Mohamed EL Khodairy

Review of Sofitel Old Cataract, Aswan

One of the oldest tourist hotels in the world and ...

One of the oldest tourist hotels in the world and the first in the Middle East
Facade of celebrities in Aswan
.
It is noteworthy that the historic "Cataract" Hotel was built on a huge granite rock overlooking the Nile in Aswan Governorate, and it was opened for the first time during the reign of Khedive Abbas Helmy II in 1899. Farouk and the famous writer Agatha Christie, who wrote her famous story "Death on the banks of the Nile" from her hotel balcony.

Cataract date

The ancient hotel stands on a rock of red granite with its English style, which first appeared in the newspaper "The Egyptian Gazette" in 1889, and when the global demand for it increased, the hotel management only found in front of it a new way to accommodate the increase in the number of guests, which is to set up tents for accommodation .. And the hotel's fame spread. ... so his administration was forced to double its "60 rooms" to reach 120 rooms and it was opened after that, and the opening of its main restaurant was attended in 1902 by Khedive Abbas Helmy, the ruler of Egypt at that time, and Duke was the son of Queen Victoria and Lord Cromer and the English youth Winston Churchill who laid the foundation stone for the Aswan reservoir in That time and also John Erd, the engineer of the Aswan Dam.

The hotel, which has a Victorian character, is not without its distinctive oriental character. The main restaurant is built in the Andalusian style with a dome 75 feet high, and columns inspired by the Ibn Tulun Mosque .. The most famous place is the terrace, which enables guests and guests to see the sunset as it descends In the bosom of the mountain, far and wide without a border.

"Crime on the Nile"

This mythical edifice opens the vaults of stories and stories related to it since its inception, which exceeds 122 years, so the record of its guests and guests bears famous international figures such as Agatha Christie, the English novelist and writer whose fame has surpassed the horizons, because of the wide fame of her writings on police stories that she has a special wing in the hotel It bears her name and inside Cataract Aswan, she wrote her famous novel "Crime on the Nile", which was turned into a movie, and was filmed inside the hotel .. "The Nile" was an inspiration to her imagination and may have inspired the imagination of many, as the hotel is located in an area beyond description. Through a narrow area confined between two mountains of granite rock, which attracts attention, and a few meters away from it there is a terraced garden called Firyal Garden, in reference to the former queen who used to go down in the hotel with the rest of the royal family, "the Muhammad Ali family."

Inside it there is a distinguished wing that is called "the royal wing", which is my favorite of King Fuad, King of Egypt and Sudan in his time .. Among his guests and guests was Al-Nahhas Pasha, the leader of the delegation, and the former prime minister of Egypt, as Aswan was and is still the favorite of the famous people in The world, they go to it to go to this ancient hotel of historical fame .. And one of its pioneers was Prince Muhammad Aga Khan, who chose a burial for him on the throne of the hotel..and this cemetery has a story that comes to mind when it comes to talking about the Cataract Hotel .. so the Aga Khan was the prince of the Ismaili community. He came to Egypt and had close ties with the family of Muhammad Ali during the time of King Fouad and after him Farouk. And in one of his visits, the royal family was preparing a legendary party for the beauty queen of the world coming from Europe .. its name is "Ivete" and Prince Muhammad Aga Khan fell into her whim from the first look .. and it was The program to celebrate the Miss World visit includes a visit to Aswan .. And it was the second meeting between Aga Khan and Yvette in Aswan .. And the marriage of the girl who changed her name to "Begum or Habiba", Aga Khan's visits were not interrupted by Cataract and the city of Aswan, which he used to visit after advice from his doctors To be tipped N his body in its hot sands for treatment of rheumatic diseases in the legs .. and from the intensity of his love for these sands, which he watched from his suite in the hotel, he decided to be buried in it .. so he asked Gamal Abdel Nasser to buy a piece of land .. and his request as a gift from the state for one of the characters was fulfilled. The lover of Egypt .. and built his cemetery on it .. and was buried there after his death, and the Begum Umm Habibah came annually to visit him and stay in the place her husband used to visit, Cataract Hotel and from his distaste for the place that she saw from the hotel balconies she asked to be buried with her husband after Her death, and this was achieved for her in 2000, it is the magic of the place that witnessed the most wonderful myths of love between the prince and the beauty queen.

In the Cataract Hotel, the late President Anwar Sadat used to meet his guests and spend days in the winter there, in which he met with delegations and leaders from all countries, and in his halls there were negotiations with "Henry Kissinger", the US Secretary of State, on many issues.

In one of Kissinger's visits to Sadat in Aswan, he was asked to hand over the "gift of Salim."