One Mo time down the Nile

An indication of Egypt's enduring appeal is that any traveller's book of quotations would probably have to devote its largest section to this enigmatic nation.

Any great writer worth his salt who has visited has taken the trouble to record his impressions.

Herodotus observed: 'Egypt has more wonders in it than any other country in the world and provides more works that defy description than any other place.'

More recently, the American author Herman Melville wrote - enticingly - that the climate of Egypt in winter is 'the reign of spring upon earth, and summer in the air, and tranquillity in the heat'.

We arrived, my husband Jon and I, on a Sunday night in February, and found it just as Melville observed. It is recommended to travel there in the winter months, November to March, as otherwise it gets too hot for the sightseeing which is an essential part of the Egyptian experience.

We arrived, however, not with a book of quotations but, much more usefully, a book of phrases. I always try to learn a few words of the language of countries I visit as it shows a willingness to communicate properly and not just assume that everyone will speak English.

I recommend the following (the version printed here is phonetic).

However, English is spoken widely, if not well spoken, and if you want to buy something there are many people around willing and eager to communicate.

The Four Seasons Hotel in Cairo, on the Nile, is new and sumptuous. I have stayed in a number of swish hotels in my time in Washington and New York and I have to say this is one of the most luxurious, with the best service I have ever experienced. When you travel in Egypt you have to sightsee. You can sit on the beach as we did at Sharm el Sheikh, you can sit on the verandahs and various terraces of the luxury hotels as we did, or you can laze on the sunbeds of your boat down the Nile as we did. But this life of pleasure must be balanced by seeing something of ancient Egypt.

Our first experience of the old civilisation was of the pyramids at Giza, a short drive from our Cairo hotel with our guide Sabra. However much you have read about the pyramids, they are more spectacular-than you could imagine. The first thing that strikes you is their size. The height of one brick alone dwarfs the tourists that mill around the base, dodging the camel rides for hire and the drowsy tourist police (everywhere with large guns). But as you get closer to the pyramids, the feat of engineering adds to the sense of wonder.

Sabra had told us that the limestone blocks which the pyramids are made out of weigh two-and-a-half tons each. This to me was just a number until I saw how big a two-and-a-half-ton block of limestone is. Then there is the precision of their cutting, so that each block fits snugly together with the others. How did they do this without copper, bronze or stone tools? And then how did they get them to the top of the pyramid and fit them together? No one really knows.

The rest of our first week was taken up with visits to a number of ancient Egyptian sites. The rest, dating from around 800BC, were not as old as the pyramids which date from before 2,500BC.

We saw the tombs of the pharaohs in the Valley of the Kings, the spectacular temples at Karnak, Luxor, Esna, Philae and Aswan and finally at Abu Simbel. All memorable in their own ways, festooned in hieroglyphics, stylised Egyptian images of Gods, pharaohs and wars and all deliciously cool inside.

I think one of the visits I enjoyed the most was in Aswan, where we visited the granite quarry. Here, there is a huge obelisk half cut out of the granite, but work stopped when it cracked. This vast monolith, cut out by a combination of primitive tools, fire and water, still lies where it was left 3,000 years ago. How they were going to transport it hundreds of miles to Luxor is a mystery to me.

You don't have to be an expert, or even a wouldbe expert, to enjoy these trips. The buildings give an enormous sense of how long human civilisation had been in existence and how skilled folk were so many years ago. A sobering thought.

For most of the sightseeing we were housed on the boat, Oberoi Philae. A luxurious river boat hotel, decorated in romantic Edwardian style (very Death On The Nile, darling) with an accommodating crew.

I estimate there are hundreds of such boats cruising up and down the Nile, of varying costs and quality. The Oberoi, we learned, was one of the best and you couldn't ask for a more comfortable and relaxing way of experiencing the beautiful Nile river and the sights along the way.

When we left the boat we enjoyed more romantic accommodation, staying in two former royal palaces of King Farouk (the last king of Egypt) now converted to hotels. The Old Cataract Hotel, in Aswan, and the Old Winter Palace, in Luxor, both have splendidly proportioned rooms, and the air of a bygone age of elegance. This means that they do not share the usual sameness of most international hotels these days and one has to be prepared for their Egyptian quirkiness.

