We watched as the balloons were filled with the hot air.
The area near the Nile River is fertile; quite a contrast to the desert just a few miles away.
There's our hotel down below...the Sofitel Winter Palace.
Sunrise over the Nile...
It's time to land. Here's the ground crew catching the rope our pilot threw down.
The rope breaks and they stand there stunned!
Looks like we just got a longer ride....we head across the Nile to find another place to land.
We drift right over the top of our hotel.
These boys came running as we landed. They were very curious.
Oh, what fun we had!
We pass many locals; donkeys are a very common mode of transportation.
As we near our destination, we pass by the ship we will be boarding later today...
The town of Esna was an important stop on the camel-caravan route for centuries. We leave the bus to walk through part of the old town. We are no longer in the big cities....this is rural Egypt and it feels like we are stepping back in time.
Tarek tells us we are invited in this place to see how grain is processed...
We also frequently saw these clay pots outside homes. They contain water for people passing by to take a drink. But not us...we are very careful to drink only bottled water or water that has been boiled for tea or coffee.
Terry tries a cup of Turkish coffee.
The town of Esna is also the home of the Temple of Khnum, The temple was built almost 30 feet below the present ground level and although the hall has been excavated, the rest of the temple is still buried underneath the modern town. The temple appears to sit in a large pit hollowed out from the town.
This temple was actually built during the Greek-Roman period, when the town of Esna became the capital of Upper Egypt.
Inside the reconstruction is on-going...
The roof of the hall is supported by columns with beautifully carved and painted floral capitals.
It is then time to board our Nile river yacht to begin one of the highlights of our Egyptian adventure. It is a 16-passenger dehabeya named Asiya--and it's just for our tour group!
Our cabin has beds, a bathroom, and closet.
The deck is open with a wonderful view. We eat and relax here.
A great place to watch the river as we glide on by.
We see fishermen as we drift by.
As we enjoyed lunch, we set sail on the Nile.
After sailing for a few hours, we stopped at Hegz, a small village along the Nile's east bank. With this size ship, it is easy to pull over and tie up along the bank and go to places where "tourists" don't go. We are definitely "off the beaten path".
We are met by this man, who leads us into his village.
We enter the village...
We are offered tea or juice. We are assured it is "safe".
A few of our women travelers are invited into the house and shortly thereafter appear in traditional clothing and do a little dance with one of the children...
Here is that cute little boy. He loved interacting with us.
We are shown the outdoor oven. She bakes 50 loaves of bread each week to feed the family.
We get a look inside the family's home.
They, too, have made the pilgrimage to Mecca.
As we walk back to the yacht, these kids come running to greet us.
The next morning we cruise farther south along the Nile.
Here's a photo of our dehabeya with the sails up.
We didn't have the sails up much as there was not enough wind to carry us along. With the sails down, we are pulled by a small motor boat.
We pass by palm trees, farmland, birds, and quietly observe scenes of traditional Egyptian life.
We cruise along until after lunch when we stop at Edfu and leave the dehabeya to take a ride on a horse-pulled carriage.
That's our driver, Hassan, and his horse Ferrari.
Ferrari was fast and we soon arrived at the Temple of Horus, the best-preserved cult temple in Egypt.
This temple is dedicated to the falcon-headed god.
Inside we saw remarkable hieroglyphs and bas-reliefs covering all the walls.
Hieroglyphs
A bas-relief...
On the way back to our boat, we stopped at the local market. Tarek gave each of us 20 Egyptian pounds (about $1US) to bargain and buy some fruits/vegetables to take back to our chef.
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This woman had quite the haul to carry home...I wonder how much she paid for all that!
Back on the dehabeya, we cruised for a little bit and then pulled over to the river bank and tied up near the little village of Fauaza, where we spend the night.
The crew surprised us by setting up a BBQ on the shore.
A little blurry, but here's our chef and crew that made this a very memorable evening.
And this ends two very full but wonderful days experiencing life on the Nile. We have three more full days on the dehabeya where we will see and experience much, much more.
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