Jax Stumpes: Aswan: Sail on a Felucca (10/22/2023)

Sunday, October 22, 2023

Aswan: Sail on a Felucca (10/22/2023)

Sunday, October 22, 2023 (continued)

The last part of our included shore excursion was to sail on a felucca/a lateen-rigged sailboat that continue to be used on the Nile River, especially near Luxor and Aswan.

We headed down to embark on the felucca,
one for each of the three Viking groups;
the very long pole is actually the yard/spar
to which the triangular sail is attached, and
the yard is attached near the top of the mast

The Nile waters are clear and
we could see fish in the shallows (KSS)

Could not fit the whole yard in the photo

Another felucca sails by (KSS)

The historic Old Cataract Hotel (1899, by Henri Favarger
for Thomas Cook as the Cataract Hotel) and the New
Cataract Hotel (1961); both have been restored and opened
in 2011 as the Sofitel Legend Old Cataract Aswan Hotel

The mystery writer Agatha Christie once stayed in the original Cataract Hotel, and she included the hotel in her book Death on the Nile. The 1978 film based on the book was shot at the hotel

The elephant-like rocks of Elephantine Island

Our captain sits on the rudder

A young boy on a surfboard latched on to
our boat, but was dissuaded from begging (KSS)

Pyramisa Island Hotel (1992) on Elephantine Island (KSS)

The gray and white marking on the rock show the
3 m/10' difference in the water levels of the Nile

The First Cataract of the Nile; here a cataract is where
the surface of the water is broken by many small boulders,
as well as many rocky islets, and there may or may
not be whitewater rapids; beyond is the West Bank of Aswan

There are six cataracts of the Nile River, however, the second is now submerged in Lake Nasser. The rest are in Sudan.

The Mausoleum of Aga Khan (1956-1960, by
Farid Shafi'e in Fatimid style) was commissioned by the
wife of Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah, Aga Khan III, who
was initially buried in Switzerland in 1957

Upon his father's death, Aga Kahn succeeded him as Imam of the Shi'a Isma'ili Muslims. He traveled the world to tend to his followers, and was considered a modernist Muslim. He had visited Aswan in 1935, and purchased a house on the Nile River. He declared he wanted to be buried on the hill above his residence.