As you know if you’ve been following along, we boarded the Sonesta Moon Goddess in Aswan on Friday afternoon after our return from the amazing temples at Abu Simbel to head north down the Nile with the goal of arriving at Luxor sometime Sunday night, or at least no later than very early Monday morning. The cruise ship is nicely appointed, we all have our own balconies, and the meals are all served buffet-style.
To be accurate, we didn’t actually leave Aswan until about 2 pm Saturday, partly because the shoppers from our tour group were a bit tardy returning to the ship, slightly delaying our scheduled 1:30 departure. (I had wisely chosen to not join the group going to shore, and sat on the top deck, enjoying the sun and reading my guide book and my suspense novel.) As soon as our last shopper was on board, we pushed off from the dock. It was a warm afternoon, though breezy, and we enjoyed the scenery along the river as we cruised north.
Kom Ombo
Late in the afternoon, we arrived at the small town of Kom Ombo on the east bank of the Nile, where we stopped to explore the ruins of the Greco-Roman temple with the same name. This temple was particularly interesting, because it actually honored two different ancient gods, one sanctuary dedicated to the falcon god Horus the Elder, and the other sanctuary dedicated to the worship of the crocodile god Sobek. Its beginning dates to the second century BC but wasn’t completed until the Roman emperor, Augustus, finished it in about 30 BC. We wrapped up our temple tour just as the sun set over the Nile.
Horus
Sobek
On the way out of the temple complex, we stopped for a quick run through the Crocodile Museum. Inside, the mummies of some huge crocodiles are on display. You may recall that crocodiles were gods to the ancient Egyptians, so many times their bodies were mummified for their journey to the afterlife.
We soon returned to our ship, enjoyed our dinner, and headed back down the river. Somewhere during the night, we arrived at the town of Edfu, roughly halfway between Aswan and Luxor, where we tied up for the night among many other boats. One needs to understand that at any given time, there are at least dozens of ships like ours heading one way or the other on the Nile and they all tend to stop at the same places. They tie up side by side because of limited riverfront space, and it’s quite interesting to see the maneuvering needed when one needs to leave or another arrives.
Edfu looks like an interesting tourist town with many, many horse drawn carts traveling back and forth along the riverfront street. We were told, however, by fellow travelers who had gone ashore, that sadly, the animals are badly treated, a practice that is not to be encouraged by conscientious visitors.
Leaving Edfu early in the morning, it seemed like we were in a race down the river with quite a few other vessels. As it turns out, there is one lock system on the river, located near the town of Esna. Planning and timing are crucial here, as I’m told that if you’re lucky you can get right into the locks, or you can be stuck five hours waiting your turn, or anything in between. We waited about 45 minutes waiting to enter the locks but were soon on our way again.
During the wait for entry into the locks, many enterprising locals in small rowing boats swarm the cruisers, calling out “Hallo” to the travelers aboard and hawking their wares, mostly which appeared to be soft goods such as scarves and linens.
After traversing the locks, we settled in for a nice “BBQ” buffet lunch on the top deck. There were quite a few good choices like grilled sausage and grilled chicken with hot sauce (Heinz 57], baked potato with sour cream, and lotsa veggie selections.
The rest of our day should be relaxing and quiet, but tomorrow (Monday) we’ll have a 5 am wake up call, followed by a quick breakfast, saying goodbye to the Moon Goddess, and our departure for a full day in the Valley of the Kings. It should be one of the best days yet.
THANKS AGAIN FOR FOLLOWING ALONG, HOPE YOU’RE ENJOYING IT.
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