The Nile

After we arrived back at the boat in Edfu, it set off for Luxor.

The green part is the fertile valley. To the easy and west is desert.

It's a good spot for lounging about.

Periodically another boat appears.

View from my room. I thought this would be a good time for a nap.

However my nap was interrupted by  a couple of hawkers tied up to the side who called out 'Hello, hello' in an effort to sell their wares. They tried for about 30 minutes.

Relaxing on a lounge chair while talking to some of the others in the group.

When I was making up my mind which tour to join, I chose this tour because of the day on the boat going down the Nile. I had really looked forward to this and it lived up to my expectation. Humans have been traveling up and down this river for centuries, and I have now done some of it.

The river has carved out a valley and the silt from the annual flood has created fertile land suitable for growing crops.

At Esna, the boat entered a lock.

The barrage ( low dam).

The gate is closed and the lock is filled with water.

Since the level of water in the lock is level with the water above the barrage, it becomes easy to open the lock gate .

The huge boat slowly entered the lock and it was held close to the side by just one man with a line. 

The lock gates at the other end are closed.

I wondered why there were no windows on the side of the building. No doubt they were expecting a similar sized building to stand next to it.

The boat is tied up as the water is let out of the lock.

The gates we had just passed though are closed.

A crowd gather at the front to watch what was happening.

The water emptied out and it's easy to see how far the water level has dropped.

When the water level in the lock was the same as the water down stream, the gate opened and we could see  a small boat enter in front of us. We wondered what it was doing there.

A roar of laughter erupted as a large towel was unveiled for sale.

His mate entered. The hawkers are virtually all male throughout Egypt.

You can't get away from the hawkers. They are everywhere.

Rather spiffy looking house. If you had money, it would be a great location and there is now no danger of flooding because of the dams.

I did not want to get too sunburned so I went back to my room, opened a window and relaxed with my foot up on the ledge.

It was very relaxing watching the river go by.

A traditional felucca out for a late afternoon sail.

Eventually we reached Luxor and tied up near the Luxor Temple. It was a most enjoyable day. The boat is quiet and it's wonderful to be able to kick back and relax.