Jaz Royale Postcard #6 - Minya & Bani Hassan Tombs

I start today by picking up from last night's walk in Minya. I am not sure who is making the decisions about security but yesterday evening has to be one of the most bizarre walks I have ever taken in my life. There was a pre arranged meeting point of 8:45 in the reception after which we then walked out through the other boat up the steps into one of the craziest scenes I have ever had not only on a cruise but in life generally.
At the top of the steps waiting for the 13 of us was the following assembly, 12 armed men who were a mixture of security guards, tourist police, standard police some of which wore black masks on their faces. Don't let me stop there though, in addition we had a police car and motorcycle outrider periodically stopping the traffic when we needed to cross the road, That's not all though, there was also a large green van with a armed guard posted on top which resembled Jones the butcher's van in Dad's Army with its round holes in the back section for a guns to be poked through. This small army escorted us for maybe a mile along the side of the river to pre-booked cafe (Si El-Said Café) where we stopped for some liquid refreshments, the whole time our small army sat outside on guard. The return journey was exactly the same, just over two dozen of us slowly strolling along the road to get back to the ship. We were met with some really strange looks from the locals but on the whole there were a lot of people who said hello or welcome. I have no idea if it was all totally necessary but it did make for the most interesting evening. Unfortunately when asked, we were told no photos so I have nothing to show you how it looked, you will just have to take my word for it.



Today it was another early start for our morning excursion to Bani Hassan Tombs. Although it was only 20km away it took a good 45 minutes to get there because of the roads. We were again given a police escort but nowhere near the scale of last night. The route itself took us through some really rural villages and it was a very interesting to witness it first hand.



Upon arrival our tickets were purchased along with photography permits for those wanting to take photos inside the tombs. We then had a bit of a climb to reach the tombs themselves. We were shown around 4 tombs all very similar but each with their own history. Some of the paintings were in really good condition with many aspects of daily life being portrayed.





The journey back to the ship followed the same route and as soon as we were all onboard we set off for our next stop which has been brought forward.
After lunch we spent the afternoon up on deck once again enjoying the Nile River views and glorious sunshine.Being as there are a couple of Liverpool fans onboard and there is a Champions League game on tonight against Porto, when we got back from our trip last night we asked one of the bar staff if there was any chance of getting a TV in the bar to watch it. He told us he would have a word with his manager. Since then our Egyptologist and the Maitre D have both come forward claiming that they have arranged for this to happen. The fact that the TV was already in place when we arrived back from our morning excursion speaks volumes so we have just gone on and allowed them their moment of glory but we know who really pulled the strings.