We were woken by a 3:15 am early morning call, to have a quick tea or coffee with cake before collecting our breakfast hampers and getting on the 4am coach to Abu Simbel.
Before leaving Aswan, we picked up an armed police escort, then set off, crossing the Aswan dam and passing the High Dam.
The road soon turned into a gray ribbon in the desert. The occasional gentle curve in the road was marked with reflective signs as drivers must have been hypnotised into just driving straight on. Occasionally there was a police check point, that slowed the traffic down as it wound around road barriers.
I was relatively awake and therefore noticed how the desert changed. The sandstone mountains on either side of the Nile valley disappeared and gave way to an almost flat greyish sandy plain with slight bumps of black rock debris. This in turn gradually gave way to a more yellow sandy desert until just beyond halfway, when increasingly large pyramidal mounds of fractured black rock and sandstone with rough small debris scattered in the sand, eventually reaching up to 50 metres or so in height.
As we came off the shallow hills, the plain was interspersed with regimented developments at random, ten or more kilometre intervals. At one point there was a lush plantation of palms over a square kilometer or so hinting at an oasis. Scrub plants grew sparsely in lower parts of the plain. The road's constant companions were the electric pylons, reaching all the way to the city of Abu Simbel.
We arrived at the bus park before the site at around the same time as a number of other excursions. Lake Nasser was visible in the background as we walked around the large hill until we had our first sight of the main temple at Abu Simbel. The four images of the Pharaoh Ramesses II stared out over the lake as the Lilliputian visitors clustered in groups as the tour guides gave their explanations or what to see.
As everyone headed for the major temple, we walked across the sand in the blistering morning sun to the temple dedicated to Nefertari. This was smaller than that of Ramesses. The outside was decorated with giant statues of Ramesses II and Nefertari, unusual in that a queen is represented at the same size a the king. We entered into a marginally cooler environment. Inside, the decorations showed Nefertari first being anointed by the goddesses Isis and Hathor and then being almost elevated to equal status. Husband and king Ramesses was of course also present.
Wandering over to the now emptying Ramesses II temple, we found a similar eulogising of the king and his ascension into deity, which culminated in him being seated amongst three other gods, (Ra-Horakhty, Amun-Ra and Seth).
The original temple carved into the mountain was aligned such that on 22nd October and 20th February a ray of sunlight would enter at sunrise and illuminate the statue of Ramesses, seated amongst the gods in the inner sanctum. When the temple was moved to higher ground, this event was delayed by one day.
Our guide Osama explained that political forces were at work here.
Ramesses II was originally trained as an architect as a boy until his Grandfather was married by the deceased Tutankhamen’s wife. Looking to build a great monument carved into a mountain, it turned out that the nearest suitable site was in the neighbouring kingdom of Nubia.
Ramesses consequently waged a war against the Nubians but without actually achieving a decisive victory. The situation was resolved by marrying the Nubian princess Nefertari and receiving permission from the Nubian king to build his monument.
During his reign, Ramesses II had been busy replacing his predecessors names on temples and monuments with his own. Obviously, the same could happen to him when he passed away, especially if he constructed a monument in his name in Nubia, a separate kingdom.
Several failsafes were therefore built in, such as his seating of himself with three gods on a bench, a tableau which incidentally also pronounced his name Ra Me Ses . The other main backup was the temple dedicated to the Nubian princess, now wife and raised to godhood, in which his statues stood in equal size next to hers and the texts inside did the same.
The strategy appeared to work!
Moving the temple itself was a technological challenge, after all, the temple had been carved into a mountain. Some of the solutions were: not to transfer the entire mountain, rather, to transfer the outer skin and the inner temple walls; and to fill the temple chambers with sand to support the temple ceilings and walls during dismantling. At the new location, most of the recreated mountain was a hollow chamber into which the temples intruded and which was covered with the external stone elements of the temples.
After a couple of hours in the increasing morning heat, it was back into the air conditioned coach at around 10am for the four hour drive back the way we came.
We arrived back in Aswan shortly before 2pm but, just minutes away from the boat, we found ourselves on a tortured, twisted tour around the back streets of the city. This turned out to be a real eye opener as we saw a different city to the more sanitised hotels, banks and Nile cruiser docks.
We saw a city in construction and transition where mudbrick construction was still used to some degree, followed by mudbrick within frames of concrete, followed by brick within concrete frames.
After another turn, we were following a canal with scenes of ramshackle housing and rubbish flowing into the polluted water that were very third world. Donkey powered carts and staked donkeys were abundant as locals wandered unperturbed in the slum just a mile or so from the centre.
Suddenly we were back in familiar territory, near the tourist market, when our bus was brought to an abrupt halt by a blocked road just 50 yards from our quay. A procession of white robed demonstrators was marching directly between us and our goal.
There was nothing for it, we had to get out, clutching our bags and, slightly ridiculously, our pillows. All eyes turned to us as we marched towards the protester's column.
Like the Red Sea for Moses, the protesters parted.They began clapping and shouting “Welcome!”
The Nubian protest march was about wanting recompense for their land lost when the High Dam flooded their fertile villages. With many Nubians active in the tourist trade and on the popular felucas (sailing boats), they did not want to upset an important element of the local economy by their actions.
On the quay we met cheers and cat-calls from our fellow passengers who had seen our arrival.
Fortunately, there was still a welcome lunch available for us as the Commodore set sail for Luxor.
I rested for an hour and then went upstairs to rest on deck, taking a dip in the pool a bit later before being called up for my appointment with Oscar.
Oscar was the ship's masseur and, in anticipation of stiffness after eight hours in a bus, I had booked a back, neck and head massage.
Forty five minutes later, I emerged smelling sweetly of scented oils and feeling like a new man!
The evening's entertainment was a quiz, with questions on ancient Egypt and general knowledge. Our team of eight was called “Goggle Types”, an anagram of Egyptologist, and we scored a respectable 32 out of 40, which put us in the middle of the pack.
Having missed going through the Nile lock on the way upstream, I stayed up till we passed through them around one am in the morning. This time there were no hawkers on parade, just a rowing boat of youths who darted about like a minnow around our pike of a boat.
