My Egypt

Part 6

January 8, 2017

Enjoyed a quiet and relaxing morning spent by the pool, overlooking the Nile. Couldn’t stay too long for the wind was quite nippy.

At 2 o’clock Abdul picked us up for our boat ride around Elephantine Island. The same style of boat that had taken us to Philae Island, took us now to a bright and cheerful Nubian Village. The boat ride took us an entire hour, going along the right side of the island, passing a few feluccas along the way.

The boat let us off at a small landing and we walked upwards towards the village. Bright, cheerfully painted houses with murals greeted us along the way. We passed camels and tourist shops. When we passed children, I remembered my bright stickers I had brought from Canada, and began handing out these little gifts to all the children around us, who thanked us with their beautiful smiles.

Abdul brought us to a sky-blue house for our afternoon tea. What a treat. He guided us up some stairs which led up to the roof top. From here one had an amazing view down towards the first cataract. The cataracts of the Nile are shallow parts of the Nile River, between Khartoum and Aswan, where the surface of the water is broken by many small boulders and rocks jutting out of the river bed. 

It was quite a lovely view from up here as we leaned back on our comfortable chairs and drank our tea. 

As we climbed back down the steep stairs Abdul pointed out some life crocodiles in cages. One could have thought they were dead, they almost looked fake. But Abdul assured us they were alive and real.

We made it back to the boat; my poor husband limping all the way. Thankfully we had another hours’ ride back to the hotel, for him to rest his foot.

On our way back around the other side of the island, Abdul pointed out a huge highlight for us. The First Cataract Hotel where “Death on the Nile” was filmed many years ago. 

This was the legendary place where King Fouad once entertained and Agatha Christie sipped cocktails. This majestic hotel sits on a pink granite cliff overlooking the world’s longest river and Elephantine Island. Apparently, according to Abdul, one night in this legendary hotel costs $8,000! What a bummer!

As our hotel slowly emerged in the distance, so did a nasty cold breeze, chilling us to the bones. Of course, we were not dressed accordingly, and we shivered for the rest of the way.

Just as we were pulling up to our landing dock, Abdul pointed out our cruise ship, already docked a few meters away. Tomorrow afternoon we would be on that amazing ship. How thrilling. 

Another exciting journey awaits us.