Saturday, December 18, 2010

CRUISING THE NILE

EGYPT - FEBRUARY 2010


"DEAPARTING LUXOR/THEBES - The ships start moving one after the other and the view of the Luxor Temple accompanies us for a while"


"LEFT BANK, RIGHT BANK, FELUCCA, SHIP & BRIDGE..."


"CONTRASTS - Resort sold in UK, suburbs of Luxor, factory and village"


"PALM TREES"


"GREEN NILE"


"THE DESERT IS SO CLOSE"


"MINARET"


"SHIPS & SHIPS - Overpassing while in the pool..."


"THE BEST - My choice of the best pictures on this section of the cruise"


"À L'ABORDAGE"


"ESNA LOCK SYSTEM"


"BRIDGE LIGHTS"

58 comments:

Trotter said...

Hi Everybody! After enjoying the magnificent temples of Karnak and Luxor, the fascinating Temple of Hatshepsut and the fabulous tombs in the Valley of Kings, it’s time to start cruising the Nile in direction to Aswan... The most striking images are perhaps given by the strong contrast between the greenery by the water and the mammoth desert that appears in a very short distance just behind the green margins... Another aspect is that it seems that all ships depart Luxor at the same time and make the same itinerary; it looked like a Formula 1 race in Monte Carlo... ;). Anyhow, enjoy, don’t forget to leave a comment and have a great weekend!

Sylvia K said...

Marvelous captures as always! And as always, they prompt wishful thinking! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Sylvia

Rakesh Vanamali said...

Absolutely wonderful! Thanks very much for sharing these gorgeous pictures!

alicesg said...

You are so busy travelling round the world. :) Hope you have a nice weekend.

Siddhartha Joshi said...

am sure it would be wonderful to even gaze at so many ships traveling together! nice images...would love to see more images, perhaps of the locals and of course the food :)

SusuPetal said...

Beautiful.
When I crossed Nile, I was scared for the small children who had some crazy vehicles in the water. They were not boats, but all kind of metallic boxes etc.
It looked frightening.

Did you see any crocodiles?

P.N. Subramanian said...

The palm trees and villages or perhaps small towns on the banks of Nile are pleasing to the eyes. Thanks for the beautiful photographs of your cruise in the Nile.

Mariposa said...

very nice. i love the last pic :) Happy weekend!

Ashira said...

Lots of ships and lots of palm trees! Great post as always! Have a good weekend :)

Ron said...

That looks like fun. I never imagined palm trees in Egypt.

Merry Christmas and best of luck in 2011:)

A Lady's Life said...

I am with susu here.
The Nile must have crocs.
Pretty scary if the boat tips over or catches fire.lol

diane b said...

There are a lot of ships leaving all at once. I could handle that cruise. Looks great.

eye in the sky said...

The concept of the "Nile" is highly romanticized, and inspires thoughts of adventure and poetry. It's easy to see why in your photos. Love 'em, especially the one which shows the huge vessel beside the small ones, with people looking up. Beautiful.

[G@ttoGiallo] said...

Je rêve de descendre le Nile, mais sur une feluque...
Super voyage, Gil.

lv2scpbk said...

Hey Trotter, I really missed visiting your site. Glad I'm getting back into things now.

I may have told you before but this year hasn't been too fun for me especially the last half. In Aug. I had my gallbladder removed, then dealt with a foot issue, MRI, found out arthritis in the foot and then recently made a trip to the hospital over Thanksgiving for heart issues. I'm working on the last issue. Go back in Jan. to find out what the doctor is going to do for me. I'm hoping 2011 is better. Anyway, hope you and your wife is having fun and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Love the huge ship photos.

april said...

Oh wow, contrast program: here it is snowind and ou take me to the swimmingpool under palm trees.
Have a nice afternoon and evening, Gil,
Ingrid

Olivier said...

une superbe ballade, c'est magnifique

Anonymous said...

Never thought I would be cruising the Nile Trotter. :) Merry, merry Christmas to you and yours and I wish you a cruising good 2011. xo Lynn

yyam said...

Wow! This is another side of Egypt! So amazing! Thanks for sharing! :)

Rajesh said...

Beautiful shots. The place is mix of everything - industrial, scenic.

magiceye said...

delightful!

Ola said...

