After a late, post-balloon breakfast, we did a little last minute shopping... we knew where everything was in every store by then. About 10:30am, we gathered for the short trip to our cruise ship, La Belle Epoque. This ship holds only 32 passengers and has a crew of over 40. It is a gorgeous place, beautifully decorated with lots of red carpet, teak. and fabulous covered and open decks.... even a little hot-tub sized pool. This seems more like a private yacht than a cruise ship... we are all delighted.


We begin the cruise with lovely lunch on the shaded deck... this is the life! Everything is so perfect... from the passing scene along the Nile banks to the decorations and the service.





Our room is small, of course, and very nicely decorated, with the tiniest bathroom you have ever seen, it is more like a miniature of a "real" bathroom. We even have a basket of fresh fruit. We have floor to ceiling windows.. so we won't miss a thing as we cruise. We have a brochure in the room with information regarding the boat and also a page of Arabic phrases. It gave the Arabic word for every numeral imaginable but only one phrase, "Ana raggat keteer" which means: "I have diarrhea." I hope this isn't a phrase they expect us to need a lot during the cruise.....


We spend much of the next three days watching life on the Nile as we cruise along. It is so amazing and there is so much to see in this ever-changing scene.

Some of us made the mistake of making a purchase at the on-board gift shop. Thereafter, we were the clerk's best friends and he adored all of us beautiful American women, and he followed us everywhere and always had something "special" he wanted to show us in his shop. We didn't really want to see the "specialty". It turned out to be quite a battle of wits to avoid this smarmy little man... we would go from one end of the ship to the other to stay out of his sight!

It was at this point in the trip that Gypsy came by the name, Nefersweeti; and Cuz got the name, Nefercheapi. Nefersweeti.. because of the gift shop guy who called her "Sweetie"... and Nefercheapi because of.... well... Cuz is cheap.

Cuz: Hey, I am really, really good at avoiding these vendors!




We had an exciting first day on the Nile. That night we went to bed happy campers. We had gone through the lock at Esna during the evening, and then moored at the town of Esna to get an early start in the morning... like 3 am... to get us to our next stop at a good time for sightseeing.

We were relaxing in our bunks, and all was quiet. Cuz was contentedly writing in our travel journal. (Without which, this web page would never be written.) Suddenly there was a loud knock at our door. Someone with a heavy accent announces something. We don't know what is said... so we ignore it. Denial is always an appropriate response. The knock comes again, and again the announcement in grim tones. All we can make out is something about "clothes". Is something wrong with our clothes? Are we supposed to get into our clothes? Does he want us to give him our clothes? What ABOUT our clothes?

Cuz tries to get a clearer understanding of the situation by hopping out of bed and putting her ear to the slats at the bottom of our cabin door. All we could deduce was that it was something about our clothes, but we couldn't get what it was. Oh, well.



Very shortly, another boat moors alongside La Belle Epoque... and we find the crew of that boat standing with their noses just inches from our big window... ok... he was telling us to "close" our curtains.






At Edfu, the next morning, we left our boat and found carriage waiting to take us to the temple dedicated to Horus. This temple had been covered in sand for so long that when it was excavated, it was found to be in pristine condition; the best preserved temple in Egypt. The ceiling and very tops of the pillars were sooty.. when the sand was that high.. people were taking shelter here.. and their fires damaged the very top of the temple.







We took our carriages back through the town.. and it was a most interesting one... to dockside. We were met by the crew offering us cool, moist towels and tepid, bitter lemonade. I think that must be an acquired taste, but Cuz thought it was great.



We settled into the restful cruise pattern, relaxing and watching Egypt slide by, until we reached Kom Ombo about 5 pm. We saw this temple mostly illuminated, as it was twilight as we started out for the temple.

Kom Ombo is divided into two identical temples (except for the decoration, of course) with one side dedicated to Sobek.. the evil crocodile god of all misfortunes; and the other to Horus.. everybody's favorite bird. There were some mummified crockadiles on display... they were gods, so of course they were given the very best send-off when they died.






As we cruise farther south toward Aswan, the landscape is changing, with the green Nile valley becoming narrower and the desert coming close to the river banks.


I think Cuz must be enjoying this trip. In keeping with her usual vacation tradition.. she fell out of bed during the night.

We approach quite a large city at Aswan. But after the sparsely populated areas we have been sailing through... a town of any size would impress us.



A launch arrived to whisk us to San Simeon.. where we are to arrive at the old monestary by camel. As we pass by Kirchner Island and the botanical garden, an inflatable of TPs rams our launch and the TPs wave their assault rifles around and yell at our boatman. They don't want us on the island; they don't want us near the island; they want us to go away, and NO, we cannot take their picture. Ok, I won't take your picture. Besides, we are not visiting your island anyway, you grumpy guys.






We finally arrive and disembark at the camel area and are very excited by the sight of all the camels. This will be an adventure. We got our assigned camels and drivers and the challenge is at hand. The camel gets up. I wish I had paid more attention as I suddenly couldn't remember which end was going to get up first. Wow.. it is the rear end!

Cuz: We quickly nicknamed ourselves "Florence of Arabia". God we're good....

Once that was over it was all fun cameling. Camels are the most comfortable and smooth rides imaginable. I might trade in my Toyota for one. This surely was a trip highlight... and I will select future trips by the amount of camel riding they promise. The ride was so exciting that it took a lot of focusing to pay attention to the ruins of San Simeon that we had come to see. I know I just wanted to get back on my camel and ride away.
I will have to admit that the monestary was interesting. Established in the 6th century by a monk who was a serious person. He spent ALL of time in his little cell, reading the Bible... did they even have a bible in those days?... so he would tie his hair to the ceiling so he wouldn't fall asleep while reading. I can understand that. Maybe next time I have to read something of.. say... moderate interest... I may tie my hair to the ceiling too. Enough of this history stuff... let's go ride those camels again!

Our launch was waiting for us to take us to see a Nubian village and home. There was singing and dancing while be sailed and I must say this Nubian music is great. It really does make you want to dance and sing and be happy.



The village was typical of what we had been seeing all along the Nile, and the home was interesting. As we entered the village, Cuz said it was nice that she could hear sheep bleating. Oops.. it was the call to prayer from Aswan across the river. That Cuz, you can dress her up, but you can't take her out.

At the home, the family showed us their rooms and bake house and kitchen. They had cool refreshments for us and had lots of goodies for sale.. why, of course. It was a very pleasant visit though.. and we came away with many Nubian goodies and left behind many American dollars. That evening, on our boat, we had a Nubian folk show. Again the captivating music.. and Gypsy got a "thumbs-up" from the musicians for her Nubian headdress that she got at the village.