Around The World – Croatia can be found here.
After leaving Croatia as they edged into fall Egypt was a huge shift in weather. Hot, surprisingly humid and the air pollution was terrible. Cairo itself was incredibly busy and bustling, and we had a wonderful time seeing the sights. This was our big splurge for the trip and we booked a private tour where our guide and driver will be with us throughout Egypt.
Our guide Hassan was fantastic, and managed to get us tickets to visit the Great Pyramid – a privilege which only about 300 people get to enjoy each day. He also timed our visit so that we were the only people inside Khufu’s pyramid as opposed to the usual packed lines of people inching their way forward. I expect that crawling through that dusty tomb will be the highlight of our entire trip!
After our time in Cairo, we flew to Luxor where we boarded a dahabeeya for our Nile cruise. The dahabeeya is a type of sailing ship that was favoured centuries ago, but had all but disappeared from the Nile until recently, when travellers sought an alternative to the large and crowded cruise boats that transport most tourists. We were often overtaken by these behemoths, which belch black smoke and blare horns that all vaguely sound like “La Cucaracha”.
Our dahabeeya was operated by Sonesta, which has a range of hotels and cruisers along the Nile. They are one of a handful of companies to run such cruises, and one of a very few who will rent out individual cabins, as most insist that you book the dahabeeya in its entirety. The rooms are very comfortable, and I was quite surprised to find that our dahabeeya had regular laundry service.
There are a mere eight cabins on the dahabeeya, and a total of fourteen guests. All were veteran travellers, and we have enjoyed their stories of safaris and scuba diving. The accommodations were surprisingly luxurious, and it took several days to persuade the crew that we cannot eat a seven course lunch and dinner each and every day.
It’s hard to describe what it’s like on the dahabeeya. Most days are spent on the deck, just ten feet above the water, relaxing on couches under the shade of the canopies. The banks of the Nile are incredibly lush, and most of Egypt’s population is located nearby, but there is an incredible contrast when you see the desert hills rising up a few hundred metres beyond lush palm trees. It is very peaceful, and I will remember this time fondly.
Our sedentary lifestyle was punctuated by visits to the many tombs and temples of Luxor, Edfu and other locations along our Nile route.
Although there were tours arranged for dahabeeya guests, our private guide and driver trailed the ship and were able to wisk us away to visit all the wonders on our own. We’ve never been big group tour people and having the freedom to linger at a site has been well worth the extra cost.
After disembarking at Aswan, we set off for the Great Temple of Rames II at Abu Simbel. We were slightly delayed by a sandstorm, but the trip was well worth the extra flight. We had the temple to ourselves for almost an hour, which was absolutely lovely.
And then disaster struck. Well, no, not really. But the sandstorm had picked up speed and as we waited at the tiny airport it became apparent that we were definitely going to be hours-delayed and that we might be stuck until the next day.
Our guide sprang into action where he simultaneously booked us a room for the only four star hotel in the area, got us tickets for the first flight out the next day and booked us tickets on the only bus that tourists are allowed to take from Abu Simbel to Aswan just in case the sandstorm continued. He really didn’t want to go for the bus option as the route has only recently been reopened after various attacks on foreigners but we only had one more night near Cairo before heading onto Vietnam so options were limited.
Thankfully after a lovely lunch at a nearby hotel the sandstorm abated and we were able to leave on the last flight out for the day. The delay means that unfortunately we wouldn’t be able to make use of Hassan’s connections to crawl through the passages of Dashur (which are only occasionally open to tourists) but we could finally spend some quality time at the Mena House pool. Hassan also managed to upgrade us as we were stuck in traffic from the Cairo airport to Giza to a pyramid-view room in the old section of Mena House.
Photo courtesy of the Marriott Mena House
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