Wednesday 28 September 2011
Sunday 18 September 2011
Saturday, 3rd September Aswan dams, Papyrus and Nubians
As with the previous days, I had had to resort to taking painkillers due to the recurring pain in my jaw. It would be fine after an overnight break but tea or brushing teeth would initiate a delayed onset of growing pain that would either gradually fade or reach a crescendo over an hour. Despite the antibiotics, the situation appeared to be getting worse. Worried about the my small pack of painkillers that had almost been depleted, I requested reception try to purchase some for me.
The mornings trip began with a trip to the two dams, the British one completed around 1906, which, whilst being one of the largest dams of the day, still failed to control the Nile floods. The road across was one vehicle wide as we crossed, downstream the rocks of the cataracts were revealed, whilst upstream there was a sizeable lake, with cruisers and crocodile netting.
We did not stop but drove on to the High Dam, the third largest in the world. At its base, the foundations were 960m wide and it reached a height of (111m). This was not apparent on the approach as we only saw the tip above the waters. Security was very tight both to get on and then when we got out. Whilst photography was permitted, zoom lenses or video were prohibited. Using my 14mm to 40mm lens immediately resulted in a soldier approaching me and it was only the intervention of Osama that avoided my having to stop taking photos.
The lake, that had seemed large behind the British built dam now looked puny compared to Lake Nasser, which stretchee to the horizon and lost itself left and right in flooded valleys. We were now on crocodile watch as these upper reaches of the Nile do harbour them. Apart from a tell tale v-ripple moving away from us parallel to the dam, we did not see any obviously basking.
The photo-session over we drove on to a small harbour on Lake Nasser to catch a motor boat to the island with the Temple of Philae, which we could see in the distance from the High Dam. It was one of the many temples that had been rescued from the inevitable flooding once the high dam was completed. As with all the monuments threatened with flooding, The temple of Philae was relocated stone by stone onto a suitable future island in the lake.
This was out first trip by boat. Everyone had to bring along their lifejacket, found under the beds in our rooms. The boats themselves were about 10m long, wide bellied with a flat deck and a bench along the sides, plus one across the centre of the boat. A large rectangular roof covered the seating area to provide welcome shade and the captain sat by his outboard motor at the back. We piled on and stored the lifejackets under the benches as we gently cruised towards the temple island. Arriving at the jetty we found the souvenir sellers with their wares on the mat. However, we had already had an Osama approved seller of necklaces and scarves on ours from which Louise bought two necklaces and I bought a camel bone one. At £E40 (£4), a good price for a future microscopy sample!
The Temple at Philae was dedicated to Osiris and Isis and linked to a tale of true love. Osiris was the god of fertility and lord of the dead and married to his sister Isis, goddess of magic and motherhood & maternity. His brother Seth god of sandstorms was married to the other sister Nephtis goddess of the west. Seth was incredibly jealous of Osiris, who was extremely popular and killed him. To ensure he could not recover, Seth cut Osiris's body into 14 parts and spread them all across the kingdom. The distraught Isis and Nephtis looked all over and collected all the body parts that they could find, bar the penis which had been eaten by a fish, which she found using magic and managed to reattach to Osiris. Then Isis brought Osiris back to life and slept with him to create Horus who would avenge his fathers death by his uncle. In is first attempt to do this, Horus lost his first eye when Seth gauged it out – a lesser loss as he had at the same time castrated Seth. Fortunately, Isis healed Horus's eye for him (the lost eye is the moon according to myth, the right eye being the sun). Horus engaged Seth in battle again and victorious, on the point of killing him, Isis and Nephtis intervened and completed the killing to ensure that it was final. Seth later becomes a divinity of unknown function after 300years of the day of Judgement.
Philae was initially began the construction in the third century BC as the last temple in Egypt during the thirtieth dynasty, by Nectnabu II (also created the last pylon of Karnak). In the fourth century AD, the Greeks and Romans continued working on the temple. However, they did not quite finish the work due to a lack of labour and disagreements amongst the late Greeks and Romans. Justinian then finally closed the temple as Christianity took hold. After Philae, it was back to Aswan to the papyrus factory. In total contrast to our ebullient guides, we were given a gentle introduction to the principles of creating papyrus by the resident expert.
The papyrus reed was given special distinction by the ancient Egyptians because its leaves looked like a sunburst, reminding them of Ra, and the stem has a triangular cross-section, with the holy number three.
The outer peel is tough and brittle, so is cut off. Then thin slices of the pith are cut longitudinally. They are beaten with mallets to break the fibres and then pressed with a rolling pin or mangle. The thin strips are then placed back in water where they oxidise slowly. After 6 days they are a light straw yellow. If left for 12 days the strips are a darker brown.
The strips are then arranged on an absorbant surface, first in one orientation, overlapping like ship planking. A second layer is then arranged over these at 90 degrees to the first layer. Note that the size of the final sheet is predetermined by the length of strips used. Another absorbent fabric is placed on top of the provisional sheet. The sandwich is then placed in a press for more than a week (check) until the sheet is dry. The final papyrus is flexible and strong. Originally, the ancient Egyptians would prepare papyrus sheets with the designs required for carving on temples etc.. Most of these were lost during the fire of the great library of Alexandria. Modern artists are currently licensed to prepare copies of original stone engravings on papyrus. The work has to be approved and individually signed.
The papyrus factory had a collection of fine signed artwork and after serious consideration, we purchased some smaller pieces.
Afterwards, we took a motorboat for a quick half hour tour around Elephantine Island.
After returning to the boat for lunch, we joined a small party to go on the visit to a Nubian village. The start was adventurous in that the traditional motorboat was moored outside the outer, starboard door of our boat, separated by another boat in-between. We therefore stepped out onto the roof of the first boat and then carefully crossed to the second boat. Mohammed, our Nubian guide, was a polite elderly gentleman and together we assisted those having to turn around on the roof to go down the narrow steel ladder to reach the passenger deck below. The obligatory life belts were more a hindrance than a help.
