cruising the Nile

I seem to be at that awkward age in the world of travel where I truly don’t want to live at the bottom of the food chain with the backpackers, but I’m not ready (hope I’ll never be) to be moved from my 5 star hotel to an aircon bus to see the sights from behind the protection of window glass and a tourist guide holding up a flag to separate him or her from all of the other tourist guides. Many of the people in my budget hotel opted to go up the Nile in a felucca. The idea of spending three days with 10 people in a small sailboat tacking back and forth against the northerly wind for three days was really not feeling like something I wanted to do – though it did sound like an adventure. 30 minutes into my big cruise boat’s departure, we passed my friends on the felucca, and I was certain that I had made a good choice.

10 backpacker in a felucca

my space on the Nile

When I booked a three night cruise, I for some reason assumed that we were going to be cruising the Nile for the better part of 3 or 4 days. In fact, my boat left Aswan on Saturday afternoon, and arrive in Luxor on Sunday evening. This meant that I had two nights on the boat while moored in Luxor, and two more day in Luxor than originally planned. But as I’m writing this on the “rest day” that I’ve given myself, those extra days of nothing in particular to do are feeling pretty good.

the "Nile Story"

The boat experience was like most of my other experiences so far in Egypt; very nice, fun, interesting, sometimes a challenge, and never what I expected. The boat itself, the “Nile Story” is just like its three hundred sister ships on the Nile – sort of a floating McMansion. Grand piano in the foyer, pool up on the sun deck, lots of chrome and mirrors. My room and the rest of the boat was actually quite nice – just in a veneer sort of way. I don’t know what the passenger capacity was, but the 40 or so people that I counted at the meals couldn’t have occupied more than 20% of the rooms. I think there are too many boats, and they don’t seem to make an effort to fill them one at a time. Bus gas here is under $1 a gallon…

Cruising down the Nile is a great experience. The strip of irrigated land between the Nile and the desert is lush and the people work hard to produce their crops in the stretches between the cities and villages. Lots of scenes of turban-wrapped men riding small donkeys along the water, kids playing soccer on the banks, and beasts of burden pulling plows and carts full of people and vegetables. Other than the soccer balls, and some of the more modern litter, it definitely looks like a scene from the days of Yul Brynner and Charlton Heston (though interestingly, neither of my guide books makes any mention of the history of the Jews or Moses and the exodus).



The guest list on the boat included a big group from Spain, a couple of Kiwis, and four Americans (including me). I was seated with the other Americans at what must have been the Obama table. For some reason, they don’t like to mix people of various languages at the dinner table (though the Spaniards were a lot of fun). I made quick friends with a couple from California who had just been married two weeks prior in Florence. We had some good times on and off the boat, and spent the last night before departing the boat hanging out with the Spaniards in the souk in Luxor, having a beer, smoking a sheesha (hooka in Turkey – waterpipe with fruit flavored tobacco) and talking with the locals.

Luxor market with friends

After leaving Aswan, the boat’s first stop was an after-dark visit to the temple of Kom Ombo which is in part dedicated to Sobek, the crocodile god. This location was also a center for the Ethiopian elephant trade, though neither elephants nor crocodiles are around today. Dating back to the Ptolomaic period, this and the temple at Edfu are relatively new – around 2,000 years old, or 1500 years after Ramses II, the temple at Abu Simbel, and the Valley of the Kings.

Kom Ombu

Sobek - the crocodile god

heiroglyphics

Great photo ops at this place, and as usual, the security guards will let you go anywhere and do anything for a little backsheesh. The one exception came when I asked to photograph a guard with his very interesting looking machine pistol. That apparently is not allowed.

haven't seen this one in Call of Duty

That night, we sailed on to Edfu and had an early morning (6am!) visit to the Temple of Horus, a falcon cult god. Another amazing temple, though having been spoiled by the night visit and great lighting the evening before, I wasn’t quite as trigger happy with the camera (plus waiting for the Japanese groups to stop posing and flashing peace signs in front of the falcon stature so that I could take a picture without them took the better part of the visit.).

One interesting and, to me, sad note is the amount of defacing that some of these temples (and the tombs in the Valley of the Kings) have suffered at the hands of the newer religions. Some of the defacing of gods and kings was caused by other Egyptian kings trying to squash the memories of past Pharaohs that they didn't like, but much of it was done by the Christians, and I would suspect also by the Muslims. Monotheists apparently can't stand the idea of multiple gods - even as a part of history. Reminds me of the incredible Christian paintings in the caves of Cappadoccia, Turkey that all had their eyes scratched out by the Muslims.

falcon statue at the Temple of Horus in Edfu

for five punds more, I bet he'd smile