The felucca M/S Luna with its cool captain took us all around Elephantine and Kitchener´s Island with stops along the way and at the end of the day all the long way back to the cruiser for 350 LE. We felt it was worth every piaster for these six wonderful hours.

Feluccas don´t make noises. They glide silently over the clear water, slowly, slowly. Don´t be in a hurry, the wind is hardly a breeze but the felucca´s characteristic sail is made to catch it. All is peaceful, the broadbottomed little boat was newly painted all white, there were cushions to sit on. To go by felucca is the only decent way of travelling on the Nile, or possibly witha dahabeiya. Give me any luxurious Nile cruiser any day and if I could I would still chose the dahabeiya firsthand. (But those are very expensive mostly).

Many felucca-owners have a painted Eye of Horus in the fore. Or the Hand of Fate with spread-out fingers.

Little boys paddle out towards feluccas and mtorboats filled with tourists, in home-made little rowing-boats. Their oars are nothing more than a pair of pieces of wood, and they paddle incredibly fast to catch up with the tourist boats. When they come within hearshot, they start to sing. "Tipperary" if it´s American or English tourists, "Alouette" if they are French. I heard a story from a friend who has been here several times, that once somebody asked the boys to sing in Japanese - and they did! If they get the chance to hook onto a boat, they will not let go until they have gotten some money. But if the tourst police is approacing, these little rowers can disapear behind a rock in the water faster than you can wink an eye.

On one hand was the busy little town of Aswan, ancient Swenet, right now with blossoming trees in red, which were falling to the grond and got trod on by humans and donkeys. It looked almost like blood on the pavement. We sailed slowly past the Coptic Church, rising its spires beyound the houses, we approaced the southern end of the Elephantine Island; ancient Abu. That is where we made a stop. While our boat owner waited, we could visit the old museum and the temple ruins there, for Khnum, Anuket and Satet. Work is going on there, the Satet temple has been reconstructed and original bits and pieces have been set into a modern concrete framework. The Khnum temple is mostly a heap of rubble though the German-Swiss mission has uncovered more of its foundation.

There are two nilometers, one of which you reach through the garden behind the muesum, andto reach the other, more southern one, you have to climb across some rocky ground. The rocks around here are famous for resembling elephants from behind and in fact, the word 'Abu' or 'Yabu', is Greek for elephant. They protrude from the waters all around the area and add to a very special athomsphere, you almost believe you are moving around in a weird computer adventure game, type Myst.

The cliffs near the Nilometer display ancient carvings. Kings and noblemen left their marks here. Opposite lies the reknown Old Cataract Hotel, at which Agatha Christie wrote "Death on the Nile". It looks majestic and luxurious as we sail past.

There is a small island called the Island of Amun, just south of Abu. We heard from our captain that a rich man had bought the whole island and is now taking down the only hotel which existed there, in order to put up a new, really luxurious one. That is a bit funny, as there is already an unfinished hotel project by the Oberoi hotel on Abu, which was supposed to be finished eight years ago, but which was stopped because they feared it would come in the way for the view towards the Tombs of the Nobles on the Western shore.

Kitchener´s Island is a botanical garden, all of it. It´s not too big, just right for a stroll and a cup of coffee. Here are no flowerbeds like we are used to in Europe, at least not when we visited, but the bogainvillea cascades dwon from the enclosing walls and there is a large number of trees, among them tall, tall palm trees of different varieties. Many tree were btroguth from outside of Egypt by Lord Kitchener in the late 1890´s. Opposite it, which is the backside of Abu, you can see Nubian houses, which often are brightly painted and look quite dainty.

To reach down to our felucca again, we had to make our way through a horde of salesmen. To a European they can seem quite insistent and irritating with their never-ending proposals, but remember that this might be the only way they can make a living. They do take 'no' for an answer, even if you have to repeat it a few times.

Leaving Kitchener´s Island, we cruised slowly past the Tombs of the Nobles. Steep stairs and pathways lead up to them, we decided to leave them be this hot afternoon.

I think I can safely say that this day was the most pleasant one of our days in Egypt. It wasn´t at all like seeing the Pyramids or visiting the ancient wonders, but it was so peaceful and beautiful and wonderful in quite another way.