Once safely settled it was off to collect a few more passengers from one of the other cruise boats before setting sail for the Lord Kitchener`s island. We took a leisurely stroll from one end to the other, with Mohammed giving us an introduction to some of the important regional plants and their uses. The most memorable for me was the thorn tree species used for Christ`s crown of thorns, an innocuous looking shrub until you saw the rose like thorns along its stem. Just before we boarded the boat, I spied another building nearby, labelled “Tissue Culture”, a reminder of my plant biotech past.
The trip was then on to Elephantine Island, which Mohammed thought was most likely due to a distant association with the ivory trade. Populated with two Nubian villages, this was part of the Nubian relocation after their lands were flooded by the great Dam.
We were taken to Mohammed's home, which also included his small museum called “Animalia”. The entrance takes you around three sides of the house to the outside reception where guests were received and could sleep overnight. The path was made of sand – for a reason. In the morning, the wife could see any tracks of scorpions or snakes that had come into the area overnight.
Wandering back round we came to the communal, partially shaded courtyard of the house, from which radiated the kitchen and the bedroom. The walls were decorated with eyes, showing a link to the distant past with the eye of Horus. There was also a hand of Fatima and a puffer fish. All are symbols to ward off evil spirits. The story of the puffer fish is that they appear immediately before the fertile Nile floods. Being poisonous, they are not eaten but dried as a protective house charm. The main feature of the kitchen was the beehive oven, again with a hand print. Above it were triangular niches in which the ancestors of the Nubians come to live.
The small museum had walls dedicated to different themes; insects, wildlife, fish, the effects of the High Dam and the role of women in Nubian society. According to Mohammed, women are respected in Nubian society. They also maintain the artistic heritage.
The key plant for the Nubian's is the date palm. The wood from the trunk is used for simple foot bridges etc.. The central stem of the palm leaves is used to make furniture and the individual leaflets are excellent material for basket-work. Individual leaflets can be stained in different natural colours, derived from minerals and plants to create geometric patterns.
We walked through the rest of the village, past mud bricks in the process of drying. The buildings were arranged close to each other, just one or two storeys high, often with characteristic white domes and a packed dirt path between them. Mud brick construction was used in many of them but the newer larger houses also included brick and concrete as the villagers adopted new materials.
The overall image was of a culture breaking out of poverty that, if one ignored the satellite dishes and tangle of electrical cables strung between houses, would not have been out of place a couple of centuries ago.
The trip back to the Commodore by boat was through the narrower passages between the islands so that we could see the remains of the ancient granite extraction and the wild birds. We saw little egrets, pied woodpeckers, moorhen, grey heron, guaka herons to name but a few.
Reception had come up trumps with both paracetamol and ibuprofen during the day. I began taking paracetamol at 4h intervals and, if the pain returned earlier, interspersed this with ibuprofen which gave a welcome relief at last, suggesting that the main issue might be an inflammation of the gum.
The evening's entertainment was provided by the Nubian dancers. I gave it a miss and went to bed early as I was shattered after the busy day.
The mornings trip began with a trip to the two dams, the British one completed around 1906, which, whilst being one of the largest dams of the day, still failed to control the Nile floods. The road across was one vehicle wide as we crossed, downstream the rocks of the cataracts were revealed, whilst upstream there was a sizeable lake, with cruisers and crocodile netting.
We did not stop but drove on to the High Dam, the third largest in the world. At its base, the foundations were 960m wide and it reached a height of (111m). This was not apparent on the approach as we only saw the tip above the waters. Security was very tight both to get on and then when we got out. Whilst photography was permitted, zoom lenses or video were prohibited. Using my 14mm to 40mm lens immediately resulted in a soldier approaching me and it was only the intervention of Osama that avoided my having to stop taking photos.
The lake, that had seemed large behind the British built dam now looked puny compared to Lake Nasser, which stretchee to the horizon and lost itself left and right in flooded valleys. We were now on crocodile watch as these upper reaches of the Nile do harbour them. Apart from a tell tale v-ripple moving away from us parallel to the dam, we did not see any obviously basking.
The photo-session over we drove on to a small harbour on Lake Nasser to catch a motor boat to the island with the Temple of Philae, which we could see in the distance from the High Dam. It was one of the many temples that had been rescued from the inevitable flooding once the high dam was completed. As with all the monuments threatened with flooding, The temple of Philae was relocated stone by stone onto a suitable future island in the lake.
This was out first trip by boat. Everyone had to bring along their lifejacket, found under the beds in our rooms. The boats themselves were about 10m long, wide bellied with a flat deck and a bench along the sides, plus one across the centre of the boat. A large rectangular roof covered the seating area to provide welcome shade and the captain sat by his outboard motor at the back. We piled on and stored the lifejackets under the benches as we gently cruised towards the temple island. Arriving at the jetty we found the souvenir sellers with their wares on the mat. However, we had already had an Osama approved seller of necklaces and scarves on ours from which Louise bought two necklaces and I bought a camel bone one. At £E40 (£4), a good price for a future microscopy sample!
The Temple at Philae was dedicated to Osiris and Isis and linked to a tale of true love. Osiris was the god of fertility and lord of the dead and married to his sister Isis, goddess of magic and motherhood & maternity. His brother Seth god of sandstorms was married to the other sister Nephtis goddess of the west. Seth was incredibly jealous of Osiris, who was extremely popular and killed him. To ensure he could not recover, Seth cut Osiris's body into 14 parts and spread them all across the kingdom. The distraught Isis and Nephtis looked all over and collected all the body parts that they could find, bar the penis which had been eaten by a fish, which she found using magic and managed to reattach to Osiris. Then Isis brought Osiris back to life and slept with him to create Horus who would avenge his fathers death by his uncle. In is first attempt to do this, Horus lost his first eye when Seth gauged it out – a lesser loss as he had at the same time castrated Seth. Fortunately, Isis healed Horus's eye for him (the lost eye is the moon according to myth, the right eye being the sun). Horus engaged Seth in battle again and victorious, on the point of killing him, Isis and Nephtis intervened and completed the killing to ensure that it was final. Seth later becomes a divinity of unknown function after 300years of the day of Judgement.
