Death on the Nile

No doubt many of you would have heard of  'Death on the Nile' by Agatha Christie,  maybe even read it, or seen the movie, or watched it on TV.  The story of Hercule Poirot solving a mystery aboard a steam cruiser on the Nile.  Written in 1937, legend, or perhaps just rumour has it that it was written whilst Christie was staying at the Old Cataract Hotel in Aswan.

Today, Lady Patricia, and our new friends Vanna, Penny and Jenny took a horse and carriage ride to this very hotel, and 'took tea' on the terrace overlooking the Nile.  Arriving at the hotel we were told access was available to guests only, but with a smile and a little baksheesh, we were soon being whisked via golf buggy to the main entrance where we were warmly invited in and escorted to the beautiful terrace, overlooking the River, opposite the tomb of the Aga Khan.

We whiled away an hour sipping our various beverages, before meandering through the hotel and then sauntering through the gardens on our way back to the main entrance.   The hotel is quaint, and old yet quietly sophisticated, but definitely a haunt for the rich, and/or famous.  I might just save my salary for a year so I can spend a night there one day :) 

My favourite part of the hotel was actually the gardens, with its splendid fountains.  The garden offers a quiet tranquility away from the hustle and bustle of Aswan and certainly a place where guests of this fine establishment can relax.  If you should find yourself in Aswan, it is definitely worth visiting and spending an hour there, unless of course, you can afford to spend the night :)

Jenny, Penny, Pat and Vanna enjoying the gardens 

Desert oasis :) 

Cruising the Nile - again

So - here I am, sitting aboard the sundeck of our Nile Cruiser, M/S Zeina, an hour before midnight, as our boat slowly saunters towards the beautiful city of Aswan.  On the approach to Aswan you come upon this beautiful suspension bridge, for a lover of bridges like me, it is worth staying up to watch as the boat approaches, which should be in around one hour from now.

Aswan Suspension Bridge

It has been a slow, leisurely journey from Luxor, passing through the towns of Esna, Edfu and Kom Ombo on route.  Many of the guests on board are on their first Nile Cruise and eagerly disembark at each town to visit the temples on route, but having done this 3 times already, this time both Pat and I are staying on board to relax and take it easy, lounging in the sun, and in the shade, alternating between the two, as is recommended with the high temperatures.   Reading and taking pictures are the most strenuous things I have done in the past two days, though incidentally, today the sun melted the glue holding the pages of my book together, ah well, such is life.

The boat is beautiful, the staff are very friendly, which is of course to be expected, this is Egypt after all.  My favourite person, the chef, not only does he have a warm welcome for everyone every day, he also presents us with delicious food each meal time, and perhaps a little too much choice, oh I can feel the waistline creaking already, and it's only been two days, 5 more to go .........................  I can diet tomorrow, and at least I don't have to worry about Christmas, so I will look at this as my Christmas week of gluttony :)   

As is customary on Nile cruises, the Maitre D allocates guests to tables in the dining room to enable those who speak the same language as each other to dine together.   On this particular cruise, most of the guests are German speaking, there are 4 other Brits and a young English speaking Swiss couple, so we make up a minority in numbers but a majority in mirth and frivolity.  Our new friends are lovely, the brits are our age, so we are happy with great company to add to the merriment of our holiday.  

The beautiful boat however does not take away my longing for the boat that Pat and I first sailed on, and which we booked again for this cruise, but were unable to board due to a change in itineraries, but it sailed past us today, heading back to Luxor as we were heading south to Aswan and there was a slight tug of the heartstrings.   Le Scribe will always be my boat, and hopefully one day I will get to sail on her again. 

But, the Nile is the Nile and the journey down it is the same regardless of the vessel, the views from either side of the boat are amazing and you need eyes on stalks to really take it all in, even having done the journey 3 times in each direction, there is still so much to see that is new, and I am sure that no matter how often this journey is undertaken, it will always be a new experience.  

I will upload some photos and add the link to them tomorrow, now I am going to enjoy watching the approach on the last leg of our journey to Aswan; having just passed the bridge, it will be very soon.  Goodnight friends, wherever you may be :) 

Lazy Day

Today has been a lazy day, Pat relaxing in the shade, me relaxing in the sun, lying by the side of the Nile, or by the side of the pool, depending on whichever way you look at it :)  

We started off with a sumptuous breakfast here at the Steigenberger Nile Palace, on the terrace, where the sun was already warm on the face, great way to start the day.   The food was delicious and the choices were plentiful, from fruit to cooked breakfasts to pastries and a variety of breads, juices, cereals.  After breakfast we sauntered through the bazaars trying on various styles of Egyptian clothes, buying a few but just loving the experience of leisurely shopping among the array of air conditioned, and marble floored stores, where even 'The Sun', 'Daily Mirror', 'Daily Express' and a plethora of other British and American newspapers could have been yours for a song!!   The idea of coming to Egypt to read 'The Sun' is bizarre, I guess some people need their fix :)

To those who know Pat, you will know that she is a very talented artist, to those who don't, she is a very talented artist, and one of her specialties is caricature drawings, so today she spent a part of her relaxation drawing a few pictures, and did one of me based on my photo of 'Indiana Davidson and the Temple of Karnak'  complete with the strange insect bites I have managed to acquire.  Don't laugh too hard, please, if only for the sake of my dignity :P  Pat, THANK YOU SO MUCH for this, I love it :)

  

While Pat was busy drawing I 'lounged' on a sun lounger, engrossed in a book, one of my favourite things to do.  Catching up on reading is one thing that is high on my agenda for my new life here in Egypt :)  I also took photos of the hotel intermittently, so I thought I would share a few.

