Cairo & The Nile on Uniworld's SS Sphinx
Never having been to Egypt before a Nile river cruise is one of those iconic bucket list cruises that we knew we wanted to do at some point and the Uniworld voyage seemed to offer us the best of both worlds with a pre and post cruise stay in Cairo sandwiching a cruise down the Nile from Luxor to Aswan. We arrived in Cairo totally unaware that it is the 7th biggest city in the world and completely unprepared for how huge, busy and chaotic it was. A 45 minute drive from the airport took us to the Four Seasons Nile Plaza, a more than welcome oasis of calm after the chaos and traffic outside of the hotel. Checking in to our rather lovely deluxe room with a large balcony looking out over the city we enjoyed a delicious room service dinner and a refreshing power shower before a much needed restful night, waking early the next day to a rather magnificent sunrise over the mountains beyond the cityscape view from our balcony. (Click here for our review of the Four Seasons Nile Plaza)
After a delicious Egyptian breakfast looking out over the river Nile we headed to one of the hotel’s meeting rooms to meet the forty other guests joining us on this voyage and the three Egyptologists who would be accompanying us throughout. Each group was assigned their own coach with around a dozen passengers in each group. The coaches were extremely comfortable with a toilet, fresh cold water dispenser and an often welcome (especially on the longer day tours) large bowl of fresh fruit. A short introduction was followed by our first day of excursions, firstly to the Citadel on the hill which we could see from our balcony at the hotel. The Citadel is home to the Alabaster mosque of Mohamed Ali is large and ornate and completely made out of alabaster with its stand out silver domed roof. Next up was the Egyptian museum, where we were guided to the most significant exhibits by Walid, our group Egyptologist, who we quickly worked out was not only a knowledgeable historian but also a very talented storyteller. Cairo is building a new museum to house most of significant treasures which up to now had been housed at the museum we were visiting, but it has yet to be opened so whilst many of the exhibits have already been moved there are still plenty to see here, including the highlight, Tutankhamum’s gold tomb and mask.
Leaving the museum we faced the Cairo traffic for our journey back to the hotel, reaching our destination mid-afternoon. Feeling a little wary after a busy morning we decided to make the most of our time at this luxury hotel and headed down to the spa for a bit of rest and relaxation by the gorgeous indoor pool. A couple of hours of rest and attentive care of the spa staff were just what we needed before heading back to our room to get ready for an early dinner in the hotels Chinese’s restaurant, 8, and another early night.
We set our alarm for 5am as we had to be packed up and on board the coach at 6am for our ride to the airport for the Air Arabia flight to Luxor. The domestic terminal at Cairo airport was quite chaotic but our Uniworld reps did an amazing job looking after us all, making sure we all boarded the flight safely and retrieved our luggage at the other end. We were greeted at Luxor airport with three new, equally as luxurious, coaches and immediately made our way to the Temples of Karnak. Karnak temple is located about 3km outside of Luxor and is one of the largest temples in the country, covering over 20 acres. Although the temple is now roofless, the enormous, beautifully decorated columns still stand, along with two amazing obelisks carved out of granite rock - a real marvel of 4000 year old engineering.
After a couple of hours at Karnak temple and with lunch calling us we again boarded our coaches for the short drive to our home for the next week, the magnificent SS Sphinx. Embarkation was incredibly swift and within a few minutes we all had our room keys and so we made our way directly to our room on deck 2. We had been allocated a grand suite which is the most abundant category of room on the ship. Opening our suite door we were amazed and delighted by the room, for a river ship (which often have quite small suites) this category of room is huge, with a massive bathroom, a dressing area, and two french balcony windows, one in the gorgeous seating area and one with the bed facing it for lovely river views. For a full ship tour click on the YouTube video below.
Since it was lunchtime we quickly dumped our hand baggage in the room and headed down to the lower deck to the main restaurant where lunch was being served. Lunch and breakfast on the SS Sphinx are buffet style with the evening meal being a la carte waiter service. Local beer and wine and soft drinks are only served with meals on the Sphinx but there is a bar in the lounge and one on the upper deck for purchasing drinks in the daytime. There is also complimentary self service water and iced tea on the top deck and a rather lovely self service drinks station located next to the reception with an array of hot drinks and delicious little biscuits available 24 hours a day. We were very impressed with our first lunch on board, loving the local cuisine available alongside the more traditional buffet lunch style fare and after a much needed refuel accompanied by a couple of glasses of cold white, local wine we went back to the room to unpack.
