Today we left our overnight landing spot very early in the morning (around 4 am) while most of us were still asleep. By the way, sleeping on a felucca with nothing but the stars above you, is a wonderful experience! Around 8 am we arrived in Edfu where we had to say good-bye to our felucca friends. Then we visited the Temple of Horus (see pictures) which dates back to 237 BC but took nearly 200 years to be completed by Ptolemy XII, Cleopatra's father. Thanks to its location on a rise above the Nile valley, this temple is the most completely preserved Egyptian temple. It was great to visit. Unfortunately, we had to rush a little in order to catch the convoy to Luxor. We were picked up by a bus and couldn't wait to get to our hotel in order to take a shower!! The hotel was called "Rezeiky Camp" and was a very positive surprise: nice rooms, basic but clean, a hotel bar, swimming pool, great lunch and very friendly staff. Of course, the shower was the best of all after 3 days on the Nile!

In the afternoon we took typical Egyptian horse carriages to go to the Temples of Karnak (see pictures). This is a spectacular complex of temples built over a period of 1500 years, sometimes by 80.000 workers at a time. The site measures about 1,5 km x 800 m (bigger than Helgoland!) and was the most important place of worship in all Egypt. It was called "Ipet-Isut", meaning "The Most Perfect of Places". It still includes the tallest obelisk in Egypt, standing 29.2 m high, with a weight of 290 tonnes. The Great Hypostyle Hall contains 134 stone pillars covering 6000 sq meters. Overall, it is an amazing place. I guess you have to see it in order to grasp the magnitude of this temple. Before taking the horse carriage back to town, I learned a very important lesson: Never use a public toilet if you can somehow avoid it!! I swear I have never seen a filthier WC in my whole life...

To close our day, we were taken to a jewellry shop that sells original Egyptian gold and silver jewellry. We spent quite a while there for everyone to get some souvenirs and little presents for their loved ones at home. Afterwards we strolled over another bazar to get to a place for dinner. I didn't feel very well during the afternoon (finally, some digestive problems) and wasn't hungry, so I went to an internet shop instead. This is where I started to write my diary for you guys and I hope you enjoy reading it so far. In the meantime, it is already a week further and I've been writing at several occasions since then, trying to catch up with all that happened. It'll take a while to add my pictures but I promise they'll be put online asap.

The only other experience worth mentioning about today, was my first laundry done by the hotel. It all went okay, it's just that it definitely doesn't smell like home anymore!