Photo : Francesco Gasparetti from Senigallia, Italy — CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Aswan · Corniche
Aswan's corniche after dark
Black water, moored feluccas, and headlights sliding along the parapet.
Seen from a floor above the quay, the corniche reads as a line of light: cars draw their trails along the parapet, the moored boats stay black on the water, and opposite the lights run out quickly: a few windows on Elephantine, then dunes that give nothing back — which Cairo's Nile never does. Down below, the pavement fills after sunset: families, sugarcane juice and glasses of tea, horse-drawn carriages, and boatmen still selling tomorrow's felucca. It is short, flat and lit: you walk it out and back in one evening, and it is the town's night out more than the visitors'.
The extra bit
Take the view from above before walking below: from an upper-floor terrace you hold the line of street lamps, the felucca masts and the black far bank in one look — one drink buys you the seat. Then go down and walk the river side without crossing over: the two vantage points give you different towns.
Know before you go
The soliciting does not stop with the daylight: on this quay a felucca will be offered to you every twenty paces, tomorrow's included — a smiling no is enough and annoys nobody. Cruise boats moored two and three abreast block the river along whole stretches; the stretch worth walking is the one you can see the water from. Crossing the road is negotiated with the traffic. Nothing costs anything except what you consume, and that is paid in cash.
