| Egypt October 2002 | ||
| Marhaba, | ||
| WOW! that was our best honeymoon yet (and, methinks, the last!!) I shall begin at the beginning; | ||
| Sunday 9pm we met our group at the hairyport, to our great relief, mostly our age and not too many kids. 5 hour flight in the most uncomfy plane ever; knees digging into seat in front. Arrival Luxor 5:30 am, 27°C. The day before it had been a sizzling 46°C, we were saved by arriving for the region's annual day of rain! | ||
| Bus to boat, "Reve du Nil" (Nile dream) and it really was; it had just been entirely renovated: all furniture and decoration, bathrooms, sheets, towels, everything was brand new. Our boat wasn't too big; 44 cabins, 80 guests and a staff of 65!! Our cabin was on the 3rd floor, in the middle (not too close to the noisy engines at the back) just underneath the swimming pool and the sun deck. | ||
 After
a buffet breakfast (fruit juice, pancakes, freshly made omelettes,
foul, breads, jam, honey, yoghurt, fruit, assortment of sweet pastries,
croissants, toast, eggs, melon, dates etc etc) we left our boat to
visit the temple of Karnak; 17 hectares, hundreds of huge collumns,
enormous statues, sacred lake .... we were saved from the heat by
refreshing rain which flooded all the roads and created havoc. Back
to the boat for a fabulous buffet lunch: every day there was fish,
chicken, beef AND lamb, plain rice, saffron fried rice, several dishes
of potatoes (chips, mashed, dauphinois, fried and roast) several dishes
of vegetables, boiled, fried and roast, moussakka, lasagne, pasta,
kebabs, stuffed cougettes, aubergines, cauliflower cheese, roast stuffed
tomatoes, 8or 9 salad dishes, fresh fruit, pastries, fruit tarts,
chocolate mousse, jelly (?), fruit salad, cakes ...... and you know
me; I just had to try everything (my jeans are a wee bit tight right
now!) |
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| The boat sailed us down the Nile towards Asswan (where the high dam stops navigation and forms Lake Nasser). Most days we navigated for 6 to 8 hours stopping at the interesting towns and temples along the way. During the navigation we could stay in our air-conditioned cabin and admire the view from our window, chat with friends in the bar, enjoy the breeze in the shade of the sun deck, swim, sunbathe, enjoy tea and cakes on the deck, join in the aqua gym or aerobics classes or just marvel at the banks of the Nile. | ||
| Since 95% of the population lives along the Nile delta valley, there was always something to watch; kids swimming and playing, women washing clothes and dishes, shepherds herding, fishermen in their boats, farmers in the fields, village life etc. After sunset at 5pm, the villages light up, mosques call the faithful to prayer and the stars come out. Our favourite temple visit was at 8pm because we were delayed at Esna lock and so arrived late; the temple was beautiful floodlit, and cool! | ||
| In the evenings we visited towns and markets (open till midnight) or danced the evening away at the disco on the boat. Most of the excursions involved getting up ridiculously early so as to visit before the sun was too hot. To visit Abu Simbel we were up at 2am, left on the bus at 3am to join the police convoy (80 buses left with us, escorted by tens of police cars to prevent terrorist attacks) for a 3 hour drive across the desert, we arrived at 7am, visited the temples (which were moved stone by stone from their original site which was flooded by the dam and lake Nasser) left at 10am and were back on the boat for lunch! | ||
| The most incredible site was the valley of the kings in Luxor; several tombs dug into the mountains, each with several chambers decorated with brightly coloured paintings, carvings, statues, hieroglyphics and sarcophaguses. Wow. | ||
| On the last day we had to get up at 1:30am, bus to luxor airport, plane to Cairo, bus to pyramids for 7am. They are no longer in the middle of the desert; the plateau of Giza is now surrounded by town! Steph and I were very privileged; for several minutes we were completely alone in the centre of the pyramid Khefren; quite an experience. The Sphinx doesn't (stink) but was completely flooded by Egyptian school kids. We spent the afternoon in the Museum of Cairo; mummies, sarcophoguses, statues and the treasure of Toutankhamun, absolutely incredible, but we were all so exhausted that we'd have really liked to get inside a sarcophagus and close the lid!! Bus to Cairo airport, Cairo is terrifyingly big; unimaginable, plane back to Paris, the last RER home to find the door code had been changed and we couldn't get in!! Woke up a neighbour,showered and went to bed, at last! I was at work for the afternoon! | ||
| We deliberately didn't visit everything, so we'll have to go back someday (Steph wants to go for the new Year, perhaps we could wait a little longer...) | ||
| love and kisses Steph Ramses II and Samira Nefertiti
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV pyramid kisses |
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