July 3, 2002 – Aswan

 

 

 

After a beautiful sunrise from the train on the desert hills that surround us, we arrive in Luxor at 7:30am. I slept very well during all the night compared to Jack. Another 3:30 hours of train and we will reach our final destination: Aswan. We arrive at 11am. We take our bags and just exit the coaches and suddenly we feel the terrible temperature of Aswan. It is really hot. I don’t want to look at the thermometer!! Jack and Cathy disappeared behind me, I will meet them at their hotel.

 

In front of the railway station, many friends are waiting for us to show us the best hotel in town. I go straight on the souq street to find the Nubian Oasis hotel that was recommended by many travelers on the Thorn Tree. On my way to this place all the shopkeepers start their hassle to sell their products. Just ignore them or a simple: La Shukran (No thank you) is enough to walk.

 

At the hotel, the lady at the desk does not welcome well the travelers but who cares. All I need is a room with a fan to leave my bag. The price of a single room with a fan (in fact a double for a single occupancy) is 15 EGP. The bathroom and the closet are inside the room. I go up on the roof to admire the view from the top. The view on Aswan and the surrounding desert is nice and the Nile is so beautiful. At the desk, they give me a list of all the tris they organize there. I will take the one to Abu Simbel later. As in Cairo, you have to pay your room in advance.

 

View on the Nile from Elephantine Island

 

I go outside to reach the Yassen hotel, near the train station, where I hope to find Jack and Cathy after they vanished at the arrival. They simply forgot their camera in the coach (it remembers me someone in Beirut last year who was in the same situation!!!). We fix a rendezvous at 6pm to have the dinner together.

 

After having a break in the room, I decide to go outside and see what Aswan looks like, ready to discover the Nile. I go straight on the Corniche. I am impressed by all the tourists that I meet there. It seems that we are in France or Germany, all of the time I am hearing familiar words and seeing familiar ways of life. Finally, in Cairo, there was not so many tourists apart from the pyramids, Khan Al Khalili and the Egyptian museum. Here the town is relatively small, you can’t be lost as there are 2 main streets: The souqs street and the Corniche along the Nile. Aswan is the good start from Nile cruises or trips to Abu Simbel. You can evade from this tourist trap by taking a ferry to see Elephanine Island right in the middle of the Nile or just by walking in the parallel streets of Sharia Saad Zaghloul (the souqs street). You are again a lonely traveler.

 

The inhabitants of Aswan are really good in foreign languages and they are trying a lot of them to catch the attention of all the tourists who wander in the streets. They offer numerous services: carriage ride, felucca for one hour, taxi ride, papyrus (naturally the cheapest and true one), djellabas, and statues. At the beginning you simply say ”la, Shukran!” but it seems that they only know from the tourists the Egyptian pound language. But they have a good memory and when they recognize tourists who already say no, they remember them and don’t hassle them again.

 

I am going right to the Old Cataract hotel, superb on the Nile bank right in front of the end of Elephantine Island. It is too bad that I can’t go inside to have a drink there but I don’t think I look like one of the guests of this kind of place. I lost myself in the alleys near the hotel before coming back to the Corniche where I try to find the pier to go to Elephantine Island.

 

I take a ferry (in fact a small boat) for 25 piasters (0.25 EGP). The boat is the link between the city and the island. The island has a museum on one side and a huge and horrible hotel on the other side. The hotel occupies 1/3 of the island and has a very big tower that looks like an air-traffic control tower. Between the museum and the Oberoi hotel, the space is occupied by 2 Nubian villages and little fields. Their houses are really different from the ones you see in Aswan, there are more colors (yellow, pink, blue…) and for an ending afternoon it looks great. The Nubians are very friendly as if we were in a total different country. They invite you for a cup of tea without willing to sell something, just to share some time with you.

 

A typical alley on Elephantine Island

 

A pure moment of leisure ! I wanted to visit the museum but there were not enough tourists during the day so the guy at the desk has no change on a 20 EGP banknote to give back on the entrance fee (5/10 EGP). I am on another pier but it seems that there is no boat there. Hopefully, a private boat full of Italians is coming and the captaininvites me on board to reach the other side.

 

At the hotel, I meet Jack and Cathy and invite them to have a drink (a Stella bier) on the roof while watching to the sunset on the west bank.

 

Sunset on the west bank

 

We decide to follow the advice of the French guidebook for our dinner but the 2 first addresses don’t look what is written in the guide so we search another one before finding a new one. The guys who are in the guidebooks are happy because they know that tourists will come just because they are in the guide but often the cooking is not that good and the prices are higher from what is quoted. Finally we find the Al-Sayyida Nefissa restaurant where I take a delicious Shish Kebab. With the meat you have rice, salad (cucumber and tomatoes), tahina and vegetables.

 

After this good meal, we are walking quietly to our hotels I fall asleep very quickly because I have to wake up at 3:30am for the trip to Abu Simbel.

 

Main expenses of the day :

Night at the Nubian Oasis Hotel : 15 EGP (single with a fan)

Drinks (water, soft drinks, tea…) : 20 EGP

Dinner at the restaurant Al-Sayyida Nefissa : 16 EGP

 

 

 

 

Other travels

 

 

Contact

 

 

D1 : Luxembourg – Amsterdam – Cairo

D2 : Cairo  (part 1)   (part 2)

D3 : Cairo

D4 : Cairo

D5 : Aswan

D6 : Aswan - Abu Simbel  (part1)   (part 2)

D7 : Aswan

D8 : Felucca

D9 : Felucca (Kom Ombo)

D10 : Edfu - Luxor

D11 : Luxor  (part 1)   (part 2)

D12 : Luxor

D13 : Dahab

D14 : Dahab

D15 : Mount Moses (St Katherine)

D16 : Nuweiba - Cairo - Alexandria

D17 : Alexandria – Siwa Oasis

D18 : Siwa oasis

D19 : Siwa oasis

D20 : Alexandria

D21 : Alexandria - Cairo

D22 : Cairo

D23 : Cairo – Amsterdam – Luxembourg

 

Pictures (high resolution)

 

Previous page    Other travels    Next page

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last update : August 2002

Contact : pindavid@hotmail.com