Four days, one unpacking, and the monuments come to you. An honest account of the rhythm.
The route almost never varies: Luxor to Aswan or the reverse, three or four nights, with Esna, Edfu and Kom Ombo in between. What varies is the ship, and the difference between a good one and a cheap one is considerable.
The rhythm is early mornings and slow afternoons. Temples are visited at seven or eight to beat the heat, the ship sails through the middle of the day, and the afternoons are yours on a sundeck watching the bank go past — palm groves, buffalo, children shouting at the boat, brick kilns, and the desert always a few hundred metres behind the green.
Edfu is the best-preserved temple in Egypt, more or less intact including its roof, and it is reached by horse-drawn calèche from the mooring. Kom Ombo is unique in being doubled — two of everything, one half for Sobek the crocodile god, one for Horus — and stands directly above the river.
Kom Ombo is unique in being doubled — two of everything, one half for Sobek the crocodile god, one for Horus — and stands directly above the river.
Two honest notes: the shopping stops are relentless and can be declined, and the ships moor side by side at busy quays, so you sometimes walk through three other boats' lobbies to reach the shore. Neither spoils it. The sailing itself is the thing you will remember.
