After the exertions of yesterday, Friday is more leisurely. Breakfast is taken whilst at our new mooring at the East-Mar Travel dock. We set off upstream at about 8.45 a.m., heading south for Esna, 54km from Luxor. Just north of Esna there is a Barrage which the British built in 1906 as part of a grand plan to manage the Nile. A lock was provided to allow boats to continue south. With the popularity of the Nile Cruise Ships (there are now almost 300, I believe), the single lock became a bottleneck so a second, parallel lock was installed a few years ago. We enter the new lock and are raised to the upstream level, passing another ship going downstream which is using the old lock. We then continue our journey to a second barrage incorporating hydro-electric generators, built in the 1990s by the Italians. A lock was also provided here for the cruise boats but the rather mangled gates are open today so that we can just squeeze through without stopping. Pictures of Esna Locks.
At Esna we pass from the Qena Governorate to the Aswan Governorate. During the afternoon, the boat cruises to our mooring for the night at Edfu.
In the evening, we visit the Temple of Horus at Edfu, said to be the best-preserved of the ancient temples. As at Dendara, this is a private visit for the passengers on 'Zahra'. I'm sure the number of staff on site exceeded the number of visitors. Visiting the darkened site, electrically illuminated in a variety of ways ranging from proper floodlighting luminaires to naked tungsten bulbs made a great impression on me. Perhaps Horus objected to my visit because the photographs I took are currently unreadable.
[Additions 16-Apr-2009]
