OUR FAMILY HOLIDAYS
9991 To Aswan -- 1990
We gradually wended our way upstream from Luxor to Aswan. It took the best part of a week to do this. Excitement came rarely, except when we had to go through the lock at the barrage across the river. Then we all rushed to the front to watch the ship going through the lock -- only to discover that we were still waiting eight hours later; as it was the low water season. At one stage we even on ran aground on a sandbank, so low was the water. Fortunately we were able to pull ourselves off, and follow a chain of other cruise ships which were trying to find their way through the new channels between these shifting sandbanks.
The buildings, the temples, were wonderfully carved; with the stories of Egyptian emperors and in particular of their gods. But, as I said elsewhere, eventually each one came to look much like the others.
We eventually we came to Aswan where the cruise finished. There we went to see the temples of Philippae, which had been relocated by the United Nations to another island when the Aswan Dam was built.
By boat to the temples at Philae
They too followed similar lines to those we'd seen previously, but seemed to be more graceful.
Philae
The Aswan Dam itself was big, which was as we expected in view of all the political troubles it had caused!
That night we had our final dinner on the cruise ship. I foolishly ate some food which was not properly cooked. Accordingly in the middle of the night I was incredibly sick. I was as sick as I have ever been in my life. They managed to call the doctor and he pumped me full of drugs, but that was almost as bad; since I was then dizzy with the drugs and had enormous difficulty in making my way to the ensuite to be sick time and time again. Accordingly I spent the following day in bed on board the cruise ship; in a comatose state. Pat went off to Abu Simbel, which I had to miss.
The coincidence, in view of my experiences of the supernatural, was that on board the cruise ship had been several witches. They were attending a gathering of covens from around the world in Aswan; and their key ceremony took place at the precise time I fell sick!
hits