Hotel - Nile View

Hibiscus Flower

Fountain of Youth 

 Yesterday we learned that when we join our Nile Cruise tomorrow, it will be aboard the M/S Zeina - which, coincidentally, is currently moored right outside our hotel, so our journey to get there tomorrow will be a very short walk, presumably, or at least hopefully, with porters handling the luggage :)    More on the boat when we are on board ........................

This being Egypt, situations change frequently, and having booked the trip in April to take in Dahab, St Catherine's Monastery in South Sinai and a trip over the border into Israel to visit some of Jerusalem's holy sites, none of that is now possible.  The British Foreign Office is currently advising only essential travel to South Sinai, ruling out St Catherine's and the road from Sharm el Sheikh to Cairo, which I was very much looking forward to as the bus would have travelled along the shores of the Suez Canal,  they are also advising no travel at all along the road to Jerusalem, and therefore I have been searching for other options in the region, and we settled on staying in Sharm el Sheikh for the week and booked into a resort there, though that left the challenge of getting from Sharm el Sheikh to Cairo as transport options are not great.  Today, Egyptair cancelled the flight we had booked to take us to Sharm from Hurghada, the flight was booked back in May, so yet another change of plan .........................   I guess we were never meant to go there this time round, so now we have changed plans, and after our time in Hurghada we will come back to Luxor and again relax here in the hot sunshine and take the train back to Cairo.   We are not too disappointed, Luxor is a great place to be holed up in, with so many sites to visit, hotels to relax in and restaurants to eat in, it's 1000 times easier to navigate than Cairo, far less crowded, easy going and a great place to come for a holiday, and in any event, we have already started planning to do the trip again for Pat's next big birthday, which is just a couple of years away.

And so to dinner, hey, it's a lazy day, remember?  So we settled for room service, great food, cheap prices, leisurely eating, and now, time to pack again ahead of making that journey down the road tomorrow to board the boat - til then ............. toodle pip.

The Splendour of the Karnak Temple

Today, Pat and I visited the Karnak Temple in Luxor.  Whilst it was Pat's first visit, it was the fourth time I have been here and I am still totally amazed by it's awe inspiring splendour.

This temple  was known as Ipet-isut  by the ancient Egyptians. It is a city of temples built over 2000 years and dedicated to the Theben triad of Amun, Mut and Khonsu.  This derelict structure is still capable of overshadowing many of the wonders of the modern world and in its day must have been awe inspiring.  It is the largest ever made and a place of pilgrimage for nearly 4,000 years, although today's pilgrims are mainly tourists. It covers about 200 acres 1.5km by 0.8km.  The area of the sacred enclosure of Amon alone is 61 acres and would hold ten average European cathedrals.The great temple at the heart of Karnak is so big, St Peter's, Milan and Notre Dame Cathedrals could be lost within its walls. 

The Hypostyle hall at 54,000 square feet with its 134 columns is still the largest room of any religious building in the world. In addition to the main sanctuary there are several smaller temples and a vast sacred lake.

Karnak is the home of the god Amun who was an insignificant local god until the 12th dynasty when Thebes became the capital of Egypt. He was represented in his original state as a goose and later as a ram, at the height of his power he was shown as a human with a head dress of feathers - all that remained of the goose.

In ancient times wars were not fought between countries but were considered as contests between gods. One deity subduing and replacing another, the victorious god and its people growing in strength. This is how Amon, with the help of Thutmose III and various other New Kingdom kings, rose to become the first supreme god of the known world and was hailed as God of gods. Little is know of him, unlike most other gods he has no legends or miracles to impress his worshippers and seems to be closer to an abstract idea of a godhead. His followers came from all the strata of society and he was known to some as 'Vizier of the poor.'

All Egyptian temples had a sacred lake, Karnak's is the largest. It was used during festivals when images of the gods would sail across it on golden barges. Karnak was also the home of a flock of geese dedicated to Amun.

The Eastern Gateway which once lead to a huge temple built by Akhenaten (the heretic king). In an attempt to obliterate his memory, Akenaten's enemies destroyed this shrine after his death.  For those interested, below is a link to Wikipedia's page on the Karnak Temple, plus links to photos taken this year, and last.  Enjoy! 

Wikipedia on Karnak Temple

2011 photos

2012 photos

Touring Alexandria

So today, Pat and I did a tour of Alexandria with my good friend and tour guide, Mohamed Fatehy, commencing at the Catacombs, photos not allowed here but I did manage a few on my phone, sssshhhh, followed by Pompeii's pillar, which apparently, is not Pompeii's at all!!!!! 

From Wikipedia: "Pompeii's Pillar is a Roman triumphal column in Alexandria, Egypt, and the largest of its type constructed outside of the imperial capitals of Rome and Constantinople. The only known free-standing column in Roman Egypt which was not composed of drums, it is one of the largest ancient monoliths and one of the largest monolithic columns ever erected.

The monolithic column shaft measures 20.46 m in height with a diameter of 2.71 m at its base. The weight of the single piece of red Aswan granite is estimated at 285 t. The column is 26.85 m high including its base and capital. Other authors give slightly deviating dimensions.

Erroneously dated to the time of Pompeii, the Corinthian column was actually built in 297 AD, commemorating the victory of Roman emperor Diocletian over an Alexandrinian revolt".

The Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa (meaning "Mound of Shards") is a historical archaeological site located in Alexandria, Egypt and is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages. The site is fascinating, and was discovered when a donkey drawn cart fell into a pit and is an eclectic mix of Roman, Greek and Egyptian styles of burial chambers and reliefs depicting the different beliefs of burial rituals. You can read more here -> The Catacombs in Alexandria

The pictures can tell a story, so here's some already uploaded to the internet. Those that know me know I don't ever reinvent wheels, and as I couldn't even take my camera in, couldn't have taken them anyway :)

photos of the Catacombs

more later .....................