thebes and it was named Luxor by the Arabs since 1500 years ago up till now and the word Luxor means palaces as when the first came to Thebes they thought that temples in there were palaces for the ancient  pharaohs. 

Luxor has 2 thirds of the antiquities in Egypt and one third of the antiquities over the world, yes now wonder its the great city that stands there as a witness for those ages of the glory of the Egyptian history.
All the monuments stand there showing the power of ancient Egypt and how the country was prospered at that time. showing also how ancient temples on both sides of the Nile are very close or may be attached to the modern buildings with a great view and great example on how ancient and modern live side by side and that explains why most of ancient traditions still live on.

From Karnak to Luxor  temples on the east bank  to thousand of tombs and temples on the west bank of Luxor it is really a great story. a story different kingdoms with many dynasties and kings taking over the throne and the city was always the capital of the country for these years almost a thousand years.

Every single inch of the city makes you feel that you are in an extraordinary place. why not when you are in the city of Valley of kings , valley of the queens, valley of nobles, temple of queen Hatshipsut, temple of Ramses the second, the two colossi of Memnon, the temple of Madinet Habu, the temple of Seti first , the deir el madina cemetery , Luxor temples, Karnak temples, tombs of el Gourna, the Luxor museum for mummies the Luxor antiquities museum and much much more of tombs are closed for visits as they under restoration yet. 

You would  never feel and know how great the city is until you get there and experience it yourself. 

Sharm Day Tours is here to  help you get there and to assist you with all your holiday plans. 
Please click here for details  about tours we offer to and from Luxor : 

• Tours from Luxor 
• Tours to Luxor from Sharm el Sheikh 
  
• Tours to Luxor from Hurghada 

Stay connected with to learn a lot more about the great heritage of Egypt and remember

Sharm Day Tours sets the stage and  ................ You live the moment.  

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Egyptian Desert

Travelers and the nature of deserts:

• For those travelers staying in well regulated accommodation in good hotels, the realities of the desert can be disguised for as long as electricity and pure water supplies are sustained. Much of the information in the following section can thus be ignored, though not with total impunity. Trips into the desert even by the most careful of tour operators carry some of the hazards and a knowledge of good practice might be as helpful on the beach or tourist bus as for the full-blooded desert voyager. There is a contemporary belief that the problems of living and traveling in deserts have been solved. Much improved technology in transport together with apparent ease of access to desert areas has encouraged these comfortable ideas. The very simplicity of the problems of deserts, lack of water and high temperatures, make them easy to underestimate. In reality, deserts have not changed and problems still arise when traveling in them, albeit with less regularity than twenty or so years ago. One aspect of the desert remains unchanged - mistakes and misfortune can to easily be fatal. Desert topography is varied. Excellent books such as Allan JA & Warren A (1993) Deserts: a conservation atlas, Mitchell Beazley, show the origins and constant development of desert scenery. Desert and semi-desert is the largest single surface area and so has an importance for travelers rarely met with elsewhere. Its principal features and their effects on transport are best understood before they are met on the ground. The great ergs or sandseas compromise mobile dunes and shifting surface sands over vast areas. Small mobile barkhams, which are crescent shaped, can often be driven round on firm terrain but the larger transverse and longitudinal dunes can form large surfaces with thick ridges of soft sand. They constantly change their shape as the wind works across them. While not impossible, they can be crossed only slowly and with difficulty. The major sand seas such as those a Calanscio, Murzuq, and Brak should be treated as no-go areas for all but fully equipped and locally supported expeditions. Similar conclusions apply to the extensive outcrops of rocky desert as exemplified by the Jabal As-Sawda in Libya. The wadi beds which penetrate much of the Sahara, serirs and gravel plains provide good access for all-terrain vehicles. The main characteristic of the desert is its.

Aridity

• Aridity is calculable and those navigating deserts are advised to understand the term so that the element of risk can be appraised and managed with safety. CW Thornthwaite's aridity index shows water deficiency relative to water need for a given area. There is a gradient from N to S throughout the region, of rising temperatures, diminishing rainfall, and worsening aridity. Aridity of the desert is thus very variable, ranging from the Mediterranean sub-tropical fringe to a semi-arid belt to the S and a fully arid desert interior. In basic terms, the further S you are the more dangerous the environment. Do not assume that conditions on the coast properly prepare you for the deep S. The Sahara is also very varied in its topography, climate and natural difficulties posed for the traveler. Rapid transition from rough stone terrain to sand sea to salt flat has to be expected and catered for. For practical purposes, aridity here means lack of moisture and.

