Nile Cruise

Fixing an AC

The Nile Cruise and the Pyramids come to mind the moment you say Egypt. It is a tourists’ paradise with a rich variety of experiences to offer (with the exception of snow-caped peaks). Tourism contributes to almost 1/3^rd of its forex earnings and is an extremely tourist friendly place. Being one of the oldest civilisations which has seen the Pharaohs, Greeks, Romans, Turks, French, Brits and Socialism, it is a cultural cauldron. Add to this, the people who are fun loving, enjoy good food, music, art, are reasonably Westernised looking up to Europe - just across the Mediterranean. Here is a look at the variety we experienced and some interesting trivia. Egyptians liked weekend breaks and the two Eid breaks in a year gave expats two week long breaks too, something we used well to explore Egypt.   

To start with, I was sent this pic early on in my Egypt sojourn, for me to understand anything is possible in Egypt. It was really funny pic as to what Egyptians can do to fix an AC – acrobatically hilarious – notice the guy who is stretching from balcony to offer a Rajni like touch - as if that is sufficient to support the guy upside down! 

Nile in Cairo from a hotel

Cairo is where the Nile Delta starts and Nile breaks into two distributaries, the Rosetta and Damietta. The river truly is its lifeline and just a few km away from it, it is all desert. A host of hotels along the Nile in Cairo offer lovely views of the river and a Falouka (sail boat) and evening cruise with dinner and belly dance thrown in is a must do when in Cairo. Best to time to go to Pyramids is in the evening around 4 and stay back to watch the sunset and view the sound and light show at the pyramids. If adventurous, one can try a 2 hour trip to see the inside of the pyramid of Khufu (the largest) and a tough trek which needs advance booking. Don’t know if it still on, but while I could not do it, I am told it is a unique experience. The pyramids themselves are magnificent and the more you stand by them and look at its enormity, it makes one wonder of the human will and skill millenias ago – How powerful the need must have been to preserve the body for after life to do such a thing and do it over generations! Various prototypes (like the one Step Pyramid in Saqqara before the Giza one got made. There is this interesting read https://www.ancient.eu/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza/ and if you have not seen it yet, take this panaromic 360 view which will make you take a flight to Cairo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4hg31ozDyU . If keen on knowing about the history in detail, you should do a fair bit of reading yourself before landing there, as guides are largely populist and not that informed on details on history. 

@ the great Pyramids of Giza

The Step pyramids of Saqqara

en route to Ein Sokna

@ the Suez Canal

 Quick getaways for the day trip or weekend were many. Fayoum the closest oasis, was just an hour drive away. Enroute was this lovely kids/ family stopover called “Fugnoon”. Set in a farm it was fun place where kids could do pottery, paint Tshirts, have mule and camel rides, roam around the farm and pluck vegetables and some fruits. Ein Sokna ( Hot springs) was the closest beach with a 8 lane expressway that Cairo flocked to, where the rich had their weekend chalet and partied. The drive and Stella De Marie the iconic resort was the happening place. And you could drive down to Suez where the Suez canal starts and sit and watch merchant and cruise ships pass by the canal and get a sense of the importance of this small canal’s maritime importance for over a century now. And of course you could also go to Alexandria the second largest city for a weekend.

@ Fayoum closest oasis to Cairo

@ Fugnoon - a fun place for kids

 And then there were the places where you need a few days, preferably a week to drive down the desert roads to reach them, spend a few days and get back.

To the East was Red sea and the Sinai Desert. These had lovely resort towns of Sharm El Sheikh, Dahab, Hurghada, Marsa Alam. These were truly beach oasis, far from the madding crowd, popular with western tourists.  It is like goa but without the crowds and a lot of shallow sea waters. Their sole purpose was tourism and packaging what red sea had to offer. Luxury resorts, snorkelling, water sports and deep sea diving and lot of sun was always on offer. The Dahab ‘Blue hole’ is considered one of the most unique as well as dangerous deep sea diving sites. Well the kids had their first snorkelling experience on the red sea. We also had our only submarine ride so far.  

Read to Snorkel !