Philae was initially began the construction in the third century BC as the last temple in Egypt during the thirtieth dynasty, by Nectnabu II (also created the last pylon of Karnak). In the fourth century AD, the Greeks and Romans continued working on the temple. However, they did not quite finish the work due to a lack of labour and disagreements amongst the late Greeks and Romans. Justinian then finally closed the temple as Christianity took hold. After Philae, it was back to Aswan to the papyrus factory. In total contrast to our ebullient guides, we were given a gentle introduction to the principles of creating papyrus by the resident expert.
The papyrus reed was given special distinction by the ancient Egyptians because its leaves looked like a sunburst, reminding them of Ra, and the stem has a triangular cross-section, with the holy number three.
The outer peel is tough and brittle, so is cut off. Then thin slices of the pith are cut longitudinally. They are beaten with mallets to break the fibres and then pressed with a rolling pin or mangle. The thin strips are then placed back in water where they oxidise slowly. After 6 days they are a light straw yellow. If left for 12 days the strips are a darker brown.
The strips are then arranged on an absorbant surface, first in one orientation, overlapping like ship planking. A second layer is then arranged over these at 90 degrees to the first layer. Note that the size of the final sheet is predetermined by the length of strips used. Another absorbent fabric is placed on top of the provisional sheet. The sandwich is then placed in a press for more than a week (check) until the sheet is dry. The final papyrus is flexible and strong. Originally, the ancient Egyptians would prepare papyrus sheets with the designs required for carving on temples etc.. Most of these were lost during the fire of the great library of Alexandria. Modern artists are currently licensed to prepare copies of original stone engravings on papyrus. The work has to be approved and individually signed.
The papyrus factory had a collection of fine signed artwork and after serious consideration, we purchased some smaller pieces.
Afterwards, we took a motorboat for a quick half hour tour around Elephantine Island.
After returning to the boat for lunch, we joined a small party to go on the visit to a Nubian village. The start was adventurous in that the traditional motorboat was moored outside the outer, starboard door of our boat, separated by another boat in-between. We therefore stepped out onto the roof of the first boat and then carefully crossed to the second boat. Mohammed, our Nubian guide, was a polite elderly gentleman and together we assisted those having to turn around on the roof to go down the narrow steel ladder to reach the passenger deck below. The obligatory life belts were more a hindrance than a help.
Once safely settled it was off to collect a few more passengers from one of the other cruise boats before setting sail for the Lord Kitchener`s island. We took a leisurely stroll from one end to the other, with Mohammed giving us an introduction to some of the important regional plants and their uses. The most memorable for me was the thorn tree species used for Christ`s crown of thorns, an innocuous looking shrub until you saw the rose like thorns along its stem. Just before we boarded the boat, I spied another building nearby, labelled “Tissue Culture”, a reminder of my plant biotech past.
The trip was then on to Elephantine Island, which Mohammed thought was most likely due to a distant association with the ivory trade. Populated with two Nubian villages, this was part of the Nubian relocation after their lands were flooded by the great Dam.
We were taken to Mohammed's home, which also included his small museum called “Animalia”. The entrance takes you around three sides of the house to the outside reception where guests were received and could sleep overnight. The path was made of sand – for a reason. In the morning, the wife could see any tracks of scorpions or snakes that had come into the area overnight.
Wandering back round we came to the communal, partially shaded courtyard of the house, from which radiated the kitchen and the bedroom. The walls were decorated with eyes, showing a link to the distant past with the eye of Horus. There was also a hand of Fatima and a puffer fish. All are symbols to ward off evil spirits. The story of the puffer fish is that they appear immediately before the fertile Nile floods. Being poisonous, they are not eaten but dried as a protective house charm. The main feature of the kitchen was the beehive oven, again with a hand print. Above it were triangular niches in which the ancestors of the Nubians come to live.
The small museum had walls dedicated to different themes; insects, wildlife, fish, the effects of the High Dam and the role of women in Nubian society. According to Mohammed, women are respected in Nubian society. They also maintain the artistic heritage.
The key plant for the Nubian's is the date palm. The wood from the trunk is used for simple foot bridges etc.. The central stem of the palm leaves is used to make furniture and the individual leaflets are excellent material for basket-work. Individual leaflets can be stained in different natural colours, derived from minerals and plants to create geometric patterns.
We walked through the rest of the village, past mud bricks in the process of drying. The buildings were arranged close to each other, just one or two storeys high, often with characteristic white domes and a packed dirt path between them. Mud brick construction was used in many of them but the newer larger houses also included brick and concrete as the villagers adopted new materials.
The overall image was of a culture breaking out of poverty that, if one ignored the satellite dishes and tangle of electrical cables strung between houses, would not have been out of place a couple of centuries ago.
The trip back to the Commodore by boat was through the narrower passages between the islands so that we could see the remains of the ancient granite extraction and the wild birds. We saw little egrets, pied woodpeckers, moorhen, grey heron, guaka herons to name but a few.
Reception had come up trumps with both paracetamol and ibuprofen during the day. I began taking paracetamol at 4h intervals and, if the pain returned earlier, interspersed this with ibuprofen which gave a welcome relief at last, suggesting that the main issue might be an inflammation of the gum.
The evening's entertainment was provided by the Nubian dancers. I gave it a miss and went to bed early as I was shattered after the busy day.
Friday, 2nd September: The temple at Kom Ombo and onwards to Aswan
The boat had continued sailing during the night until docking at Kom Ombo at around 5am whilst we were all fast asleep, except for fellow traveller Colin who was up for a quick cigarette break.
Smoking was a notable feature on this trip after the relatively smoke-free UK. Smokers would be puffing away on the sundeck at all times of the day, or outside the bus, at the sites. Fortunately, the inside of the boat and buses was smoke-free.
The temple at Kom Ombo was a short walk from the boat, along the promenade (check whether east or west bank).
