Cruising the Nile River Egypt
“Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt.” Mark Twain
Egypt the land of ancient wonders, a place that I had long dreamed of visiting. As the dates of my planned trip arrived war broke out nearby and friends and family suggested that I postpone my trip. Despite a few misadventures that had nothing to do with politics or war I finally arrived in Cairo ready to start my adventure.
After having missed my flight from Cairo and having to discover how to retrieve a bag that has been offloaded, I finally made my way from Lisbon, via London to Egypt and arrive only about 12 hours behind schedule.
Onward to Luxor and seven days on the river Nile exploring all that can be found along the river from Luxor to Aswan.
My first view of the Nile from my hotel room in Cairo definitely did not prepare me for the mystique of exploring ancient temples, meeting Nile pirates, fisherman and farmers as we sailed along the Nile from Luxor to Aswan.
In the visitor’s center is a replica of the Golden boat that was used to take the Gods along the River Nile a couple of times a year.
The sun was blazing, the temperature a balmy 94 degrees Fahrenheit as we explored the temple of Karnak. I was a bit disappointed to not have seen the pyramids yet but found the temple of Karnak surprisingly impressive despite the heat as we walked down the avenue of the Sphinxes.
Before setting sail the next morning, we visited the Valley of Kings and the requisite 3 tombs that visitors are allowed to visit. The color, the scenes and the burial site were awesome despite the slight feeling of claustrophobia from the crowds and the heat.
The temple of Sobek that sits right on the river was lit up beautifully at night as we approached during our downstream trip.
Nile Pirates showed us all manner of goods and hung around the ship as we sailed along the river. In Aswan, during the Felucca ride these kids paddled up to us singing us songs in English. Our guide was explaining that these children do not speak a word of English but have learned these songs in different languages by rote. They have an uncanny gift of recognizing the nationality of the tourists in the boats and sing songs in that language.
Empty boats stood at anchor near the lake in Aswan as we rowed across to the Philae temple. Due to the war in Gaza, many tourists had cancelled, and the season was off to a slow start. It was estimated that they were fifty percent below the total number of visitors that had been planned for. A big blow to the tourist industry that has been barely recovering from Covid.
For myself I will say that I am glad I did not cancel my trip because I felt completely safe during the time i was in country.
While we had many excursions of the ship to explore the temples and other ancient marvels along the Nile it was just as much fun to spend a couple of relaxing days, on the sundeck enjoying the breeze and seeing the local people live their everyday life along the river.
One of the highlights of the trip was high tea at the Cataract Hotel where the legendary Agatha Christie wrote Murder on the Nile.
Papyrus. How times have changed between when the ancient Egyptians recorded their stories on handmade paper derived from Papyrus and publishing my story on social media. I wonder what the ancients would have made of this scenario.
The giant Colossi of Memnon are just a quick promise to share the ancient marvels that Egypt has to share with you all when I return next week.