The Nile Cruise - Day 4

Main Entrance of Philae Temple

15th Century Grafffiti!

Today, another early start to be on the coach and off seeing sights before it gets too hot. Today we visited various sites in Aswan. We started with Philae Temple, which has been re-built on an island after initially being drowned by the Nile when the “old dam” was built at the turn of the 20^th century. Philae is another beautiful temple, but perhaps slightly less impressive because it has suffered a lot of defacement over the millennia. It is quite complete in some aspects; for example, the ‘holy of holies’ (the inner sanctum) is completely enclosed in original stonework.

However, as I said, many of the otherwise very impressive inscriptions have been desecrated over the years, including the direct application of graffiti by various conquerors over the years. I am once again in awe of the spaces they created with huge colonnades. Philae was apparently built across the Greco-Roman period too (500 years, all told) and the column capitals are very impressive.

Perhaps the highlight of the visit to Philae was not the temple itself, but the open-air ‘cafeteria’ on-site. Here, I was able to sit under a cedar tree (I think) and look out over “the best view of the Nile in Egypt” while sipping tea. It was serene (no barking touts) and comfortable. The temperature was still developing, so it was a comfortable low-to-mid 20s, no wind, cloudless sky; gorgeous! That 20 mins was probably as restful and holiday-like as I’ve managed so far, and I loved it.

(I'm hoping to make a panorama of these two photos. I'll let you know if/when the pictures update.)

We went back onto the motor launch that had transferred us to the island, back through the gauntlet of hawkers and touts onto the coach for the trip to the High Dam of Aswan. For those not in the know, there are two dams across the Nile at Aswan. The Old Dam, built in collaboration with a number of countries and finished in 1902. The High Dam was built in the 1970s by the Russians for the Egyptians (apparently, no one else would help) and creates the second-largest man-made lake in the world, Lake Nassar. As an engineering feat, the High Dam is very impressive. It has some wonderful views down the Nile valley too. At one end of the dam is a monument to symbolise the friendship between Russia and Egypt, shaped as a Lotus Bloom.

Back in the bus and down to a developing area of Aswan where there are many perfume factories. We are ushered into one particular perfume house and treated to a very entertaining explanation of essences and perfumes by a very personable and competent young woman. This is notable as well for it being a woman, as most representative work is done by men. So we are guided through what an essence is, why and how it is different to perfume, and then what all the different essences and aroma therapy oils smell like or can be used for. It was thoroughly enjoyable. I bought nothing, as fragile glassware and perfumes that I don’t use could not attract the cash from my pocket.

On the bus ride back to the boat, we stopped on the Corniche (spelled cournish here, I noticed; English spelling is very fluid here!) and as I knew it was not terribly far back to the boat, I jumped off the coach and walked back. It goes without saying I was approached by touts as I went along, although not nearly as many as previous occasions. One boy though, trying to flog me papyrus, was walking very close to me, pressing the papyrus against my waist and I suddenly felt that he was trying to get his hand into my pocket. I broke the contact between us, told him (for the 20^th time) “No!” and walked off briskly. I checked my pocket, mostly concerned because my room key was in that pocket. If he’d taken all the money that was in there, he’d have stolen maybe 50 LE (less than 10AUD) and I wouldn’t have cared. Losing the room key would likely have had more costly repercussions. Anyway, no harm, no foul, as they say.

Welcoming Party

Back on board I kicked around for a while before we had lunch. My stomach matters have cleared up, it seems, so I’m able to sample from the buffet (frankly, it hasn’t been too problematic the whole time). Although there is routinely a roast joint of some type, there’s no concept of rare Roast Beef. Everything is *very well* cooked (over-cooked).

The afternoon was given over to a motor launch cruise up the Nile. There were only three of us on the tour, with a new guide (whose name I missed). This was a very peaceful trip. The motor launch ride was smooth and we saw the west bank above Aswan in some detail. Of course, everything west of here is Sahara Desert, so it’s quite a sight to see the very short green bank give over to sand that you know stretches on for thousands of miles.

In due course, we pulled up at the dressed stone bank under a Nubian (style) village. This is a typical Egyptian tourist site, with vendors in stalls and beggars on the street. The houses here are relatively new, built for the villagers when their original village was drowned in the lake behind the old dam. They are in the traditional style and traditionally coloured, but are not of traditional material, being built of sandstone or fired bricks, rather than the traditional mud brick. The walk through the village is quite pleasant as the hawkers here are much more relaxed. While we are walking along a van full of Nubians singing and banging on hand-held drums drive up, do a U-turn and head off. Our guide explains that there is a wedding going on and the people in the van are guests. Apparenly, Nubian weddings stretch over several days. Originally, they lasted for 40 days, so that distant relatives and well-wishers could travel to the village from far-flung places.

We do end up attracting the attention of some of the village children who want to sell us trinkets or to change English pounds to Egyptian pounds for them (usually a lead to other transactions, or theft, we’ve previously been warned).

We are invited into a Nubian house where we are shown the house pet, a 1m crocodile. He has several slightly smaller friends. As we are leaving, I manage to drop my empty water bottle onto the head of said crocodile in his pit. Of course, I’m mortified, and I can’t reach in and get back the bottle! It is all sorted quite smoothly, but you can imagine my embarrassment. We spend our time in the house hearing from our guide of the Nubian domestic traditions and drinking Hibiscus tea, which is quite nice. It is, apparently, a natural blood pressure regulator. It looks like red cordial.

The motor launch ride home is faster (downstream) and uneventful, although the sunset over the tombs opposite our river boat offer great photos. We are allowed to disembark our motor launch via the roof onto our river boat from the river side. A bit of a treat and an OH&S nightmare in any country other than Egypt, except of course that it was perfectly uneventful.

Sunset over the Nile, from the motor launch

At 6:00pm I had a massage by the onboard masseur, Ibrahim. He was a lovely fellow and a good masseur. The experience was very relaxing, as expected. It reminds me of how much I like being massaged and how infrequently I do it. I’m thinking fondly of Thai Bliss, for when I get home.

I declined the opportunity to attend the “Nubian Show” and had an early night (again), to be well-rested for packing and departing early in the morning. The last day of the first half of my life ended with me falling asleep to the sound of Nubian drums and foot stamping from the deck above!