On the Nile

  Kom Ombo, Egypt
Thursday, February 3, 2005

Today we boarded the cruise ship Nile Elite and have discovered a new phobia called fear of leaving the ship. Why? Because with so many cruise ships, usually moored three or four abreast, with names hidden behind other ships, there is always the possibility that finding your way back might be more difficult than you thought. Indeed it took a while to even discover what the name of the ship was - the agent informed us several times that it was a five star plus ship but I never caught the name at all. The Lonely Planet Guide had warned me that the cruisers were largely indistinguishable. I had greatly underestimated that piece of information.
 
On the plus side it is totally relaxing to sit on the upper deck in comfortable chairs enjoying being on the river. At one time we had considered going down river by felucca so I was interested in seeing two tourist-laden feluccas sail for Luxor. The passengers were stretched out on cushions on the boats. There was an awning over them and it looked quite comfortable, although perhaps not for two or three days.
 
The Nile Elite was less than a third full with most of the passengers either Chinese or Egyptian. This combination was not very conducive to a cruise boat atmosphere and we never did get around to the gallabia party originally scheduled.
 
From Thursday to Saturday we cruised the Nile, visiting Kom Ombo and Edfu on the way to Luxor. Both temples were fascinating: Kom Ombo because it is dedicated to two gods and Edfu because it is so wonderfully preserved. We did not have enough time in either. This seems to due to the race to get to the lock at Esna, where boats are backed up waiting for their turn to go through. 
 
Today we visited the temple of Kom Ombo, which was built in the time of the Ptolemies, pharaohs descended from a general of Alexander the Great, who conquered the Persians in 332 BC and was crowned pharaoh of Egypt. Upon his death much of his empire was divided up among his generals and the Ptolemic period of Egyptian history began. This was Cleopatra's family.  
 
The temple is dedicated to two gods: Sobek, the crocodile god and Haroeris or Horus the Elder, a healer. Pilgrims came to Kom Ombo to be treated for their illnesses by Haroeris and to appease the Nile crocodiles and to insure the fertility of their people and crops through Sobek. The temple is symmetrically divided along its main axis. The left side was dedicated to Horus the Elder and the right to Sobek. There are twin entrances, twin courts, twin colonnades, twin hypostyle halls and twin sanctuaries. Each god also had his own alter.
 
It was soon twilight and we had to head back to the ship.