Be awed
Luxor
There are few truly magic moments in life, but the Abu Simbel festival might just be one of them. Ramesses II built the
temple of the same name in the 13th Century BC and it's here, on just two days of the year, that crowds gather before sunrise
to witness light from the morning sun move across the faces of statues in its innermost chamber. The building has been
engineered with such architectural precision that this only happens on the Pharaoh's birthday in October and on the
anniversary of his assent to the throne in February, drenching the roomwith a golden glow and creating a spine-tingling link
to the world of the ancients. Heady stuff.
A 7.5 hour road trip from Luxor – but worth it; egypt.travel
Swimwith the fishes
Malta
Short of firing off into deep space, the closest any of us will ever get to seeing the surface of another planet is with the aid of
SCUBA gear, and the wonderfully tranquil waters of Malta and its sister island, Gozo, boast two of the world's best dive sites. The
former’s most famous wreck, the HMS
Maori
,
sunk in 1942, teems with marine life, while the latter is home to the coral-covered
walls and dazzling electric-blue water of a natural underwater chimney called the Cathedral. Apt, as diving here is a near-
religious experience.
Six accompanied dives during the winter, including tanks and weights, €165; paradisediving.com
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