The holiday of a lifetime

Earlier this year I made a resolution. While I travel a fair amount, I tend to go back to the same places.

So, this year, I decided to try and set that right. Instead of returning to familiar (and therefore enjoyable) places, I would try and go to places I had read about but had never been.

 

A couple of months ago, I went to Greece, climbed up to the Acropolis and wandered around the temple of Poseidon trying to reconcile today’s Greeks with the heroes of the epics.

 

   Egypt was the logical next step. Who had not read about Cleopatra? About the pyramids? About the cradle of civilisation on the banks of the Nile?

 

   As we had done with Greece, my wife and I decided to combine the historical stuff with a certain amount of relaxation and luxury. (Man — and woman for that matter — cannot live by sightseeing alone.) We decided we would spend a full fortnight in Egypt and divided our trip into three parts.

 

   We spent four days in Cairo using the city as a base to explore the historical areas of Giza and Saqqara and to tour Egypt’s magnificent museums. We spent four days cruising the Nile getting off the boat each day to see the ancient temples at Luxor and Aswan as well as the Valley of the Kings which is always the star attraction of any Nile journey. And we took a break for four days, recovering at a resort on the banks of the Red Sea.

 

   At the risk of sounding politically incorrect, I have to concede that when it comes to Third World destinations of which we have no experience and which cater mainly to European and American visitors, Indians are sometimes at a disadvantage — compared to white people who flash the mighty dollar —when it comes to finding the right guides, hotels and excursions.

 

   Fortunately, our own Oberoi group has a strong historical link with Egypt. There was a time when Oberoi was the top luxury hotel chain in Egypt. That is no longer the case (India opened up in the interim and the group focused on the Vilas properties and new Indian hotels), but the Oberois are still a strong and much respected presence in Egypt.

 

   They now have nothing in Cairo (where we stayed at the pricey but excellent St Regis) but they recommended an agency which handled our historical visits and assigned a veteran Egyptologist to show us the historical sights. The Oberois have a very comfortable Red Sea resort (called Sahl al Hashish), where we enjoyed a very windy break. And best of all, they run luxury boats.

 

   Let’s start with Cairo. Frankly there is not a lot to recommend the city (all of Egypt is like India was in the 1970s) but it is located on the banks of the Nile and across the river are the pyramids. No picture you have seen prepares you for your first view of the majesty of the pyramids. The Great Pyramid of Cheops (Khufu to the Egyptians) may well be the oldest man-made structure that is still standing. It is usually dated to 2800 BC but carbon dating on a wooden plank found in the pyramid suggests an even earlier date (3341BC). This means that the pyramid is at least as old as the early Indus Valley civilisation if not much older. But unlike that civilisation which archaeologists only discovered in the early 1920s, and of which no great structures remain, the pyramid has lasted through the millennia.

 

"You can combine history with luxury by taking a Nile Cruise. We spent four days on the river going from Luxor to Aswan on the Oberoi Zahra, a luxury cruiser with just 27 cabins."

   There are other pyramids in Giza but none of them is as impressive (or as old) as the great pyramid. We still don’t fully understand how an ancient people could’ve put together 4 million blocks of stone (let alone transported them from their quarries). And yet that is what they did, constructing the great pyramid over at least 30 years, if not more.

 

   Moreover, they did it to levels of mathematical accuracy and astronomical exactitude that leave modern archaeologists baffled. The great pyramid is so full of mysteries some writers have concluded that it must have been built by aliens. There is no evidence for this but in the 1960s, a convicted fraudster called Eric von Daniken found fame by writing best sellers focusing on the alleged extra-terrestrial origins of the pyramids.

 

   The mysteries continue. Why were the pyramids actually built? If they were tombs then why have no mummies been found in any of them? One answer is that tomb raiders began breaking into the pyramids and stealing the mummies as far back as 4000 years ago.

 

   Saqarra, not Giza, is now the centre of all Egyptian archaeology because new discoveries are made every month. It is about 45 minutes from Cairo and it’s called the world’s biggest necropolis, extending for some 7 km. It has elaborate tombs and step pyramids and when you step into one of them and see the paintings on the walls, which are 4000 years old and still retain their original colours, you are transported once again to an era that was at least 2O centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ.

 

   When it comes to Egypt, most of us are confused about timelines. We think of Cleopatra and the pharaohs of the pyramid era as being of roughly the same vintage. Actually, Cleopatra lived closer to our time then to the reigns of the pyramid-builders. She died around 30 BC, which is relatively recent by Egyptian standards!

 

   You can combine history with luxury by taking a Nile Cruise. We spent four days on the river going from Luxor to Aswan on the Oberoi Zahra, a luxury cruiser with just 27 cabins. It is a cruise in the sense you sail from one place to another, but it is nothing like your average cruise ship. The ambience is of a floating Vilas; the food is gourmet quality with a menu that changes every day, there is an extensive wine list (including Egyptian wines which are not bad at all; much better than ours) a fully stocked bar and a sun deck that lets you relax under the Egyptian sun as you cruise along the Nile.

 

   Each day you get off to look at the ancient temples and on one special day, you tour the Valley of the Kings. Because the 27 cabins are occupied by guests from various nationalities the ship sails with guides who speak at least six different languages. All excursions are personalised. You have your own car and driver and your own guide. (And yes, for those of you who wanted to ask, they can cook good vegetarian Indian food on board.)

 

   Zahra and its companion cruiser are super luxurious but next year the Oberois will add two newer, smaller and more exclusive boats. How they can up luxury standards even more than Zahra I do not know. But Shamden Tamang, who brilliantly manages the Oberoi cruises, told me that the new boats will top anything the river has seen before.

 

   So, should you go to Egypt? Well, it depends. If you want glamour and glitz go to Dubai. Egypt is nothing like that.

 

   But if you want history, spectacular sites and (when you’re off the streets of Cairo and not at the horrible airports) true luxury, then there is no better place and no more reasonably priced destination than Egypt.

 

   For me, it was the holiday of a lifetime. Yes, it pays to venture into the unfamiliar!