Aswan Days
Sunrise in Aswan is fuzzy. The sand drifting across the Sahara and around the Nile Valley turns everything into an ochre tinted blur into which anything in the distance shimmers in and out of view. And at the end of the day, the sunset hints at beauty, but then turns a strangely pale yellow as if its paints have been thinned with water. In between the two, that ochre tinge to the day rarely departs.
We had some pre-conceived ideas about Aswan which have proved to be completely inaccurate. Far from finding an increase on the rustic scale, Aswan has a river frontage sporting a number of hotels, a thoughtfully constructed corniche garden and a much larger concentration of Nile cruise boats than we had anticipated.
In other words, there is more of a touristic look to the city, or at least its Nile frontage, than we had expected – there’s even some floating restaurants which serve alcohol! You don’t have to wander too far from the waterfront though to be back in quintessential Egypt among the souks and djellabas and mosques, but Aswan has definitely capitalised on its major attraction, the Nile.
And we’re not saying this is a bad thing – it’s actually very nicely done and the Corniche is an appealing mix of Egyptian culture and tasteful riviera. At night in particular, there is an extremely relaxing feeling in looking out at the city lights and their shimmering reflections in the water. Even Elephantine Island which on our arrival was such a shock, looks lovely from a distance.
Indeed, there is much to like about Aswan. Most of the city sits on the east bank, from which the view across the Nile reveals first a number of midstream islands, and, beyond, towering sand dunes heralding the resumption of the desert. The largest dune is spectacularly illuminated at night, giving it the appearance of a giant space ship hovering above the river.
Ramadan is moving on. There are still plenty of cafes and restaurants which are completely closed during daylight hours, and some which serve juices and coffee only, out of view behind a draped curtain. Street food, such a big part of daily Egyptian life a week ago, has vanished completely until after dusk. Predictably though, in the more touristic areas little has changed and everything is open.
Generally speaking, we have found Egyptian cuisine surprisingly bland, with herbs and spices used very much more sparingly than in neighbouring countries. We have though eaten camel meat for the first time, with very tasty, tender chunks in a delicious tagine. We’ve also developed a taste for the local drink of kerkade, made from dried hibiscus flowers and consumed either hot or cold.
The current low level of tourism here, so devastating for so many, has somewhat ironic compensations for people like us. Big sights such as the Pyramids and Abu Simbel are nowhere near as crowded as normal, and it also means that it’s possible to hire a boat and skipper, design our own day out, and call in at all desired destinations, just for ourselves and without paying a fortune.
Our day doing this is superb as we make stops at The Tombs Of The Nobles (another one and half way up the “space ship” dune), Kitchener Island (see below), St Simeon monastery (a bit of a non-event but glorious views back across the Nile), “the beach” (where we take several dips in the cold waters of the river) and a Nubian village.
Kitchener Island is named after Lord Kitchener of “your country needs YOU” WW1 recruitment poster fame, who was gifted the island as a reward for military services in Egypt. Importing trees and plants from the Indian sub-continent, he set about creating a botanical garden which has since been hugely enhanced by further importation and experimentation by the Government – Kitchener gave the island back to Egypt in his Will. It’s now a lovely and varied garden to walk through……….
Being here in Aswan, we get a real sense that we are on the exact line in Africa where skin colour and DNA changes, the brown, tanned, appearance of northern Egyptians giving way to the Nubians, an ancient race with distinct black African features. Nubia, an ancient land now partly in Egypt but mostly in Sudan, was where one of the oldest African civilisations had its roots, direct descendants of those peoples being today’s Nubians. There is an obvious and fierce pride in their heritage: they are all very quick to tell you that they are of Nubian descent. Go in to a Nubian village and it’s easy to feel that you’ve left North Africa altogether……..
Day 18 and it’s Friday April 8th, and despite the fact that in my heart I’m still the same daft kid I always was, it’s my 65th birthday. 65?? How did that happen?? But what has happened is that Michaela has secured a sunset table back at the Old Cataract Hotel for a rather lovely birthday dinner, watching the sun take on its strange insipid yellow as it drops beneath the dunes, consuming a lovely (colonial rather than Egyptian) meal and enjoying a few beers and a bottle of red. A great setting for a birthday celebration……..
