Cruising the Nile ; the best was to see Egypt

Our cruise ship where we stayed for 4 nights, the Ramadis II.

One of the best ways to see Egypt is to take a cruise. A perfect start point is Luxor which is at the centre of Egypt. The Nile has historically been a life giving resource for this water strapped country of 80 million so much so that many towns and cities are built alongside the river to reap from its gifts. The Egyptians celebrate the 'Gift of the Nile' every year whereby the banks of the river overflow with fish and all kinds of sea creatures. These animals when caught can be used for bags (crocodiles and snakes), food (fish and birds) and handicraft (rocks,papytus).


The width of the Nile here is around 800m from bank to bank

Our cruise was on the Ramadis II, a cruise ship operated by the Swiss hotel chain Movenpick. It can hold 300 cabins and has entertainment outlets like lounge / disco, sundeck,computer centre and gym. During our time on the cruise, we enjoyed wonderfully cool weather (13 to 19 deg C) and the sundeck was full of Europeans sunbathing themselves. Our boys also took a dip in the pool and enjoyed themselves tremendously.


Small village with Jetty

The country is essentially made up of 99% Egyptian people (mixture of European and Middle Eastern) and 1 % Nubian (African black) and Greek people. In the southern regions, we tend to see more Nubians who look like African people. It was recorded that during the Yom Kippur war with Isreal in 1973 (for Egypt to reclaim back their lands from the Israelis), the communication code used for their signalling was in Nubian laguage which was unrecognisable amongst the Israelis. So it had a significant advantage for the Egyptians.


Houses on the banks of the river Nile

Egypt is essentially a poor country with a GDP per capita of US$ 2,400 per year. This puts them in the lower middle category of countries. In terms of Human Development Index (HDI) they are somewhere in the middle at 0.70. Singapore by comparison is US$ 40,000 per year (wealthy) and HDI is 0.95 (highly developed. The capital of Egypt is Cairo and there are about 20 million Cairenes living there. The native language is Arabic (as with all other Arab League of Nations - 22 in total) and although the country is predominatly Muslim (85%), there is a significant Christian minority (13%) - called Coptic Christians.

History has recorded that the apostle Mark, in the First Cebtury, came to spread the word of Christ and his followers have built churches ever since.Christian rulers from the Greeks and Romans also practised Christianity so the influence is dominant.


Luxor Beer - Beer brewed by a predominatly Muslim country

A beer on the sundeck, watching the sunset on the Nile, what could one ask for more ?