Aswan, Egypt: Day Three (11/22)

We desperately needed a hearty breakfast of Western and Egyptian foods before we were to check into our boat, the Sonesta for our Nile Cruise. Egyptian breakfast food includes foul which is a brown fava bean cooked down. Some beans were mashed and some beans were whole and it was topped off with herbs, lemon and freshly baked pita bread. The best part it was served in a beautiful, giant ceramic pot with a long ladle. A side note, they made the falafel to order and it was the lightest and tastiest falafel I had on my entire trip. After breakfast, our tour representative, Mustafa met us at our hotel and took us on board to check us in. We were then passed of to our tour guide, Ahmed El-Prince and 4 other people who were part of Memphis Tours. Even though we booked a private tour, the Nile Cruise part was shared and despite being the high season there were only 10 people on the boat due to the recent events in Egypt with Morsi.

The Sonesta was like one giant, gawky houseboat. Everything was gold and gilded, it was something out of the 80's but clean and comfortable.

A quick lunch on board the ship and we headed offshore to visit the Unfinished Obelisk. For less than $2 USD, we were able to climb onto the obselisk for an awesome picture.

After we finished climbing to the top and back, we had to brave the vendors to reach our car. Due to the lack of tourism which is so vital to the Egyptian economy, 80% of the stores were closed and the few vendors that were out desperately tried their goods to any foreign looking people. It seriously felt like I was some famous superstar being bombarded for an autograph or something. Then we were off to the High Dam.

Next stop was the Philae Temple. We had to take a tiny boat out to Elephantine Island where the temple was. We were lucky to have a native Nubian onboard to sell us some jewelry. I ended up buying a camel bone necklace. Pretty cool and handmade. I love this kind of stuff. Philae Temple was my favorite temple during my visit as most of the structure was still intact and the story behind the temple is so interesting esp. with our tour guide Ahmed El-Prince who made the story come to life. I love how he left the story hanging until the next day to keep us intrigued. He also taught us our first Arabic word, meshi which means okay.

Last and final stop before dinner was an essence shop for a free massage, tea and sample.

Back on board, a quick dinner and a long hot shower before bed.