On a recent boat trip between Luxor and Aswan in Upper Egypt, Mursi Saad El-Din remembers when the Nile was the top attraction for travellers, especially the British Last month I followed the footsteps of English travellers along the banks of the Nile, that stretch of the river to be precise that lies between Luxor and Aswan. Dodging the pressures of work, my wife, my Canadian daughter-in- law and her daughter -- my granddaughter -- and I managed to squeeze a five-day cruise. As we boarded our luxury boat Nile Beauty (which has a twin called Nile Romance), my mind went back, as usual to times of old, when the Nile was a regular track for travellers of all nationalities, most notably the British. In fact, almost all the passengers on our boat were British who, judging by the comments of the boat's crew and staff, are the most welcome of all nationalities. I had become acquainted with what it feels like to be floating on the surface of our life-giving river through books written by various British travellers. Names of English travellers came to mind: Florence Nightingale and her book Letters from Egypt, Lucy Duff-Gordon who wrote a book with the same title, Harriet Martineu's Eastern Life: Present and Past and Amelia Edwards and her masterpiece A Thousand Miles up the Nile. On her return to London, Edwards formed the Egypt Exploration Society which financed the excavation of the famous Egyptologist Sir Flinders Petrie. She also created an Egyptology chair at University College London. The 19th-century travellers always rented a dahabeeya from Bulaq which was then the port of Cairo. Their trip up the Nile, often as far as the cataracts, lasted months. Our cruise began from Luxor where we were taken around by a young guide who spoke fluent English. His knowledge of the monuments and their history was encyclopedic. Luxor is often described, and quite rightly, as an open-air museum that occupies both banks of the Nile. It has the largest concentration of the monuments of ancient Egypt. On the eastern bank lie the two great temples, Luxor and Karnak and on the West Bank we find the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens, the tombs of the nobles and dignitaries and the great funerary compound. Describing the monuments is beyond the scope of this short account, but mention should be made of Deir Al-Bahari, the temple of the 18th-Dynasty Queen Hatshepsut, the daughter of Tuthmosis III. This is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful temples to be seen. Our first stop was Isna where our boat had to go through a narrow, shallow lock. Facing the lock there must have been dozens of boats, each waiting for its turn. It normally takes about 45 minutes to complete this rather complicated process. Isna is known for the Ptolemic temple of Khnum, the god with the Ram's head. While waiting we were besieged by small rowing boats with young men shouting their merchandise of galabiyas and shawls and throwing their ware over in plastic bags to the passengers on board. Some bought the items and put the money in the plastic bags which they threw back. At Edfu we visited the Horus Temple which was begun in 237 BC and ended in 58 BC under the Ptolemies. It is one of the best preserved temples in Egypt. Equally important was the Temple of Kom Ombo (the ancient Nebet) dedicated to Herocris and Sobek, the crocodile god. Finally we reached our destination, Aswan, which I regard as the bride of Upper Egypt, in the same way that Alexandria is the bride of the Mediterranean. The city is known for the ancient tombs of the Elephantine nobles, the Aga Khan Mausoleum and the ancient monastery of Saint Simeon. It also has the Nubia Museum and has become the theatre of the international Sculpture Symposium. It was a delightful trip of discovery which every Egyptian, apart from foreign tourists, should experience. One thing I noticed, which I describe as Nile ethics. It seems that the river sets its rules of conduct, based on cooperation and mutual respect. I never saw a cruise boat trying to overtake another; the way dozens of boats queued up before the Isna Lock was quite impressive. Whenever a boat passed another they exchanged greetings by blowing their sirens during the day and flickering their lights at night. I was awed by the ability of the rais of the boats, elderly or middle aged saaidis, dressed in their typical saaidi galabiyas and head gear, just as they were described in the books of the 19th century travellers.