When I fist saw the Nile in Cairo I was a little bit disapointed, maybe because I read too much Chistie's books:) But outside Cairo it looks like it should

BTW, I have always thought cheescakes are more from Austria than from US:)

Nikon said...

So many beautiful shots, Gil-this post is overload :)
I love the shots of the green nile, your minarete shot, and your "best of" shots.
Quite a post!!

Cergie said...

Je suis surtout très impressionnée par tout ce qui flotte au dessus des eaux aussi je n'ose imaginer ce qui flotte entre deux eaux en dessous, tu fais bien de te baigner dans une piscine bleu lagon (je serais tentée de te rejoindre, l'eau devait être chaude)

Je t'ai sans doute raconté mon tout premier souvenir : j'étais sur le bateau provenant du Vietnam, j'avais à peine plus de deux ans et j'entendais des bruits du port sans doute en Egypte par le hublot de la cabine. Ensuite mes parents m'ont acheté des petites babouches...

Cergie said...

Mon deuxième souvenir et mon troisième : j'étais assise dans l'escalier de l'hôtel et j'étais sur le port de Marseille...
Bonne soirée, Gil !

Joseph Pulikotil said...

Hello,

It is an exciting trip on the Nile with so many lovely photos.It looks like I have traveled with you.

I suppose this is the same river in which Cleopatra sailed.The views are magnificent.

Wish you and your family a wonderful Christmas,
Joseph

Pietro Brosio said...

Hi Gil! It's an amazing trip on the Nile! All wonderful landscapes, very beautiful the photo of the minaret (what a nice light!), the choice of the best photos and the collages.
Have a pleasant week!

leo said...

Merry Xmas and have good holiday. But wait, you seem to have a good holiday ALWAYS ^_^ Ok have a good one.

joo said...

Awesome post as usually! This time I have a favourite photo - minarets, I'm in love with it:)

Emery Roth said...

I love the shot of the mineret and the giant sun. So did you meet Bogie and Kate?

Cloudia said...

What a wondrous journey!


Aloha from Hawaii

Comfort Spiral

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rochambeau said...

Hello Gil and Mrs. Trotter,
It was especially exciting to see the River Nile! Thank you for your photos!!

and
Merry Christmas!

xox
Constance

Regina said...

Beautiful and exotic place!
Thank you for sharing Trotter.
Merry Christmas.
Regards.

Gattina said...

Still looks the same ! we have done this cruise twice. Once the two of us and once with American friends in 2002. I loved it !

hpy said...

Et Hercule Poirot? Je ne le vois sur aucune photo.

Ash said...

Bridge lights are gorgeous!

Happy Christmas to you and your loved ones!

BLOGitse said...

What a great trip you had!

I'm back in Casa. Arrived last night.
Tomorrow it's time to calm down and enjoy all the goodies I brought with me...Finnish ham, mustard, good red wine...

MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Lakshmi said...

What a place to be..I would love to be there next year . Merry Christmas to you

Rune Eide said...

Maybe not a White Christmas - but quite a lot warmer and exciting :-)

Merry Christmas!

Daniel Chérouvrier said...

Cela manque de neige mais c'est très beau.
Joyeux Noël !

Thérèse said...

La verdure et la réalité des bords du Nil.
Une panoplie intéressante.
Je vous souhaite de joyeuses fêtes!

juka14 said...

I like the photo with all the ships behind each other. What a sight!

Trotter said...

Hi Folks! I hope you had a great holiday weekend and did not eat too many cakes... ;). The weather here was awful during Christmas Day, but as most people stay at home, the grey and misty day, with the annoying rain to add, wasn’t much noticed... On the blogosphere front, I noticed that there weren’t any particular comments on any specific pictures, which means that the average on this post is definitely low quality... ;). Anyhow, thanks for not abstaining yourselves from dropping a line... ;))

Sylvia,
Wishful thinking! That makes me think of flying to Patagonia and (like Chatwin) stay there for six months or more... ;)

Rakesh,
My pleasure! And thank you for your kind words to all my posts! Much appreciated!!

Alice,
When I used to sleep an average of 160 days abroad during a year, i was busy travelling around the world; not any longer... 