Wrapping up the final sights of the Aswan area, we take in first the Unfinished Obelisk – unfinished because cracks started to appear in the granite – which, if completed, would have been one third larger than any other obelisk from the ancient Egyptian era. Our last temple of this phase is Philae Temple, sited on an island within the Nile and another spectacular example of these wonderful ancient monuments.
The very existence of Philae was also threatened by construction of the Aswan High Dam in the 1960s and the consequent rising waters of Lake Nasser, and was, like Abu Simbel, dismantled and re-sited on higher ground in another amazing feat of archeological salvage.
And on the theme of major engineering projects, the High Dam itself is worthy of a brief visit and close enough to Philae for us to visit both on the same excursion out of town. As mentioned in our previous post, Lake Nasser, created by the dam, is phenomenally huge and stretches nearly 300 miles south. Construction of the dam, the largest embankment dam in the entire world, brought an end to the annual natural flooding of the valley but also alleviated drought years which had historically caused famine and disease.
Such a giant project was not without negative impact, both in terms of environmental impact and human displacement, with scores of Nubian villages submerged beneath the rising waters. But of course the change to Egypt’s economy and overall wellbeing brought about by the Nile Valley becoming so fertile was enormous, and is generally accepted to have far outweighed the negatives. In fact, in terms of payback through improved economy, it is claimed that the massive cost of the dam was recouped within just two years, which is pretty impressive.
Our time in Aswan is almost done and our next stages are shifting somewhat, because we’ve found ourselves facing what you might call a comfort zone conundrum – well, two of them in fact. Our original plan for next stop after Aswan was the town of Qena, close to the ancient site of Dendera, and then from there on to Hurghada where a bit of coastal chill time was on the cards.
Both of these have fallen by the wayside, for very different reasons. Qena is very much off the tourist trail, and it turns out that its only decent hotel is currently open only to Egyptians; foreign visitors are barred. The remaining hotels are, according to advice from guys we trusted back in Luxor, “not clean”, and, after our Elephantine Island horror, we’re not keen to risk it.
Hurghada is the absolute opposite – for travellers like us who always want to get to experience a country or culture to the full, a 25-mile stretch of international hotels with private beaches and all-inclusive deals is absolutely not our style. As our “about” page tells you, we want our money to go directly into the local economy, not to faceless global companies.
But we’ve been forced to compromise. Indeed, we’ve shunned Hurghada, and instead we’re heading to El Quessir, further down the Red Sea coast. We’re going to be in a big, international hotel, some distance from authentic Egypt, and we have no idea how it will feel, as we’ve never done this before and it is not normally the way we roll.
There’s different ways of being out of your comfort zone.
29 Comments
Terrie
Happy Birthday Phil! It sounds lovely and challenging and so well written- up to both your standards. The Philae temple is stunning. Yes Egyptian cuisine is super bland one can only have so much ful medams. Travel well. Separate e mail to follow. T&C
Monkey's Tale
Happy Birthday Phil! I love the look of the Nubian village, you’re right it looks so different from the typical Egyptian towns. Maggie
Phil & Michaela
Yes very different…and thank you!
Phil & Michaela
Yep, apart from the koshary and the camel tagine it’s been rather ordinary. Cheers for the good wishes T&C…
Andrew Petcher
If you go on Mastermind this will surely be your specialist subject. The building of that dam led directly to the establishment of UNESCO World heritage with the objective of safeguarding any treasures under threat.
Phil & Michaela
That’s a very decent fact too big to be called trivia, I didn’t know it, either. Mastermind? Oh probably either Derby County 1969-79 or the works of Douglas Adams. Too much of a phillistine for a “proper” subject!
Andrew Petcher
I see you pick the glory years!
Interesting fact that Derby County was formed as an offshoot of Derbyshire County Cricket Club. They wanted to register as Derbyshire County FC but the FA wouldn’t allow it because they thought the name too long.
Only other County teams are Notts and Stockport.
Such a shame to see their current difficult position.