Very high temperatures.

• The world's highest temperatures are experienced in the Sahara, over 55^C. Averages in the southern desert run in summer at more than 50^C in the shade at midday. In full sun very much higher figures are reached. High temperatures are not the only difficulty. Each day has a large range of temperature, often of more than 20^C, with nights being intensely cold, sometimes below freezing. In winter, air temperatures can be very low despite the heat of the sun and temperatures drop very rapidly either when the sun goes down or when there is movement from sunlight to shade, say in a deep gorge or a cave. Increasing aridity means greater

Difficulty in water availability.

• Scientists define the problem in terms of water deficits. The region as a whole and the deep Sahara in particular are very serious water deficit areas. Surface waters are lacking almost everywhere except in the case of the Nile in Egypt and Sudan. Underground water is scarce and often available only at great depths. Occasional natural seepage of water give rise to oases and/or palmeries. They are, however, rare. Since water is the key to sustaining life in deserts, travelers have always to assume that they must be self-sufficient or navigate from one known water source to another. Isolation is another feature of the Sahara. Travelers' tales tend to make light of the matter, hinting that Bedouin Arabs will emerge from the dunes even in the most obscure corner of the desert. This is probably true of the semi-desert and some inland wadi basins but not a correct assumption on which to build a journey in the greater part of the Sahara. Population numbers in the desert are very low, only one person per 20 km sq. in Al-Kufrah in SE Libya, for example, and most of these are concentrated in small oasis centers. Black top road systems are gradually being extended into and through the Sahara but they represent a few straggling lines across areas for the most part without fixed and maintained highways. The very fact that oil exploration has been so intense in the Sahara has meant that the surface of the desert is criss-crossed with innumerable tracks, making identification of all routes other than black top roads extremely difficult. Once off the main roads, travelers can part from their escorts and find no fixed topography to get them back on course. Vanishing individuals and vehicles in the Sahara are too frequent to be a joke. To offset this problem read on. The most acute difficulty with off-road emergencies is finding the means of raising assistance because of isolation. Normal preventative action is to ensure that your travel program is known in advance by some individual or an institution to whom regular check-in is made from points on the route. Failure to contact should automatically raise the alarm. Two vehicles are essential and often obviate the worst problems of break-down and the matter of isolation. Radio communication from your vehicle is an expensive but useful aid if things go wrong. Bear in mind the enormous distances involved in bringing help even where the location of an incident in the desert is known. Heavy rescue equipment and/or paramedical assistance will probably be 500km or more distant. Specialist transport for the rescuers is often not instantly available, assuming that local telecommunication systems work and local administrators see fit to help.

Living with the climate

• Living with desert environments is not difficult but it does take discipline and adherence to sensible routines at all times. It is an observed fact that health problems in hot and isolated locations take on a greater seriousness for those involved than they would in temperate climates. It is still common practice with Western oil companies and other commercial organizations regularly engaged at desert sites to fly ill or injured persons home as a first measure in the knowledge that most will recover more rapidly without the psychological and environmental pressures of a desert site. Most health risks in the desert are avoidable. The rules, evolved over many years, are simple and easy to follow:

1. Allow time to acclimatize

to full desert conditions. Conserve your energy at first rather than acting as if you were still in a temperate climatic regime. Most people take a week or more to adjust to heat conditions in the deep Sahara.

2. Stay out of direct sunlight

whenever possible, especially once the sun is high. Whenever you can, do what the locals do, move from shade to shade.

3. Wear clothes to protect your skin

from the sun, particularly your head and neck. Use a high Sun Protection Factor (SPA) cream, preferably as high as SPF15 (94%) to minimize the effects of Ultraviolet-B. Footwear is a matter of choice though many of those from the temperature parts of the world will find strong, light but well ventilated boots ideal for keeping sand, sun, venomous livestock, and thorns off the feet. Slip on boots are best of all since they are convenient if visiting Arab encampments/housing/religious sites, where shoes are not worn.

4. Drink good quality water

regularly and fully. It is estimated that 10-15 litters per day are needed by a healthy person to avoid water deficiency in desert conditions, even if there is no actual feeling of thirst. The majority of ailments arising in the desert relate to water deficiency and so it is worth the small effort of regular drinking of water. Too much alcoholic drink has the opposite effect in most cases and is not, unfortunately, a substitute for water!

5. Be prepared for cold nights

by having some warm clothes to hand.

