We lunched aboard a river boat our first afternoon in Luxor, enjoying a nice meal as we cruised the Nile. We boarded the boat at our hotel waterfront – a flat bottomed wooden vessel powered by an outboard motor. Painted white, it was adorned with brightly colored wooden cutouts – blue, yellow, green and red flowers on its sides and birds and a helicopter atop its roof. Flags on the bow and stern flapped furiously in the strong breeze. Four tables onboard were beautifully set with glass and stemware for eight guests and a guide.
The Nile is the lifeblood of Egypt, both past and present so not surprisingly there was lots of boat traffic on the water. Cruising nearby were tourists boats like ours, an occasional large Nile cruiser with passengers sailing between Luxor and Cairo and the infamous feluccas – traditional wooden sailing boats with large triangular sails.
Every now and then, a commercial barge pushed by tug would sail past creating a wake; our driver would anticipate the wake and steer the boat head on into the waves to keep the boat from rolling. At one point, he had his nose iburied n his phone and missed the oncoming wave from a passing barge. Our boat rocked and rolled, spilling the stemware off our table, shattering several glasses under our feet. Chastised by his crew, needless to say, the rest of the cruise was smooth sailing.
Lunch was the typical three courses we were quickly becoming accustomed to – a starter plate with touboli, hummus, fresh tomatoes, olives and carrots, yogurt dip, meat filled pastry and basket of warm pita bread, a main dish with skewers of seasoned lamb and chicken served with rice and vegetables and finished with an assortment of fruits and sweets.
The east and west banks of the Nile held different significance for the ancient Egyptians. The east bank represented sunrise or life, so temples like Luxor and Karnac that we’d visited earlier, were on this bank. The west signified sunrise or death; thus the valley of the kings – with tombs of pharaohs, their wives other prominent people and even the burial grounds for common folks were on the west side of the river. Today, much of the city is to the east – we sailed past many mosques, apartments, hotels and shops. The west remains an important archeological site with over 63 tombs from Egypt’s middle and new kingdoms having been excavated. Tonight we have a special opportunity to visit several of these tombs after the site is closed to the public.
We finished our cruise midafternoon, bidding our crew adieu. The day was breezy and warm and we had a couple hours before our evening tomb visit, so we donned our bathing suits and spent the remainder of the afternoon enjoying our hotel pool.
