Egypt - Day 5

After three days of seemingly endless touring, we were all looking forward to the last day of our trip: Cruising the Nile! We woke up early and checked out of the hotel. On our way out, we picked up a breakfast box which contained various pastries and fruit. We walked down the main street of Luxor to the Iberotel Hotel, where we boarded the boat and headed out for a day-long cruise.

While we had come prepared for another warm day, at 7:00 in the morning the temperature was quite frigid, especially once the boat got underway. We got situated on the upper deck on chaise lounges, but I soon moved downstairs to get out of the chilly wind. As we cruised up the Nile, it was amazing to see all the small villages and farms flanking the side of the river. At several locations there were even cows and donkeys out on the islands in the middle of the river! Even more remarkable was that entire families would come out to the bank to waive and say hi to us. Since most boats from Luxor head south towards Aswan, our tour to the North was quite a novelty for the locals. I spent most of the morning lazing on a couch reading a book and enjoying the scenery.

After 4 hours of cruising, we arrived in the town of Qina. We disembarked from the boat and boarded tour buses to take us to the Dendera Temple Complex. This was the first and only time on the entire trip that we were on a large tour bus with more than the 3 of us. The temple was only about 15 minutes from the boat, and we arrived and split into two groups for the tour. The temple was started by the Egyptians in 300 BC and continued by the Romans when they took over with the help of Cleopatra. As such, it is one of the best preserved and intact temples in Egypt. It was incredible to see the fully-intact ceiling that was so well preserved that we were able to safely climb the stairs to the second story. This was the only temple that we saw with a complete roof. One of the highlights of the temple is a scene featuring one of the only known images of Cleopatra. We had a few free minutes to explore the grounds on our own, then it was back to the boat for the return to Luxor.

We boarded the boat and were amused by the locals taking pictures of us, at the same time we were taking pictures of them. There was something very fitting about the scene. We were seated in the dining room of the boat and enjoyed a wonderful lunch buffet as we cruised up river. We sat with a group of British tourists and compared notes about what we had seen and our favorite moments. By the time we had finished lunch, the sun was out in full force and we were able to enjoy the warmth from the upper deck lounge chairs. I sat reading my book and waiving to all the local kids as we passed their farms.

We arrived back in Luxor at 7:00 pm and had enough time to return to the hotel and enjoy a great meal at a Japanese restaurant (I had been having cravings for teriyaki chicken!). The food was so good that Richard ordered extra shrimp tempura to eat on the way to the airport. After dinner, a driver picked us up and took us back to the Luxor airport for our return for Cairo. Our guide was nice enough to lead us into the airport all the way to the point where we were checked in and ready to go. We said goodbye and headed through the labyrinth of security to the gate.

The flight to Cairo was uneventful, other than the fact that I had finally broken my Airbus streak by flying an EgyptAir 737-800! We landed in Cairo at 11:30 pm. Our flight back to Rome left at 4:55 am the following morning, so there wasn’t even enough time to get a hotel room for a few hours. We decided to just get to the gate and snooze until the flight. This proved to be easier said than done. The first challenge was to get from the EgyptAir terminal to the international terminal. With no signs or logic, we followed verbal instructions to a shuttle bus that would take us to the other terminal. Of course it would make too much sense if the bus went directly to the other terminal. We ended up stopping at about 3 other locations and may have actually left the airport before we finally got to the right place. The next challenge was to get to the gate. Again, easier said than done. It turns out that the check-in counter doesn’t open until 3 hours before the flight, which in this case meant we had about 2 hours before we could even get into the terminal. Luckily we were able to talk our way into a waiting area where we snagged some hard metal benches and I finished my book. After 2 hours, we returned to the check-in area and were let through the door. The next challenge was check-in. Seeing no sign of an Alitalia desk, we were directed to wait in front of a very generic looking desk completely void of marking or anyone to help. Before we could question the logic, a group of Alitalia mechanics walked in pulling what looked like airline beverage carts. Sure enough they opened the carts and began assembling a check-in counter complete with a waiting queue, tickets, and luggage tags. Since there is only one flight a day, the airline just rents a generic counter and only sets it up as-needed. That way other airlines can use the counter. If you think about it, that makes a ton of sense! After watching the Alitalia transformation, we were able to check in and get our boarding passes. We found a quiet corner of the terminal to pass the remaining time, then proceeded through security and boarded the flight. As we departed Cairo, we all drifted off to sleep after being awake for nearly 22 hours.