6. Stay in your quarters or vehicle if there is a sand storm.

7. Refrain from eating dubious foods.

Deserts and stomach upsets have a habit of going hand in hand --'gyppy-tummy' and "Tripoli-trots" give a taste of the problem! Choose hot cooked meals in preference to cold meats and tired salads. Peel all fruit and uncooked fresh vegetables. Do not eat 'native' milk-based items or drink untreated water unless you are absolutely sure of its good quality.

8. Sleep off the ground if you can.

There are very few natural dangers in the desert but scorpions, spiders, and snakes are found (but are rarely fatal) and are best avoided.

Transport and common sense in the desert

• The key to safe travel in desert regions is reliable and well equipped transport. Most travelers will simply use local bus and taxi services. For the motorist, motorcyclist, or pedal cyclist there are ground rules which, if followed, will help to reduce risks. In normal circumstances travelers will remain on black top roads and for this need only a well prepared 2WD vehicle. Choose a machine which is known for its reliability and for which spares can be easily obtained. Across much of the region only Peugeot and Mercedes are found adequate spares and servicing facilities. If you have a different type of car/truck, make sure that you take spares with you or have the means of getting spares sent out. Bear in mind that transport of spares to and from Libya and Sudan might be tediously long. Petrol/benzene/gas is everywhere available though diesel is equally well distributed except in the smallest of southern settlements. 4WD transport is useful even for the traveler who normally remains on the black top highways. Emergencies, diversions, and unscheduled visits to off the road sites become less of a problem with all-terrain vehicles. Off the road, 4WD is essential, normally with two vehicles traveling together. A great variety of 4WD vehicles are in use in the region, with Toyota and Land Rover probably found most widely. All vehicles going into the S areas of North Africa should have basic equipment as follows: 1. Full tool kit, vehicle maintenance handbook, and supplementary tools such as clamps, files, wire, spare parts kit supplied by car manufacturer, jump leads. 2. Spare tire/s, battery driven tire pump, tire levers, tire repair kit, hydraulic jack, jack handle extension, base plate for jack. 3. Spare fuel can/s, spare water container/s, cool bags. For those going off the black top roads other items to include are: 4. Foot tire pump, heavy duty hydraulic or air jack, power winch, sand channels, safety rockets, comprehensive first aid kit, radio-telephone where permitted. 5. Emergency rations kit/s, matches, Benghazi burner. 6. Maps, compasses, latest road information, long term weather forecast, guides to navigation by sun and stars. Driving in the desert is an acquired skill. Basic rules are simple but crucial. 1. If you can get a local guide who perhaps wants a lift to your precise destination, use him. 2. Set out early in the morning after first light, rest during the heat of the day, and use the cool of the evening for further travel. 3. Never attempt to travel at night or when there is a sandstorm brewing or in progress. 4. Always travel with at least two vehicles which should remain in close visual contact. Other general hints include not speeding across open flat desert in case the going changes without warning and your vehicle beds deeply into soft sand or a gully. Well maintained corrugated road surfaces can be taken modest pace by rocky surfaces should be treated with great care to prevent undue wear on tires. Sand seas are a challenge for drivers but need a cautious approach--ensure that your navigation lines are clear so that weaving between dunes does not disorientate the navigator. Especially in windy conditions, sight lines can vanish, leaving crews with little knowledge of where they are. Cresting dunes from dip slope to scarp needs care that the vehicle does not either bog down or overturn. Keep off salt flats after rain and floods especially in the winter and spring when water tables can rise and make the going hazardous in soft mud. Even when on marked and maintained tracks beware of approaching traffic.

Emergencies

• The desert tends to expose the slightest flaw in personnel and vehicles. Emergency situations are therefore to be expected and planned for. There is no better security than making the schedule of your journey known in advance to friends or embassy/consulate officials who will actively check on your arrival at stated points. Breakdowns and multiple punctures are the most frequent problem. On the highway the likelihood is always that a passing motorist will give assistance, or a lift to the nearest control post or village. In these situations it is best simply remain with your vehicle until help arrives making sure that you are clear of the road and that you are protected from other traffic by a warning triangle and/or rocks on the road to rear and front. Off the road, breakdowns, punctures, and bogging down in soft sand are the main difficulties. If you have left your travel program at your last stop you will already have a fall back position in case of severe problems. If you cannot make a repair or extricate yourself, remain with your vehicle in all circumstances. Unless you can clearly see a settlement (not a mirage) stay where you are with water, food, and shelter. The second vehicle can be used to search for help but only after defining the precise location of the incident. In the case of getting lost, halt, conserve fuel while you attempt to get a bearing on either the topography or the planets/stars and work out a traverse to bring you back to a known line such as a highway, mountain ridge or coastline. If that fails, take up as prominent a position as possible for being spotted from the air. Build a fire to use if and when you hear air activity in you vicinity. Attempt to find a local source of water by digging in the nearest wadi bed, collecting dew from the air at night. If you have fuel to spare it can be used with great care both as a means of attracting attention and a way of boiling untreated water. A Benghazi burner, two crude metal cones welded together to give a water jacket and space for a fire in the center can achieve this latter purpose. As ever in this region, be patient and conserve energy.

