Viking Cruises

viking.com | 59 H I S TO R Y & A R C H I T E C T U R E I S S U E 2 2 Karnak has some of Upper Egypt's greatest treasures. Ghada points out the obelisks - and the 134 pillars - each intricately carved where James Bond dodged death in The Spy Who Loved Me, inner temples and the sacred lake. And then all of us wander around in a daze of wonderment. New discoveries are being made all the time, points out Ghada; a casual fall by an American tourist from her donkey resulted in the worker's village for the Giza pyramids being discovered. Another donkey, which fell into a ravine, resulted in the discovery of the Valley of the Golden Mummies. It's estimated that only 20 percent of Egypt's ancient treasures have been discovered. If each temple is surrounded by hawkers and stalls these days, our ship allows the slowness and beauty of the Nile to come to the forefront. It's impossibly lush, often the only sound a train horn sounds as it runs alongside the banks or children coming out of school and the calls to prayer. The ship purrs along silently and I can feel the stress slip away. There are goats and cattle grazing on the banks as they have done for millennia, banana plantations, citrus and beautiful, biblical clumps of bulrushes. And it doesn't feel as if much has changed at all. The hippopotami depicted in ancient Egyptian graves may have disappeared but there are geese and ducks taking off from the water alongside us just as the ancient Egyptians depicted over 3,000 years ago at Saqqara. The sunsets are superb with lights outlining the mountains far into the distance. As we sail, we stop off at small towns such as Qena and Esna, each with their own stunning temples. Some are so close we can walk to them from the ship. Each temple we visit seems to have a flurry of white-coated archaeologists inside it working to both uncover and preserve. Egyptian past and present is always around. In the evenings local musicians perform; one night there's a whirling dervish dancing. There are books to borrow from the ship's library and port talks. We learn how to make falafels. The food on board, which has choices between Egyptian and European food each night means that it's admirably easy to eat both deliciously and healthily. Egyptian wine demonstrates that this country knows how to blend ancient and modern very well. Kristina the sommelier is full of passion for the local wine, including the delicious, honeyed Jardin du Nil, a viognier produced near Alexandria. Aswan is the widest point of the Nile and has a delightfully mellow market selling spices, fruit and vegetables as well as souvenirs. There's the option here for a day trip to Abu Simbel in the desert. And also the chance to see the ingenuity of modern day Egypt - the temple was moved in 1968 after Lake Nasser was created, regulating the flow of the Nile. This part of Egypt was once known as Nubia and there's still a strong sense of this ancient culture here; felucca sailing boats tack across the water, we visit a local village and see a home, drinking hibiscus tea and cakes in a brightly coloured, sun-dappled courtyard. Our last stop before returning to Luxor is at Edfu. We are old hands at hieroglyphics and cartouches now. We can spot the difference between Ptolemaic and New Kingdom carving and are in thrall to all the romance, intrigue of Ancient Egypt from Neferkari to Cleopatra. At the entrance, there's the famous giant granite statue of Horus as a falcon. I can remember it from my last trip. I'm willing to bet that my grandparents fell in love with it too and I feel once more the magic of something so ancient yet still perfectly preserved. Hot air balloons floating over the Nile River in Luxor

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