We are now in Aswan. The first thing I should mention was our flight from Cairo to Aswan. The flight left after sunset. I was lucky enough to get a window seat on this flight. We flew almost straight up the River Nile, since both cities are on the Nile though about 400 miles apart. As I looked down through the darkness, I could see a ribbon of black (which was the River Nile at night) with a narrow band of lights right along both sides of the river, and then not even one single other light for as far as the eye could see. In other words, Egypt is like one long oasis – right along the River Nile. The rest of Egypt (93%) is desert.

Our hotel in Aswan was another great hotel. It was right on the Nile. It was also in the movie “Death on the Nile”, just like the Mena House Hotel in Cairo. This hotel was called the Cataract Hotel. It’s an old and famous top notch hotel with many famous guests. There is an “old Cataract” and a “new Cataract” hotel. They are parts of the same hotel. We stayed in the new cataract which is relatively new. But we got a much higher (and better) view and we got to look at the lovely old Cataract hotel.

I should also say that the Nile was not what I expected. I have boated on the Amazon, Yangtze, Mississippi, and others and that was what I expected. The Nile between Aswan and Luxor was beautiful. The water was blue and clear. It was delightful. The Nile is the world’s longest river at some 4,160 miles from source to sea. The Nile basin includes land from nine or ten countries.

These photographs were all taken from our hotel room balcony. They are all of the River Nile. One interesting thing to look for in all of the pictures is what describes all of what we saw in Egypt: The River Nile, a band of green along both sides of the River, and then desert.

The first picture is looking up-river, which is south. The corner of the old Cataract Hotel is visible in the lower right hand corner. Aswan is at a big bend in the river, which you can see in the first photo. The second photo is looking more easterly. The ruins just across the river are an old fort of some sort. None of it has been excavated yet. Probably more than 80% of the ancient sites have not been excavated yet. The third picture is looking down-river or more northerly.

The Nile is the only major river in the world (we were told) that runs from south to north. So sailing down river is going up (northerly) and sailing up river is going down (southerly). It took a little getting used to – to have clear thoughts on that one.