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The Nubian Society

THE NUBIANS

• Dark-skinned Nubians inhabit the narrow valley south of Aswan. Although modern studies have been unable to establish the ancestry of the Nubian people or trace changes in the race through history, they carry predominantly Caucasian genes and appear unrelated to other Africans. These people once farmed the narrow margins of the river, planting palm groves along its edge. Hoisting triangular lateen sails above their boats, they hauled rock, transported villagers, and fished the clear, cold Nile.

• A distinct group for centuries, the Nubians (called Medjy) served the pharaohs as traders and elite military forces. (Middle Kingdom models show them marching in precise rows bearing shields and bows or spears.) During the Late Period, Nubians traveled north, invading Luxor to reestablish classical Pharaonic culture.

• For centuries, the Nubians have taken great pride in their unique culture, refusing to intermarry, and in spite of centuries of inbreeding, the population shows little ill effect--weak traits must have been eliminated generations ago. In modern times, their pride has led to valiant attempts to maintain their village life even when nearly all of the men worked and lived hundreds of kilometers to the north. Today, transplanted from the lands inundated by the waters of Lake Nasser, these hard-working people are attempting to revive their culture in the face of economic and social pressures.

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Egyptians Between Town & Country

Egyptian Rural Life 

Egyptian Villages

• Most of the inhabitants live in mud-brick homes, their thick walls insulating against the afternoon heat. Flat roofs, exposed to the northern evening breezes, serve as cool sleeping quarters as well as storage areas. Villagers plaster the outer walls and often trim them in blue, a color they believe wards off the evil eye. As a man becomes richer, he can add a second story to his house perhaps for his married son. Those villagers who have made the journey to Mecca paint the legend of their trip on the outer walls of their homes. Such hajj houses, along with the mosques, are the most distinguished buildings in a village.

• Some villagers build ornate pigeon coops close to their homes, using the birds as food and their droppings to fertilize crops. Many houses still have dirt floors and lack electricity or running water; women with jars balanced on their heads make the trek to the community well, and children with donkeys haul the precious liquid in jerry cans.

• All this said, government sponsored building programs have also brought newer style residences and utilities to some villages, particularly those outside the Nile Valley in the Oases and the Red Sea coastal areas.

Family Life

• Egyptians dote on their children, who as they grow up quickly, take on adult duties. The younger ones start by herding sheep and goats. When the boys reach nine or 10, they begin learning how to farm the land that will eventually be theirs. Young girls feed chickens, milk goats and water buffalo (gamoosa), make the dung patties used for fuel, and fetch water. At an early age, they learn to carry loads on their heads; starting with lightweight items such as bread loaves, they graduate to laundry, and then to large clay water jars. Their work gives them a grace of carriage that remains with them throughout their lives.

• In Egyptian extended families, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins all feel clan obligations, and these ties unite them in good times and bad. If an individual's crops fail, all relatives contribute from their own supplies. If an animal is fatally injured, the fallahin will slaughter it and each family within the clan will buy a portion, thus sharing the meat and contributing to the cost of replacing the animal. The clan elders arbitrate disagreements, even those between husbands and wives, and give opinions that range from farming techniques to religious obligations.

Dress

• Outside her home, a married woman traditionally wears a black outer dress over her brightly colored house dress and covers her hair with a long veil, which often sweeps the ground behind her. She wears her dowry of gold necklaces and silver bracelets and anklets, insurance against poverty if her husband divorces her or she becomes widowed. Her husband dresses in a long robe (galabayya), cotton in summer and wool in winter. He often covers his head with a scarf wound like a turban and in the winter adds a wool jacket. The robes of both sexes cover the entire body, but their looseness allows a cooling circulation of air and serves as insulation. Although the black garments of the women heat up slightly quicker than the paler galabayyas, both, contrary to popular belief, maintain about the same temperature.

