CRUISE THE NILE

In 1996 I got a lot of pressure from Jacqueline to go on a cruise. I always refused because I'm the world's worst traveller where motion sickness is concerned. Eventually I agreed to go on a river cruise and not experiencing any nausea it was the beginning of a new sphere of holidays for us.

From 1996 to 2010 we went on another 15 sea cruises.

This was our ship which had 27 cabins. This was the stretch of the Nile we covered.

We boarded the ship at Luxor and sailed through the night to EDFU

These were some of the passengers we met on the cruise -

At EDFU we sampled the local method of transport -

We then sailed on to ASWAN -

On an organised tour we were take to a granite quarry to see where the building stone was obtained

This 1,150 tons obelisk was being cut out of the quarry floor. It had cracked in several places and abandoned.

One of the most pleasant aspects of the cruise was the tranquil sailing -

Along the river shore there was much greenery but just beyond the entire land was barren.

On another organise tour we took a short sail on a FELUCCAS (Egyptian yacht). Then to the mausoleum at AGA KHAN.

Included in the boat tour was a trip to Kitchener Island ( this was the man who during the Second World War pointed his finger on posters and said " Britain Needs You". We saw some beautiful gardens and met some of the locals -

We then came to the highlight of the cruise as far as I was concerned - a trip to the Valley of the Kings -

Some of the ship's passengers were experiencing GIPPY TUMMY and Jacqueline didn't feel too good so she passed on this trip and stayed on board. Perhaps just as well because as we approached the site the temperature was 115F!

Here I saw the tomb of the most famous pharaoh, TUTANKHAMUN.

Tutankhamun's Facemask and all the other related treasures are housed in the museum at Cairo. We saw them all on a later holiday to Egypt.

On our return to Luxor we saw an amazing sound and light show at KARNAK. In Luxor we were doing some shopping when we were persuaded to take a horse and carriage ride through the town -

This turned out to be more than we bargain for and was pretty scary. Our driver was challenged by another driver because he had picked us up at the incorrect place and had jumped in front of other waiting drivers. Well this other driver gallopped at us and the result was something that resembled Ben Hur's chariot racing as both vehicles sped through the narrow streets. We survived the ordeal unhurt.

On our final evening a boat party was held and everyone got dressed up -

Not exactly Egyptian-looking, are we? Although Jacqueline still has the Egyptian dress she bought on the cruise -

It's called a GALABERAS