While our travel focus is on ancient civilization and we've done so on the cheap so to speak, the next few days will continue that search in the historic grand tour manor. We prepared to embark for the SS Sudan but first, a wee bit of breakfast seemed in order while still ensconced at the Old Cataract. Alas, there was nothing wee about the breakfast buffet. According to the maitre'd, we were standing in the room he called 'starters' while the other room held 'breakfast'. One chap's job was to squeeze the five juices offered, another was to create omelettes or crapes. Others continually refreshed 18 different baskets of bread, 14 different bowls of fresh fruit. Tiered displays of yogurts, cheeses, olives, pickles and greens for mezze plates competed with bowl after bowl of Egyptian goodies such as Oriental Fateer, Poulady Salad, Belehlah, Shakskoka, and our favorite, Om Ali were further accompanied by bowls of cooked beans or bean sprouts in brine, dried plums and apricots, halva, on and on, more than I can remember. Honeys, jams, and preserves were prepared in house and even something as simple as butter was offered in the form of florets. The abundance was one thing but what really made the difference was the superb quality and depth of taste. Of all the luxurious features the grand Old Cataract Hotel had to offer, it was the food that made it worth the 5 stars it proclaims. Roger then headed off to the gym for a workout where he met a member of the Aga Khan family whose shrine is visible from the Cataract on the western shore of the Nile. Retreating to the hotels library, he settled into a chesterfield settee under a giant Venetian chandelier to read our vintage guide bleu tour book and write. After weeks of erratic showers, I was determined to partake of a good soak in our rooms marble bathtub, or was it a lap pool so big it was. Refreshed and ready to meet a staff member from Voyageurs du Monde , we were taken to the quay along the corniche, stepped onto the gangway and were transported once again to a past century. On the broad deck of the SS Sudan we were greeted by uniformed staff offering warmed towels and chilled hibiscus tea, before a tour of the ship and settling into our stateroom on the upper deck. Each of the cabins are named after historic figures in Egyptian history. Ours is Herodotus.
Built in 1886 for King Fouad, the 70-metre-long SS Sudan is a doubleside paddlewheel steam ship. She has 23 staterooms, 2 suites, a main salon with bar, library, piano, comfy leather club chairs and lots of windows to watch the Nile from. Public rooms and state rooms are clad in dark wood raised panels; cabin exteriors and louvered doors in teak. Brightwork abounds, polished and shining. All the furnishings antique, right down to the wall-mounted crank telephones. French cuisine is served in the dining salon. An espresso bar is centered on the top deck surrounded by enough chaises and wicker deck chairs to seat a small army but there are just six of us passengers, outnumbered three-fold by staff and crew. We've a tour guide to the monuments along our route. We've a steward, Said, who bends over backwards to oblige, going out of his way by showing us the engine room for starters. The dining room staff amid-deck, engineers below deck, wait staff on top deck, and captain in his pilot house are all friendly and welcoming. Oh, me oui, let's not forget chef whom we met outside the galley standing tall under his toque. He produced our lovely steak au poire. Ah, such is roughing it in the desert.
Like so much of this trip, being aboard the Sudan is a dream come true, stuff only realized through books or movies. Agatha Christie wrote Death on the Nile and both Old Cataract Hotel and SS Sudan were featured in the 1978 movie of the same name. Amidship on the lower deck, an opening the size of a garage door exposes the engine, propulsion pistons shining with freshly applied oil turn slow and precise. Windows into the paddlewheel house allow a view of the churning wheels that allow us to gently glide along the Nile. There is virtually no vibration; she literally glides along. It's heavenly. While we journey from upper Egypt in our chaise on the upper deck, we're simultaneously transported to another time. Roger just recorded on his iPhone a sound video of the engine room at work. Imagine, here we are on a 19th century means of transport using 21st century technology. Miracles abound! (by Lou)
After lunch, we joined the other two English-speaking people from our boat and headed for a visit to the temple at Philae. A car took us to a boat ramp while our guide gave us a painfully detailed, dynasty-based summary of Egyptian history, and then we got onto a motor launch to go over to the island.
