"Aswan Governorate, EG" Muhafazat Aswan by dromosapien

Aswan Governorate / Muhafazat Aswan

One of Egypt’s 29 states, the Aswan Governate spans the area along the Nile River from Sudan in the south to the Qena Governorate in the north, a popular tourist boat route.

population: 1,100,000
area: 34,608 sq km / 13,362 sq miles

.

.

I had never been on an organized tour before or since, but I would recommend it to anyone unfamiliar with the Middle East, especially if traveling alone as I was. The tour guide and driver met me at the Cairo airport, obtained my visa for me and drove me to the hotel. The next two mornings they met me at the hotel and gave me a tour of Cairo and areas beyond, that I probably would not have seen on my own. I was returned to the hotel in the late afternoon and had the evenings to myself. On the third night the guide drove me to the train station, obtained my ticket and found my compartment for the all night train ride to Aswan, which I shared with three comical Australians. In Aswan another guide met me at the station and brought me to the cruise boat and later showed me around the Aswan area. He stayed with the cruise the next two days, escorted me around when the boat stopped along the way to Luxor and made all the arrangements for the train ride back to Cairo. I extended my stay in Cairo a couple of days and did a little touring on my own, but when my flight was to depart they picked me up at the hotel early in the morning for my flight to Paris and made sure I was checked onto the plane and had cleared customs.

I had not planned on visiting Egypt on this vacation, but I had five weeks to spend, a ticket to Paris and noticed Air France had discount flights to Cairo, so why not. It was May, late in the Egyptian tourist season, I guess, and I was the only one on my tour and fortunately the company did not cancel the tour. All the individual attention was a little more than what I had imagined and usually prefer, but it kept me alert as I tend to day dream a bit even on a few hour city tour and I did get to learn about the personal lives of the guides.

I am always amazed that it is possible for this yokel from the middle of nowhere to see the wonders of the world.
d

.

.