There is indeed no better way to travel in Egypt than on a ship. Already the ancients knew this and were expert boatsmen. You sit on deck under the sunshade and enjoy the breeze while the banks glide peacefully by. Somebody brings you a cool drink. You watch life on the shores being played out much in the same manner as in the ancient days, you see people live in mudbrick buildings looking just as you imagine it did some 4000 years ago. You close your eyes for a moment and you can almost make a brief belief that you have time-travelled.

Our cruise starts in Luxor on the fairly small boat Melodie which proves to be another reason we like the Imaginative Traveller so much. Our group is not more than fifteen persons and there are only two other groups on board, all from the same agency. That makes a total number of ca 60 persons. The athmosphere is informal and friendly, it´s easy to make acquaintances, even friendships are forming. The travellers come from all over the world; Great Britain, Germany, Canada, USA, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa. And us two Swedes. Ages vary widely. The ship is comfortable, there is a small jacuzzi on top deck and the food is wellcooked and mostly international, except for on the night when they throw the unavoidable galabaya party. That´s when they serve genuine Egyptian food which is lovely and much more interesting than the international variety. The personnel are all Egyptians, and very friendly and helpful. I cannot reccommend them enough!

We reach the locks at Esna on the first night and lie in wait for a few hours for our turn. This is when the peddlers see their chance and row up close. They are the most insistent sellers on the whole trip and some cruisemembers seem to have a bit of a difficulty to handle it when the guys throw wares wrapped in plastic bags on board and suggest a price. Quite some throwing of items back and forth ensues and one lady stomps away to her cabin in a fit while a few others delightedly immerse themselves in bargaining.

The Melodie enters the dock after dinner. We watch from top deck and enjoy the clear, starry sky, noticing the air tonight is much warmer than the Cairo nights.

Most of next day is spent on aft deck watching the banks. I can hardly leave for lunch, I am so curious to see everything and my camera clicks so frequently I´m almost making a fool of myself! Well, everything is a picture as someone said! Towards afternoon we sight Kom Ombo on the east side and the ship lays to close to the temple. Instead of waiting for the group to visit there, the three of us go ahead and make our tour of the temple by ourselves, which is a good idea. We get a very thorough tour of the twin temple of Horus and Sobek almost all by ourselves. Only when we are ready to leave, a group of Japanese people swarm up the stairs. By then we have walked slowly through both sides of the twin temple, watched the famous relief with the surgical instruments and the relief with the Oracle of the Ear on the backside of the temple. We have admired the various Ptolemaic inscriptions which abound and the entrance to the Nilometer. We have visited the small Het-Hert shrine just outside the Forecourt where the pitiful remains of two small mummified crocodiles are kept. Filled with impressions, rather hot and thirsty we return to ship and relax with those cool, yummy drinks; green and fresh lemon juice, red hibiscus juice called karkade in Egyptian and which has become a favourite.

During the night the Melodie continues towards Aswan where we arrive in the morning and where we will stay for three nights.

Between water and sand - human dwellings and a little bit of greenery.



Back