According to our cruise schedule we were supposed to be sailing to Dendera that afternoon but since the river levels were so low we were staying put in Luxor and taking the coach to Dendera the next morning for our excursion there. However the Captain decided that we should see some of the Nile so he cast off and sailed for an hour up river before turning us around and bringing us back to our mooring in Luxor. We spent an hour on the open top deck as we sailed along the Nile before heading back to our suite to get ready for the evening, which started in the lounge with a welcome reception complete with delicious canapés and a glass of champagne. We were introduced to the crew and then had our port talk for the next day before heading down to the restaurant for dinner, sharing a table with some of our fellow passengers, fast becoming new friends.
With another alarm set for 6am we stared day four with an early breakfast before boarding our coaches for the hour and a half drive to Dendera temple. Although it would have been wonderful to sail the 40 miles from Luxor to Dendera, driving through the remote Egyptian countryside and local villages was an experience in itself and gave us another perspective to life along the Nile. The early start meant that when we arrived at Dendera temples there were very tourists here so we had time this incredibly well preserved temple, largely dedicated to Hathor, the goddess of love and fertility. Dendera is one of the only temples with a roof, which remains intact because of the temple being preserved under sand for a couple of thousand years. The hieroglyphics on the outside of the temple were pretty impressive and the coloured drawings on the inside equally so. We even managed to climb up on top of the roof to visit the room which had once been home to the original zodiac sign, stolen by the French excavators and now housed in the Louvre in Paris, now replaced a stone replica.
Following our morning excursion we arrived back in Luxor in time for lunch on the ship and a couple of hours down time before our late afternoon excursion to the nearby temple of Luxor. As we were quickly learning each temple is unique and has its own story to tell. Luxor is unusual in that it exhibits three different religions throughout the temples, with the usual ancient Egyptian monuments sitting below a modern day mosque which was accidentally built over the temple when they were covered with sand, and Christian pictures painted over the Egyptian hieroglyphics in the inner temples dating back to the later part of the second century AD. Luxor temples is also the beginning of the Avenue of the Sphinxes, the 3km Sphinx lined road to the temple of Karnak which we had visited when we first arrived in Luxor.
We left the temple as the sun was starting to set and headed back to the ship to get ready for the folklore show taking place prior to dinner. This very lively show involved musicians playing unusual Egyptian instruments whilst local dancers entertained us with traditional dance, an incredible spinning dancer and some audience participation dancing using bamboo sticks - great fun.
Day five was yet another early start for our journey over to the other side of the river to the West Bank of Luxor and a very early stop off at the Colossi of Memnon before the crowds arrived. We had a quick photo stop here before heading to the impressive mortuary temple of Hatshepsut, the fifth, female pharaoh of Egypt, a three storey contemporary design built into the rock the other side of the Valley of the Kings. However, impressive this temple was the highlight of the day was yet to come, the Valley of the Kings, home to 65 discovered pharaohs tombs, including that of the child king, Tutankhamen.
An entry ticket to the Valley of the Kings includes entry to three of the ten tombs that are open on the day of your visit. Walid, our guide, pointed out the 3 best tombs to visit and told us what to look out for when we got into the tombs. The three tombs were very different with different entrances, hieroglyphics and burial chambers. Walid had also purchased tickets for us to enter the tomb of King Tutankhamen. Having seen the the gold wooden case from the tomb in The Egyptian museum a few days before, it was incredible to see the tomb it had been taken from and how small the boy kings tomb actually was given the treasures we had seen at the museum that had been retrieved from it.
After lunch back on the ship we headed up to the top deck to take in the sights as we set sail from Luxor to sail to Aswan. Around mid afternoon a few of us joined our wellness coach Mohamed Ali for half an hour of relaxing yoga and meditation on the sun deck as we sailed down the Nile, followed by afternoon tea on the open decks. This evening was galabeya evening with all guests encouraged to go to dinner in local dress, available to buy on board. Rich had already bought a galabeya to bring with him but I bought one on board so that we could both dress up for the evening. In keeping with the theme for the evening, dinner was an Egyptian buffet with loads of local delicacies to indulge in. After dinner we headed up to the lounge where some of the crew, who had also all dressed in their galabeya for the evening, were playing some local musical instruments and encouraging us to join them in Egyptian dance. A fair few of the guests joined in as we danced our way round the lounge and into the lobby.