The temple complex at Philae is impressive from the water with its huge pylons jutting up from the grasses of the island, and it’s no less impressive once you land and walk into it. For all its imposing mass, this temple is very late; in fact, the overwhelming bulk of it is after the Egyptian pharaonic era. This big complex is largely from the Ptolemaic, or Greek period, as they call it here. I learned the term Hellenistic for the time. It’s the years after Alexander the Great conquered Egypt as well as the better part of the known Western world and thus set off the exchange of ideas across the vast space. For Egypt, that meant that the Hellenistic Greek Ptolemies became the rulers of Egypt.
Both of the things I especially like about that period are obvious at Philae. First, orthodoxy pretty much broke down and religion fragmented into a collection of cults. Suddenly Isis, a goddess who’d been around since the Old Kingdom, became tremendously popular, and her cult spread throughout the Alexandrian world. The big temple here at Philae is dedicated to her. Another interesting element of the times is the syncretism that accompanied the exchange of ideas that Alexander facilitated. Isis, Egyptian god of love, merged with Aphrodite and Ra with Zeus, and the deities also picked up local characteristics. Beyond that, there was also significant cultural syncretism. The Ptolemies were Greek and spoke Greek, but they ruled an Egyptian population. One of their strategies for holding power was to adapt to the local culture, so in places like Philae, Ptolemaic kings are portrayed as pharaohs, surrounded by hieroglyphics that include their own cartouches; they’re shown honoring Egyptian gods, too. You’d hardly think that the pharaohs making offerings to Isis throughout this temple were Greek.
I think this mixing of cultures is fascinating.
Even two millennia after the Old Kingdom temples we saw on the west bank here, the structure of the main complex at Philae resembles that of those temples. The Ptolemies added the giant pylon gateways to the design, but there’s still an impressive, columned hall at the front of the actual temple that leads to a series of diminishing chambers into the main shrine. And at Philae, in addition to the Hellenistic shrine, there’s a fun temple from the era that’s dedicated to Hathor. This playful structure includes carvings of figures playing a variety of musical instruments like the tambor and harp, one of which has the god Bes playing it. The chapel was first erected by one of the Ptolemies but was then added to by the rulers who succeeded the Greeks, the Romans.
After the Greeks, the Romans did considerable work at Philae, one of which is the attractive Kiosk of Trajan. This is a delicate, pillared little structure sometimes referred to as Pharoah’s Bed although the pharaohs had been gone for centuries when the Romans built it.
The last people to leave their mark on Philae were Christians. Egypt was one of the earliest churches established, which makes the Egyptian Coptic church one of the oldest. In fact, the Coptic language is the one that’s closest to the ancient Egyptian. During the latter Roman Empire, Christians began converting the Hellenistic shrines to churches, and in the 4th century, Christian Roman emperors began the repression of pagan rites as part of their internal power struggles in Rome and Constantinople. In Egypt, one result of the political war was that Christians started trying to cleanse their churches by defacing the Hellenic imagery that adorned the shrines cum churches. The clear majority of the carvings we saw at Philae had been defaced, but even this deliberate repression couldn’t remove all the polytheistic exuberance there.
Philae was a great visit and a great introduction to the churn of latter Egyptian history. And we returned to our boat for a fine French dinner. (by Roger)
Built in 1886 for King Fouad, the 70-metre-long SS Sudan is a doubleside paddlewheel steam ship. She has 23 staterooms, 2 suites, a main salon with bar, library, piano, comfy leather club chairs and lots of windows to watch the Nile from. Public rooms and state rooms are clad in dark wood raised panels; cabin exteriors and louvered doors in teak. Brightwork abounds, polished and shining. All the furnishings antique, right down to the wall-mounted crank telephones. French cuisine is served in the dining salon. An espresso bar is centered on the top deck surrounded by enough chaises and wicker deck chairs to seat a small army but there are just six of us passengers, outnumbered three-fold by staff and crew. We've a tour guide to the monuments along our route. We've a steward, Said, who bends over backwards to oblige, going out of his way by showing us the engine room for starters. The dining room staff amid-deck, engineers below deck, wait staff on top deck, and captain in his pilot house are all friendly and welcoming. Oh, me oui, let's not forget chef whom we met outside the galley standing tall under his toque. He produced our lovely steak au poire. Ah, such is roughing it in the desert.
