20250307 Friday, March 7, 2025. Esna Temple And Galabeya Shopping

20250307 Friday, March 7, 2025. Esna Temple

The ship tied up in Esna while we were being entertained by the Twirling Dervish last night.  This time the ship tied up on its starboard side, so when we awoke in the morning and pulled back the shades, we could see the river front docking site with the ship’s gangplank extended to shore just aft of our stateroom position.  The ship ties up in secure areas with Tourism Police guarding access to the river front docking sites for river cruise ships.  

During breakfast we could see some vendors in a row boat paddling up and down the river side of the ship hoping to make a sale, but because we were a deck above the waterline and completely enclosed by glass, there was little opportunity for them to make a sale at that moment.

After breakfast, we headed off the ship for a tour of the Esna Temple, which was a very short 1 block walk from where the ship was tied up.  Cleverly, the lane that connected the river cruise ship docking area to the temple is designated Esna City Touristic Bazaar.  It was one of the most intense vendor gauntlet that we have run into, but the same rules applied and our Viking handlers did their best to put us in a stronger position in negotiations for purchases.  This included briefing us on target pricing for various things we might want to buy, and also tactics that the vendors will try to employ to pressure buyers to part with more money than necessary.  

The Esna Temple is relatively small compared with others we have been seeing, and is surrounded by pretty dense ramshackle development.  However as excavation of the temple site has revealed adjacent structures, the government has been buying out land owners or squatters and relocating them so that many of the ramshackle buildings surrounding the temple look even more ramshackle due to their being abandoned buildings awaiting demolition as excavation expands from the current temple grounds.  

Many of the temples bear evidence of repeated defacement.  In most cases, this involves chiseling off of faces and other exposed body parts of carvings on these structures.  Over the millennia, there have been many rationale for this as belief systems evolve and different belief systems come to be in possession of and control of these ancient sites. Perhaps it is fortunately that the Nile and the surrounding desert have had the tendency to bury ancient structures, preserving them from the reach of men.  This temple has a lot of references to Khnum, a god with powers related to creation and rebirth.  Khnum is often depicted as a ram’s head on a human body, or as a ram in its animal form.  There are myths that attribute man’s creation to Khnum molding man out of clay and adding the attributes of spirit and life before inserting this creation into the womb.  

About half of the front of this temple is encased in scaffolding as workers are cleaning and restoring it.  They have also hung netting to discourage pigeons because bird droppings are highly corrosive to the paints used in the temple, and a key source of degradation of the temple’s decorations.  The front of the temple is a hypostyle hall of columns which are elaborately decorated surrounded by high walls and a sold ceiling which is also very elaborately decorated.  It is notable that this ceiling has depictions of Nut and also of the Zodiac symbols much like those seen in the Dandarah Temple.  Much of the colors are preserved on the upper portions of the columns and ceiling, and although many of the figures are defaced, there are untouched figures high on the walls and columns.  Relative to the other temples we have seen, this one was pretty easily manageable.  

Returning from the temple to the ship would prove to be the real adventure for today.  Although Viking does not have “Formal Nights” requiring passengers to dress up, they do have a “Taste of Egypt & Galabeya Evening” in which passengers are encouraged to dress like an Egyptian.  For most, this required acquiring Egyptian outfits in a market, and the market at Esna has been touted as the best place to do so because of selection, prices and competition.  Our Viking handlers were keeping an eye out for us, but today was a bit like a final practical examination on our “How to negotiate like an Egyptian 101” course.  

We were given target pricing for various garments, but some did vary considerably depending on quality and whether they were made in Egypt or Chinese knock offs.  We knew of very few people who actually managed to successfully haggle vendors all the way down to the target pricing, but I don’t think we got taken too badly.  Janet managed to get a high quality Galabeya  for $23, haggling down from over $100, while Ben managed to get his Galabeya along with a headscarf for the same price, also haggling down from $85 for just the Galabeya and getting the headscarf thrown in.  

The ship pushed off from Esna and continued sailing on the Nile under perfect weather conditions.  As the ship was heading upstream, there was a tailwind so there was not much wind on the upper decks.  We saw streams of other river cruise ships heading the opposite direction, racing each other to the locks that we had traversed last night.  The ship hosted a sail away cocktails hour with complementary cocktails mixed with Egyptian spirits.  We had Pina Coladas made with Egyptian rum. Since sugar cane is a primary agricultural product of the Nile Valley, rum is a natural local product.  

After lunch, we some down time to relax and enjoy the sailing.  Cruising the Nile is quite pleasant and interesting.  Even the view from our waterline window has proven to be quite interesting as it puts us at eye level with the fishermen and vendors in their row boats.  The only disadvantage we have discovered is Ben can’t just step outside onto the veranda to apply spray on sunscreen or bug spray, and has to do so out in the hallway outside the stateroom.

The afternoon kept us busy.  There was a cooking class in which Chef Janet got to help make falafels, earning herself a chef’s hat and Viking Cooking School Apron souvenir.  Then we had afternoon tea.  We are happy to report that the scones on the Viking Hathor are up to our high standards.

Fatma presented a lecture on Medicine in Ancient Egypt which was quite interesting.  Although most people refer to Hippocrates as the father of modern medicine, he certainly got a lot of his medical knowledge from medical paparuses.  We learned today that the modern day Rx symbol for medication prescriptions actually comes from the simplified hieroglyph for the Eye of Horus.  

The practice of mummification may have given ancient Egyptians a leg up on developing modern medicine because they literally autopsied everyone in the process of mummification, so the saw what was normal and pathological anatomy.  
There was a slide on circumcision, which in ancient Egyptian times, was done at puberty, and with flint knives since the only metal available at that time was copper, which doesn’t hold a cutting edge. Fatma also described the invention of contraceptive sponges by ancient Egyptians.  These were impregnated with various ingredients, although she did not mention crocodile dung to be among them.  
After the medical lecture, there was a formal wheel house tour and Q&A session with the Captain.  Manal had to serve as translator because our Captain is Egyptian.  Unlike in the airline industry, ship captains in Egypt have to be fluent only in Arabic.  It is astounding to Ben that there wasn’t a huge chart plotter with multiple GPS back ups all over the wheel house.  The captain and his pilots know the river like the backs of their hands from years and years of experience.  Nautical charts can’t be relied upon in river systems because sand banks and river bottoms can change rapidly, so being able to read the river is more important.

We got changed into our new Egyptian outfits and went to dinner.  It was fun to see everyone in their Egyptian garb.  Apparently, there is no such thing as cultural misappropriation here.  The dinner was served family style and featured many of the same foods that were featured in the restaurant in Cairo, but the Viking versions were both more flavorful and presented much more nicely.  For as good as it was, Egyptian cuisine is probably only going to rank slightly above the UK for deliciousness.  
After dinner, a group of Nubian dancers put on a performance. They were an all male group with 3 musicians and 4 dancers.  The dancing was much less structured and involved a lot of audience participation.  Unfortunately, where we sat, the performers had their backs turned towards us for more than 90% of the performance.   There were several passengers who did bring their A game to their audience participation, which did make the performance more interesting to watch, particularly since some people whom we have met on the ship who came across as being very reserved turned out to be party animals when put on stage.

The ship motored through the evening into Aswan.  We should be docked in Aswan when we wake up tomorrow.  After breakfast, we will leave the ship and fly to Abu Simbel for an all day excursion.  Although we will have to go through some rigid airport security both ways, our guides say it will all be worth it.  So we’ll hit the sack early.