Egypt: Pampered to death on the Nile with a cruise through

ancient history

By JOHN CARTER
Last updated at 5:50 PM on 23rd February 2010

Having cleared up that misunderstanding, I found myself having to sort out the correct way to spell 'dahabiya'. That's the generally accepted version, but for reasons of their own, Bales Tours choose to stick in an extra 'y'. But, then again, y not?

There is another way of spelling it, but we'll get round to that later. I need to tell you, first, that these splendid little boats - which take only 12 passengers - are an absolute delight.

History lesson: The temple of Horus at Edfu where John, left, ran the gauntlet of pushy salesman

They provide every Death On The Nile cliche you could think of, including pre-dinner cocktails and conversation and a dark-panelled saloon with heavy furniture and overstuffed chairs, exactly the right setting for passengers to assemble for the 'You mean to say, Poirot, that the murderer is one of us?' denouement.

I sailed from Aswan to Luxor with eight other passengers, on Amber, one of four dahabiyas operated by Bales Worldwide. We travelled at an easy pace, meandering from bank to bank at meal times so as not to be incommoded by the breeze whipped up by our passage.

The weather was so good, you see, that we took breakfast and dinner on the forward part of the sun deck, under an awning. Aft, the deck was raised and provided comfortable chairs and sunloungers, with a small telescope and binoculars for the many folk who are attracted by the birds of Egypt. 

The price of the holiday includes those pre-dinner drinks, as well as wine and beer with meals (or whenever you fancy a glass). Not the finest wine, nor the strongest beer, admittedly, but more than good enough to lubricate the conversation and enhance the cuisine.

Just 125ft from stem to stern, and a mere 20ft in beam, Amber was built in 2006-2007, but in a style to make you think she is far older --the Twenties come to mind.

The aforementioned saloon sets that style, which is carried through in the spacious cabins, with dark wood, beamed ceilings and brass wall lamps. 

All cabins are air-conditioned, to the extent that mine felt like a fridge when I first walked into it. But one has control over it, just as one has control over the ferociously powerful en suite shower.

The crew were friendly and efficient and the cabin steward did silly things with the towels that have become a routine ingredient of holidays afloat. (On one occasion I returned to find a towel turtle on my bed, wearing my sunglasses and hat.)

Pleasant though the timeless Nile may be, the object of a cruise between Aswan and Luxor is to visit tombs and temples and learn a little of ancient history - pharaohs who were usually called Rameses and occasionally had a tendency to marry their sisters, and gods who had the misfortune to be chopped into pieces and reassembled by their grieving widows. Well, one god did and I think he might have been Osiris.

You learn all this from your guide, and Egypt has some of the best in the world - university graduates and excellent linguists who are rigorously tested before qualifying. Ours, Neveen, was such a gem. Her English was so good I was staggered to learn she has never visited Britain.

Aswan, Kom Ombo, Edfu, Esna and Luxor. Those were our ports of call and our schedule ensured we avoided the crowds - and the crowded Nile is a serious problem.

Most boats are very large, flat-bottomed barges with square superstructures, lacking sails or masts, carrying passengers by the hundred and mooring in ranks at the temple sites.

I was told there are some 360 of them and can quite believe it as we watched them pass in convoy en route to their destinations.

The hieroglyphics at Edfu Temple Egypt

At Aswan, Kom Ombo and Luxor they were parked three and four deep along the river bank, so the last passengers to arrive had to cross three other vessels to make the shore. But, by the time they were arriving, we were on our way elsewhere, and vice versa. Whoever planned the schedule knew what they were doing.

We were also fortunate that the small dahabiyas are able to moor away from the regular berths occupied by those juggernauts.

The Egyptian authorities ought to think seriously about the overcrowded Nile. At the best of times there are probably just about enough tourists to provide so many ships with a profitable passenger list. But these are not the best of times.

And, while on the subject, I think the Egyptian authorities ought also to think about controlling the behaviour of some of the shopkeepers, stallholders and peddlers who pester tourists from the moment their feet hit solid ground.

To an extent, they are a long-established part of the tourist scene and the encounters can be light-hearted and even worthwhile. In Aswan I had an interesting conversation-with the owner of one shop who told me of his other enterprise --an Egyptian restaurant in Ipswich.

But at Edfu, one runs the gauntlet of pushy salesmen who thrust unwanted scarves on you ('a gift from me, only a gift' they claim), and then use the unwanted gesture as leverage when you return from the temple visit, almost forcing you into their shops and keeping up a non-stop sales patter that turns into a tirade when you refuse to buy.

It is a pity that many tourists judge all Egyptians by the standard of these tiresome touts.

I mentioned there was another way of spelling 'dahabiya', and you find it when you delve into the history of tourism to Egypt, specifically with regard to Nile cruising and more specifically to the pioneering Thomas Cook.

Picture perfect: Felucca sail boats travel the Nile near Aswan

In the late 1800s his Nile flotilla included six 'dahabeahs', and contemporary brochures show them to look exactly as they are today, although some things were different.

John Murray III, whose guidebooks were the travel bibles of their day, wrote that even the regular steamers, 'sordid and verminous, stifling and cramped' though they were, were preferable to the dahabeahs.

These, wrote Murray, should be sunk before each voyage to rid them of rats and other 'noxious inhabitants'. How times have changed. This Nile cruise is a well-organised affair, giving you time to enjoy the river and the ancient sites.

Egyptair's timetable means that there is a long wait in Cairo for connecting flights, but Bales - which, in my opinion, has taken on Cook's mantle as the Nile expert - organises a visit to an airport hotel for a late lunch on day one and to a hotel a little farther away on the day of departure for home.

This second hotel is the Villa Belle Epoque, a jewel of a place, recently converted from a private house. On the strength of an excellent lunch and a quick look around, I would recommend it as somewhere to stay for two or three days before or after the cruise.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1252239/Egypt-Pampered-death-Nile-cruise-ancient-history.html#ixzz0ho9KhzmQ