Cruising the Nile

We left Luxor two days ago and have been cruising down the Nile toward Aswan. This has given us opportunity to unwind a bit, and meet new friends, an Indian couple (Sara and Thomas), an Italian mother/daughter duo (Marisa and Federica), and two girls from France (Sabrina and Lucille).

The sailing has been smooth and pleasant, flowing by a shore dotted with date palms and mango trees, farmers tending to their cattle, donkeys and sheep, and children waving at the passengers.

Spear fishing from the boat

We'd like to know more about this monument we sailed past

Last night however, we had to pass through a set of locks in the river, which is an experience by itself. The boat had to be lowered in a dry dock into the lower part of the river, and the process took the better part of two hours, with workers screaming at each other seemingly right outside our balcony. All this around 1 AM. We were eventually able to fall back to sleep until, having docked at the port of Edfu, we were reawakened at 5 AM by the blaring of the first of the day’s prayers from a nearby Mosque.

Peddlers in little boats, ride the waves of the ship and call out to you “Hello!! Hello!!”, which cause you to open the door to the balcony, and then they throw merchandise up to you, mostly clothing, expecting you to select and purchase items you may like. It is all quite entertaining.

We thought it was all straight sailing, but the boat made two stops, at Edfu and Kombondo, where we were able to disembark and explore more temples.

Edfu Temple was unexpectedly amazing, massive, and well-preserved. We were taken there by horse and buggy, apparently the only means of transportation in town, which has an other-worldly feel.

The temple at Edfu

Our new friends, Thomas and Sara

Kombondo was not as impressive, but it probably boasts the best preserved bas-reliefs in all of Egypt.

We will arrive at Aswan in the morning, and it will be our base for the next four days. Aswan is in Egypt’s deep south and is heavily populated by Nubians originating from nearby Sudan. We are looking forward to a few chill days there, with its unique atmosphere, and we’ll of course detail all about it in the next blogs. Once again, thank you for following our journey.