The first new thing learnt was the progression of the friezes from the outer wall inwards. We started on the right hand outside wall which depicted the anointing of the pharaoh Neos Dionysos by the gods Thoth and Horus on the left and in the presence of Sobek on the right.
The inside face of the same wall depicted the coronation of Neos Dionysos and the wall faciing that, the bringing of gifts to the Gods. The latter wall was also notable for the cartouches of Ptolemy, followed by Cleopatra's mother and then Cleopatra herself. Cleopatra's cartouche was not preceded by the King symbol as she had decided not to become King.
The figures were notable for their slightly more accurate physiology, due to the Greek influence in this late era.
Further in, still on the right hand side of the temple, was the only depiction of a calendar from ancient Egypt. It showed days, counted 1 to 10, month and season. Kom Ombo temple is also special for the listing of medical tools and birthing chairs.
After Osama's explanations, we had about 40 minutes to wander around ourselves. One of the unusual figures I wanted to photograph was the god of the Nile with his elongated breasts that gave the Nile water.
It was back onto the boat by 10am after a 2h excursion, Louise and I being the last to get there, before the boat set sail soon afterwards towards Aswan. We passed the very occasional other Nile cruiser, most of which looked very empty and the number of sailing boats began to increase. Most of the afternoon was spent in leisure on deck, mainly at the front, watching the scenery go by.
Aswan was heralded by a lovely riverside mosque before we hit the actual sprawl along the river. The quays were full of Nile cruisers, of which the majority were mothballed due to the horrendous decline in tourism during the days of the revolution. Even successful companies were only running a sixth of the boats they usually would have. However, things were definitely on the increase. Whilst in June, one cruise ship with its 85 staff had 10 passengers. The cruise preceding ours already had 36 and our boat now held 94. There is still a long way to go.
Louise and I bought our Gallabeyas (traditional Egyptian gowns) in preparation for the evening's party. I chose white with blue trimming and a sheik style headdress, Louise dark blue with gold decoration and a old beaded headdress to hold her shawl.
Since dinner was not until eight and we had a couple of hours ahead of us yet just after sunset, we debated going to the market, a ten minute walk away. We approached some of our other friends to see if we could get a group together but they were relaxing with drinks or preparing for the party. So we plucked up the courage to venture forth alone.
The main fear was being pestered by hawkers, because our current experience was one of tenacious persistence when catching us at gates to temples or the short walks from the coach back to the boat.
It was a balmy evening as we set foot outside and braved the first run past the now mercifully few hawkers. The promenade was filling with the locals out for their walks. There were many women, whilst wearing head-scarves and long dresses, these were often tastefully coloured. They would either be in groups on their own or with their men or friends/family in conversation as they took the evening air or checking their mobiles like people everywhere.
The time came to cross the road, a dangerous enterprise even at the pedestrian crossing we found as the red traffic lights were only observed on a whim. An obvious way to curb the impatience of drivers and pedestrians was the presence of displays above the lights counting down how many seconds till the next light change. We laughed in delight as our red man on the pedestrian light changed to a green one that was a running animated figure urging us to cross with 20,19,18,17 seconds remaining.
We walked along the boulevard towards the pink station with the occasional truck or car frenetically driving past, or the resting horse pulled carts with their skinny horses and chatting drivers. By the station we turned right into the Tourist Market and wandered along.
We eventually perfected the strategy required to minimise shopkeeper forays. We sauntered, feigning disinterest, glances would sweep over the shops ahead without too great a display of excitement. If approached, we would say Laa, Shockran (No, thank you) and wander on.
The occasional shopkeeper would be more persistent and I suddenly became Welsh. “Dim ysmyggy, maer tebod yn y gegin”, I would say apologetically, which left them confused and in most instances they left us alone.
There was a lot of cheap tourist trash on sale, but also lovely fabrics and patterned items. Almost every other shop was a spice shop with small baskets of spices piled high.
Eventually we returned back the way we came, relieved and happy that we had made the effort.
We dressed up in our robes and joined the dinner throng at eight. The photographer was already there taking shots of couples and then groups on the tables. Newly Arab men were accompanied by their glittering partners. Tony had turned up with a very fetching fez to match his gown and his wife Angie had kohled her eyes and transformed into a potential fortune teller. Liz sported a similar gown to Louise and Jenna was initially feeling very self conscious in her short red dress with a profusion of beads that really brought out the blue in her eyes. Myra and her daughter Amanda were in light and dark blue Gallabeyas respectively, matched by Jacqui in a cyan dress. Inspirational garb of the day was the guide Mustafa who came in pink with matching watch and glasses, which presaged how the night was going to unfold.
The real stars of the night were our guides Osama, Mustafa and Bishoy. They organised a series of games that got everyone onto the dance floor. Later that night, Bishoy gave an excellent impersonation of a female dancer, down to the finest detail, such as hand gestures and dainty tempting steps. He also brought Osama on stage for a dual dance performance.
Louise gave an excellent performance when the ladies were featuring their alluring dances for one game and Jenna surprised our group by wholeheartedly throwing herself into the evening, winning one of the games! I found myself with a group of men in a potato rolling competition. The objective was to try to hit a potato along the ground to a distant winning line – using what I can only describe as a hanging testicle made from another potato dangling on string. More by luck than judgement, I actually won by a whisker!
Despite the threat of an early start the next morning, it was not till after midnight that we found our ways back to bed.
Smoking was a notable feature on this trip after the relatively smoke-free UK. Smokers would be puffing away on the sundeck at all times of the day, or outside the bus, at the sites. Fortunately, the inside of the boat and buses was smoke-free.
The temple at Kom Ombo was a short walk from the boat, along the promenade (check whether east or west bank).
The first new thing learnt was the progression of the friezes from the outer wall inwards. We started on the right hand outside wall which depicted the anointing of the pharaoh Neos Dionysos by the gods Thoth and Horus on the left and in the presence of Sobek on the right.
The inside face of the same wall depicted the coronation of Neos Dionysos and the wall faciing that, the bringing of gifts to the Gods. The latter wall was also notable for the cartouches of Ptolemy, followed by Cleopatra's mother and then Cleopatra herself. Cleopatra's cartouche was not preceded by the King symbol as she had decided not to become King.
