Dancing Queens

Taking Tea with Captain Mustafa & Crew

Those who had chosen to visit Abu Simbel left very early next morning to catch their flight.  Instead, Mr DIY & I took another, very relaxing felucca ride with Captain Mustafa, a local Nubian.  His crew even made us tea using Nile water, and thankfully, we’ve lived to tell the story!  It is said that if you drink from the Nile, you will return one day.  

Mr DIY was sadly missing his boat (aka the other woman) so it was with great pleasure we managed a peaceful sail in a traditional, hand built craft.  Sadly it ended too soon and Mustafa dropped us off near our waiting cruise ship, MS Melodie. 

Feluccas on the Nile near Aswan

Ah, yet another chance to drift luxuriously down the Nile watching out for crocodiles, enjoying vistas of fertile fields, high red cliffs and vast desert-scapes. Not to mention dodging local fishing craft and lots (and lots) of other cruise ships.  The Nile is as busy now as it was more than 5000 years ago. 

Early Morining and lots of Cruise Ships at Kom Obo Temple

The Nile is some 6700km long with a recorded history equally as long.  We were cruising from Aswan to Luxor only, a mere distance of 209km.  Still, that took us 3 days.  Miss Melodie was comfortably appointed.  

We only had our tour group on board and the crew looked after us remarkably well - even helping some of the men adjust their turbans for the evening’s galabia bash!  The evening's fancy dress challenge offered loads of laughs.  Prize winners of the evening were the couple who dressed as mummies!  Now that was fun proving how creative some people can be with a roll of toilet paper or two. 

Dancing Queens: Dressing up for the Galabia Evening

Another night we were treated with performances by a belly dancer and a whirling dervish; other aspects of Egypt that we had not delved too deeply into.  

Dervishes are a Sufi sect who traditionally use dance to reach religious ecstasy.  It has become tourist entertainment largely because of its notoriety as an unusual religious practice.  Having said that, it was interesting to note the difference between the Sufi dances performed in other countries. 

Friendly Crew on Ms Melodie help make a perfect turban

Colourful Dervish

A Novel Approach

Nubian Village, Aswan

Thirteen hours later, we arrived to early morning Aswan.  Aswan was once the ancient city of Syene, the largest trading centre in the Nile Valley.  Here convoys of goods on camel trains arrived from Africa and the Mediterranean.  Merchants bartered and sold in bustling souks, caravanserais housed weary travellers, hammams (bathhouses) refreshed them and tea shops proliferated.  What a difference to Cairo and Alexandria though!  This was chunking Egypt down to a manageable size.  

Or so we thought...... 

First destination in our Nubian Dynasty discovery was the Island of Philae near the Old Dam on the Nile.  The island was once thought to be the source of the Nile.  Its cornerstone is a small (by Egyptian standards) temple built during the Ptolemaic period (332-30 BC), dedicated to Isis, mother goddess of healing.  Needless to say the site has many remains of earlier and later constructions.  In all it’s quite romantic and could easily be seen as the source of many a modern-day stage set.  I could just imagine Diaghilev’s ballet troupe in their Picasso designed costumes prancing about the monuments.

Island of Philae

We were driven back to Aswan via the Aswan Dam lookout point and managed a stop to take necessary “I was there” photos of Lake Nasser, the largest man-made lake.  This huge dam finally put man in control of the Nile – for better or worse. 

Felucca Eva Stahl and her trusty Captain

Back to our day of more romantic interludes, we enlisted Captain el Tayib and crew on the felucca Eva Stahl to take us on an expedition until sunset.  We floated in the now peaceful First Cataract, passing the Tombs of the Nobles, Aga Khan’s mausoleum, St Simeon’s Monastery and Nubian villages.  We stopped briefly (and unexpectedly) on Elephantine Island to visit a Nubian home and crocodile museum.  That’s what happens when you are a captive audience. 

