Egypt Part II -- Cruisin' the Nile

 

The second part of our Egypt trip was a 3 night cruise on the Nile.  Some trips sound more exotic than the reality..... but this is not one of them!

We were on a beautiful cruise ship called the Jasmine.   It had a swimming pool, table tennis, amazing buffet meals, and a spectacular sunset!  It is a small cruise ship -- only 56 cabins -- but, despite the busy season, there were only 24 people on our cruise.  Thankfully the other 3 families with us all had children!   

The ship has a very simple bridge -- manual steering and a dashboard less complicated than your car!

We were traveling north on the Nile and thus going with the flow of the river, from South to North.  The Nile is the longest river in the world, beginning in Ethiopia and flowing 6695 km through nine African countries to finally empty into the Mediterranean Sea.   The view from the Nile is unique.  There is no mistaking that Egypt is truly a desert and the only water for irrigating soil is from the Nile.   We were on the blue river, surrounded by green papyrus on the edges and then sand dunes as far as the eye could see.  The towns have grown up close to the river for obvious reasons.

The best thing about cruising on the Nile was being able to live on the ship but take excursions to the shore to see more of Egypt's great history.  We visited many sites along the route between Aswan and Luxor. 

Most spectacular was the Valley of the Kings.  When the Pharoahs got tired of the work involved in building a pyramid, they started to develop a large burial site in Luxor.  There are 62 tombs where Pharoahs were buried (most of the mummies have been removed and are on display in museums around the world).  We visited three tombs -- corridors under ground with several rooms where the mummies were buried along with their treasure.  The walls are decorated with heiroglyphs and paintings but we were not allowed to photograph these tombs.  King Tut is buried in the Valley of the Kings (and his mummy is still on site),

We also visited the mighty Aswan Dam.  Completed in 1970, the dam holds back water in the largest man-made lake in the world, called Lake Nasser (550km X 35km).  It is hard to fathom how much water it controls: 30 trillion gallons of water.  Our tour guide said that if the dam were to break, then Cairo would be under 72 meters of water in a matter of minutes!   The dam provides the entire country with hydroelectric power and allows for regulation of crop irrigation. 

Before the dam was built, several temples would flood each Spring.  The completion of the High Dam submerged these temples year round.  One of these is called the Philae Temple (above).  The temple was underwater for 9 years until an international team cut it apart and reassembled it on higher ground.  

Max is striking a pose at the Philae Temple.  It is a large structure!

We also had the pleasure of being on the cruise for New Year's Eve.  The staff prepared a delicious candle-lit dinner for us.  We wore our Egyptian galabeya.  These are cotton dresses worn by men and women (full length) and made of soft cotton.  They come in a variety of styles and embroideries.  These are not just for dress up -- we saw people walking all over Egypt wearing this comfortable dress.