October 15

Early breakfast and 7:30 pick up to try to beat the 110% heat. Motor boat and then cross the Sahara by camel (well, maybe not completely cross it) up to the San Simeon Monastery, built as a refuge from the Romans in, let's say, the fifth century. Sahara can use trash clean up in parts, but less noticeable if you don't look down to closely in spots. Mervat gives us a good tour, then we recross the Sahara to our motor boat. Camels rank among my least favorite forms of transportation. Getting up and down is an adventure, even if you lean way back, as instructed. Walking down hill is particularly terrifying. It's possible I've taken my last lifetime camel ride, which would be okay by me. I'd rather walk a mile than have a camel.

We boat to a Nubian village, where we have a drink and are given a tour of the house. Our early start paid off, as we appear to be about half an hour ahead of the crowds.

On the boat ride back, we learn about Mervat's family. She is the fourth of six children, most of wham appear to be successful and well-educated. She says that her parents are crazy. We are fortunate to be 3 for 3 in excellent guides so far. And it's terrific to be a group of two, as we recognize each time we see one of the larger groups go by.


We are back at the hotel by 11:30, and out of the heat. Work on paring down photos, have a delicious lunch of a large, cold Stella beer and nuts, then nap, blog and leave to meet Mervat at 3 PM on the other side of the river.


Waiting for the boat, we meet an English couple from outside Oxford, Leo and Antony, who are also headed for Philae Temple and offer to share a taxi. We invite them to join us in our car, and they turn out to be excellent companions for the afternoon. They have been to Egypt before, and it turns out that we will overlap, but only very slightly, at the Four Seasons in Sharm.


We are driven to a motor boat that takes to Philae Temple, one of the monuments that was saved miraculously by UNESCO. The Greek temple, later converted by the Christians to a Coptic Church, has wonderful carvings and is in a lovelynsetting. The Greeks in the 4th Century BC chose to build essentially an Egyptian temple, with few Greek elements, thus assuring the people they were conquering that they would honor their gods. Mervat gave us interesting explanations in extreme heat.


From Philae, we made a short stop at a place where they demonstrated the making of papyrus and tried unsuccessfully to peddle some paintings to us. We made a brief stop at a large modern Coptic church, inaugurated around 2000 by the pope and now the home of the archbishop who holds sway over all Nubian Coptics. The ceiling, painted with a bright picture of Jesus, was particularly impressive.


We were driven to the taxi/ferry and said goodbye to Leo and Antony when we reached the hotel. Went up to the Panorama Bar on the 13th floor for a drink and a view of Aswan. Then back to the room to clean up and rest a bit. We'll have dinner at the hotel, before preparing for another rather early start tomorrow.