Africa - Lili on the Loose

20 10, 2016

Death on the Nile: The Ghost Ships of Egypt

By Lili|October 20th, 2016|Categories: Travel, Travel Memories|Tags: 2015, Africa, Aswan, Cruise, cruise ship, Dream of Egypt, Egypt, G Adventures, ghost, Ghost Ship, Google Earth, Google Maps, Luxor, Middle East, Nile, Nile Cruise, Travel Thursday|0 Comments

Ghost Ships at Luxor Temple Preparing for my trip to Egypt, I read many blogs. One of the unique articles I read was "Egypt's Modern Day Ruins: The Nile River Cruises of Yesteryear" from Roaming Around the World. It was fascinating to read about the fact that tourism has dropped so much in Egypt that out of over 350 Nile Cruise Ships that use to be working less than 15 are still in use. I marveled at the photos of the dilapidated Ghost Ships, decaying in the desert heat. Rows of mothballed ships. Source And I wondered

10 10, 2016

Travel Missteps: Trapped in Prayer

By Lili|October 10th, 2016|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2015, Africa, Cairo, Call to Prayer, Dream of Egypt, Egypt, Egypt Explorer, G Adventures, Gadventures, GAP, Islamic Cairo, Khan el Khalili, Lamp, market, Middle East, Muslim, prayer, Souq, Star Lamp, UNESCO, UNESCO World Heritage Site|0 Comments

I only had a few minutes before my group was going to leave. And I really really wanted a star lamp. I mean really, being in a Middle Eastern Souq/Market just screams buying a lamp. So I was determined to get one during my visit to Khan el Khalili, the large market in the heart of Islamic Cairo. But, all the other shops had lamps that were much too big. And I knew I was going to have to carry on whatever I bought. So right as I was about to leave, when I spied the perfect smallish star lamp

19 09, 2016

Museum Monday: Granite Scarab at the Nubian Museum

By Lili|September 19th, 2016|Categories: Museums, Travel|Tags: 2015, Africa, Aswan, Cobra, Dream of Egypt, Egypt, G Adventures, Gadventures, GAP, Middle East, Nubian Museum, Photo Essay, Scarab, Sun Disk of Ra, UNESCO, Uraeus|0 Comments

This granite scarab with the sun disk of Ra and a uraeus (cobra) which are symbols of leadership in ancient Egypt. This is about the size of a football and sits within its own shrine. If you go: The hours change depending on the season. When I went in late October it was open from 9-1 and then 4-7. Admission for foreigners without any student discounts is 60 EGP. I believe the student discount put it at 40-45 EGP. Museum Monday is an every other week series about museum news, objects, and reviews.

16 09, 2016

The Glass as it were a Glittering Star

By Lili|September 16th, 2016|Categories: Attractions & Sights, Photography, Travel|Tags: 2015, Africa, Cairo, Dream of Egypt, Egypt, G Adventures, Gadventures, GAP, Hieroglyphics, Islam, Lamp, Middle East, Mosque, Mosque of Muhammad Ali, Photo Friday, Qur'an, The Citadel, UNESCO, UNESCO World Heritage Site, verse, verse of light|0 Comments

The Verse of Light from the Qur'an is written very pretty, and is a good fit for looking up at the many glass lamps in the Mosque of Muhammad Ali, in Cairo, Egypt. The verse goes like this: God is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His Light is a niche wherein is a lamp— the lamp is in a glass, the glass as it were a glittering star— lit from a blessed olive tree, neither eastern nor western, whose oil almost lights up, though fire should not touch it. Light upon light. God draws parables

13 09, 2016

Egypt Travelogue: Day 11, Part 1 – Early Morning in Edfu

By Lili|September 13th, 2016|Categories: Travel, Travel Memories, Travelogue|Tags: 2015, Africa, caleche, Dendera, Dream of Egypt, Edfu, Edfu Temple, Egypt, Egypt Travelogue, falcon, G Adventures, Hathor, horse, horse carriage, Horus, Mammisi, Middle East, Nile, Nile Cruise, Nut, Osiris, Set, Temple, Temple of Edfu|0 Comments

This is my travel diary of my trip to Egypt. It contains in detail my memories of what I did and saw. Sunday November 1, 2015 Egypt: Day 11, Part 1 – Early Morning in Edfu Photo by Tara We got up and met in the lobby of the ship. I recall drinking what was called orange juice, but was more related to Tang. (We'd have our actual breakfast after we got back.) We then headed out to take our horse carriage to Edfu Temple. Apparently, when the city and cruise ships tried to switch to buses, the locals rebelled