Siddhartha,
I must confess that when the ships were ahead of us, things weren’t that nice, as there was a bit of smoke coming out of some of those engines... But when we over passed most of them, things turned much more pleasant... ;)

Susu,
The most incredible are the sellers at the Esna lock system; as ships have to wait their turn to get to the higher side of the River Nile, they virtually attack the ships and their passengers trying to sell whatever you may imagine... And the manoeuvres they make are sometimes quite scaring... ;))
No crocodiles at sight on this section of the Nile... ;)

P. N. Subramanian,
They all look as some oasis, as the desert is always not that far away from the Nile...

Mariposa,
I’m glad you liked that one; I was wondering whether to post it or not, but I thought it was an interesting one... But don’t ask me how I managed to catch it; no idea... ;)

Ashira,
Welcome back here! And there is also a huge amount of sand just a little bit far away... ;))

Ron,
Well, it seems that there are no other trees on the banks of the Nile; hard times for Scandinavian pines to grow there... ;))

Lady,
There were, and we were closer to them, but not during this section of the River; and, as we were in a cabin on the upper deck, they wouldn’t manage to jump up there... ;). Don’t mention the fire... ;)

Trotter said...

Part Two:

Diane,
I wonder whether that is a security feature that all ships seem to depart on the same day and by the same time... It makes the crossing of the lock system much more difficult... ;)

Eye,
Well, maybe Agatha Christie is responsible for some of the mystery that involves the Nile, though Howard Carter must also be granted his share of fame having discovered King Tut tomb... ;) But the cruise of this section of the River proves to be an excellent source to adventure and poetry...
They weren’t just looking up; they were trying to sell everything they had on those small boats to the tourists in the big ships... ;))

G@tto,
Il y a des felouques et des felouques... ;). Descendre le Nile dans une felouque qui ne soit pas préparée pour le s voyageurs doit être dur; mais le faire sur une toute équipée, peut être trop cher… ;))

Barb,
Great to see you back!! Hope things will be improving and that the issues are going to be solved the best way, without any additional pain... I’m truly glad to have the comfort of your presence and comments in the blogosphere!!

Ingrid,
It seems this year there has been a lot of snow to distribute around the Northern Hemisphere... Fortunately, Lisbon is definitely south of north... ;)). No snow, just some rain or mist... ;))

Olivier,
Ça a vraiment été une ballade magnifique... Pour être parfaite, il n’a manqué que des copains pour le voyage; mais décider un jeudi pour partir le dimanche prochain, n’est pas facile pour tout le monde… ;))

Lynn,
My pleasure to take you on board; and to say the truth, it is definitely worthwhile to take some time to make that cruise... ;)

Yvonne,
Cruising the Nile is always an exciting adventure, even if you don’t have Hercule Poirot on board... ;)

Rajesh,
Four thousand years ago, the Nile was already the cradle of an amazingly developed civilization... ;)

Magic,
Thanks!!

Ola,
Cairo is a different issue; but the Nile between Luxor and Aswan is a stunning and exciting trip... Even without crimes and without Poirot... ;))
People usually think of cakes connecting it to Austria because they LOOK gorgeous; but they truly taste disgraceful (no sugar at all), except for the Imperial (not the Sacher) Torte ;)). But there is no cheesecake like New York cheesecake, even if you get it at the «Cheesecake Factory», Rodeo Drive, L.A.... ;))

Trotter said...

Part Three:

Paul,
Those «best» were a selection I thought that deserved some attention... ;); but the pirates (sellers) «à l’abordage» was my favourite... ;))

Lucie,
Je t’avoue qu’on nous a proposé la possibilité d’une baignade au Nil, mais vraiment notre intérêt n’était pas grand. En plus il y avait la chance de trouver des crocos… ;)).
C’est drôle que tu aies fait le voyage en passant Egypte à l’âge de deux ans; ma femme elle aussi est passée par là à l’âge de quinze mois, en provenance de Macao où elle est née… Mais elle ne se rappelle pas des babouches… ;)
Le port de Marseille? Ne connais pas; mais le Pont de Nantes me rappelle une chanson… ;))

Joseph,
My pleasure to bring you on board!! You are right; Cleopatra, Liz Taylor, Richard Burton, Cesar and everybody else, including the most famous Hercule Poirot, all sailed the Nile... ;)
Thanks for the wishes! Hope you had a great Christmas Day!!

