felucca - ilivetotravel's travel log

Photo(s) of the Week – Going down the Nile in a Felucca

Many moons ago I went to Egypt for the first time, deciding -on a whim- to join several co-workers who had planned to go for 7-10 days with no plans other than a plane ticket. Among the many things we did, we hired a felucca to take us around for 24 hrs from Aswan to a point downriver where we would catch a caravan towards Luxor.

One of the neat things about this approach was the ability to get away from the crowds, the noise, the everyday (for us!) and get a little closer to the Nile and its surroundings.

Captain Bob, our felucca captain, and his assistant cooked for us on the felucca and we slept pretty much under the stars (it got cold!!!). Though they brought bottled water for cooking, the cleaning of utensils and pots happened with river water with the associated impact to my stomach the next morning.

But, you know what? I’d go through it again just to get to experience the Nile like this for the first time. Now, I would NOT suffer that again for a second time. The second time, I will be more picky with my source of food but I highly recommend doing the felucca ride for 24 hours. Just peaceful!!!

In the end, it was about getting to awesome Luxor. Though the caravan was required due to safety concerns in the area south of Luxor and it felt odd to us, we made it to the destination – Luxor has a lot to offer so don’t miss it!

Temple at Luxor

A younger version of yours truly in Luxor with my OWN private sphinx

Read my funny story about trying to get out of the Sinai peninsula to get to Cairo.

Photo of the Week – New for the Blog!

A new add-on to the blog… I have so many pictures from the places I have been to… since pictures sometimes say more than 1,000 words (or “1K” words to be more modern…), I’d thought I’d share them. No use just having them on my laptop! Though I will not be able to post the next couple of weeks (I may post a second one this week to make up for it), no sense waiting to kick it off!

This is from a trip in 1998 when we took a felucca down the Nile for a 24-hr voyage. We slept on the felucca, outdoors (a first for me). It was cold in the evening and we had blankets that probably dated to the 1950s when they were last washed. But they were heavenly given how cold it was… Waking up to this in such a unique place in the world was a great experience and one of my best memories.