The figures were notable for their slightly more accurate physiology, due to the Greek influence in this late era.
Further in, still on the right hand side of the temple, was the only depiction of a calendar from ancient Egypt. It showed days, counted 1 to 10, month and season. Kom Ombo temple is also special for the listing of medical tools and birthing chairs.
After Osama's explanations, we had about 40 minutes to wander around ourselves. One of the unusual figures I wanted to photograph was the god of the Nile with his elongated breasts that gave the Nile water.
It was back onto the boat by 10am after a 2h excursion, Louise and I being the last to get there, before the boat set sail soon afterwards towards Aswan. We passed the very occasional other Nile cruiser, most of which looked very empty and the number of sailing boats began to increase. Most of the afternoon was spent in leisure on deck, mainly at the front, watching the scenery go by.
Aswan was heralded by a lovely riverside mosque before we hit the actual sprawl along the river. The quays were full of Nile cruisers, of which the majority were mothballed due to the horrendous decline in tourism during the days of the revolution. Even successful companies were only running a sixth of the boats they usually would have. However, things were definitely on the increase. Whilst in June, one cruise ship with its 85 staff had 10 passengers. The cruise preceding ours already had 36 and our boat now held 94. There is still a long way to go.
Louise and I bought our Gallabeyas (traditional Egyptian gowns) in preparation for the evening's party. I chose white with blue trimming and a sheik style headdress, Louise dark blue with gold decoration and a old beaded headdress to hold her shawl.
Since dinner was not until eight and we had a couple of hours ahead of us yet just after sunset, we debated going to the market, a ten minute walk away. We approached some of our other friends to see if we could get a group together but they were relaxing with drinks or preparing for the party. So we plucked up the courage to venture forth alone.
The main fear was being pestered by hawkers, because our current experience was one of tenacious persistence when catching us at gates to temples or the short walks from the coach back to the boat.
It was a balmy evening as we set foot outside and braved the first run past the now mercifully few hawkers. The promenade was filling with the locals out for their walks. There were many women, whilst wearing head-scarves and long dresses, these were often tastefully coloured. They would either be in groups on their own or with their men or friends/family in conversation as they took the evening air or checking their mobiles like people everywhere.
The time came to cross the road, a dangerous enterprise even at the pedestrian crossing we found as the red traffic lights were only observed on a whim. An obvious way to curb the impatience of drivers and pedestrians was the presence of displays above the lights counting down how many seconds till the next light change. We laughed in delight as our red man on the pedestrian light changed to a green one that was a running animated figure urging us to cross with 20,19,18,17 seconds remaining.
We walked along the boulevard towards the pink station with the occasional truck or car frenetically driving past, or the resting horse pulled carts with their skinny horses and chatting drivers. By the station we turned right into the Tourist Market and wandered along.
We eventually perfected the strategy required to minimise shopkeeper forays. We sauntered, feigning disinterest, glances would sweep over the shops ahead without too great a display of excitement. If approached, we would say Laa, Shockran (No, thank you) and wander on.
The occasional shopkeeper would be more persistent and I suddenly became Welsh. “Dim ysmyggy, maer tebod yn y gegin”, I would say apologetically, which left them confused and in most instances they left us alone.
There was a lot of cheap tourist trash on sale, but also lovely fabrics and patterned items. Almost every other shop was a spice shop with small baskets of spices piled high.
Eventually we returned back the way we came, relieved and happy that we had made the effort.
We dressed up in our robes and joined the dinner throng at eight. The photographer was already there taking shots of couples and then groups on the tables. Newly Arab men were accompanied by their glittering partners. Tony had turned up with a very fetching fez to match his gown and his wife Angie had kohled her eyes and transformed into a potential fortune teller. Liz sported a similar gown to Louise and Jenna was initially feeling very self conscious in her short red dress with a profusion of beads that really brought out the blue in her eyes. Myra and her daughter Amanda were in light and dark blue Gallabeyas respectively, matched by Jacqui in a cyan dress. Inspirational garb of the day was the guide Mustafa who came in pink with matching watch and glasses, which presaged how the night was going to unfold.
The real stars of the night were our guides Osama, Mustafa and Bishoy. They organised a series of games that got everyone onto the dance floor. Later that night, Bishoy gave an excellent impersonation of a female dancer, down to the finest detail, such as hand gestures and dainty tempting steps. He also brought Osama on stage for a dual dance performance.
Louise gave an excellent performance when the ladies were featuring their alluring dances for one game and Jenna surprised our group by wholeheartedly throwing herself into the evening, winning one of the games! I found myself with a group of men in a potato rolling competition. The objective was to try to hit a potato along the ground to a distant winning line – using what I can only describe as a hanging testicle made from another potato dangling on string. More by luck than judgement, I actually won by a whisker!
Despite the threat of an early start the next morning, it was not till after midnight that we found our ways back to bed.
Thursday, 1st September: The temples of Karnak and Luxor, upriver to Esna
We woke up before the early morning call at 7am, covered ourselves suitably with sun-cream factor 50, dressed and made out way to a quick frugal breakfast (personal restraint over rich variety presented) before the 8am briefing with our Thomson tour guide Siobhan.
At 9am (or a bit after) we set off in an air conditioned bus with our Egyptologist, Osama, to the Karnak temple complex. The temperature was already rising in the thirties centigrade as we disembarked and wandered into the museum at the entrance, Osama had given us a good introduction to the numerology of the ancient Egyptians, starting with the 360 day calendar (with five days that were excluded before the start of the next years calendar) made up of 12 months of 30 days, each month having 3 weeks of 10 days.
Disused since the end of the Ptolomeic period, Karnac had become buried beneath the sands. Earthquakes of magnitude 13 , nine and eight over the intervening millennia had also led to the collapse of walls and colonnades that were only held together by the weight of the layered stone. Climate change and human intervention by damming had also led to higher Nile floods, so that by the eighteenth century, the remains could be visited by boat at times of high water.