5 09, 2016

Museum Monday: Close Ups from Kom Ombo

By Lili|September 5th, 2016|Categories: Attractions & Sights, Museums, Travel|Tags: 2015, Africa, crocodile, Dream of Egypt, Egypt, G Adventures, Halloween, Kom Ombo, Kom Ombo Temple, Middle East, Sobek, Temple|0 Comments

Last week I told of spending Halloween at Kom Ombo, but there were so many amazing photos I couldn't share them all. So here are some closes up from the beautiful temple at Kom Ombo. Museum Monday is an every other week series about museum news, objects, and reviews.

30 08, 2016

Egypt Travelogue: Day 10, Part 3 – Halloween at Kom Ombo

By Lili|August 30th, 2016|Categories: Travel, Travel Memories, Travelogue|Tags: 2015, Africa, crocodile, Crocodile Museum, Dream of Egypt, Egypt, Egypt Travelogue, G Adventures, Galabeya, galabeya party, Halloween, Kom Ombo, Kom Ombo Temple, Middle East, Nile, Nile Cruise, Nilometer, Sobek, Temple|0 Comments

This is my travel diary of my trip to Egypt. It contains in detail my memories of what I did and saw. Saturday October 31, 2015 Egypt: Day 10, Part 3 – Halloween at Kom Ombo As Mikel gathered us in the lobby, he was adamant we don't shop going in or going out. That there was limited time, and the ship would leave at a specific time. We followed him, but then he stopped right before going up the steps. We all were eager to get started, but Mikel smartly let some of the pushier groups like the Chinese group with

15 08, 2016

Travel Missteps: The Fast Felucca

By Lili|August 15th, 2016|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2015, Africa, Aswan, Cairo, Dream of Egypt, Egypt, Egypt Explorer, Felucca, G Adventures, Gadventures, GAP, Middle East, night train, Nile, obelisk, pool, Sailboat, service, unfinished obelisk|0 Comments

After a long night train from Cairo, we finally reached Aswan. To hit the ground running, I immediately took a taxi to the Unfinished Obelisk. Afterwards, I was so tired, and so decided to swim at the hotel pool, which overlooks the Nile. Typical to the "service" standard that was in Egypt, no towel attendants were in sight. Due to the lack of tourists the cafe was shut down. (We ordered lunch with a lone employee who had appeared, but it took over 2 hours for us to finally see them again with that food!) And the pool was missing

28 07, 2016

Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa

By Lili|July 28th, 2016|Categories: Attractions & Sights, History, Travel|Tags: 2015, Africa, Alexandria, Anubis, Apis Bull, catacombs, catacombs of kom el shoqafa, Dream of Egypt, Egypt, Egypt Explorer, Egyptian, G Adventures, Gadventures, GAP, Greek, Isis, Middle East, roman, Travel Thursday|0 Comments

Source The mysterious Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa in Alexandria were discovered a little more than a hundred years ago when a donkey disappeared into a hole in the earth. What was uncovered was a complex of 3 story underground catacomb. While the upper floor is pretty bare from design the middle floor has a unique tomb that combines Egyptian, Greek, and Roman iconography. Above the entrance you can see many Uraei (cobras) with the sun disk, and the winged vulture, a common sight of Egyptian temples. But on the side you see a greek Agathodaimon (serpent) wearing the double crown

22 07, 2016

Colors of Ancient Egypt

By Lili|July 22nd, 2016|Categories: Attractions & Sights, Photography, Travel|Tags: 2015, Abydos, Africa, Cenotaph Temple of Ramesses II at Abydos, Dream of Egypt, Egypt, G Adventures, Gadventures, GAP, Hieroglyphics, Middle East, Photo Friday, Ramesses II, Temple of Ramesses II|0 Comments

One thing many people don't realize is that the monuments and temples of Ancient Egypt were actually vividly painted. But time has erased many of the colors or they are hard to see in dimly lit temples where flashlights and flash is outlawed to protect what colors remain. Which is why when I visited the Cenotaph Temple of Ramesses II at Abydos, a mostly ruined temple, I was excited to not only see amazing colors, but they were close enough to the light outside to take good photos! Every Friday Lili shares her favorite photography & the stories behind the