Cruising the Nile - Edfu to Luxor
Trip Start
Mar 08, 2008
1
16
25
Trip End
Mar 24, 2008
Edfu,
Egypt
Monday, March 17, 2008
Edfu temple is considered to be one of the best preserved temples in Egypt as it was covered for sand for so long. It is well preserved from a building point of view as the walls are largely in tact as is the roof. However there are alot better hieroglyphics at other temples. Many of the gods represented have been scratched out. This was done by Christians many years ago.
Egypt is fantastic and there is so much to see and do but unfortunately there comes a time when you have seen so many hieroglyphics, temples, tombs and heard so much about the gods and history that you begin to suffer overload. We have reached that point.
This morning we had green juice and green eggs at breakfast for St Patricks day.
Mum is really looking forward to a big meal of meat and vegetables. So am I. The food here is quite bland.
Mum is starting to feel a little squeamish in her stomach.
It was good to have a break and just sit and relax cruising along the Nile. In places it is quite smoky due to burning off of sugar cane.
The River Nile is very slow paced (like most things in Egypt except the traffic). It is extremely wide in places. Much wider than any river in Australia. There is a strip of green on either side of the Nile and then the rocky and mountainess desert. The grass and fields come right up to the banks of the Nile and often there are small (sometimes large) islands in the middle. In the fields you can see people working. It is all by hand. The most common crops are Corn and Sugar Cane together with Banana's and Date Trees.
We have also seen cows. However there are not many compared to Australia. The cows are often in the grass fields on the islands. I wonder if they swim or boat them across to the mainland when the Nile floods?
We have also seen alot of fishermen. No motors for these guys. They do it the hard way with oars. Some have rods and others nets. Some both. There are also women washing their clothes in the river and kids playing in the water.
Along the way there are many small villages, mainly mud brick homes. There are also a few larger towns.
We went through the loch at Esna. It is big enough to transfer 2 cruise boats at one time. The water dropped about 3 - 4 metres before we went through.
There are many many cruise boats on the Nile. As they approach each other, they sound their horn. When we arrived at Luxor (about 4pm) there were at least 40 cruise boats with the number growing each day. The boats moor side by side. We were the fourth boat out when we docked so had to walk through three other boats to get to shore. At points there were up to 7 boats side by side. Some of the boats are magnificant. Maybe the next trip???
