Our cruise took us to a number of sites that are, otherwise, difficult to visit. The “tours” were mostly cattle-calls, and we chose to use them simply to get us to the site and in. Beyond a series of transportation and ticket provisions, the “planned excursions” were not for us.
We started our “bad form” by opting out of the West bank tour of the Valley of the Kings and Deir el Bahari. Our guide and our experiences of last year were too good to mess with – especially since they scheduled a 5am wake-up call and 6am to the bus. YUCK – you call that a holiday? Also, after they finished at the sites, the group was busing down to meet the boat at the Esna locks.
WHY THE HELL WOULD WE WANT TO BE BUSSED DOWN THE NILE??? We were on a Nile CRUISE weren’t we?? Besides wanting to (1) sleep in and (2) watch the Nile slip by, there was also the issue of the locks at Esna.
In the years we’ve been in Seattle, one of Jack’s and my favorite things to do on a warm summer afternoon (and on his birthday) is to go to the Ballard Locks with a picnic and watch the boats go up and down between the lake and the sound. I had the thrilling experience of actually being on a LARGE research boat going thru the locks a few years ago, and (in my own geek-a-tude) thought it was the coolest thing!!
That said, we did not want to miss the ship maneuvering thru the locks on the way up the Nile. Our decision caused a bit of consternation amongst the crew, but was, eventually, graciously acceded to.
The lock lifted us about 5meters before we continued our leisurely progress toward Edfu.
We tied up at Edfu for just before sunset, but our “tour” did not leave until full-dark. Rather unfortunate, as the sunset light on the temple would have been exquisite. We “negotiated” with the guide for the amount of time we would have and, as usual, struck out on our own to see the temple. The temple is dedicated to Horus, depicted as the falcon or falcon-headed god who brings the dawn.
The rest of the Edfu pics (I don’t have many, because I was shooting without a tripod, and my hand is not THAT steady!) can be seen HERE.
Hello! I’ll moving to Cairo (from Seattle, to get MA at AUC) in 3 weeks and Matt Weatherford told me about your blog. It’s a very helpful view into my future life. Do you have any suggestions on finding a apt.roommate before arrival? Craigslist/Cairo doesn’t get much traffic it seems and its hard to gauge the “sketchiness” factor) If so, email me above…much appreciated!
Joanne