Nile Cruise Part One

We joined the cruise just before lunch on Saturday which marked the start of our “official honeymoon” so we were quite excited. It has been a dream of both of ours to come to Egypt, probably since primary school, so to actually be here is kind of surreal. For the up-river leg of the cruise there were only six passengers on the boat and all three couples spoke different languages, so we each had a guide all to ourselves. The first day saw us visiting the Karnak and Luxor temples which were a perfect introduction to Egyptian monuments.

Karnak temple was built by various Pharaohs since before 1500BC, each one trying to out-do the last (an inferiority complex me thinks!). And so Karnak is a sprawling 2km temple complex which includes 136 massive columns and a amazing obelisk which stands 30 metres and was carved out of a single piece of granite.

Karnak also introducted us to a large group of Chinese religious tourists who insisted on walking round in a circle in one of the shrines, chanting loudly and generally carrying on like complete twats. Unfortunately this group seemed to be on the exact same tour schedule as us because we couldn't go anywhere over the next couple of days without them showing up chanting like idiots. On a positive note, we were introduced to a bloke called Amun Min (God of fertility), he's the guy in the photo with one arm, one leg, a silly hat, and a massive schlong...

There is a road running from Karnak leading to the Luxor temple known as the avenue of the sphinxes, which is two parallel lines of sphinx statues standing about five metres apart for the three kilometres between the temples. The avenue is currently being excavated and, according to our guide, several hundred homes and businesses have already been demolished to further the project.

Luxor temple was originally built by an Egyptian Pharaoh and like Karnak, was added to by subsequent kings including Alexander the Great who went to great lengths to be accepted by the common people. He figured that by depicting himself within their mythology, it would be easier for them to submit to his rule. The idea obviously caught on because the Greeks continued to do this until their reign in Egypt died with Cleopatra.

Luxor temple is a mish-mash of the numerous cultures that have conquered or colonised Egypt over the centuries. The Romans plastered over the hieroglyphics and painted their own frescoes – some of which are still visible today; and the Muslims built a large mosque overlooking the open court of the temple. By the time the Muslims came to Egypt, the country had taken to Christianity and the temples dedicated to the Egyptian gods had fallen into disrepair. Every year when the Nile flooded the layers of silt and mud would build on the last so that when the Muslims came to build their mosque at that site, the mosque's foundations were built about five metres higher than the level of the original temple.

We spent the night docked in Luxor and got up early the next morning to take a hot air balloon flight over Luxor. We were quite lucky because the pilot told us it was the only day in the past two months where the wind was strong enough to carry the balloons across the Nile, back to the east bank. The bird's-eye view of Luxor was fascinating and the pilot actually took us down to street level (not something that you would be allowed to do in a country with OSH legislation!). Some of the houses were close enough to reach out and touch, and I think we scared the shit out of half a dozen goats and some chickens living on the roof of one of the houses.

The flight almost ended in disaster as we seemed to run out of gas and after narrowly missing a train carriage we almost landed in a small irrigation canal. Thankfully the ground crew were able to form a human chain, and after leaping over the canal to grab the basket they were able to drag us back over dry land.

On the way to Edfu the boat had to negotiate a seven-metre lock at Esna and on invitation we sat in the bridge sipping tea whilst going through the lock. We also met "No.1 Captain" and "No.2 Captain" of the boat who although they were responsible for driving the boat neither of them were invited to the "Captain's Welcome" drinks that evening. While we were approaching the lock we were again astonished by the lengths that the vendors and touts go to sell crap to tourists. They row up to the cruise boats as they slow down to negotiate the lock, and hook onto the side. As they coast along beside the cruise boat they throw their products (wrapped in plastic) up to the deck of the boats and negotiations are shouted backwards and forwards.

After an overnight stop in Edfu we carried on south towards Aswan, checking out the temple at Kom Ombo on the way through. We didn't spend a great deal of time here and it wasn't long before we were sailing through to Aswan...