Overnight we had sailed south towards Aswan through the only lock of the journey, reaching the tiny village of Kom Ombo for our morning excursions to the temple. The temple is situated literally on the shoreside so it was great to be able to make this visit on foot with out having to get on the coach. This temple is dedicated to the god of the crocodiles and has a crocodile museum where visitors can see the remains of the mummified crocodiles that were kept in the temple for worshipping. Thankfully, since the construction of the Aswan dam there are no longer crocodiles in this part of the river with the local farmers killing them all after the dam was built.
At 9.30am we all boarded the ship again to set sail for Aswan. The crew had arranged for us to have a top deck sail away party with nibbles and champagne and the traditional Uniworld sabering ceremony performed not long after leaving Kom Ombo. The weather was glorious so many of the passengers came up to enjoy the views as we sailed on this part of the river, with Mohamed Ali again making sure none of us became too relaxed by getting us all to join in with a fun session of Zumba. Alongside the usual buffet lunch in the restaurant the amazing dining team ensured we could make the most of the lovely weather by preparing an Alfresco light lunch out on the open decks so we didn’t have to drag ourselves away from the stunning views as we sailed into Aswan.
We arrived at Aswan just after lunch, immediately noticing the contrast to the other places we had stopped at so far. Aswan has a very French Riviera feel to it with some very luxurious hotels dotted along its palm tree-lined sunny banks on one side of the river and sandy banks marking the start of the Sahara desert on the other. Not long after docking we left in our groups to join a small boat docked next to us on the shore side for a bird watching trip around the many islands located in the Nile in this part of the river. As we left the shore we headed towards Elephantine island as we were chased by what our guide described as the Nubian crocodiles, local children on paddle boards who chase the tourist boats and hang on to the sides singing nursery rhymes. During our boat ride we spotted many migratory birds that inhabit these islands, including heron, kingfisher, black winged hawks and cormorants.
Back on board the SS Sphinx we had a quick change into something a little dressier for our visit to the Old Cataract Hotel, designed and built in 1899 by Thomas Cook in a very British colonial style as a haven for British travellers. Favoured by many dignitaries over the years, including Winston Churchill, Jimmy Carter, Princess Diana and Margaret Thatcher, it was also where Agatha Christie lived for the year that she spent writing the novel Death on the Nile. Upon arrival at the hotel we were taken to one of the beautiful terraces overlooking the river Nile where we were served a delicious traditional afternoon tea, which as only two of four British travellers on this voyage, I think we enjoyed more than anyone else. Along with the traditional sandwiches, cakes and scones we had a rather amazing plate of sweet, juicy fruit (the Egyptian sun seems to make all of the fruit here taste sweeter ) which we ate whilst watching the sun set over the Nile, giving me a memory that will last a lifetime.
The following morning most of the guests from the Sphinx left at 6am to catch a flight to Abu Simbel temples, half an hour flight away. We decided to forgo the tour to catch up on some work so after a quiet, productive morning on board the ship we were joined by the rest of our fellow travellers just after lunchtime. Later in the afternoon we again headed out for a boat trip on the Nile, this time on a traditional felucca sailing boat. We were very lucky that it was actually an unusually windy day in Aswan so the winds helped us on our way with our skilled sailors twisting and turning the felucca up the river, round Elephantine island and back in front of the Old Cataract Hotel. As Aswan is in the Nubian region of Egypt that evening we had a pre-dinner Nubian show with some local people coming on board to play traditional instruments, sing their songs and dance for us. Again the show involved quite a bit of audience participation with them trying to teach us some of their language.
Staying in Aswan overnight, the next morning we headed a little out of the city for a visit to Philae temple, the temple of Isis, the Goddess of the moon, which is located on a small island near to the old dam of Aswan. Visitors have to board a boat to get to the island to which the temple was moved by the French in 1977 after its original island kept being flooded following the construction of the old dam. The temple was cut into 42,000 pieces in order to move it and the ‘new’ island had to be extended to accommodate the whole temple. It is possible to see the original island from the new island, with the whole operation being completed in just five years.
From Philae we headed to the new Aswan dam to get a view of the north and south sections of the river Nile the massive Lake Nassau on the south side. From the dam we headed back to Aswan city to visit a papyrus factory where we succumbed to temptation and bought a traditional papyrus paper with a tree of life in the centre surrounded with 5 cartouches in which we had our names and the names of our three children hand scribed in them. Our last stop of the day was the Unfinished Obelisk of Queen Hatshepsut, which is located in an old granite mine. The obelisk was almost cut out of the rock when it cracked down the middle so was never taken out of the ground and simply left where it was.
