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Trafalgar Tour - Best of Egypt

Day 7 - Abu Simbel and Cairo

Egypt

Abu Simbel from the air on our EgyptAir flight

Ice Cream at Abu Simbel - that counts for lunch, right?

This was our last day on the boat. Our wake up call disturbed us at 6:30am. We were very tired, but we needed to have our luggage outside our room by 7:00am. We had a quick breakfast on the boat, which was the same as all previous days. At 7:45am, we boarded the bus with our group, and set off to the Aswan airport.

All members of our group paid the additional $240 USD for the optional excursion to Abu Simbel, so we all boarded the EgyptAir flight to Abu Simbel from Aswan. The flight left around 9:30am, and lasted approximately 30 minutes. We were on the left side of the plane (facing the front), and were able to see Abu Simbel from the air for about 5 seconds.

After landing, we took a short 6-7 minute shuttle ride to the monument. From there, we had a 10-15 minute walk from where the shuttle dropped us off around the mountain to the front of the monument. Our tour guide gave us a short history lesson about the monument outside, since he wasn't allowed to accompany us inside. I was shocked at the beauty of the temple - it was definitely a trip highlight!

A group picture was taken in front of the monument, and we were given the opportunity to purchase a copy of the picture for 20 LE. We had some free time at the monument, and we met the group at the entrance at 12:30pm. There was a shop here that sold ice cream and other small snacks.

We then went back to the airport, and took another EgyptAir flight back to Aswan. We stayed on the plane while passengers unloaded/reloaded, and then we flew back to Cairo.

Our tour guide lived in Cairo, so he went to stay with his family, and another Trafalgar representative took us to our hotel - the Ramses Hilton. That ended the organized program for the day. Since we didn't have lunch, we were hungry and went across the street from the hotel to eat at Grazie Italian Restaurant. Even crossing the little tiny street from the hotel to the annex is a bit of an adventure! Cars here don't stop for anything.