GAP - Lili on the Loose

14 11, 2016

Museum Monday: Crocodile Museum at Kom Ombo

By Lili|November 14th, 2016|Categories: Museums, Travel|Tags: 2015, Africa, crocodile, Crocodile Museum, Dream of Egypt, Egypt, falcon, G Adventures, Gadventures, GAP, Horus, Kom Ombo, Kom Ombo Temple, Middle East, Mummy, Nile, Sobek|0 Comments

Kom Ombo is an amazing temple. Its unique due to the fact its dedicated to not one but two different gods: The falcon-headed Horus & Sobek the Crocodile-headed God. Included with your admission to the temple is a small but well curated museum dedicated to Sobek. When you first walk in, you'll be greeted by a dozen smiling preserved crocodiles resting on a bed of sand. As you walk around you'll see various statues and stele depicting Sobek. Sobek was associated with fertility (likely due to crocodiles living in the Nile) as well as military prowess. You'll also see numerous crocodile

11 11, 2016

Ancient Egyptian Lion Gargoyle

By Lili|November 11th, 2016|Categories: Attractions & Sights, Photography, Travel|Tags: 2015, Africa, Dendera, Dendera Temple, Dream of Egypt, Egypt, G Adventures, Gadventures, GAP, Gargoyle, Hieroglyphics, Lion, Middle East, Photo Friday, Temple of Hathor|1 Comment

At the Temple of Hathor in Dendera, Egypt you can still see the lion-headed gargoyles that funneled the captured rain off the roof, and into scared wells. Every Friday Lili shares her favorite photography & the stories behind the photos.

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

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

18 07, 2016

Travel Missteps: Late to the Party

By Lili|July 18th, 2016|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2013, Central America, Chichen-Itza, G Adventures, Gadventures, GAP, Ik Kil Cenote, Latin America, lost in translation, Mayan Encounter 2013, Mexico, Playa Del Carmen, tour group, Valladolid|0 Comments

My last full day of my G Adventures Mayan Encounter Tour was a free day. I had already been to Playa Del Carmen before, and so wanted to see Chichen Itza as I had missed that on my last trip. The problem was, many of my tour-mates had already seen it earlier in their own trips. So I was the only one who wanted to go. No problem! My tour guide arranged for me to join a day trip to see it. And both she and I explained to that tour company that I needed to be back by 5PM

30 06, 2016

Hypaethral Hall of Trajan’s Kiosk

By Lili|June 30th, 2016|Categories: Attractions & Sights, Travel|Tags: 2015, Africa, Agilika Island, Aswan, Dream of Egypt, Egypt, G Adventures, Gadventures, GAP, Middle East, Philae, Philae Temple, Roman Emperor, Trajan, Trajan's Kiosk, Travel Thursday, UNESCO, UNESCO World Heritage Site|0 Comments

Trajan's Kiosk is a hypaethral temple (no roof) found at Philae in Egypt. Trajan was a Roman Emperor best known for having extended the Roman Empire to its largest area. Part of the newly acquired area was Egypt. Rome assimilated into the local culture and created hybrid architecture temples. This was one of them. It is airy and bright with beautiful different capitals on top of each column. And with a view right on the water. It was sometimes nicknamed "The Pharaoh's Bed".