After an action packed morning we headed back to the ship for lunch and a quick rest on the open decks as we set sail for Edfu. The weather was glorious so most people were up on the open decks with quite a few guests joining in Muhamed Ali for this afternoons yoga session. No sooner had this finished and chef came up to give us a cookery demonstration, showing us how to make a local sweet treat called zalabya, like a small round doughnut soaked in sugar syrup - just what we needed after yoga. That evening we had a farewell cocktail party to thank the crew for looking after us so well, on what was already our penultimate night on the SS Sphinx. After the port talk we headed into the restaurant for a candle lit buffet dinner with some of our new found friends as we spent an evening filled with plenty of chatter and belly laughs as we set sail for Edfu where we would stop for the night.
Just before sunrise the next morning the ship slipped the ropes to sail the small journey from our overnight stop of Edfu to the town of Esna, home of the Temple of Khnum which we would be visiting this morning. Esna is located on the bank of the river and we were able to walk to the temple of Khnum which is a sunken temple in the middle of the town, located 9 metres below street level. To get to the temple we walked through the street markets with the local hawkers trying to entice us to buy the local cloths. Following our visit to the temple we had a quick stop at the newly renovated trade centre with a chance to climb up to its roof, giving us a unique view over the town.
Leaving Esna and heading back to Luxor the SS Sphinx had to navigate the only lock on this stretch of the Nile. Most people headed up to the top deck to watch the ship go through the dock, accompanied by the local hawkers trying to sell us their wares, throwing them up onto the top of the deck and then negotiating the price. All the while the ship is going through the lock which thankfully isn’t that deep since they accompanied us right through the whole process only leaving us when we were well through the dock and they had secured their transactions. Most guests stayed up on deck for a lazy afternoon sailing along the river, taking in the gorgeous views and enjoying the sunny weather.
Back in Luxor it was time to disembark the gorgeous SS Sphinx for our flight back to Cairo and our return to the Four Seasons Nile Plaza hotel. Walid assured us we had saved the best to last and after a long day of travel and a farewell dinner in the Fort Seasons hotel we still had a full day boy excursions before we finished our tour. Another 7am tour start took us out of Cairo before the traffic picked up and straight to the pyramids before the crowds arrived. First up was the Great Pyramid, a truly iconic sight and incredible to see up close and personal. From here we moved to the next pyramid with the option to go into a tomb passing through a rather tiny tunnel into the heart of the pyramid. Most of us choose just to remain on the outside mesmerised by the view of these incredible structures. The whole group then moved onto a panoramic viewpoint where there was the option to take a camel ride in the foothills of the three pyramids.
We couldn’t leave Giza without a stop at the Great Sphinx, although by now the crowds had built and because of structural repairs we were disappointed that we weren’t able to get that iconic photo of the sphinx sitting in front of the great pyramid. Although it was only mid morning we had seen so much but we still had visits to the ancient capital city of Memphis and the original of all the pyramids, the Step Pyramid before saying a final farewell to our amazing Egyptologist and fellow travellers, many of whom had now become our firm friends.
Overall this trip could hardly be described as a vacation, with early morning starts and full days exploring ancient sites, we would liken it more to an expedition cruise. It is also impossible to ignore the hardship you encounter on this trip, with the level of poverty in some of the places we visited taking us by surprise. For these reasons we would wholly recommend taking a fully escorted tour, our Egyptologists were crucial to our enjoyment of the trip, keeping us safe and giving us expert advice, not only about the sites we visited but how and who to engage with when we were at the tourist sites. However, overall the trip blew us away with the amount of ancient history and wonders of the world we had managed to squeeze into such a short time, sailing through Egyptian countryside with the Sahara desert as a backdrop, all while enjoying the luxurious surroundings and attentive service on the glorious SS Sphinx.
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Thank you to our preferred travel partners Panache cruises and Uniworld River cruises who hosted us on the River Nile cruise on the SS Sphinx. Whilst Uniworld paid our cruise fare and all of the excursions included whilst on the ship, all other costs were covered by ourselves including the flights to get to Egypt, the stay at the Four Seasons hotel, the internal flights and all of the tours taken on the land part of the trip. Neither Uniworld or Panache had any editorial control over any of our content, either before, during our after our voyage.
If you enjoyed this blog why not take a look at our Uniworld Bordeaux blog or our Scenic Azure Douro river cruise
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