Phil & Michaela
Ah well…neither Notts or Stockport are League clubs any more, although Stockport are poised to return this season. There’s also Ross County in Scotland and Haverfordwest County in of course Wales. As far as Derbyshire cricket was concerned, the original idea was to give the cricketers something to do in winter! When I first started going to matches, Ian Buxton played for both…I think he was the last person to do so. Around the same time Chris Balderstone was playing for Leicestershire and Carlisle United.
Andrew Petcher
Graham Cross played for both Leicester City and Leicestershire Cricket. Dennis Compton played for Arsenal and for Middlesex and for England.. Impossible now.
Phil & Michaela
Ah, Graham Cross…offered a transfer by Clough at Derby, and asked Clough for time to think it over. Clough’s response was, I wouldn’t sign him now if he crawled to Derby on his hands and knees….!
Andrew Petcher
Ended up as a milkman somewhere in Leicestershire. How the mighty are fallen.
WanderingCanadians
Happy Birthday!! Having a nice dinner, grabbing a few bevvies and watching the sunset (while on vacation) sounds like a great way to celebrate your birthday!
Phil & Michaela
Thank you!
BrianTucker
I am so glad you are enjoying Egypt and the blog is as evr very entertaining
And you have tried Egyptiian wine,rather okay I thought.
It still ranks as one of our best holidays with so many fantastic sights and sites and espereinces
Enjoy the rest of your trip
Brian
Phil & Michaela
Thanks Brian – as far as the wine is concerned, jury’s out, as we’ve had one decent one and one absolute bummer so far!
Latitude Adjustment
Another educational post. The dune at night does look like a flying space craft, or a resort! Cheers!
wetanddustyroads
The Nile and the desert … it just forms the perfect picture! The Kerkade drink sounds interesting. And happy belated birthday – what an amazing way of celebrating it (you know, age is only a number , hey)!
Lovely pictures of Philae Temple … oh, and I like the photo of the Desert Girl as well!
Phil & Michaela
Thank you…and oh yes she’s very cool…
wetanddustyroads
Of course she is 😁
Toonsarah
Happy birthday Phil, what a great way to celebrate! And I can assure you, being a year ahead of you, that there is life after 65 😆
I’m really enjoying following this trip, especially now you’re in new territory to me. I’ve always wanted to return to Egypt to see Abu Simbel and Aswan, and like you wouldn’t have expected the latter to be so built-up and touristy. It’s great that it’s relatively uncrowded for you – that has been one of the few (very few) positives of Covid I guess. We experienced the same at Angkor at the start of the pandemic. I like the sound of kerkade (I loved the hibiscus juice I drank in Senegal and Gambia) and the Nubian village looks very interesting. Looking forward to hearing how you get on in El Quessir!
Phil & Michaela
Thanks Sarah , well so far it’s…err…interesting in El Quessir…more to follow!
grandmisadventures
Happies of birthdays! what an amazing place to celebrate another trip around the sun. That Nubian village is so lovely and such a colorful contrast to the rest of the area.
Phil & Michaela
Thanks Meg, yes the Old Cataract was good, thank you!
Annie Berger
Reading posts out of order has explained why I didn’t know where your all inclusive resort was located! Enjoyed looking at the pictures of the food you ate – we were never offered camel meat so glad you tasted camel tangine. As my English great-aunt spent much of her life bringing copying the images in the tombs in Egypt, I really appreciated once again seeing the originals in your photos.
Phil & Michaela
Wow that’s an extremely cool family connection Annie!
Lookoom
Your presentation of Aswan is very positive, compared to Luxor I found the city more boring, but above all the heat was suffocating. The temple of Philae is a nice outing, especially the approach on the water which makes it a beautiful site. What a nice birthday at the Old Cataract, something to remember.
Phil & Michaela
We liked Luxor, actually..plenty to do. Aswan is very picturesque but its people were a challenge.
leightontravels
Very happy if very belated birthday wishes, Phil. It seems that Aswan really delivered with its magnificent archeological sights, The Nile and that camel tagine. Would love to try it some day needless to say. Your photography and writing are exceptional.
Phil & Michaela
Why thank you kind Sir!