We crossed the large plaza before the entrance to the first, West and Nile facing temple gates at Karnak. These were the most recent and uncompleted Ptolomeic building. As one passed through and on to the next temple , the hypostyle hall and onwards, past the sacred lake – we moved ever deeper into the past, to the very first temple built more than three millennia ago.
A Southern complex marked the start of the avenue of sphinxes that ultimately led to Luxor. The remains of the mud-brick ramp still remained by the Ptolomeic gate and Osama explained how the decorations on the walls of any temple were carved from the top down as the mud brick was removed layer by layer after the mounting of the final cap stones. The one exception were the columns. These were made of roughly hewn blocks. When fully exposed, these were surrounded by wooden scaffolding. Plumb lines were used to ensure that the columns could be carved vertically and more accurately.
We could also see the flood marks halfway up the walls. In the hypostyle hall, we were taught to recognise the different cartouches of the birth-names and the royal- names of the kings. Birthnames were preceded by a sun disc and a goose (beloved of Ra) and royal names by bee/wasp . Only kings were ever shown in hieroglyphs (female Pharaohs were kings), wives were not. Kings did not hold anything unless it was an offering. Deities were shown holding an ankh and a staff – male, female and child gods were all represented. Reading hieroglyphs, the direction was indicated both by the bar at the base of a cartouche text and by the way birds faced – one reads towards the bird face.
Looking at the hypostyle columns, we could see that they were identically decorated in mirrored pairs (after it was pointed out by Osama). A number of the cartouches were far more deeply engraved than the others. These belonged to Rameses II. The temple had been designed by the father but the son replaced the father's cartouches with his own, engraving them more deeply so that his would not suffer the same fate.
The heat was having its effect on us, now reaching the forties Centigrade, despite using any available shade and drinking lots of water, so we were glad of the respite in the air conditioned coach as we drove to Luxor to see the temple there.
Dating mostly from the 14th century BC, it was predominantly dedicated to the festival of Opet. The temple had also had been buried to a large part under the sand, even by Roman times. Early Christians, who were persecuted in the first centuries BC, hid out and created their own sanctuary within the partially exposed temple, beheading the statues and painting their Last Supper on the walls.
Later, the Muslims built mosque in the ruins. When modern excavations removed the sand, the entrance to the mosque was left out or reach and a new access had to be carved from the new ground level up to the mosque.
Under the Christian painting was an opening to a temple dedicated by and to Alexander the Great. The inside of the outer walls was decorated in the older raised hieroglyphs. The walls of Alexander's temple within were decorated with inset engraving and numerous cartouches of Alexander’s transliterated name.
Reaching Northwards from the temple was the other end of the avenue of sphinxes which was only partially excavated and disappeared under the rest of Luxor. Plans are under way to remove up to 75% of the city to reveal the full avenue and return the unobstructed view between the Luxor temple and Karnak.
The return to the Commodore for a buffet lunch just after1pm was a welcome relief from the heat. Moving onto deck afterwards, the constant strong breeze and shade, with plenty of drinks, made the afternoon an enjoyable relaxed affair.
The boat left Luxor just before 2pm and steamed upstream. The verdant banks of reeds, date palms and fields were backed by beige mountains against a bright sky. Children waved and called whenever we passed them. There were a number of fishing boats, generally manned by two, one rowing, the other passing out the drift net and then slapping the water with a long pole to frighten the fish into the net.
Minarets indicated villages that would appear and then fall behind us downstream. At around 4pm we passed a larger village or complex of villages hidden behind date palms but identified by the cacophony of calls to prayer from the minarets that started at slightly different times, volumes and phrasing.
There were egrets fishing in the shallows, white donkeys and the occasional water buffalo. After tea and cake at around 4:30pm, Louise and I purchased some cotton traditional garments for tomorrow's evening festivities.
By 6pm we had reached the lock at Esna and were attacked by hawkers flouting their wares of multi-colored cotton clothes, both in small boats and on the lock quayside. In the darkness we watched the boat being guided through a second open lock, with little room on either side. There was a relaxed interchange of banter between a helper on the quayside and the sailors on deck. If the boat drifted to far to port, a rope would be fixed to a bollard on the quay and the sailors would use the on board fixtures to wind the rope around , in a slow release that would exert just enough tension to draw the boat back into line.
We showered and changed for a short cocktail party before dinner at 8pm, where we caught up on the days events with Tony, Angie, Liz and Jenny. The conversation continued on deck in the balmy night, interspersed by Egyptian Bingo. We finally made it to bed by midnight.
At 9am (or a bit after) we set off in an air conditioned bus with our Egyptologist, Osama, to the Karnak temple complex. The temperature was already rising in the thirties centigrade as we disembarked and wandered into the museum at the entrance, Osama had given us a good introduction to the numerology of the ancient Egyptians, starting with the 360 day calendar (with five days that were excluded before the start of the next years calendar) made up of 12 months of 30 days, each month having 3 weeks of 10 days.
Disused since the end of the Ptolomeic period, Karnac had become buried beneath the sands. Earthquakes of magnitude 13 , nine and eight over the intervening millennia had also led to the collapse of walls and colonnades that were only held together by the weight of the layered stone. Climate change and human intervention by damming had also led to higher Nile floods, so that by the eighteenth century, the remains could be visited by boat at times of high water.
We crossed the large plaza before the entrance to the first, West and Nile facing temple gates at Karnak. These were the most recent and uncompleted Ptolomeic building. As one passed through and on to the next temple , the hypostyle hall and onwards, past the sacred lake – we moved ever deeper into the past, to the very first temple built more than three millennia ago.
A Southern complex marked the start of the avenue of sphinxes that ultimately led to Luxor. The remains of the mud-brick ramp still remained by the Ptolomeic gate and Osama explained how the decorations on the walls of any temple were carved from the top down as the mud brick was removed layer by layer after the mounting of the final cap stones. The one exception were the columns. These were made of roughly hewn blocks. When fully exposed, these were surrounded by wooden scaffolding. Plumb lines were used to ensure that the columns could be carved vertically and more accurately.
