Extraordinary Egypt
Along The Banks Of The Nile
Featured
Along The Banks Of The Nile
The hotel is absolutely stunning, the height of luxury and a beautiful oasis of elegance and tranquility. From the glorious exterior to the elegant old-style glamour of the lobby with its enormous staircase and huge chandelier, the whole place drips with old-school style and charm. And it was on the steps of the grand staircase that Howard Carter announced to the world that he had discovered the tomb of Tutankhamen.
The tombs really are quite awe-inspiring, well over three thousand years old, with bright colourful painted walls and ceilings, bearing huge amounts of inscriptions and carvings to guide the deceased rulers on their way to the afterlife. Our guide declines to enter any of them, saying we should try to get in and out as quickly as possible as it’s not hygienic to stay too long in them, and he’s completely right. The warm, airless chambers are pure petri-dishes of infection, and we’re surrounded by coughing, spluttering sightseers jostling each other to get their shots.
At 12.30 we moor at Edfu, and Mo arranges horse-drawn carts to take us through the backstreets of the rundown town out to the imposing temple beyond it. Our little carriage bumps along at quite a pace, as our driver guides the horse through weaving traffic, pot-holed alleyways and straight through markets to arrive ahead of everyone else. An enterprising local has even set up as a freelance photographer and we are presented with a colour photo mounted on an Egyptian souvenir print when we return, which we are duly persuaded to purchase, before being able to get out of the cart.
Terry & Becky are salt of the earth types, love a drink and have already been on board for four days as they’re doing the seven night return trip from Luxor to Aswan. They confess they couldn’t face early morning excursions so have doubled the length of the trip to do everything in the afternoons, no doubt due to their quite-prodigious intake of Egyptian wine. “We’ve almost drunk them out of it,” jokes Becky, ordering her second bottle for lunch.
Meanwhile out on the water, young boys from the Nubian villages are on tiny surfboards, using pieces of cardboard for paddles, trying to sell trinkets to tourists in feluccas. And amongst the houses and gardens on the banks of Elephantine Island, women wash clothes in the Nile surrounded by palm, mango, guava and banana trees.
Depictions of Rameses II as a god, warrior, priest and lover, complete with erect penis, are carved and painted everywhere. He had 24 wives and over 100 children but Nefertari was his one true love and for him to build a temple dedicated to her was a truly rare honour. These monuments were to symbolise their eternal fame and the crowds of tourists thronging here today certainly worship at their celebrity, jostling for photos and queuing to enter the inner sanctums.
It’s a ninety minute flight to Aswan and after hundreds of miles of rippling Sahara desert we start tracking the Nile as we descend towards the southern city. The Nile’s green and blue beauty snakes through the arid landscape, the veritable life-giving river in a barren desert, and circling over vast Lake Nasser we come into land.
…and so we become intrepid explorers, venturing high up the outside of the pyramids to the entry point and then clambering steeply down into the hearts of the pyramids and navigating our way through cramped chambers and narrow tunnels until we get to the empty burial chambers.
It is old Islamic Cairo that we are visiting today in the company of our brilliant guide Mustafa, and Alaa our cheerful driver. They pick us up at 8am, and with Cairo’s working week starting on Sunday, we’re instantly weaving through rush hour traffic, with buses heaving with commuters and belching diesel into the faces of motorcyclists and pedestrians alike.
But the most spellbinding treasures are the most famous, housed in special rooms where no photos are allowed. The hundreds of relics of King Tutankhamen, the fabled boy king whose tomb was discovered by Howard Carter and excavated by Lord Carnarvon 100 years ago this month, are even more compelling and awe-inspiring on our second visit. The golden death mask is just magnificent in a way that photos cannot convey. Truly one of the most incredible and iconic artefacts of world history it’s intricate and beautiful, mesmerising and powerful.
We fly over the Nile, crossing Zamalek, the island in the centre of the city, with aerial views of the city beneath us shrouded in pollution and twilight. It really is enormous, a megalopolis of 25 million people, and in the strange light it seems almost apocalyptic, the burnished sky casting an end of days glow across the landscape and bathing the airport in an eerie purple and orange haze.
After a couple of days of enforced, and rather enjoyable, pool-side relaxation within the confines of the Winter Palace, I feel just about strong enough to venture out to visit Luxor Museum on our final morning. Coman is far from convinced it’s a good idea, especially as we’re both still taking it in turns as to who has the dodgiest digestive system, but I’m determined that we shall explore at least a little more of ancient Thebes.