South to Aswan

Exhausted from two consecutive days hiking through the strong Luxor sun, we spent our last day in this ancient city resting, venturing out only for meals and an afternoon bike ride which brought us north along the Nile through rural neighborhoods and adjoining farmland. Here we saw many banana trees and rustic buildings and vehicles, which, like many aspects of life in this strange land, are an interesting combination of ancient and modern.

The next day brought us back to the Luxor train station for the ride further south to Aswan, at the northern tip of Lake Nasser.
We dutifully arrived at the station well before the scheduled departure time of 9:45 am, albeit while expecting at least an additional hour or so to account for the notoriously late arrival times of Egyptian trains. 

We were not disappointed, finally departing around noon after a long and uncertain wait in which many unmarked trains came and went (all after 9:45), whose identities we only dubiously confirmed through queries to station officials and our fellow travelers.

When our own ride finally rolled up to the platform we were nearly convinced by its beat up and dusty appearance that it was yet another slow ride to a remote desert station. Several station workers convinced us otherwise, ushering us into the third car which we found spacious and mostly empty, although quite ancient and littered with bits of garbage, especially in the seat backs (this in itself is not too surprising, considering the train began its route in Cairo ten hours earlier, and was probably intermittently filled with a populace that is not used to public trash cans). 

However the state of the WCs was unspeakable (which is perhaps also not too surprising), and the cars were certainly relics from a bygone age, boasting large vacuum screened televisions embedded in the ceiling whose pale faces blankly watched us for the duration of the trip. Our route was also plagued with several delays, and it was not until nearly 4:00 pm that we arrived in Aswan.

Walking from the station to the ferry to take us to Elephantine Island, home to our abode, we stopped for our first real meal of the day at a nice restaurant with tables arrayed on a covered dock floating in the Nile. Here we enjoyed the comfortable evening and watched feluccas and other Nile craft sail by, even as the sun set shortly after 5:00.

Continuing on to the ferry landing, we did not find this vessel but instead paid a local man to take us across in one of the many private water taxis that furrow these waters. On the opposite bank we purchased bottled water from a little shop, anticipating a guide sent by our host to take us to the house. To our surprise the very shopkeeper who we had just paid piped up and beckoned us to follow him. This we did, although somewhat warily as he lead us through the dark and rustically serpentine streets of Elephantine Island, finally taking us to an abode which did not match the picture of what we were expecting.

Despite our initial doubts we were finally convinced that we had ended up at, if not the exact house advertised, a comparable one managed by our Airbnb host. The mysterious shopkeeper proved to be the owner, and summoned his brother to help arrange our sightseeing plans, which were consequently if somewhat unclearly settled.

Tomorrow we head out to see some local sites, and on Saturday we depart early for Abu Simbel.

-Theodore

Fields of banana trees in West Luxor

Boarding another water taxi this morning to take us to the east bank of the Nile in Luxor

 Large feluccas on the Nile

 The Luxor train station

 The engine of one of the exceptionally dusty and worn looking trains which arrived before ours. Our locomotive was a different design, although also having barred windows.

First class on Egyptian Rail

 Lush fields on the way to Aswan

A Nubian village clustered on the rocky escarpments near to Aswan

At dinner