We could also see the flood marks halfway up the walls. In the hypostyle hall, we were taught to recognise the different cartouches of the birth-names and the royal- names of the kings. Birthnames were preceded by a sun disc and a goose (beloved of Ra) and royal names by bee/wasp . Only kings were ever shown in hieroglyphs (female Pharaohs were kings), wives were not. Kings did not hold anything unless it was an offering. Deities were shown holding an ankh and a staff – male, female and child gods were all represented. Reading hieroglyphs, the direction was indicated both by the bar at the base of a cartouche text and by the way birds faced – one reads towards the bird face.
Looking at the hypostyle columns, we could see that they were identically decorated in mirrored pairs (after it was pointed out by Osama). A number of the cartouches were far more deeply engraved than the others. These belonged to Rameses II. The temple had been designed by the father but the son replaced the father's cartouches with his own, engraving them more deeply so that his would not suffer the same fate.
The heat was having its effect on us, now reaching the forties Centigrade, despite using any available shade and drinking lots of water, so we were glad of the respite in the air conditioned coach as we drove to Luxor to see the temple there.
Dating mostly from the 14th century BC, it was predominantly dedicated to the festival of Opet. The temple had also had been buried to a large part under the sand, even by Roman times. Early Christians, who were persecuted in the first centuries BC, hid out and created their own sanctuary within the partially exposed temple, beheading the statues and painting their Last Supper on the walls.
Later, the Muslims built mosque in the ruins. When modern excavations removed the sand, the entrance to the mosque was left out or reach and a new access had to be carved from the new ground level up to the mosque.
Under the Christian painting was an opening to a temple dedicated by and to Alexander the Great. The inside of the outer walls was decorated in the older raised hieroglyphs. The walls of Alexander's temple within were decorated with inset engraving and numerous cartouches of Alexander’s transliterated name.
Reaching Northwards from the temple was the other end of the avenue of sphinxes which was only partially excavated and disappeared under the rest of Luxor. Plans are under way to remove up to 75% of the city to reveal the full avenue and return the unobstructed view between the Luxor temple and Karnak.
The return to the Commodore for a buffet lunch just after1pm was a welcome relief from the heat. Moving onto deck afterwards, the constant strong breeze and shade, with plenty of drinks, made the afternoon an enjoyable relaxed affair.
The boat left Luxor just before 2pm and steamed upstream. The verdant banks of reeds, date palms and fields were backed by beige mountains against a bright sky. Children waved and called whenever we passed them. There were a number of fishing boats, generally manned by two, one rowing, the other passing out the drift net and then slapping the water with a long pole to frighten the fish into the net.
Minarets indicated villages that would appear and then fall behind us downstream. At around 4pm we passed a larger village or complex of villages hidden behind date palms but identified by the cacophony of calls to prayer from the minarets that started at slightly different times, volumes and phrasing.
There were egrets fishing in the shallows, white donkeys and the occasional water buffalo. After tea and cake at around 4:30pm, Louise and I purchased some cotton traditional garments for tomorrow's evening festivities.
By 6pm we had reached the lock at Esna and were attacked by hawkers flouting their wares of multi-colored cotton clothes, both in small boats and on the lock quayside. In the darkness we watched the boat being guided through a second open lock, with little room on either side. There was a relaxed interchange of banter between a helper on the quayside and the sailors on deck. If the boat drifted to far to port, a rope would be fixed to a bollard on the quay and the sailors would use the on board fixtures to wind the rope around , in a slow release that would exert just enough tension to draw the boat back into line.
We showered and changed for a short cocktail party before dinner at 8pm, where we caught up on the days events with Tony, Angie, Liz and Jenny. The conversation continued on deck in the balmy night, interspersed by Egyptian Bingo. We finally made it to bed by midnight.
Wed 31st August: The trip to Luxor, Egypt
The 08:34 train from Waterbeach was delayed by eight minutes but sped us into Kings Cross in time to wander over to St Pancras, aiming to catch the 10:10 to Gatwick, which was also six minutes late. Contrary to our expectations, we did not arrive at the North Terminal. This did give us the opportunity to take an elevated driverless shuttlebus, slightly scary as very little seemed to be holding it on as it sped around the corners.
Check in and going through security went easily and we boarded the plane, a 757-200, shortly before 1pm. Our flight was slightly delayed for take-off but we were assured of a fast flight due to a good tailwind of around 60 to 70 knots.
Although a five hour flight, it was relieved by the sight of Lake Constance as we flew down through Germany and into Austria. The jagged peaks of the alps and roads snaking through passes were visible between the breaks in the clouds. As we progressed east towards the Adriatic, clouds began to tower into storms that we serenely flew over until hitting the coastline and the ground became visible again.
The flight continued down the Albanian side of the Adriatic, with a gold mirrored ocean interrupted by dark crenelated islands. Beyond Greece, the Mediterranean was hidden from view by thin cloud until landfall on the continent of Africa.
The sun set with a gorgeous horizon of reds and oranges bleeding into a dark blues sky, where a crescent moon hung, heralding our arrival over Egypt. It took a further hour to reach Luxor as we followed the Nile, a dark ribbon snaking through the fairytale lights of the cities along it.
We found a friendly Egyptian welcome on arrival, interspersed with the usual bureaucracy of any immigration. Visas were quickly purchased (just under GBP10 each) and we found our way onto the number 10 bus to our boat and our Thomson tour rep Siobhan.
Already, the drive through Luxor hinted at historic sights, such as the Luxor Temple and the Avenue of Sphinxes. Streets were bustling with Egyptians out for the evening now that the burning sun had set.
Our boat on the Presidential Nile Cruise is "The Commodore". Louise introduced me into the strange mechanism of the safe-box in our cupboard. We had our first meal in the restaurant, meeting our future companions for the rest of the holiday, Tony, Angie, Liz and Jenny.
Whilst the others bade us good night, we wandered up to the bar and then onto the sun-deck, with its rattan chairs and tables, enjoying the cool 28 degC breeze off the Nile. We had cleverly not only ordered drinks but also asked for and received four bottles of water in preparation for tomorrows first excursion.
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