December 16 -- Aswan: The Cataract Hotel (by Lou)

 Started our morning by missing the early plane back to Aswan, but the buoyant EgyptAir chap got us on the next plane and by noon we found ourselves walking through the front door of the Old Cataract Hotel followed by a coterie of uniformed porters.  Wait staff offered refreshing chilled hibiscus tea in one of the Victorian stencil-decorated anterooms off of the main lobby, while other staff checked us in.   Whisked to the lift and directed to our enormous room with balcony, we freshened up in the multi-chambered marble washroom ( I am SO going to luxuriate in that enormous tub) before taking to the terrace restaurant for lunch a la Egyptien.  High above the First Cataract of the Nile, we dined on babaganoush salad followed by vegetable curry in coconut milk, washed down by a Stella.........okay two Stellas but hey, it's Egyptian!  Built in 1898, the Old Cataract is the grand dame of the Nile, a last vestige of the traditional grand tour.  Especially through the 18th & 19th centuries, a gentleman's education wasn't complete without experiencing the world through travel.  Judging from the extensive graffiti carved on and around the colossi of Rameses II from the time of its rediscovery, buried in the desert sands for 1000 years, Egypt's amazing temples were a big draw.  (See Amelia B Edwards 1891: A Thousand Miles Up The Nile, for a most engaging picture of life on that portion of the grand tour.  Her book and others on Egypt are with us and are well worth their weight in our backpacks for their character and insight.)

I've alluded in earlier blog entries to Rogers thoughtful planning, and that's where the connection to the old grand tour comes in.  Egypt is a once in a lifetime trip for me, and I can't imagine its true essence emerging from racing all over the countryside.  Roger's approach has been to link the significant but disparate parts through the expediency of air travel and linger at each stop to learn and absorb, very similar to previous century grand tour travel.  To further the grand tour effect, we'll use the venerable Old Cataract Hotel as a debarking point to the next phase of our travels, cruising the Nile from the Temple of Philae here in Aswan to the Temple of Karnak in Luxor, aboard the 19th C paddlewheel steamer SS Sudan.  (See 1978 film: Death on the Nile, where both hotel and ship are featured).