Abercrombie & Kent came to visit Travelling Places this week and I took the opportunity to talk about their top destinations, where Australians are booking to travel to with luxury yet adventurous company A&K. Interestingly, their most popular destination is currently Egypt!

The name conjures up amazing memories of my visits to this extraordinary country. Cairo itself is amazing: the bazaar, the bustling city, the proximity to the pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx, and the fantastic Cairo Museum. The display from the tomb of Tutankhamun is mesmerising, the intense colours, the preserved mummy, the history of this child pharaoh and the riches he was buried with.

Sailing on the Nile is certainly a highlight. I can’t believe it was my third trip to Egypt before I boarded a vessel in Luxor and sailed upstream to Aswan. It is hard to explain the wonder as you stop to walk through the ancient temple sites of Luxor, Edfu and Kom Ombo. We visited the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens, this is where the remarkable tombs of the pharaohs were discovered, and still today, archaeologists are uncovering remarkable finds. From Aswan, we flew to Abu Simbel, where modern engineering stepped in to rescue the ancient temple and lift it up the banks of the river when the Aswan Dam was built, saving the temple from flooding by Lake Nassar. The river boats are graceful, and I recommend you take one of the smaller vessels on a longer cruise for a less harried holiday. 

A&K own the beautiful Sunboats, which are elegant floating hotels. On board, the guides are a font of knowledge. Most of them are academics and archaeologists and bring the temples alive with the stories of ancient times. Sit on the sun deck and watch the still-busy river communities go about their business, donkeys carrying produce and tilling the fields. Local villagers are industrious and welcoming as you glide by basking in the winter sunshine – yes, the best time to travel is during their late autumn to early spring, so October to April when the weather is warm and not scorching!

One time I travelled overland across the Suez to Sanai to visit the monastery of St Catherine’s, perched high atop the mountain and surrounded by desert. Leaving the oasis behind, we headed to the coast and sailed up the Red Sea to Aqaba in Jordan. From here, we visited the ancient hidden Nabatean city, Petra, where today they are still unearthing the fascinating history of this once-forgotten city of the desert. Jordan, too, is a wonderful destination. Visit Wadi Rum, made famous by Lawrence of Arabia. Drive the road parallel to the Dead Sea and visit the crusader castle at Kerak. The capital Amman has a wonderfully preserved Roman amphitheatre alongside the more modern gold souk. Further north, the ancient Roman city, Jerash, has to be one of the best-preserved sites I have visited in the world. 

This truly is a fascinating part of the world and one not to miss.

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