An Incredibly Wonderful Day!

 

Hello!

 

Up this morning about 6 – obviously getting into practice for tomorrow morning, when we need to be up by 5 or so, breakfast at 6, and then across the river to meet our driver and guide, Aladdin, who will take us to Luxor via Edfu and Kom Ombo.  Whew!  I’m tired just writing it!  However, unfortunately, it is time to pack up and leave our beautiful oasis on Elephantine Island.  But first, a few things to do!

 

The Nubian Museum has some wonderful reviews, but for some reason, apparently isn’t much visited.  It was fantastic.  The building itself was really strikingly lovely, and the museum basically traces the history of the Nubian people from the very beginning – the paleolithic and neolithic periods here in the desert, and they had some amazing petroglyphs!!!  I happen to be crazy about petroglyphs, and these were really lovely!  Such a surprise, but great!  Robert took a photo of the chronology of the Nubian Kings, which hopefully will reproduce well in the blog.  As Aswan for long periods of time was really the gateway into the south and the rest of Africa, it played a huge role in the development of trade from one country to another.  Elephantine Island, the island our hotel is on, was called that because of the trade in ivory tusks that went on.  Also, sorta, for the shapes of the huge boulders in the Nile; the black granite is really striking!  Take your choice!

Small chapel moved from Abu Simbel

Ramses II

Petroglyph of a man with spear!

 

Beautiful pot; Nagada I 4500-4000 bc

Decorated ostrich eggs

Girafe comb

Plate - group A culture 3000-2200 bc

Goddess statue

Beautiful gold Horus

I do love lions!

Meroitic BA sculpture

We had a really good look around the museum; obviously photos coming.  The showpiece of the museum is a very tall (8 feet, I think) statue of Ramses II, looking, in my opinion definitely rather squat.  But his cartouches are all over the place – he, remember, was the builder of Abu Simbel.  The museum had some wonderful photographs and explanations about all the monuments that UNESCO thankfully stepped up to save before the completion of the Aswan High Dam.  It was interesting to see the Temple of Dendara’s “before” photos – now you can see it most days at the Metropolitan Museum in NYC!  As apparently this was the very first time that anything of this magnitude had been attempted, according to the reports, there were numerous problems that kept cropping up and needed new and innovative solutions.  And the end result was:  Abu Simbel was saved, along with many, many other monuments in the area.  A truly global effort on a very global scale!  One oddity: The museum made no mention of the Nubian Pyramids near Meroë and Napata (in what is now northern Sudan) that date to about 800 BC.

 

After the museum, we decided to head back to the hotel for a bit of a rest.  I really can’t tell you how many taxi drivers have tried to get us to the Souk (Debby, they’re talking about your market/bazar!).  We’re such a disappointment in that department, I know!  So, back down to the river, into the waiting hotel boat, and up again on the island.  We decided that another nice sit down would be nice, and found the bar just opening up!  Let’s hear it for a couple of glasses of Egyptian Marquis white wine (it’s a chardonnay) and some really cold sparkling water!  Terrific!  

Look what was on our bed when we returned!

 

What I had really wanted to do this afternoon was a Felucca ride on the river.  We inquired at the hotel desk, and the nice lady there referred us to their “in-house” travel agency, which was just down the corridor.  Found it as well as two very helpful folks who were happy to help us out!  We booked a 2-hour Felucca tour – small boat, just the two of us, for two hours to sail.  To be honest, we didn’t really much care which way we went, we just wanted the peace and quiet of the sailing ship – and it was marvelous!  Back to the agency at 2 pm and the gal there walked us down to the boat.  It was called “Honey” and there were two Nubian sailors on board – one who sailed, and the other to manage the sails.  And off we went!

Beautiful sails!

A nearby felucca out for a sail!

West Bank - Tombs of the Nobles

Lots and lots of sand and birds!

 

To say these were some of the nicest hours we will remember from Egypt is an understatement!  It was amazing!  Apparently, it was a good thing that we’d saved this for our last day, as the wind was perfect – I guess yesterday, some rowing might have had to be called for – and this was not a simple boat to maneuver!  We basically went all around Elephantine, Kitchener’s and Isis Islands; it was SO relaxing!

 

[OH!  Laundry just came back – and here’s hoping I can still fit into my jeans!  Trying to explain to anyone NOT to put blue jeans in the dryer is a challenge, but when you’re dealing with another language, it gets even more exciting!  They look both clean and that they’ll still fit, so this means that I should now have enough clothes jeans-wise to make it home!  Yeah!!] 

Entrance to Aswan Botanic Gardens

Nubian village next to the hotel

New construction - St. Simon's Monastery

Mausoleum of Aga Khan

Old Cataract Hotel

 

So, back to our felucca.  The main sailor spoke very good English, and was able to point out things he thought we should see, and he was well able to answer our questions.  These were seriously the most relaxing two hours we have yet had on this trip!  The only real surprise, though, were pirates!  By that, I mean that a group of small (and not so small) boys, in the maybe 8-10 year old range, were out on the river on surfboards – the idea being that they latch on to your felucca and then sing songs like Frere Jacques and other short ditties as you sail along.  Oh!  And then you are supposed to give them money, of course.  One of the kids actually fell off his board while he was next to us, and under he went.  Fortunately, popping up again a few feet away, seemingly totally unfazed by his sudden immersion in what I am thinking is probably a fairly cold Nile!  

 

Rocks outside Nilometer; Cartouche of Pharaoh

Our crew and captain!

Other than that, we had a really beautiful sail.  (R was wondering if we could possibly get a felucca for Tucson, but unfortunately, I had to squash that beautiful idea!)  All too soon our trip was over, and back we were at the hotel.  SO, SO, SO fun, and such a great way to remember Aswan! 

 

Well, now that the laundry is back, I just have to gather up all the parts into the cases.  R (and me too, really!) SO glad we’re not flying to Luxor.  It’s about 3½ hours by road, and we’ll be making a couple of stops along the way.  Definitely an improvement over airport screening!  

 

For dinner tonight, we’ve decided to go back to the Panorama Restaurant here at the hotel this evening for dinner; hopefully with Mahmod for our waiter!  Their menu isn’t terribly extensive, but the meal the other night was SO good that we may actually repeat it!!

 

Much love and more tomorrow from Luxor!

m

xxx