The Nile Cruise
My title of this blog is a departure from my previous
titles. If one had or has been reading my journals they typically are in
triplicate. The Galibeaya, the hijab, and a call to prayer….. or something to
that degree. This time just ……. “The Nile Cruise”. I think since the fact that
the Nile cruise is synonymous with the “exotic”, the “mysterious”, and the
“ancient” that it would suffice as a title for this recent installment. We had
been looking forward to our Nile cruise almost from the time we first decided
to come to Egypt. After all, practically everyone we had talked to said they
thought it would be great to do a Nile cruise. It conjurs up images of temples,
ancient ruins, pyramids, and ancient grave robbed tombs.
Our Cruise Boat on the Nile
We have finished the
cruise. To cut short the suspense, YES, it was all of those things are more. It
does help to have a good guide and in Medhat we were lucky.
Medhat and Donna replicating a wall relief.... perhaps the man understanding his place....
He had previously
given tours to a few friends of ours at school and he came highly recommended.
Medhat suggested we fly to Aswan in the deep southern part of Egypt. This is
the Nubian region of Upper Egypt. (Upper since it is up river not down river as
in Cairo). The Nubians are Egyptians with a separate cultural identity from
other parts of Egypt. They look different, have a different language, different
music (amazing music…. Look up Mohammed Mounir or Ahmed Mounib on Youtube), and
different customs all around. While in Aswan we saw a temple that was moved
block by block to an island in the river. When the Aswan dam was built this
temple would have been swallowed by the new lake. On the way back from visiting
the temple(one has to go in a small motorboat) we were serenated by the famous
singing boys of Aswan.
These young boys (8,9,10 years old) float in small boats
up to your boat and sing songs in any language you choose. They are actually
great singers and can serenade “river songs”. For us they sang, “My Bonnie lies
over the ocean” and a few others. At first they thought we were French so they
launched into a French song. Without missing a beat they changed midsong into
English when told we were Americans! They were happy to get a tip of some
Egyptian pounds and everyone was happy.
In Aswan is the largest damned lake in the world, or I should say the largest lake made from a dam in the world, created by the
damming of the Nile. That topic is worth one’s own research. It is very controversial
in that the formally flooded lands of the Nile and the delta now are not
flooded anymore. This made certain things better for the famer looking at year
around farming. Not good for the soil that depended on the nutrient enhancing
yearly floods that protected the delta soil for thousands of years. Now
chemicals are used to keep up yields and as a consequence the soil has become
depleted and dependant upon the chemicals to produce……. produce. But I digress……
on to our Nile adventure.
In Aswan we took a side trip to Abu Simbel. Abu Simbel is a
monumental temple built hundreds of miles from any other temple. It stands as
the southern guard of the Pharoh’s magnificence and strength. It is a powerful
reminder to the Nubian lands to the south of the omnipetance of the Pharohs
mighty rule. Abu Simbel is over three thousand years old! Four massive statues
are carved out of the side of the mountain. Almost seventy feet tall each. They
stand as sentinels looking out on the western bank of the Nile to the lands of
the south. Then inside there are more statues (only 20 feet tall…. ) and
paintings on the walls. Far inside of the temple is the crypt and four more
small statues. On the summer solstice the first rays of the sun shine on three
of the figures while the fourth stays shadowed. That one is ……. God of the
underworld.
Abu Simbel- The amazing temple built by Ramses II over 3,500 years old. A wonder of the World. Carved right out of the mountain overlooking the Nile. A three hour ride from Aswan with a morning sunrise.... (there is more to this story... UNESCO moved the whole temple. They cut out thousands of blocks and labeled and numbered them and reassembled the temple! The Aswan damn would have covered the temple under 100 ft of water. So they put it up 300 ft above it's old spot. Amazing but not as amazing as the building of the temple itself 3,500 years ago).
Nile with Feluccas near Abu Simbel
Grazieli, Alex and us in front of Nefatari's temple at Abu Simbel
From Abu Simbel we then ventured downriver or northward
towards Luxor. Luxor in ancient times was called Thebes. It was the religious
center of ancient Egypt. We passed by several modern temples. These temples
were only slightly over two thousand years old. Over a thousand years younger
than Abu Simbel and the temples of Luxor. Though “modern” (again, over 2,000
years old!) they followed the building and design principles of the “ancient”
ones. Even the “modern” temples were built several hundred years before Christ.
The Temple of Horus at Edfu 2,300 years old..."Modern"
Granite sculpture of Horus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horus
We relaxed on the boat as we passed the river bank of the Nile. We met a
wonderful Brazilian couple Alex and Grazieli who became our table partners and
who we got to know. After several days we arrived in Luxor.
Luxor today is busy, throbbing with activity, and containing
a temple complex right in the heart of the city. The Luxor temple at night is a
wonder.
Granite obelisks and statues perfectly carved. Solid Granite!
Granite Ramses II
Huge granite obelisks, granite statues, and enormous columns highlight
this temple. There is an avenue of the Sphinx’s that go about a kilometer to
Karnak, the largest temple complex in the world.
