ShareThisHow do you top birthday celebrations trekking to see tigers in Nepal, scuba-diving off the Fiji Islands, taking bullfighting lessons with a matador in Colombia or sojourning among rug makers in the Medina of Fez?
This was the question as another big birthday loomed. Thinking back on the memories of my best birthdays, they all involved mind-opening adventures with my kids. But now that we've evolved into a large blended family of far-flung parents, children and grandchildren, putting such a trip together would be more of a challenge.
More than 25 years ago with an alumni group, I had toured the sites between Luxor and Aswan aboard a luxury "hotel boat," then a relatively novel way to cruise the Nile River. I had vowed to return someday with my family.
This time we were looking for something more intimate, a boat that would accommodate just six seasoned travelers. The Royal Cleopatra, a 100-year-old "sandal," or wooden sailboat, with two larger cabins and one small cabin, fit the bill.
We began our trip in Cairo, Egypt's capital of 18 million people, visiting the oldest monuments in the country, the pyramids at Saqqara and Giza. Although Giza's pyramids are the largest and most famous, Saqqara's are older and, in many ways, the more intriguing.
There, one can appreciate just how momentous the first ideas behind pyramid architecture were, and how and why they would become so deeply influential. After a visit to Saqqara, Pittsburgh's U.S. Steel Tower, for example, will never look quite the same; like all skyscrapers, it is an architectural descendant of those pyramids still standing in Egypt.
Both Giza and Saqqara served as burial grounds for the pharaohs when their capital was in nearby Memphis during the First Kingdom (2,686-2,181 B.C.). I can't imagine a dreamier way to view the Giza pyramids than under a full moon illuminating a bedroom terrace of intricately carved wood -- and thanks to the lunar calendar, that is exactly what we did.
For our first days in the country, we lodged at the renowned Mena House Oberoi, a palatial hotel that had been a royal hunting lodge in the 19th century. It is set in 40 acres of lush grounds adjoining the pyramid plateau. The first thing we saw each morning, and the last thing we saw each night, was an enormous looming triangle of limestone blocks towering over gentle palm trees and the dazzling flower blossoms of our garden.
From Cairo we flew south about 300 miles to Luxor to begin our Nile River adventure.
The Royal Cleopatra perfectly suited our needs, not least because my daughter, Leslie, a writer living in Boston, was keen to sleep al fresco on a deck mat prepared each evening by the crew.
Because these traditional boats have no onboard power, each travels with a companion tugboat that keeps the boat on schedule even when winds don't cooperate. Never too far away, the tugboat can serve as a water taxi if sailboat passengers want to go ashore.
The Royal Cleopatra is 62 feet long and 24 feet wide, its two impressive masts rigged with lateen sails. Similar sailboats are depicted on archaeological objects as early as 3,100 B.C., which makes it all the more historically correct for a sightseeing trip.
In fact, Egyptians are the first people known to have used sails for water travel. We were welcomed on board by the outgoing Mustaffa, our white-turbaned and robed Nubian captain. He and his first mate, along with a chef and cabin boy, would care for us for the next four days as we journeyed upriver 125 miles to Aswan. With his fine English and a life spent sailing on the storied Nile, Mustaffa was the perfect captain.
Mohamed, an Egyptologist, joined us to guide us through archaeological sites along our route.
The boat has an open-air upper deck that spans most of its length. A colorful cloth canopy shields the dining area and some deck chairs from the elements, while a cozy corner outside the canopy was a favorite spot for naps or lounging in the sun. The raised deck provided an ideal platform from which to view glorious scenes of life along the Nile.
Just beyond the band of green rimming the riverbanks, we could see the endless expanses of caramel-colored sands in the arid desert beyond. Where the Nile's waters allowed life to thrive, everyday events unfolded before us in scenes that have barely changed since biblical times.
There were farmers atop donkeys laden with bundles of just-cut, green sugar-cane stalks. Old men dressed in long, cotton jalabiyas waded into the river to bathe and often to bathe an ox or cow at the same time. Children in pajamas ran out from mud houses to wave and shout high-pitched greetings our way. There were swaying palms and vibrant plantation groves, many growing bananas or mangoes. And in each Islamic village, no matter how small, there was at least one mosque to broadcast a muezzin's passionate call to prayer five times a day.
All of the crew members had small prayer rugs that they routinely unrolled on deck for their devotions. The first call to prayer is just before sunrise, about 5 a.m. Because sound carries a great distance over the water, it meant we never needed an alarm clock to make it up to the deck for dramatic sunrises.
Bird-watching from our outdoor living/dining room was a favorite activity when not touring, reading, playing games or just hanging out.
One of the nicest parts of sailing in a small craft comes at night, when the anchor goes down in a magical cove or on the banks of a captivating island. One evening, we disembarked to stroll through a pretty farm, its paths leading through groomed plots of eggplant and tomatoes. We were not surprised to see that the irrigation pumping system was the same tried-and-true method used in so many small farms along the Nile: a wheel pulled by an ox.
Each morning, a barefoot sailor would climb the tall masts to release the booms and sails. Both the masts and their booms were made from massive, heavy tree trunks. With no winches in use on the boat, rigging required plenty of brute muscle. But once we were under way, the sounds of the wind playing on the sails, and of the boat cutting through the water, were among the simple joys of reliving the finest river moments known to the ancient Egyptian sailors who had come this way before us.
The last sunset of our journey brought us into Aswan under a stunning modern suspension bridge silhouetted against a purple skyline.
With its focus on antiquity, the afterlife and the natural beauty to be found in this lifetime, Egypt was just the right place to rejoice in a long and exciting life.
(Elizabeth Downer can be reached at edowner(at)post-gazette.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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