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Published: December 31st 2010
Once again two pages of pictures. Enjoy! We decided to stay in a nice hotel in Aswan with a view of the River Nile. You do, of course, have to pay for the privilege! A short taxi ride from the train station and we found ourselves in the imaginatively named
Nile Hotel with a stunning vista of the river from which it takes its name.
The river may well be beautiful here, but a walk alongside it is hardly peaceful. “Mister, you want boat ride? You want camel ride? You want belt made from camel leather? You want taxi tour tomorrow? You want nice restaurant?” At least they weren’t offering Russ girls too!! A simple NO wasn’t always sufficient and it all became a bit of a hassle after a while.
What we wanted to do was cross the river on the public ferry. The cost was supposed to be just one Egyptian Pound (10p) but instead of helping us to find the way, all everyone wanted to do was get us on a felucca or motorboat for an hour or two of sailing on the Nile. Even when we found the ferry they wouldn’t take us for any
less than five times the normal price. Ok, so it’s only 50p but it’s a matter of principle. We had no option though and soon joined the burkha-clad women and the tradesmen on the small ferryboat and crossed to the other side.
Once on the West bank of the Nile we side-stepped the camels, paid our entry fees and climbed up the steep sand-covered steps to the Tombs of the Nobles. At the top of the steps we showed our tickets to the tourist policeman and he accompanied us around unlocking various tombs and showing us the way. Whilst we would rather have wandered around by ourselves, the tombs are locked so he has to go with you to open them. Venturing inside an Egyptian tomb for the first time had us feeling like Indiana Jones! We were very surprised at how narrow some of the corridors were and how colourful the decor was. The paintings were fabulous and the etched hieroglyphics were amazing. Some of the tombs were better than others but all in all it was well worth the effort of getting there. In one of the tombs Russ continued down a very low and claustrophobic tunnel
but there was nothing much to see at the bottom!!
We paid the customary
baksheesh to the policeman then found a rare shaded spot to sit and eat our lunch admiring the views. Whilst sat there we had to say NO to a few camel rides but they were not too pushy. Then we climbed up the sandy hill to the tomb on top. It was a hot and tricky climb but the views from the top were worth every bead of sweat which had quickly evaporated into the desert heat.
The ferry back was taken at the proper price of one Egyptian Pound. The ticket man was surprised when we just slammed down two coins on his desk but he said nothing so we just walked on! Back on the East side we were back into the land of “Nay, nay and thrice nay” as offer after offer of boat trips etc. came our way! Avoiding all of them we made our way back to the hotel for a snooze. Later on we dined in an Egyptian restaurant overlooking the Nile. The Panorama Restaurant was super friendly and the food was good. We had Egyptian
tagen which
is like a stew-cum-soup and delicious. Afterwards we found our way to the
Salah Ed Din Restaurant where we sat out on their riverside terrace for a beer counting the number of Nile cruisers which were moored up. There were far too many to count!
A proper independent tourism day next! Fending off the now irritating offers of boat rides we caught the ferry over to Elephantine Island. It is so called because of its association with the ivory trade we think. There we saw the ruins of Abu. Once again we were shown round by a policeman but after one building he realised that with no way of telling us anything he wasn’t going to get a
baksheesh and ended our tour. We refused to pay and refused to leave. A good job too as we then had a good hour or so wandering around the ruins of the old town unaccosted by anything other than the muezzin’s call to prayer. Once again the reliefs on the walls were incredible and the views over the Nile breathtaking. We also got a good view of the Aga Khan’s mausoleum, the huge Coptic Church and the Sofitel currently being refurbished. The latter was
made famous by Agatha Christie! It featured in the film version of “Death on the Nile”.
The island is also home to the huge Movenpick resort which we avoided. Between it and Abu are a couple of Nubian villages. These are really poor places but interesting to wander through. Eventually we found what we were looking for – the ferry over to Kitchener Island where the Botanical Gardens are located. It seems not too many tourists make it to the ferry as it was a bit ad-hoc. A couple of men were waiting and they called across to the other side for a motor boat to come over. It took about 20 minutes but eventually we were on our way. The Botanical Gardens were very pleasant but surprisingly busy. It seems every schoolchild in town was there!! It was a great spot for Trish to do some bird watching with a wide variety of subjects from herons to kingfishers. We rested up with some refreshing Egyptian black tea before taking a ferry back to Aswan.
We returned to the Salah Ed Din Restaurant for lunch and a couple of beers. It was a nice spot to relax and
watch the multitude of life on the river. Then we returned to our room for a well earned snooze. Feeling refreshed we admired the sunset from our room as the feluccas ventured out onto the waters in great numbers.
In the evening we went out to Philae Island to watch the
sound and light show. It’s a bit expensive to take an organised trip there, especially when it is so easy to do by yourself. First we had to negotiate a taxi to take us down to the harbour. We agreed a price of 50 Egyptian Pounds for him to drop us off and collect us after the show. Next we bought our tickets for the show before facing the boatmen with whom we had to haggle for a good price to get to the island. Having already gone through the entry gate you are something of a captive audience and the boatmen wanted very high prices which we refused. We met another British couple who joined us in haggling and with four of us sharing a boat we managed to get the price down to 15 per person. They had wanted 35 and we had wanted to pay 10 so I
guess we did ok.
The boat trip out to the island must be an incredible journey by daylight. At night we could see the outlines of the rocky cliffs which must be quite impressive. On arrival we caught the end of the Spanish show before being directed around the site with English commentary accompanying a display illuminating the tombs in a variety of colours. It was very good and told the story of the relocation of the Temple of Isis when the High Dam was constructed. Several tombs and temples were saved from the floods. The story was narrated by a man playing the voice of the River Nile and several women playing the voices of Isis in her various guises. We thought it was informative and entertaining but others thought it was a bit camp and cheesy! It was well worth the trip even though our taxi driver then tried to get more money out of us because we were later than he had expected! Needless to say, he didn’t get a
baksheesh!!
We had another beer with our new friends before calling it a day. We met up with them again the next day following our
trip to Abu Simbel (next blog). It was a great multinational evening as we were joined by fellow travellers from Greece and Argentina. It was also a late one! That wasn’t a problem because we were joining our Nile cruise (subsequent blog) the next day so no need for an early start!!
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The Travel Camel
Shane Dallas
Great photo!
It feels as if I could enter this image and walk along the path!