@ Sharm El Sheikh on Red sea

In a submarine ride @ Hurghada

@ Hurghada by the infinity pool

To the west were the oases. The closer to Cairo at a drive of about 3-4 hours is Baharia with hot springs and the famed Black and white desert. The Hot springs hotel is quite an experience -not luxurious but comfortable. Baharia itself has hot aquifers which are rich in minerals and a dip in the hot spring water is quite refreshing. Like an oasis should be, it is in the midst of desert and you stay there and drive into the desert. Baharia is known for what is called the black desert and white desert.  The winds are so strong that over years they have eroded in parts black igneous rocks and shifted them over the desert. At other places they have eroded limestone making the desert white and leaving the stones carved in various shapes most of them mushroom like. The other far away oasis which is in the western edge of Egypt and borders the Sahara desert to its south is Siwa. Known as Alexanders favourite oasis, it is straight line drop from the Mediterranean town of MArsa Matrouh and is a good 900 km from Cairo. Being so remote, if you want to see a place a bit far removed from civilisation, still having dominant remains of the past and where you can catch crystal clear skies, amazing sunsets on a sea of sands.

Baharia Oasis in the western desert

@ the Black Desert

@ the white desert - K3G Suraj hua Madham fame

@ Siwa - Alexander's favourite oasis. Note the old clay walled houses 

North of Egypt is the Mediterranean a cool sea and the vast north coast being just a couple of hours from Cairo and is home to large townships which come alive only in the summer as vacation homes. As cairo gets hot and summer holidays start for children all those who can afford own or rent their holiday homes and spend time in the north coast. Starting from Alexandria to Marsa Matrouh the sea is lined with resorts and townships. Without doubt a great pace to spend summers. North coast has this place called Al Amein where one of the important battles of world war two was fought and hundreds of Indian soldiers too fought for the British in this battle. There is a memorial to date for them. To the easterm side of north coast across the suez canal and north of the Sinai is Al arish which borders Gaza strip and is the main connecting route to Gaza strip in Palestine and Israel.

@ the border post with Gaza Strip

@ Al Arish beach on North east Egypt

Beach art by kids at Al Arish

The lovely Mediterranean @ Al Amein. The water is cold 

South of Cairo is what is called Upper Egypt. Though on the map it looks below Cairo, from the pharaohnic days it is called Upper Egypt as it is upstream of Nile from where the waters came and flooded the plains. This long stretch is fertile on the banks of the Nile and is agriculturally rich. But also because, it is long and surrounded by deserts, it has been difficult to develop. This is where comes the Nile cruise from Luxor to Aswan. Before the Aswan Dam was built the Nile used to flood the banks. But once it was built, not only is the water better, managed, it also generates lot of power. Historically the Nile flooding drowned erstwhile temples and palaces which got buried in sand and silt. The temples of Luxor, Edna, Kum Ombo and Abu Simbel lay a rich treasure of architecture and structures from the Pharoanic era. Upper Egypt also is home to valley of kings and queens. The tombs in the Pyramids, despite the best efforts and secure design, got looted, were expensive and time taking to build. The later pharaohs discovered hills in the desert as natural pyramids and had their tombs built here for kings and queens. It is from here that the most preserved treasures of Tutan Kamoun was discovered. And from Aswan you go further south to see Abu simbel where the statues of Ramses were relocated to preserve them from the back flooding of Aswan Dam. It is amazing to see them. It is said that originally it was designed for the first rays of sun to fall on the face of Ramses every year on his Birthday.

@ Luxor temple

@ Hatshepshut temple

The only temple dedicated to a Queen- Hatshepsut Temple

Cruising through the Esna water lock on Nile

@ Luxor Temple

Cruise racing on the Nile

@ the magnificent Abu Simbel

@ the grand  Abu Simbel

One of the popular Koshary place at Cairo

A frequent question to me for people travelling from India is about veg food. Being a veggie myself, I can only say, if you are not a fussy vegetarian wanting only curd rice of dal-roti-sabzi, Egypt has a lot to offer. The staple break fast and lunch of most Egyptians is pure-vegetarian. Breakfast starts with Phool (broad fawa beans), Tamia (Falafal) or Batatis (potato) sandwich (in pita bread). The staple lunch is Koshari (means potpourri or kichadi). Both the sandwich and koshari joints serve only that and they are pure veg. And in all their main meals the starters from hommus, labneh, cheese samosa, tabbouleh – what they call as mezzeh are all pure veg stuff. And add to this their range of sweets and a few vegetarian gravy dishes of pasta or moussaka – a vegetarian cannot go hungry in Egypt if he is not fussy. 

Egypt has a lot to offer to see and the Nile cruise is just one of them…