The Great Pyramid at Giza - People ascending to a small opening a few tiers up from the base. The sheer mountainous immensity of the pyramid is daunting when seen in person. ©Gerald Diamond All rights reserved

On the Giza plain two of the three Great Pyramids stand out as the magnificent tributes to the Pharaohs who commissioned their construction. ©Gerald Diamond All rights reserved

Lonely travelers on foot and camel in the desert west of Cairo on the great Giza plain. ©Gerald Diamond All rights reserved

The Great Pyramid of Giza - notice the camel and rider as well as a number of people walking along the base of the Pyramid (enlarge the photo for a better look). The camel is much farther from the base of the Pyramid than you would think. ©Gerald Diamond All rights reserved

The Sphinx lies peacefully guarding the Pyramids at Giza near Cairo in Egypt. ©Gerald Diamond All rights reserved

The Sphinx lies peacefully guarding the Pyramids at Giza. ©Gerald Diamond All rights reserved

A small island in the Nile River near Luxor, Egypt sprouts a few trees and some small underbrush. ©Gerald Diamond All rights reserved

Faluccas take to the Nile at sunset for a breathtaking sail near Luxor, Egypt. ©Gerald Diamond All rights reserved

On the Nile River just south of Luxor - A small shrine to a local Luxor man sits atop a hill on the West bank of the river overlooking the city which lies across the river on the East side. ©Gerald Diamond All rights reserved

Dunes on the Eastern fringe of the Egyptian desert overlooking the Nile River. Two men sit at sunset and contemplate... ©Gerald Diamond All rights reserved

Faluccas (small sailing vessels) glide along the Nile near Luxor under the hilltop memorial to a local prominent citizen. ©Gerald Diamond All Rights Reserved

On an island in the Nile River lies the beautiful and ancient ruins of the Temple of Philae. Clear and well-preserved artwork and hieroglyphs decorate almost every square inch of this histroic Temple. ©Gerald Diamond All rights reserved

The Temple of Philae with its huge walls (see the woman at the base of the wall for scale) provides a beautiful tableau for hieroglyphs and images of the Gods and Pharaohs. This Temple is more than 2,000 years old and still standing on an island in the Nile River. ©Gerald Diamond All rights reserved

A colonnade at the Temple of Philae on an sialnd in the Nile River. ©Gerald Diamond All rights reserved

This spectacularly well-preserved and deeply-carved image of the God Horus, symbolized by a falcon's head, stands on one of the giant entrance walls to the Temple of Philae. Horus became synonymous with the Pharaoh. ©Gerald Diamond All rights reserved

Isis, the mother of Horus and wife of Osiris, here depicted as she often is with the hieroglyphic symbol for a crown. ©Gerald Diamond All rights reserved

Kom Ombo Temple on the shores of the Nile River at dusk. ©Gerald Diamond All rights reserved

As the sun set the lights came on affording a spectacular view of the Temple of Kom Ombo overlooking the Nile River between Aswan and Luxor. ©Gerald Diamond All rights reserved

Palms on the lush banks of the Nile River south of Luxor, Egypt. Just a mile inland the desert begins, dry and windswept for 2,000 miles. ©Gerald Diamond All rights reserved

Edfu Temple Column, Egypt

©Gerald Diamond All rights reserved

Edfu Temple walls bear the images of the gods Isis and Horus. ©Gerald Diamond All rights reserved

Edfu Temple has an inner set of high walls within which the main temple rooms are sheltered and where the priests and nobility worshipped. There is also an outer set of perimeter walls protecting the Temple interior. In the space between the two walls the common people were permitted to gather and worship though never venture into the inner sanctum. Intricate images and hieroglpyphs adorned these two facing wall surfaces with no blank spaces anywhere. ©Gerald Diamond All rights reserved

Street Scene - typical street in towns and cities of Egypt from Aswan north to Luxor. In this photograph a number of vendors crowd closely together. ©Gerald Diamond All rights reserved

Delivering propane the old-fashioned way. In many of Egypt's towns and villages donkeys intermingle with cars, small trucks and horses pulling tourists in small buggies. ©Gerald Diamond All rights reserved

An Egyptian "Huck Finn" and his buddies coming back from an expedition harvesting reeds on the Nile River. ©Gerald Diamond All rights reserved

A Silent Story Of Four People: In an Egyptian village on the banks of the NIle towards dusk a few people go about their daily business. ©Gerald Diamond All rights reserved

Along the Nile many small Egyptian towns cling closely to the river. It is their primary source of water and is often the center of focus for boys' games. ©Gerald Diamond All rights reserved

Dusk is closing in on the Nile and its rich farmland in this shot taken just south of Luxor in central Egypt. A tour boat glides by, donkeys, cows and even water buffalo graze. A few herders laze around. And off in the distance rise the desert mountains that separate the lush farms from the austere desert that expands westward for 2,000 miles. ©Gerald Diamond All rights reserved

Today's Luxor was once called Thebes. The entrance to its great Temple of Karnak was guarded by a long row of sculptured rams.

©Gerald Diamond All rights reserved

An inner sanctum of Karnak Temple lit only by a high window casting an oblique light on the intricately decorated walls and ceiling of the room. ©Gerald Diamond All rights reserved

A close-up of Ramses II statue. ©Gerald Diamond All rights reserved