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Today we found ourselves halfway through the day with some free time, so we decided to take the public ferry to the Nile Barrages at Qanatir. We weren't quite sure what to expect, apart from a relaxing ride down the Nile, although before I arrived, Erin had driven past and taken photos of what I suspected were the Barrages on his way to Menouf. We got on board the ferry which we had been told was due to sail in half an hour, and about one hour later we left the dock at Cairo. We had been avoiding taking the trip on a Friday as we knew it was a popular outing on Fridays, but the boat was quite full anyway, perhaps because it's school holidays. Most of the other passengers were young couples, families and groups of young girls and young guys. Now the last few weeks in Cairo the temperature has been near 40 and with all the high concrete buildings it is extremely hot if you can't find a breeze. So in the sheltered boat with a breeze down the Nile, we felt the coolest we had felt in several weeks. The cruise took about two hours and
it was very relaxing taking in first the views of the city and later the green countryside. There is another large island in the Nile just north of Gezira (the island where we are staying) and we passed a white heron colony as well as several groups of Egyptian pukeko, which are smaller than our pukeko with duller colours and shorter legs. On Egyptian boats, they play loud Egyptian music and people buy snacks like chippies, soft drink and tea. It was fun watching the groups of unattached teenages eyeing each other up while kiddies kicked balls around and climbed over other passengers. The Barrages are located about 20km north of Cairo, where the Nile branches into two, the Rosetta Branch and the Damietta Branch. It was inaugurated by Mohammed Ali in 1863 as a means of controlling the water flow into the Nile Delta, so that irrigation in the Delta area could be controlled year round instead of seasonally. The area between the two branches features 400 square metres of landscaped parks and gardens and is a popular picnicking spot. What we weren't expecting when we arrived was to be hounded by horse and carriage touts, then tuktuk and
Qanatir
This lady got odd looks from people for smoking - it's not considered ladylike motorbike touts, all the way from the ferry dock to the main road. It brought back bad memories of Edfu and Luxor, particularly when a firm "No thankyou" didn't have any effect. In the end we followed most of the other people into a park just to get away from the horses. On the other side of the park, we exited and followed the waterway along for a bit until we got back to the main road. This was a very quiet area and a great contrast to the noisy road and persistent touts. We managed to avoid them on our way back to the ferry but it was fun to see several Muslim girls galloping on horses, we even got to see a couple arguing with a carriage driver over the cost of their ride and two carriage boys having a full-on scrap. We didn't get back to Cairo until 7pm and were quite hungry after having only eaten a packet of chippies all day so it was straight to our favourite kushari restaurant in Bulaq on the way home. Another fun outing and so nice to not feel all hot and sweaty...
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v boyd
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tops & gardens
I can see what you mean re the tops the girls wear ie purple scarfed chick. The gardens look well looked after and a lovely place to be. Do the barrages act like aquaducts ie irrigation channels / do they regulate the flow in/ out of the two tributaries?