Food

• At the end of the working day, rural Egyptians return to their villages, the fallahin leading his water buffalo or riding his donkey. A peaceful quiet settles over the mud-brick houses as families gather for their evening meal. Village women once spent much of their lives cooking, but today, they are equal partners in relationships and take a growing and active role in society. They bake their aysh (bread) in clay ovens of ancient pattern, making both an unleavened type and aysh shams (sun bread), which they set in the sun to rise. The main meal consist of rice, ful beans, and vegetables. For special occasions (if meat is available), they will fix fattah, a dish with layers of bread, rice, and meat seasoned with vinegar and garlic and garnished with yogurt and nuts. The fallahin eat with bread rather than knives and forks, tearing the round loaf into finger-sized portions and dipping them into the serving dishes.

Feasts

• On festival days, a village is anything but quiet. To celebrate the mulid (saint's day) of the village, the entire population turns out; the children sample the carnival rides and the adults visit, watch horse races, and take part in the rituals. During weddings, the village women decorate the bride with designs of henna, and after the wedding, whole villages accompany the bride and groom to their new home. The village women work together to prepare the ornate meals that accompany these celebrations. Isolation is inconceivable in an Egyptian village.

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Learn More About Egyptians

                                         Egyptian people 

• In reading several books regarding Egyptian travel, this author was surprised to see the Egyptian populous divided into four cultural groups consisting of Copts, Bedouins, Nubians and Egyptian peasants, or fallahin. Upon closer examination, fallahins are presented basically as farmers living in villages. Perhaps this is a correct and traditional definition of the word fallahin, but it was immediately apparent that this division of cultural groups was out of touch with reality, and showed no feeling for Egypt's true flavor.

• Egypt is actually a wonderful and delightful mixture of traditions, with a socioeconomic structure which allows, more and more, a gradient of classes. But one must look, and feel with the heart in order to touch this essence of Egypt.

• A considerable amount, if not majority, of Egypt's population now live in larger cities, mostly Cairo and Alexandria. In fact, these two cities dominate the vision of most foreigners. They are vitally important to Egypt's culture, but one should not neglect the many other moderately sized cities. And within these cities there is a virtual kaleidoscope of social stratas. There are doubtless the poor, the recent fallahins come to the city, and the lower echelons of what we will call the commercial or merchant class. They are evident, and plentiful. But these businessmen merge into the middle class, and then upper middle class. More than a few become wealthy.

• The travel books seem to neglect this broad range of Egyptian business men. Some come from families who probably have ancient ties with trading, but others are those fallahins who have found what they came looking for in the city. Perhaps the poorest of these merchants, those who sell produce or bean meals in the streets might answer to the term fallahin, but I doubt that most would fall within any of the traditional cultural groups. They have a million faces, and also as many professions and trades. They make gold jewelry and copper pots, rugs, they paint, build buildings and fine pottery. They sell groceries at the corner market. They trade in tractors and water pumps, they are butchers and bakers, taxi drivers, and secretaries. And these days many of these people are simply Egyptian, not Coptic, not Nubian, not Bedouin and certainly not the traditional Fallahin.

• But what is equally missing from most travel guide descriptions of the Egyptian culture is a real feeling for the beauty of these marvelous cities. Here, one will find teenagers at McDonalds or Pizza Inn and making the local drag in their small Fiats. There, one will see brightly lit streets with multicolored lights strung from the buildings so as to celebrate a birthday or a wedding. One will find a continuous stream of blaring horns, as a population perpetually late for some meeting scrambles about the city. But one may admire this madness from an armchair next to his favorite coffee shop, where he may be overcome by a feeling of tranquillity. It is often a culture of the back streets of small neighborhoods, particularly at night, where the television has not dispatched social accord. The residents of these small neighborhoods within these monstrous cities know each other well, and look out for one another.

• It is also a moral culture, which these authors admire whole heartedly. In a city the size of Cairo, there is virtually no crime rate. Many westerners believe that this is due to stiff punishment, but the real reason is the population's loyalty to their religious faith. The virtual absence of drinking and drugs among the local population, prohibited by their Islamic law and enforced by their own piety, surely has much to do with this. When one ceases judging cultures purely from the standpoint of material wealth, and begins to see the humanistic success of the Egyptian culture, it is difficult for a person of any religious persuasion not to develop a deep respect for Islam.
•                                   

• THE FALLAHIN The rural peasants provided the pharaohs with both the manpower to build their majestic monuments and the food to support the workers. Even today, the fallahin wrest two or three crops from their tiny fields in a futile attempt to feed Egypt's ever-expanding population. These farmers live in small villages, often settled by their Pharaonic ancestors, scattered along the Nile.

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Do and Don't while visiting Egypt.

                                                http://www.sharmdaytours.com/doanddont.html

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