Croisset, France
"Travel makes one modest, you see what a tiny place you occupy in the world." [extracts from Flaubert's travel diary written in 1849-1851]
14,779 words in 55 moments in 28 cities since November 25th, 2013
Ash shorafa wa al ateyat — Thursday morning, the 7th. When I go on deck, we are very close to the bank. The color of the earth is exactly the color of the Nubian girls I saw at the Slaves Bazaar. We haul the boat with ropes; t...
Al abageyah — Thursday. Entrance of the caravan from Mecca - entrance of the carpet [the fabric surrounding the Kaaba in Mecca, called the Kiswa, was traditionally made in Egypt, each year a new one was provided an...
Sheyakhah oula — Passing the First cataract. Monday. In the morning we get ready to pass the cataract and we go with two special guides and a Nubian pilot (raïs Haçan) who should bring us to Wadi Halfa. Our old pilo...
Alexandria. Big city, the Place des Consuls [now Tharir Square] - bastard of a city, half-Arab, half-European.
Sand - the village looks less poor than the last one.
Easter Sunday. Arrived yesterday evening in front of the old town of Ibrim on the right bank of the Nile
Monday. We leave Wadi Halfa at about noon - the boat has its mast felt.
Tuesday. Traveled about 7 miles. In the afternoon, boarded two cangias of slaves merchants going down to Cairo - bought belts and amulets.
Passing the First Cataract.
Wednesday. We arrive in Esna.(...)House of Kuchiuk-Hanem.
At 2 o’clock. We are about to pass Thebes.
In the middle of the day we see several crocodiles at the tip of an islet.
Friday March, 1st. At 11:10 a.m. I saw my first crocodile.
Monday. Asyut. Lycopolis is a good one-quarter mile from the Nile.
Friday. Boarding in the evening at Souadeh - moon - palm trees (on the right bank, to our left).
Monday. Rest. We meet the boat of Mr Robert and the Pole who lived in Neufchâtel.
At 5 a.m. I wake Joseph up, who leaps up: “Si signore”;
We leave for Medinet el-Fayoum on horrendous donkeys, provided with even more horrendous saddles.
Monday. The weather gets nicer. Pyramid of Sahure to the right, which I see in the morning.
Saturday, same anchorage.
Friday. Pulled with a rope in the morning for four hours;
Thursday morning, the 7th. When I go on deck, we are very close to the bank.
On the Nile.
Dinner at Soliman Pasha’s with Mr Machereau, former arts teacher at the Gizah school (closed).
Monday the 28th. Introduction to Mr Le Moyne, General Consul in Cairo
Ceremony of the “Dauseh” = trampling
In Boulac. Nile - cangia [a boat] - sun - vast and quiet yearning.
Thursday. Entrance of the caravan from Mecca - entrance of the carpet
Wednesday.
Entrance into Cairo of the princess, mother-in-law to Abbas Pasha, coming back from a pilgrimage in Mecca.
Sunday. We spend the entire afternoon shooting birds of prey along the Aqueduct of Pharaoh
Sunday. Visited the Coptic Church in Old Cairo.
Saturday. (...) In the evening, old man who comes to us with his long sickle, which he holds by the middle.
Friday. Unsuccessful attempts about the commercial information.
Bazaar of the perfumers.
Visit to the mosques with La Tour and Sir Malézieux
Tuesday. Christmas day
Monday, we spent the day at the Mokattam, seeing nothing.
Saturday, visit to the tomb of Ibrahim Pasha in the plain between the Mokattam and the Nile
Since monday 17th, it’s been raining.
Coming back from lunch I heard the sour cry of X, who was dying.
Cairo. Mosque of Hassan.
Wednesday, back to Cairo.
Tuesday morning. Walk by the lake with our guns our shoulder.
Monday. We ride along the desert
Sunday. Cold morning, spent working on photography. I pose at the top of the pyramid just south-east of the big pyramid.
First up at 5 a.m., I wash in front of the tent, in the canvas bucket.
Friday Dec. 7th, left Cairo at midday for the pyramids.
Dec. 4th, good day.
After few days we leave the Hotel d’Orient, despite the company of sir Neuville, for the Hotel du Nil,managed by Bouvaret and Brochier.
On place de Roumélié [today’s Salah el din sq.] we saw an entertainer, with a boy about 6 or 7
Visit to the Consul, Mr Delaporte - fair looking man - a new year’s day figure; one cannot walk on the sand of his yard.
On one side the desert (on the left bank), to the right; on the left, green meadow.
From Alexandria to Cairo. Sunday morning, 25th, we leave on a small boat trucked by a tugboat, which contains only the machine.
Tuesday, we leave - the Pasha salutes us from his window.
Monday, 19th, while I was washing, entrance of doctor Colucci, brought in by the Pasha, small man, good, honest, kind.
Left Alexandria on Sunday, 18th, at a quarter past seven in the morning.
Thursday morning superb weather ; everyone is gay, we are about to land.