You can find my “short and sweet” trip updates by clicking the purple “Listen Now” button above, accompanied by a few recent photos and captions of my trip below 😊
In case you missed any previous posts, you can find them here:
https://noahbelkin.substack.com/archive
Thank you all for your kind words of encouragement, endless support, and for following me along this journey. It means the world to me to be able to share my adventures with all of you!
Big Hugs! ❤️ Noah
P.S. With so many photos I wanted to share with you, I will be doing 2 installments of Egypt!
Colossi of Memnon - two massive stone statues of the Pharaoh Amenhotep III - believed to have been ~1350 BC
Hatshesput Temple - After the death of her father, Hatshepsut became the only female ruler of Egypt (as there was no male successor). This was quite unusual and technically not allowed so she pretended to be a man during the entirety of her reign. It is unclear if the people believed that she was actually a man or not, but her strategy proved successful as she ruled for over 20 yrs
Ahmed - our excellent Egyptologist for this portion of the trip - was an encyclopedia of information as well as an all-around cool dude! 😎
The Valley of the Kings - where most of the tombs of the Pharaohs are located including Ramses III, Ramses IX, and King Tut. The complex is composed of numerous tombs. We were able to walk into a number of them through underground passageways often a 100m+ deep into the side of the limestone mountain range
The detail and high degree of preservation of the many hieroglyphics - depicting every aspect of ancient Egyptian society was very cool to see up close!
We were lucky enough to attend a nighttime sound and light show at Karnak Temple that was super cool! Seeing arguably the most spectacular temple illuminated at night was quite a sight! 👀
Ramses II aka Ramses the Great - widely considered the most famous and historical Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt
Karnak Temple was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. The 130 massive columns compose the largest pillar structure in Ancient Antiquity. While there are many possible ideas about how the ancient Egyptians built these structures, their sheer size combined with the minimal forms of technology available at the time has led to the rise of numerous conspiracy theories 👽
You can get a sense of how big these columns are compared to the average person!
As they say “Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt” 😉
The timing of our visit couldn’t have been better, as our sunset boat cruise on The Nile came complete with a complimentary full moon! 🌕
From sunsets to sunrises, we had an action-packed few days in Luxor. En route to our sunrise air balloon ride at 5 am
Air balloons getting prepped for takeoff!
Enjoying the views from a few thousand feet!
I felt obliged to try and blend in with the colorfulness of the balloons! 👕 🌈
Ariel view of Colossi of Memnon
Absolutely massive statue of Rameses the Great - carved from one block of stone! Located in Memphis (the Capitol of the Ancient Kingdom of Egypt) located about 1-hour from Cairo
A sleepy boy looking after the Memphis ruins 🐶
The funerary complex of Djoser is believed to have been built around the beginning of the 3rd Dynasty in ~2700 BC
Located in Saqqara is the famous Djoser temple also known as The Steps Temple which is the oldest man-made structure/pyramid/temple in the world! 🌎
Getting an in-depth education on the stories depicted in the hieroglyphics of ancient Saqqara
Ancient history is still very much alive in modern-day Cairo 🙏
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