18 November 2024

We set off fairly early this morning for a 3.5-hour drive from Abu Simbel back to Aswan. On the way, we stopped for a quick view of the Grand Aswan Dam. The dam itself was not especially interesting to look at, but we did learn a bit about the history of its construction. An earlier dam not far down the Nile had been built by the British, but it could no longer keep up with the increasing demand for electricity by a growing and more prosperous population. To build the new one, Egypt turned for help to the Soviet Union, because the World Bank, controlled by the USA, refused to lend the necessary money. When the dam was finished in 1961, it had created one of the largest man-made reservoirs in the world, Lake Nasser. 

Anyway, we finished our drive and entered the most luxurious hotel I have ever encountered, the Old Cataract, where many celebrities have stayed since it opened in 1900.  (The British built it in 1899.) Like the Winter Palace in Cairo, The Old Cataract was another lodging for Agatha Christie as she wrote 'Death on the Nile." We anjoyed a big lunch at a local restaurant before settling into the hotel, and this evening we ate at another local restaurant. In between the two meals we had time to shop, socialize, and explore our new surroundings. 







                                                                     Part of my "room"






Tonight's restaurant

More photos of the hotel coming soon. 


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