In the back of my mind Egypt has always been there, as indeed it must be for anyone who is brought up on the Bible, or who likes Ancient History, or both: Joseph and his Brethren, Moses and the Plagues of Egypt, various Pharaohs (named and unnamed), Antony and Cleopatra, mail-clad Crusaders, Mameluke warriors, Napoleon and Nelson, the Suez Canal and the Second World War.

It has all happened on or near the Nile. Finally, from 11th to 25th October of the year 2000 (last of the Second Millennium A.D.) for two weeks it happened for me. Two weeks is the twinkling of an eye compared with two millennia - but everything is relative. Outside the airport of Luxor (which ramshackle structure definitely does not date back to the times of the Pharaohs) there is a sign welcoming the visitor to SEVEN THOUSAND years of civilization.

Well, during a life of so far medium length I have been to view the monuments of various lands with lengthy lineages Peru, Mexico, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Tunisia - but only now have I reached Egypt, and it was worth the wait. Egypt is the ultimate archaeological destination. I shall have to go back. You cannot cover the whole of this historic land in two weeks. This I soon discovered when doing my research for the holiday. There were four main areas which interested me: Cairo (for the Pyramids and possibly Alexandria), the Sinai (for St. Catherine's Monastery), Luxor (Upper Egypt) and the Red Sea (because I had never seen it). It seemed sensible, with only two weeks at my disposal, to choose only two out of the four possibilities. This was soon done as perusal of the brochures of a few travel firms quickly revealed that you can't get there from here, at least as regards Cairo and the Sinai. That is to say, to reach Cairo, I would have to set off from Heathrow, which is not exactly near where I live. On the other hand, Thomsons fly from Manchester direct to Luxor. I therefore booked a two week holiday, to be split into two parts, as will shortly be explained.

Thus at 6 o'clock on the morning of Wednesday, 11th October 2000, I and my luggage were collected from my house by my old friend Jack's Taxi (Mr. J. Beckwith himself at the wheel this time) and comfortably conveyed across the Pennines to be deposited at Terminal No. 2 of Manchester Airport for onward transit to Egypt by Britannia Airways. This charter airline belongs to Thomsons and is rather better than the one with which I travelled to Spain in June.

The flight into Egypt lasts about 5 ½ hours. As we approached Luxor in mid-late afternoon, visible below us was the desert, a vast and barren expanse. It reminded me of flying in over Canada and gazing down on endless stretches of snowbound territory - except for the colour, which was not white but a pale greyish beige under the scorching sun. Both landscapes are awesome in their way.

As I said above, the airport buildings in Luxor are no gems of architecture, ancient or modern. They are more like a hangar left over from World War II. In fact, Aswan and Abu Simbel, much smaller places, have far finer terminals, new and spacious. The barn at Luxor was not only decrepit but also a madhouse, full of newly arriving bewildered tourists being importuned by helpful young Egyptian lads all requesting 'baksheesh' for a variety of services major and minor, mostly minor. This was the baptism of fire for those of us who were first-time travellers to the antique land. Later, with guidance from the Thomson reps., we got the hang of this baksheesh business. It is a form of tipping rife and virtually obligatory in Egypt, a custom of the country. You either accept it or go home. It is paid in pounds. The Egyptian pound (LE) is worth a fifth of the Pound Sterling, and you soon learn to equip yourself with a mound of Egyptian one pound notes of an amazing filthiness and almost falling apart. However, when you land in Luxor all you have is U.K. pound coins. These are eagerly pocketed by the friendly helpers. I reckon it cost me about five pounds sterling to escape from the arrival hall, find a Thomson rep. and locate the coach bound for the 4T (i.e. 4 Star) cruise vessel destined to be my home for the coming week.

After a short drive through Luxor which afforded tantalizing glimpses of the Nile to our right and the Temple of Luxor to our left, at 5.45 p.m. Egyptian time we drew up at the dock for the Presidential Nile Company, which is at the southern end of the town, just below the Sheraton Hotel. At least two of the firm's craft were moored here, and ours was the M.S. Nile Commodore, in and around which I spent seven happy days of sightseeing, eating (all meals were included in the price of the cruise), drinking (optional, therefore extra), swimming (i.e. taking quick cooling dips in the tiny upper deck pool - plunging into the River Nile is most assuredly NOT on anyone's programme due to currents, crocodiles, hippopotami, pollution, etc.) and generally relaxing. Actually, I am not sure about the threat from crocodiles - someone told us that they are now confined to Lake Nasser and find it difficult to escape down the Aswan High Dam.

About these cruise boats as a species ... They are all built to more or less the same design and rather resemble 19th century Mississippi steamboats but minus the funnel and side paddle-wheels. As there are dozens of vessels in operation at any one time, not only are there mooring docks all along the waterfronts of Luxor and Aswan, but at each dock two or more boats can be tied up, not one behind the other but side by side. If your particular floating hotel is the one nearest to midstream, then to reach the shore you have to walk through the reception halls (which are in the middle of each boat) of all the craft between you and dry land. This is where the similarity in shape and size of all the ships proves its worth - you exit in a straight line and on one level. Working out the schedules for all the boats of all the fleets must be a monumental task and I offer my congratulations to those who perform it. Except when lining up to go through the locks, we never seemed to encounter a traffic jam.

