September 20
Today was a "nice day." When planning our excursions for the trip several months ago, on this day we had to choose between an optional trip to Abel Simba or to stick with the included excursion locally. If you went with the free/included itinerary you would visit the High Dam of Aswan, a local market and get to ride on a traditional Egyptian felucca (sail boat). The optional excursion to Abel Simba, which you may not recognize by name but you almost certainly would by the photo below was very appealing, especially to the history teacher in me. It is a massive and iconic temple dedicated to the pharaoh Ramses II. But it was far from a simple choice for us.....first, you would need to get up early in the morning and then board a commuter flight of about 40 minutes to a small airport. Second, knowing how my wife feels - and to be fair she's really enjoyed all the ancient temples and tombs to this point - I had to consider just how enthused would she be about another tomb/temple. But the two most "negative" factors for me were - and I get it, this may be very unique to me - the temple WOULD have been completely flooded and lost for eternity when the new High Aswan Dam was built so archeologists took it apart piece by piece and moved it to higher ground. FOR ME, not being in the "original tomb" was a drawback even though it was the same stones, etc. That may be just me. But with all these factors to consider there was also the FREE included tour vs. near $450 PER PERSON to take the optional trip. We opted against and stuck with the local.
So, what would I advise you to do if you come? Difficult to say because what we did this morning was "nice." Nothing that even came close to a "WOW" but as we said several times during the four and a half hours, "We're experiencing Egypt and not everything is an ancient tomb or temple." Still....... We boarded our bus at 8 am and drove through Aswan which is widely known as the most beautiful city in Egypt. For me, based on what we saw, it was "nice" - drove through the downtown and tourist district along the Nile. Wasn't any different from any resort town and clearly was on par with most Egyptian places we've been - seemed old and could use some sprucing up. Took us 40 minutes to reach the High Aswan Dam, and that included driving over the old dam. Much like the tomb of Hatshepsut a couple days ago it wasn't so much what you saw but the enormity of the accomplishment. The new dam is just massive and it would take the same number of blocks used to build TWENTY pyramids to build the dam. OK, that is H-U-G-E my friends.
But we got out of the bus and looked at it during the allotted twenty minutes and that was that. We did walk across the street to see the enormous Lake Nasser which is created by the dam. Sadly the water level is so SO much higher that thousands of locals had to be relocated. And again, looking at the Nile on the northern side (left below) vs. the huge lake (right, below) - and this view is only about 1/3 of the full lake view - you can begin to appreciate just how unbelievably big this project was. Good spot for today's obligatory selfie as well. And as we headed back to town we crossed the old Aswan Dam which is about 1/4 the size in terms of what it could do.
Another "hmmmm" fact about the dam. And they KNEW this going in - the new dam does NOT allow any water to flow through. So the rich and fertile Nile Delta at the mouth into the Mediterranean is dying because no more silt is carried up river. And apparently because of the impact on water levels, the entire city of Alexandria is doomed to being completely submerged - AND at this point, that's irreversible. As for the lack of fertile growing soil there are studies to create and/or bring artifically fertilized soil north but nothing has been discovered to definitively solve that problem.
OK.....so what's with the photo of some sand? I know, doesn't LOOK significant, but this is the edge of the Great Sahara Desert! OH.....pretty cool then, right? :) Next we went to the local market. We were told that the merchants were "less aggressive" and generally this was true. I'm sure for some travelers, they enjoy the market experience. And to be fair, two days ago when we bought our galabeyas we did "enjoy" the experience. But it's just so far outside our comfort zone and world of experiences. As Kim and I agreed, were they not so pushy we probably would have certainly looked at a lot more things closely and even bought something. But they come right up to you and try to corral you. Just not a pleasant "tourist-like" experience for us. We thought 45 minutes to roam up and down one street was a lot of time and after going end-to-end we joined the majority of the guests at the cafe near where the bus would pick us up. I took advantage to enjoy an "Egyptian moment" and sip some traditional mint tea in a traditional Egyptian market.....just doing what nearly every Egyptian does nearly every day.
Finally, what would be the highlight - a ride on a traditional Egyptian felucca. I'll take some of the responsibility here, as PROBABLY my expectations were too high. But in my defense, you read the description for the excursion with the photo that's provided (above) and don't you get the impression you're going to board this ancient sailboat and cruise the Nile for a period of time? I pictured us sailing down the middle of this massive, historic river with sites being pointed out to us for 45 minutes or so. Uh, not so much. Let's be fair - and I AM a "glass half full" guy......it was a very cool experience, boarding the boat and sailing with the breeze softly blowing through your hair under a canopy so you were very comfortable. But that being said we basically made a circle in a narrow part of the harbor (zig zagging to keep the wind in our sail), never out of eyesight of our dock. And the "stunning landscapes" described were a hotel and a historic temple on an island in the middle of the river. Add in that our guide about 15 minutes in stood up and said, "OK, enough of the relaxing sail, it's time for a commercial!" and the two deck hands showed off their many items to buy and it was like being in a market again. Fortunately they were not that pushy if you indicated no interest at first glance. So on the upside......we DID get the sail, it was cool to sail on the Nile, the weather was great, and it was unique. NOT what I was expecting.
The very coolest part of the sail for me personally came right after we pushed off. We sailed by the Old Cataract Hotel which was where Agatha Christie wrote the mystery "Death On The Nile" and some of the movie scenes were shot here.....knowing that this movie was in part an inspiration for me wanting so badly to visit here made this a special moment.
One of the highlights of the day, if not THE highlight came at lunch :) If you read yesterday's journal you recall that for lunch our server, Petra was so sweet to load up my carrot cake with icing and whipped cream. OK. So today we returned to the ship and went to the same Aquavit Terrace for lunch. The dessert for today was vanilla ice cream with raspberry compote and whipped cream. Petra was serving the drinks as another girl took our order. So when asked, I said, "for dessert I'd like the ice cream with A LOT of whipped cream!" As I was ordering I caught Petra's eye and she got a huge smile. So when we were finished with lunch it was Petra who brought out the ice cream, grinning all the way. And as she delivered it and I thanked her she said that when she told the chef that on this order she wanted extra whipped cream he said, "Is it the same guest that wanted the extra icing yesterday?" with a smile and she replied that indeed it was :))))
Tomorrow we are still in the Aswan area as we tour a Nubian village and an ancient temple. But from what we were told today, what should be VERY COOL is that when we leave the ship in the morning we will board motor boats for an HOUR-LONG cruise down the Nile to reach the Nubian village!
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