Cruising down the Nile

On Monday we were to join our cruise boat for the trip from Aswan to Luxor. We really didn't know what to expect. We had booked the 2 night 3 day trip through our hotel in Aswan and it had only cost £100 for the 2 of us. We had been shown a brochure of a boat that looked very nice but we weren't convinced that was the kind of boat we might end up on. The lonely Planet has many warnings of backpackers being sold very disappointing cruises by cheap hotels in Aswan. So as we drew up to our boat, the Sentido hotels and resorts M/S El Mahrousa, we were very pleasantly surprised. It was a great boat! Very smart with a bar, restaurant, lounge and really nice top deck with a pool and lots of loungers.

Our cabin was really smart with ac, tv, two cute little port holes and a decent size bathroom. We got three meals a day served buffet style and announced by a man banging a gong! We also got afternoon tea at 4pm. All very pleasant and much better than we had expected.

Our first night's entertainment was a pub quiz. We managed to win which was very exciting and we got the highest score ever on the boat! Unfortunately there was no prize, but the host did say the prize was to buy everybody else in the quiz a drink! The next night's entertainment was an Egyptian band with a belly dancer and a whirling dervish.

The days were great on the boat! My kind of sightseeing, which involved relaxing on the top deck with a cool drink watching the sights of the Nile glide past and having a refreshing dip in the pool when it got too hot.

We stopped on the way at Kom Ombo. This was superb temple right on the Nile which is dedicated to both the crocodile god Sobek and Horus the elder.

Some of the columns still had some colour on them and the temple is 2500 years old!

There was another good temple on the way at Edfu, however we anchored there late at night and the temple was closed and the boat sailed again the following day at 8am meaning that you would have to have got up at 6.30 to see it, so we have that one a miss. We thoroughly enjoyed our Nile cruise. It was a great way to get from Aswan to Luxor.