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Nile Cruise
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The first day of our Nile Cruise was brutally hot in the afternoon, and I mean brutal. The morning was more reasonable (by Egyptian standards) and following breakfast, we spent some time around the pool on the upper deck. Most of us slightly misjudged the exact sun-screen requirement, and those areas of our skin less used to the sunlight subsequently had a slight reddish glow. Fortunately by this morning, our skin appeared to have recovered, and we knew to take extra care out in the sun. In the late afternoon, thankfully, we visited the Temple of Kom Ombo. This is a Ptolemaic temple, and as such was a perfectly symmetrical temple, which was built for 2 gods, Horus the Elder (the falcon god) and Sobek (the crocodile god). Before the construction of the Aswan dam, thousands of crocodiles lived in the Nile; now they only exist in Lake Nasser. Unfortunately the temple has been badly damaged by earthquakes. As we were walking around the temple site, situated right on the edge of the Nile, I was acutely aware of the little rivers of sweat running down my torso. There is a small room off to the side containing 3 crocodile mummies - on going inside to see the crocodile mummies, the rivers of sweat turned into a lake. Seriously, it was brutally hot! This was almost 6pm in the evening, with the sun almost set for the day. It was a relief to get back to the air-conditioned boat where we could shower and change and feel human once again.
Our second day of cruising, we had a free day to just laze around the pool or in our rooms, chatting with our fellow travellers, reading or just watching the world go by. While in Paris, I had enjoyed a lot of time to read light, easy novels, designed to allow you to relax, enjoy and forget about real life for a while. I mean who wants real life after all, when you can have the happy and romantic ending you are after! After enjoying my escapism, however, I have also tried to read some literature as well. Having spent plenty of time in Paris, I chose to read The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and following our time in St Petersburg, I read Crime and Punishment, by Dostoyevsky. I am now reading The World from Islam, a book written by George Negus, who you may remember as one of our Australian journalists (This Day Tonight, 60 minutes, Foreign Correspondent). The aim of the book is to help explain Islam to non-Muslims like myself, hoping to help bridge the gap in understanding between religions and cultures, and thereby by removing ignorance assist with the global aim for peace.
Along the banks of the Nile, the people live much as they have lived for years, living in very simple dwellings and tending the agricultural land by hand and with carts pulled by donkeys. They do have some tractors, which they will share amongst a group of farmers. There is a strip of fertile land either side of the Nile, backed by desert on both sides. Thankfully there was a wonderful breeze on this second day of crusing, which made spending time up on deck, either in the pool, by the pool or under the shaded canopy, very pleasant. Despite our lack of activity, we all seem to have been very hungry every meal time, and have enjoyed some very nice meals. In fact, I have not had a single meal in Egypt that I have not really enjoyed. The salads are fantastic, with a huge range that I'm sure would satisfy most vegetarians; it is unbelievable how soft and smooth the feta cheese is. The hot food has also been reliably enjoyable, with the fish in particular brilliant, and the deserts, pastries in various guises all soaked with honey, are always incredibly yummy! We've also made it through plenty of water - no problems keeping up with the 8 glasses a day rule around here.
For our final day on board, we have an early wake-up (5.30am) as we disembark and start our day's sightseeing in Luxor at 6.30am. The aim is to visit the sites when the weather is more conducive to walking around outside, so early morning visits and late afternoon visits to outdoor sights is the general rule. We will be spending 2 full days in Luxor before flying back to Cairo, for a day of last-minute shopping in the bazaar and our farewell dinner. In some ways it seems we have been in Egypt for ages, but in other ways it seems our time is flying past. More from Luxor and Cairo later. More thumbnails ...
Where I stayed:
Nile Cruise boat
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