Sunset was nearly on us and we had a date at the Old Cataract Hotel for high tea.  This evocative hotel built in 1902 was once visited by Agatha Christie who famously wrote “Death on the Nile” in 1937.  Sir Winston Churchill was no slouch either, having also visited.  We all sat sipping mint tea, polishing off trays of fresh sandwiches and cakes but it wasn’t about the food.  It was about the sunset - and realizing that we were sitting in the best place to finally grasp the meaning of travel and discovery.  Over the eons many others have sat and been inspired by Egypt’s monuments too.  “Now” is over in a flash too soon.

High Tea on the Old Cataract Hotel Terrace

Our evening's task had been set by Athena.  We were to comb Aswan’s famous 2km of Sharia el Souk for a galabia or two to wear to a costume party set for our cruise down the Nile.  The souk was fun, it was hard work, and of course we bought far more than we needed.  Who could resist colourful scarves, cotton shirts, leather bags, spicy perfumes, fine glass bottles, intricate carpets, spices, teas and cats!  As Mr DIY had retreated to the Cleopatra Hotel, our deserted (male) travelling companion achieved souk notoriety.  He was highly complemented on his collection of wives, and offered a camel in exchange.  We, the mature ladies of the trip, then proceeded to giggle madly for rest of our shopping expedition.  Do we ever grow up?

Sunset over Aswan from the Old Cataract Hotel

(And just one more of the lateen rigged feluccas as a nod to our sailing lives and to a craft that has been plying the waters of the Nile since ancient times ....)

Traditional design that still works well

Mystic Seaport - a day with textiles

Everyone who visits Mystic Seaport can’t help but understand what life was like in seafaring communities of old.  Yes, and that’s why we were there too.  But…I couldn’t help notice how much related to textiles.  So here goes a little summary of my day.

Sails: The Sail Loft showcases traditional sailmaking techniques and materials. During the 1800’s, hand sewn sails were made of flax or cotton cloth and hemp or manila boltropes were common.  Sailmakers were often part of a ship’s contingent necessary to undertake repairs of blown out or ripped sails on board.  Now that’s some hand stitching I won’t be undertaking!

Rope: The Ropewalk is a very long building (some 300 yards) where strands of fibre were laid out and then twisted together (laid up) to make rope necessary for maritime use e.g. docklines.  Joins in ropes compromised their strength hence long buildings and resultant unit of measure -- a cable. Some natural fibres used to make rope were coir and sisal.

On the Home Front: Cottons for textiles were either hand loomed or imported and very expensive.  Until the invention of the sewing machine, clothes were hand stitched, as was home napery and bedding.  The quilt on display in the Burrows House is a sting pieced quilt in a spider web pattern, popular in America with frugal quilters during those years .   

Knots:  Whist we are on the subject of rope, knots were used on ships (macramé & other knot work) for practical and decorative purposes. Even today, Turks Head knots grace many a keyring and in some cases, clothing closures can be made from knots rather than buttons.

There was the odd quilt and clothing example as well.  Love the treddle!

Flags: Semaphore flags, National Flags, pennants, pirate flags, courtesy flags, club burgees, bunting and many more.  Military carries their colours into battle. Ships are “dressed” in flags to honour a person or an event.  Flags are about sharing information and have been used throughout history, particularly on battlefields.  Ancient peoples used vexilloids (metal flags), some with pieces of cloth attached.  I read that the first cloth flags were simply pieces dipped in a defeated enemy’s blood and attached to the vexilloids.  In all, flags are pieces of cloth imbued with history and rich in symbolism.

Racing was always a rich man's game

Designing Woman

Let's hope it will fly

Just to let you know that I’ve actually had some technical input into floating home, WJ3.  I’ve spent many a day with crayons and photocopies of sail patterns to “design” our new spinnaker.  Here it is finally, flat out on the grass – at this stage we aren’t even afloat so seeing it in full flight is unlikely for a while.  Don’t hold your breath.

(Also don't hold your breath for a photo or two.  We are sitting in Starbucks, Staten Island - yes, NY is but a breath away - anchored in Great Kills Harbor.  Starbucks has internet but I can't sit here all day, so posts first and photos later when we can get wifi at anchor - somewhere, anywhere!!!)