The title above only gives a fraction of what we did this first full day on the MS Antares! Of course, we awoke early (3am sticks in my mind) for the balloon ride over the tombs and monuments on the West bank of the Nile River. This is one of the more expensive excursions and there are certainly cheaper ways to book the same activity through local travel companies, but timing is pretty tight as the ship sets sail for Qena as soon as the group is back on board. We didn’t think it was worth taking that risk.
Ballooning over the desert
The usual coaches take you a few miles up the river to clamber into small boats that chug (sometimes a lot of exhaust fumes!) across the river to catch the small modern coaches that drive you to the enormous landing field used to launch balloons every day of the week. I don’t know exactly how many balloons take off each morning – perhaps 30 or so – and so the number of small vans used to transport people to the site much be around 100. Even though there is nothing really to do on arrival but wait until final approval is given for that day’s flight, the bus drivers still feel the need to overtake each other in the 20-minute drive to the field. The Viking baskets hold 24-28 people plus the pilot and you are helped to climb over the edge of the basket either under your own steam or with as much help as you like.
You are told that no cameras other than phones are allowed (the risk of dropping a heavy camera on someone below is probably the reason) but you are allowed to take a small backpack with you. Of course, you know the next step – you can take out a camera from the backpack once you are airborne. Definitely not before! I found a 24-105mm lens to be perfect for the wider shots plus closer focus on individual sights below. It is very dark when you take off though – it will stretch the technical capabilities of a camera.
The pilots seem to have a great ability to turn the balloons in the sky to give everyone a good view of the various sights and also choose to fly at different altitudes to both move into that good position and also get a much broader perspective over the same area. Having had a share in the hot-air balloon many year ago, I know how difficult it is to try to go in a particular direction – the wind is in charge! There is some heat from the flames as the balloon is climbing, but it is not too bad. We took hats, but really they were not necessary, and we look a little stupid in the photos and videos that you are offered by the professional team that film you from leaving the boat all the way through to a landing. They splice previously taken footage of the sights you see from the balloon into the video, and you can get a USB stick as well as online access the next day. Very well organized and not too expensive.
You are in the air when the sun rises, but I’ve never found that to be particularly interesting – there is smog in the distance and the sun comes up, but nothing very magical happens when that occurs. The more magical part is the light giving you much more interesting views towards the mountains, in my view.
Landing in a hot air balloon can be a bit tricky with the wind taking it wherever it wants, but not here! The farmland surrounds the area between desert and river is used for landing, but the teams that helped launch the balloon are there with their trucks and grab hold of a rope dropped by the pilot and pull the balloon into a smoother area and then the team pulls hard to bring the balloon down to earth so gently you hardly know you have landed. Then it is more help to disembark and get into the vans for the return to the ship which uses one of the brand-new bridges across the Nile to make good time as by then we are ready for breakfast!
Sailing North to Qena
This will not apply to everyone taking this cruise. We were the final cruise in 2024 (end October to early November) to sail downstream (north) to Qena as the river level is lowered in the winter to allow dredging and clearing of canals and other waterways and so later cruises use coaches to drive up to Qena. There is nothing you can do about it, but I found this stretch of the river to be interesting almost all the way between the cities. For some reason it is much calmer which gives many reflections, but also the people along the river don’t see cruise boats very often and so are more excited and interested in watching us sail by!
Everywhere you look, things are going on, on the banks and on the river itself. There are no crossings away from the larger cities and so small rowboats with impossible heavy and clumsy oars are everywhere being used for transport, fishing and just enjoyment.
The Temple of Dendera
By midafternoon, we were in Qena and the coaches met us once again to take the short drive to the Temple of Dendera. Here is what my AI co-pilot has to say about it!
The Temple of Dendera, located in the Dendera Temple complex in Egypt, is one of the best-preserved ancient Egyptian temples. Dedicated to Hathor, the goddess of love, music, and motherhood, the temple’s construction began during the Ptolemaic period under Ptolemy XII Auletes in 54 BCE and continued through the Roman era. The temple complex features a series of structures, including the main temple of Hathor, a sacred lake, and a sanatorium. The site also contains inscriptions and reliefs that provide valuable insights into the religious practices and daily life of ancient Egyptians. The Dendera Temple complex stands as a testament to the architectural and artistic achievements of ancient Egypt, attracting visitors from around the world.
That is close enough to what I remember our guide telling us!
This is one of the less well visited temples and that afternoon, we were the only ones in attendance (besides the usual shopkeepers that are always present at these monuments).
This temple has a fully enclosing roof and is fully decorated on all surfaces. What is amazing here is that for centuries, local people have just used this building as a place to live and cook away from the elements outside and so when it was excavated, most of the interior was black – covered with the smoke and burned fat from countless fires and meals in the building. It was only a few years ago – less that 10, I think, that the conservators in Egypt finally worked out a way to remove the smoke and grime without damaging the carvings and paintwork underneath. This image of part of the stone ceiling shows a small black square that was left untreated and then the rest is the paintwork that hasn’t been seen for over 2000 years.
And now the temple is magnificent with solid carved columns and these wonderfully decorated ceilings:
Besides the obvious questions about how on earth they got these massive pieces of stone to site and then constructed into this solid building, they then had to carve and paint all these surfaces (including the ceiling presumably lying on their backs). And they had to do this in almost dark conditions with just oil lamps for illumination!
Having braved the merchants and their $10 offerings, we were on the coach and back on the ship around 5pm ready to sail back to Luxor overnight. Even then, in the slowly developing twilight, there were things to see on the river – the lifeblood of Egypt:
For the photographers among you, many of the river shots were taken with a 100-400mm lens – it really came into its own in this section of the cruise. After the sun finally set, it was time, once again, for dinner and great discussions about everything we had seen in a very long day.