Our last three days were at the Ritz Carlton in Sharm el Sheikh, relaxing on the Red Sea. Sharm el Sheikh sits at the end of the Sinai desert looking out on to the Red Sea, a scuba diver's paradise they tell me. The Ritz Carlton is probably the best hotel there. The service is excellent, the pool enormous and ending the day with a massage was perfect. A great end to an amazing holiday.

Food is always important on holiday, and I know many people who worry that foreign delicacies can ruin what might otherwise be a great break.

With Egypt you have nothing to fear. The food is not spectacular, the country is too poor to import expensive international goodies. But this is good because you get what is locally grown and produced - excellent vegetables, fresh fruit my first tasting of pomegranate seeds (delicious), simply cooked meat and fish, excellent rice, potatoes and pasta.

The food is usually homely and not over-prepared. Puddings are excellent - the Egyptians have a sweet tooth. There are baclava-type deserts, fruit tarts and my favourite, good old-fashioned jelly. Given the quality of the hotels we stayed in it is also not too expensive. (It is difficult to find non-hotel restaurants outside Cairo.)

Egypt is not the place for cheap booze, certainly if you want to stick to imported drinks such as French wines and Scottish whisky. A double whisky cost about £4, a bottle of wine £50. Local beer, however, (I recommend Stellar) is much better than the average UK lager and is about £2 for half a litre. Egyptian wine (Obelisk red, rosÈ, and white) comes in at £10 a bottle and is drinkable with food. But with all the sightseeing and the heat you usually just want to stick to water (£1 for a oneanda-half litre bottle).

A word about tips. Tipping is a fundamental activity in Egypt. Everyone has a roll of dirty notes which are regularly passed from one to another for a service done, or thought to have been done. If a tip is not given outrage is expressed, extreme anguish, like the reaction to the death of a close relative. Therefore you must try to get hold of as many E£1 notes (value 20p) as soon as possible. These are to be distributed to the three men who carry your two pieces of luggage, the person who gives you lavatory paper when you go to the loo (mostly clean, but with very low seats), and to the person who brings ice to your room.

The other annoying aspect of Egypt is the hassle in the streets to buy something, take a taxi, take a boat ride, or whatever other tourist activity there is. 'Hello - you English? Welcome?' will be directed at you wherever you go.

My advice is never make eye contact, never reply. It will reduce the time they waste on you. That said, I strongly recommend visiting the souks where the tourist shops are well mixed with local traders selling fruit, vegetables, cloth, and meat (there was one cut with a long hairy tale attached - I am still trying to identify the animal).

The persistent selling methods can have their funny moments, though. While cruising down the Nile, our boat had to pull up to wait to pass through the locks at Esna. As we came to rest, suddenly the boat was surrounded by a fleet of rowing boats with men and boys hurling plastic bags full of gaudy clothes up on to the deck. There followed negotiations bellowed between the tourists and the traders, as more bags of clothes and money were hurled back and forth.

With taxis, find out the fare before you get in, and have the exact money (more need for E£1 notes).

The weather in Egypt is on the whole dry and hot, but during the main tourist season, during the winter, it can get quite cool, so a sweater or jacket is often necessary in the evenings. Light clothes are necessary, and women need to cover their arms and knees when walking around the streets, particularly in the souk, so as not to offend the local culture and religion. Pack good strong shoes for scrambling over the remains.

Having been intensively working for eight months writing my book, this was a fantastic holiday in a great and unique country. I shall never forget the pyramids, the temple at Karnak nor the half cut-out obelisk in Aswan, not to mention the Nile. The river dominates everything, wide, powerful and life-giving.

Tourism is Egypt's major industry. The events of September 11 mean that many people have not visited recently. Although it is picking up now, it is still a good time to go.

Getting there

Cox & Kings Travel (0207 873 5000, www.coxandkings.co.uk) offers a range of holidays to Egypt. A ninenight Ancient Egypt & The Red Sea holiday costs from £1,195. This includes two nights in Cairo, a threenight Nile cruise, a night in Luxor and three nights in Sharm el Sheikh, all flights, transfers, guided sightseeing, first-class accommodation, breakfast daily and full board on the Nile cruise. Supplements from Manchester and Glasgow cost £120 and £160 respectively.

QE2's sunrise on the Suez
Destination guide: Egypt