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Wednesday, 18 April (continued). Our bus was waiting and
took us to the Papyrus Institute, one of dozens of such shops in the area
catering to tourists. Employees demonstrated the process of making papyrus, then
encouraged us to look at the beautifully decorated papyruses they had for sale.
We passed because we already had a couple at home, but many of our group bought
some.
The bus got us back to the ship about 13:10, and we had lunch at 13:30. We rested until 15:30 when we walked a few yards from the ship to go for a sail in a felucca. These small boats with a triangular sail and primitive rudder/tiller hold about 20 passengers and a crew of two. As we sailed, there were several other feluccas, motorized tourists boats and a couple of cruise ships out in the water with us.
With the wind at our backs, we virtually flew towards the group of islands to the south. Despite our speed, a small boy in an innertube (and singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat") managed to grab onto our felucca, hoping for baksheesh no doubt. He dropped off as we circled one of the smaller ones (next to Kitchener's Island) and started back toward the ship. What a difference! We were now heading into the wind and had to tack constantly in a fairly narrow channel. There was a small row boat in our way, too. We made very little headway. Eventually we got clear of the islands and, with more room to maneuver, were able to reach our ship at about 17:00.
At 20:30, after the port talk and dinner, Salah was leading the group to the Aswan spice market. We had planned to go but, with our early departure tomorrow, decided against it.. Those who went told us later that it had not been a pleasant experience: they were besieged by vendors and had to stay much longer than they wanted because the bus back didn't leave until after 22:00. | ||||||||||||