Avenue of the Sphinx's
At Karnak are more huge
granite obelisks, enormous pillars once holding up a huge roof, and hundreds of
granite statues and the whole complex is filled with painted and carved relief.
The paint is still colorful over three thousand years later.
Donna and Medhat near the fallen Obelisk inside the Karnak Temple
Seventy feet high with huge lintels. How did they manage this? 3,500 years old!
Kheper- The Scarab at Karnak. The ancient story is that this granite scarab brings good luck to those with a wish and seven walks around. We of course did it as well.
If this wasn’t enough on the other or western side of the
Nile is the temple of Hapshetsut, the woman Pharoah that is over 3,500 years
old but looks utterly modern in design. We took a hot air balloon ride in the
early morning and watched the sun come up over the mountains as we looked down
on all the temple complexes and the Valley of the Kings. That also provided a humorous moment. Medhat did everything with us which was reassuring. We got ready for the balloon ride and the moment had come. Donna and I climbed into the basket and waited for Medhat. But instead he stepped back. I was confused. "Aren't you coming?" He said, "No, I am afraid of heights". Great.... we were on our own. Up we went. Four Brazilian young men broke into song with their ukelele. We smiled, relaxed and enjoyed our sunrise over the Nile. It was spectacular.
Our Balloon getting ready for flight
Hapshetsut's temple at the base of the mountain. Valley of the Kings to the right behind the ridge. Nile to the left of photo.
The Valley of the Kings is right on the other side of the mountain ridge from Hapshetsut’s temple and literally is a valley containing 64 tombs from ancient Pharohs. We went there after the balloon ride. That of course is where Tutenkhamens tomb is and many others. These tombs were dug out of the mountain and the tunnels reached deep into the ground. The walls were painted and full of hieroglyphics and carved with skillful care. No cameras were allowed in this sacred place. It is also an amazing place. Other than king Tut’s tomb all were completely vandalized and emptied of their riches. We went through the usual gauntlet of locals trying to sell us their goods. All during our trip we did our best to fend off the constant cries for “baksheesh” and sales attempts of small trinkets and other typical souvenir fare. One gets used to it. They suffer from the drop in tourism so we don't blame them too much.
Valley of the Kings and some of the tombs.
The modern looking Hapshetsut Temple. 3,600 years old. Valley of the Kings on other side to the right. Valley of the Queens on other side to the left. The Valley of the Queens also contained mummies and had tombs for wives and children and even pets. Hatshepsut's Temple faces Karnak two kilometers away on other side of the Nile in a direct line. Hapshetsut was the only woman Pharaoh. Her temple one of the greatest. Another fascinating story to look up on your favorite search engine.....
Hapshetsut with the "Pharaoh's beard"
The funniest of the sales attempts was while we were slowing
down to get ready to go through the locks downriver from Luxor. As we rested
in our cabin with the window open, a blanket rolled up in plastic came flying
through our window and landed on the bed. We then became engaged in a wild
negotiation with an aggressive seller. I was impressed with his throwing skill
and humor and ended up buying the blanket. With my newfound negotiation skill I
was able to work it down to about seven dollars. We then went to the top deck
where we encountered more hilarious tactics. They would launch articles way up
to the top deck for tourists to examine. If interested bargaining ensued.
Otherwise they were thrown back down. Donna had the misfortune (or they did) of
throwing two or three towels and tablecloths into the river Nile. What happened
to them we don’t know but we saw several people in rowboats fishing items out
of the water.
Our cabin view and spot to throw souvenir's through!
Some of the guys came right into the lock with us still throwing stuff to the top deck!
Our trip was over. We thanked Medhat and flew back to our
home in Cairo. (Though not without a twist. We had a late flight from Luxor to Cairo, 400 miles to the north. We sat alone at the gate for the midnight flight. Who should appear around the corner but Grazieli and Alex! They had no place to stay in Cairo so we invited them to our villa. They told us they only had two bags so I asked Ahmed our driver if they could come with us. "No problem Mr. Eric", he said. So they got their bags and met us outside by Ahmed and us. Their bags could have hid an elephant and a camel. Somehow at one a.m. we got everything in and drove the hour drive to our villa. They were grateful. We were happy to help fellow travelers. I still don't know how we got all that stuff in the car). Our world became larger after our Nile cruise. The wonders of
ancient Egypt boggle the mind. How these people built these structures and the
enormity and perfection to last all these years is hard to grasp. Cairo is full
of hundreds and thousands of buildings, villas, apartments etc. None of these
will last a hundred years much less three thousand. The enormous structures of
perfection, artistic design, and engineering excellence done without modern
tools makes one wonder about the day to day lives of these peoples. They had
their time. Three thousand years from now will any of our modern structures
still be standing? Will they wonder about our time? We have our moment now.
They had theirs. But how did they do it? It is a mystery. I do know this. Visiting
Egypt right now scares people. But for those that come it’s the perfect time to
come to Egypt. The people welcome you. The crowds are gone and it is so easy to
see all the famous sites. There are still tourists but they come from China,
Korea, and Russia. It is also very safe despite what one sees on CNN. We had
our Nile cruise. Wow. It was amazing!