Like so much of this trip, being aboard the Sudan is a dream come true, stuff only realized through books or movies. Agatha Christie wrote Death on the Nile and both Old Cataract Hotel and SS Sudan were featured in the 1978 movie of the same name. Amidship on the lower deck, an opening the size of a garage door exposes the engine, propulsion pistons shining with freshly applied oil turn slow and precise. Windows into the paddlewheel house allow a view of the churning wheels that allow us to gently glide along the Nile. There is virtually no vibration; she literally glides along. It's heavenly. While we journey from upper Egypt in our chaise on the upper deck, we're simultaneously transported to another time. Roger just recorded on his iPhone a sound video of the engine room at work. Imagine, here we are on a 19th century means of transport using 21st century technology. Miracles abound! (by Lou)
After lunch, we joined the other two English-speaking people from our boat and headed for a visit to the temple at Philae. A car took us to a boat ramp while our guide gave us a painfully detailed, dynasty-based summary of Egyptian history, and then we got onto a motor launch to go over to the island.
The temple complex at Philae is impressive from the water with its huge pylons jutting up from the grasses of the island, and it’s no less impressive once you land and walk into it. For all its imposing mass, this temple is very late; in fact, the overwhelming bulk of it is after the Egyptian pharaonic era. This big complex is largely from the Ptolemaic, or Greek period, as they call it here. I learned the term Hellenistic for the time. It’s the years after Alexander the Great conquered Egypt as well as the better part of the known Western world and thus set off the exchange of ideas across the vast space. For Egypt, that meant that the Hellenistic Greek Ptolemies became the rulers of Egypt.
Both of the things I especially like about that period are obvious at Philae. First, orthodoxy pretty much broke down and religion fragmented into a collection of cults. Suddenly Isis, a goddess who’d been around since the Old Kingdom, became tremendously popular, and her cult spread throughout the Alexandrian world. The big temple here at Philae is dedicated to her. Another interesting element of the times is the syncretism that accompanied the exchange of ideas that Alexander facilitated. Isis, Egyptian god of love, merged with Aphrodite and Ra with Zeus, and the deities also picked up local characteristics. Beyond that, there was also significant cultural syncretism. The Ptolemies were Greek and spoke Greek, but they ruled an Egyptian population. One of their strategies for holding power was to adapt to the local culture, so in places like Philae, Ptolemaic kings are portrayed as pharaohs, surrounded by hieroglyphics that include their own cartouches; they’re shown honoring Egyptian gods, too. You’d hardly think that the pharaohs making offerings to Isis throughout this temple were Greek.
I think this mixing of cultures is fascinating.
Even two millennia after the Old Kingdom temples we saw on the west bank here, the structure of the main complex at Philae resembles that of those temples. The Ptolemies added the giant pylon gateways to the design, but there’s still an impressive, columned hall at the front of the actual temple that leads to a series of diminishing chambers into the main shrine. And at Philae, in addition to the Hellenistic shrine, there’s a fun temple from the era that’s dedicated to Hathor. This playful structure includes carvings of figures playing a variety of musical instruments like the tambor and harp, one of which has the god Bes playing it. The chapel was first erected by one of the Ptolemies but was then added to by the rulers who succeeded the Greeks, the Romans.
After the Greeks, the Romans did considerable work at Philae, one of which is the attractive Kiosk of Trajan. This is a delicate, pillared little structure sometimes referred to as Pharoah’s Bed although the pharaohs had been gone for centuries when the Romans built it.
The last people to leave their mark on Philae were Christians. Egypt was one of the earliest churches established, which makes the Egyptian Coptic church one of the oldest. In fact, the Coptic language is the one that’s closest to the ancient Egyptian. During the latter Roman Empire, Christians began converting the Hellenistic shrines to churches, and in the 4th century, Christian Roman emperors began the repression of pagan rites as part of their internal power struggles in Rome and Constantinople. In Egypt, one result of the political war was that Christians started trying to cleanse their churches by defacing the Hellenic imagery that adorned the shrines cum churches. The clear majority of the carvings we saw at Philae had been defaced, but even this deliberate repression couldn’t remove all the polytheistic exuberance there.
Philae was a great visit and a great introduction to the churn of latter Egyptian history. And we returned to our boat for a fine French dinner. (by Roger)
these postings will come through in time! :-)) marty
ReplyDeleteonly six passengers. reminded me of first class on the ss united states and america as far as the cuisine is concerned, but i would have much preferred a paddleboat!!! enjoy!!!!
ReplyDeletethis is all fascinating, but don't quiz me later! i misspelled pharaoh; was roger trying to make me feel better? wasn't necessary! :-))
guess i need to add my name as i don't know how to properly post. marty