Pietro,
That one of the minaret was not an easy task; the sun was straight ahead and the ship was moving, so it was not a piece of cake not to have the photo entirely burned...

Leo,
Come on; it’s much more pictures than holidays, that’s why it seems there are always something on the move... Nowadays I spend at the utmost, twenty to thirty nights abroad a year; some nine years ago my average was around one hundred sixty... ;))

Joo,
Yeah, the minaret is ok; but far from being a decent photo for any pro... ;)). Anyhow, you liked it, I’m happy... ;)

Ted,
I think that Bogie returned to the Rick’s Cafe in Casablanca, dreaming of flying to Lisbon (with Lauren...) and Kate was still plotting torpedoes again Königin Louise... ;)

Cloudia,
Wondrous indeed! I would love to make several of these kind of trips again... ;). Maybe one of these days... ;)

Constance,
My pleasure to show the Nile for you to enjoy!! Hope you had a great Christmas Day!!

Regina,
Exotic maybe; beautiful depends much more on your mood... ;) Anyhow, exciting enough for one to enjoy the adventure!!

Gattina,
Actually it seems that they didn’t change much on this section of the River since some four thousand years ago; except that the Nile doesn’t flood everything as it used to do... ;)

Trotter said...

Part Four and final, for the time being...

Hélène,
C’est vrai; il n’était pas là… Dommage!!

Ash,
I truly don’t know how they came out that way, but it made a nice picture those bridge lights... ;)

Blogitse,
So, you had a Finnish Christmas in the sun... ;)). Better that way; too much snow in Northern Europe these days... ;)
I think you may have missed the chance of making a great trip in Egypt while you were living in Cairo... Don’t miss the chance of making great trips in Morocco now that you are in Casa... ;))

Lakshmi,
Start packing; next year is just around the corner... ;)

Rune,
Surely not white; too much white burns your eyes... ;)). It seems you had some snow but the planes were flying; English, French and German airports were a mess... ;)

Daniel,
À mon avis, la neige ne manque jamais... ;))

Thérèse,
Il y a des oasis partout… ;)

Juka,
That is truly a bit disturbing; there were surely dozens and dozens of ships (I mean large passenger ships...) sailing that section of the River Nile at the same time...

Baron's Life said...

c'est très beau. Bravo mon cher ami

Trotter said...

Baron,
Merci!!

Joy said...

You make me jealous! I would love to cross the Nile, too. And the desert looked so inviting.

Many thanks for your patience, and for visiting Norwich Daily Photo and leaving your comment. Come visit again tomorrow!

Trotter said...

Joy,
Great to read you back here!! I'll give you some tips to cruise the Nile... ;)

Cergie said...

J'ai eu l'occasion d'aller à Macao il y a 4 ans et demi, en provenance de la Chine. Les tracasseries douanières ont été colossales ! D'un coté comme de l'autre !
Il nous a été dit qu'autrefois les navires revenaient avec des pierres du Portugal afin de ne pas voyager à vide et avoir de la stabilité...
Je ne sais si tu republieras d'ici la fin de l'année 2010, Gil.
Aussi je te souhaite, ainsi qu'à Mme T et à tous ceux qui te sont chers, une excellente année 2011 !

Trotter said...

Lucie,
Mais c'est vrai que au 15ème et au 16ème siècles on avait besoin de trouver des solutions... Aujourd'hui aussi; mis la technologie est différente... ;))

PS: Ma femme est née à Macao...

Light and Voices said...

Okay, cruising the Nile and seeing these sites are definately going on my "bucket list."
Joyce M

Trotter said...

Joyce,
Better start packing... January/February is the season... ;)

Ian | GoingRoamingWandering said...

How nice to have a Nile River cruise... its a dream come true to travel to Egypt for me. Wonderful pictures of the Nile.

Visit my site too: http://ilovegoingplaces.blogspot.com

Trotter said...

Ian,
Thanks for your visit and first time comment here! Would love to read you here ofte!
I'll check your blog...

seema gupta said...

again it seems nature is speaking of its own, what a marvellous captures. i never been to ship.....how adventours it may be.

regards

Trotter said...

Seema,
I was born in an island; that's probably the reason I adore ships and cruises... :-)