Nile Cruise - Aswan to Luxor - October 8th 2026
Ahlan from the Valley of the Kings, Luxor, bitches!
So after we had the greatest tour in the history of tours, we had a chill day in the hotel before having dinner at Rooftop 7000 - a posh place with unparalleled sunset views of the pyramids.
The next day we flew from Cairo to Aswan, spent a night in the blah blah before getting picked up to board our home for the next few days: The Nile Jewel.
Yep, we booked a cruise from Aswan to Luxor with all stops in between.
We checked in and met our guide for the cruise: the very energetic Mina. Now, this was a tour guide. He called Jen “Queen” when she boarded, and she was his favourite for the entire trip. Our cabin was at river level and the ship had an old-school vibe. Check it:
We had a buffet lunch full of great-looking salads, soups, rice, meat dishes, breads, desserts, etc. We basically had the same lunch except that I had the fried fish - which becomes important as the tale unfolds. Does anyone see where this narrative thread is heading?? Hmmm
Also, at lunch we were given our assigned seats for all dining for the cruise duration. We were sat at a table with three Costa Ricans: Conrad, his partner Paola, and their friend Paola. Yep, two Paolas! They were great people, and we enjoyed our time with them all.
The rest of our group assembled: four young Italian guys who only talked to themselves, a young Pommy couple, whose names we never got, and Hans and Alex - a Belgian and Pom, who had lived and dived all over the world, including in OZ. They were great company, and we hung out with them most of all. Here are a few random shots from the cruise:
Anyway, the first stop for our crew of 13 was the High Dam of Aswan. This dam was an engineering marvel that was built in the 1960’s and can supply water to all of the surrounding areas when rain is scarce. The other benefit of the dam was that as the level of the Nile dropped due to the dam, many ancient treasures and places were unearthed. (unwatered??)
One of these was Philae Temple, where we went next. They discovered this place and moved it higher - stone by stone - in the 1960’s. Some of the pillars and roofs still had some paint intact from Christ's time. Every inch was covered in hieroglyphs, cartouches, and scenes involving kings and Gods.
Check it out:
Around this time, I started to feel a bit crook in the guts, and I knew the rumble.
Food poisoning.
Without going into gross details, it hit me the next day, and even though I managed to do (nearly) everything, the next few days were not the most pleasant of our year abroad.
Anyhow, speaking of the next day, our wake-up call was 3.15 am!! WTAF!!!
We rolled onto the minibus at 4 am and drove 4 hours south to Abu Simbel.
Abu Simbel is a huge complex designed and built during the reign of Ramses III and was epic.
Fans of Death on the Nile will recognise it.
Again, when the Nile was dammed, they discovered it and moved it block by block. 30 metres higher and 200 metres inland, so that it could never flood again. They rebuilt and repaired every piece of it and even built a hill behind the temple to accommodate it all.
We spent an hour here, and it was mind-blowing.
I don’t know if an 8-hour return journey was worth it though. I reckon they should have started the cruise from here, but hey, what do I know?? Nuthin’
We got back to the ship and cruised in the arvo to Edfu. We checked out the temples at Kom Ombo before another buffet.
This was kind of a blur for me, as I was walking many steps and looking at ancient wonders, but I always had one eye on where the next toilet was…IYKYK.
Overnight, we sailed to Luxor and the famed Valley of the Kings.
The next morning the wake-up call was at a leisurely 4.15 am. Oh joy of joys, an extra hour in bed.
We assembled in the vans again, and over the span of the day we did over 12000 steps in the heat as we checked out Karnak Temple Complex and Luxor Temples.
Check out the galleries. Epic again.
The next morning, I was a shot duck and missed out on the hot air balloon over Luxor, but Jen-Jen got some great pics and vids. She loved it - check it!
I rejoined the tour group at 8.30 am with Alex and Lars as they didn’t do the ballooning either. We then checked out some more temples in the Valley of the Kings, before they dropped us off at Luxor Airport where we flew back to Cairo.
I’m sorry if this post doesn’t have my usual spark, or witty stylings, but it’s pretty hard to be poetic when you have a tap inside the back of your sphinx(ta.)
Egypt, what can I say.
Like India, a land of contrasts.
The ancient monuments are incredible, the Nile is beautiful, the care that is being taken to preserve these marvels is admirable.
On the other hand, the poverty is extreme; the rubbish, the begging, the touts are confronting and the weather is almost unbearable.
We did end the trip in a beautiful hotel near the airport where we recuperated from the diesel-fumed cabin on the ship. We ate good, plain food and had a wee rest before starting the next leg of our outer-Schengen journey: Jordan.
More on that later.
Cheers
Comments