My single cabin aboard the Nile Commodore was conveniently close to the reception area. Though fairly small, it was larger than I had feared it might be, and of course had a private bathroom with shower and toilet. The meals were buffet style at breakfast and lunch (I like this because of the choice of both diet and size of serving). Dinner was more formal, with a set menu and waiters. Notwithstanding the quality of the food, however, several fellow-passengers were struck down by the dreaded 'gippy tummy'. This happened at various times, so was obviously not due to any one dish. It must be something in the air - surely it can't be in the bottled water all the tourists drink? I was fortunate not to have my own sightseeing curtailed, but the dreaded bug did catch up with me in the end (albeit with moderate mildness), though not until I was taking it easy at the rim of the Red Sea.

Aboard the Commodore there were 101 Thomson clients, plus a few independent travellers. The arrangements made for our sightseeing were most satisfactory. A Thomson rep. called Rachel was with us for the entire cruise. The activities for the next 24 hours were posted up each day on a notice board. Exact itineraries are not provided in advance of the cruise as there are often last-minute alterations caused by unforeseen events such as re-scheduling of lock maintenance, for example. Since there were so many of us, we Thomson types were divided into three groups for going ashore and each group was allotted a guide, who also stayed with us for the entire voyage. My group was given the name 'Isis' (easy to remember) and our guide was called Saladin (also easy to remember). He spoke excellent English and had degrees not only in Egyptology but also in architecture, so was very well qualified to show us the gems of his country. In my library at home I have some books about Ancient Egypt, but most of them are quite a few years old and possibly out of date. What we got from Saladin was the latest available results of recent research. On arrival at a site, he would give us a brief talk about it, then set us free to examine it ourselves. Thanks to his introduction, I would then find myself searching for the features of the place for which he had told us to look.

For our first full day in the land of Egypt we remained tied up at the Sheraton dock in Luxor. That is to say, the boat was immobile, though we were not, as a very busy day was planned for us, a day not to be missed.

Three and a half thousand years ago, Luxor was Thebes, capital of Ancient Egypt in the era later called the New Kingdom and filled with great names: Tuthmosis, Rameses (several of each), Queen Hatshepsut and many others. On the right bank was the City of the Living and on the left bank the City of the Dead. It was to the latter that we went on our very first morning, by road, as there is now a bridge across the Nile. We saw the Valley of the Kings, a village where alabaster goods are made, the funerary temple of the late great Queen Hatshepsut, and passed by two very old and crumbling but immense and imposing statues known as the Colossi of Memnon, though they commemorate a Pharaoh called Amenophis III.

The Valley of the Kings is the place where the Egyptians of long ago took to entombing their Pharaohs after they had given up burying them in pyramids (if indeed they ever did stow them there). The idea of selecting this utterly desolate spot was to preserve for posterity the mummy of the deceased Pharaoh and also the priceless treasures interred along with him for his use in the afterlife. But as the world knows, all this effort was in vain. Only the tomb of the minor pharaoh Tutankhamun escaped being stripped of all its grave goods. Still, the robbers could not carry away the paintings and inscriptions on the walls, and they are still there to this day to provoke our awe and provide pleasure for our delighted eyes. In the Valley nowadays are a road train to transport weary tourists from the bus stop to the inevitable ticket office + souvenir shop + cafe - and, beneath the greyish-beige cliffs, long tunnels and huge hollowed-out chambers which form the tombs themselves. Tunnels and chambers alike are lavishly decorated with pictures and hieroglyphics. The processes of carving and painting them, we were told, involved a whole series of stages before they could be complete - drawing, sculpting, polishing, colouring, etc., which was only fitting for designs intended to endure for eternity - and which have certainly lasted for over three thousand years.

Our entrance tickets allowed us access to three tombs of our choice. Saladin took his Isis group to Tomb 14, that of Tesruet and Set Nakht (according to the signpost outside - sorry, I cannot recall who they were), where he explained the sequences of tomb embellishment (see above). Then off we all went (quickly, because time is always limited on a tour like this) to inspect more tombs. As our guide had advised against seeing that of King Tut (on the reasonable ground that the glory is departed, the treasures all being now displayed in the Cairo Museum 250 miles away), I went to the burial places of Kings Rameses VI and his namesake Rameses IX. This used up my quota of tombs. I would have been interested in investigating that of Tuthmosis III, a rather more famous pharaoh, but I gathered that you have to negotiate a ladder to get in and, of course, out. No, thank you.

Our next main halt was at Deir el-Bahari, the memorial temple of Queen Hatshepsut, who was determined to be eternally remembered on Earth as well as welcomed in Heaven. And who would not be remembered for bequeathing us such an edifice? It is visible from some way off. Crossing an area of level ground, you behold colonnaded terraces, a ramp at mid-point, and a backdrop of stark precipices similar to the cliffs of the nearby Valley of the Kings. Restoration work is currently going on. The fine temple now has tragic connections, for in 1997 it was the scene of the terrorist attack which killed over fifty innocent tourists, left families bereaved and the tourist trade in that region of Egypt in a shamble. Terrorists - evidently mindless and heartless - never stop to consider the damage they will do to their own people. Within 48 hours of the outrage, Luxor was cleared of all its visitors and the unfortunate locals deprived of their livelihoods. The tourist business is essential to the Egyptian economy and is taken very seriously indeed. Visitors are now returning to the country of the Nile and the thankful Egyptians made us and our baksheesh feel very welcome. They do, after all, have a land and heritage of which to be extremely proud.

Then, after the alabaster factory (and shop) and a photo stop at the Colossi, it was back to the boat for our buffet lunch, then off again in the afternoon to visit the wonders of Luxor itself, City of the Living, to view Karnak (stunning) and the Temple of Luxor (already briefly seen from the bus the day before).