Virtuoso Insights - August/September 2008 - (Page 36) Temple of Dendera – Quina. O Photo ©Wolfgang Kaehler/GettyImages n this, day four of my weeklong journey with Big Five Tours & Expeditions, I’ve risen early to experience, in the words of Egypt’s most famous writer, Naguib Mahfouz, “the rapture of daybreak and . . . the awakening of light.” All morning, I intend to do nothing but watch life on the Nile take form as the sun ascends in the sky and the Zahra sails from Quina to Luxor. Egypt’s ancient lifeblood, the fertile Nile — which brought life to a desert and helped inform a belief system based on resurrection — has lost none of its power to animate and uplift. Today, the seminal river that once transported the building blocks of the pyramids to Giza now transports pilgrims from around the globe seeking relief, renewal, and a glimpse into one of the world’s premiere civilizations. As the sun rises and the Zahra glides past verdant banks dense with banana trees and date palms and dotted with mud-brick homes painted in modest pastels, swimming children surface, wave, and then immerse themselves once again in the river. While I watch these and other scenes that seem to have changed little in thousands of years, I strike up a conversation with Bettany Hughes, a British historian and author whom I first met yesterday at the Temple of Dendera. “The Nile was the complete life-giver for the Egyptians,” says Hughes, who is here conducting research on the history of motherhood. “Cruising the Nile gives you the start of everything. It is a point of passage for anyone seeking insight into our beginnings.” As we discuss the significance of our visit to Dendera — the main center for the worship of Hathor, the Egyptian goddess of fertility, women, and childbirth — Hughes’ view continuously returns to the Nile. Calling her experience “massively inspirational,” she proceeds to extol the virtues of spending “perfect, unadulterated days sailing this river.” all morning, I intend to do nothing but watch life on the Nile take form as the sun ascends in the sky and the Zahra sails from Quina to Luxor. 36 Virtuoso insights
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