Discover Egypt through the eyes of 8 year old Achille

CAIRO – 22 July 2017: Achille George Nobelis, originally from France came to Egypt for the first time. In the interview for Egypt Today, 8-year-old Achille reveals the highlights of his visit. The interview was conducted by French- Englishby his mother Helene George Nobelis.


Temple of Edfu – Egypt taff

Achille lives in Strasbourg, a French city near the German border in the historic region of Alsace. His home city Strasbourg is famous for word’s best Christmas market where millions of visitors come to shop and enjoy the festive season atmosphere, food and decorations in snowy and frosty weather in the month of December.


Achille George Nobelis on board “Queen Farida” Dahabiya during Nile cruise – Egypt Staff

Achille came to Egypt on a family holiday this summer with his mother, brother and grandparents. Nobelis family planned to spend 12 relaxing days in the sunshine, under the blue sky in the background of a sandy desert landscape filled with green palm trees on the River Nile combining cruising and visiting the ancient monuments from Luxor to Aswan followed by time in Cairo and Giza.

Back in France wh
Birds on the Nile River – Monijka Sleszynska

ere Achille is used to four seasons weather through the year, he was looking forward to the trip to Egypt with great anticipation. Having arrived at Luxor airport, Achille felt hot and at first thought that this was from the plane but seemed it was not the plane but the weather temperature everywhere. In sootiness to the heat, Achille was happily impressed by the big size of the swimming pool at the Sonesta St George hotel where he and his family stayed for the first days.


– Achille George Nobelis in the Egyptian horse carriage on the way to the Temple of Edfu – Courtesy of Helene George Nobelis

Starting the holiday in Luxor, young George Nobelis was under caring eyes of his mother, surrounded by the wealth of knowledge from his grandparents and in the company of his brother Noe. Guided by experienced tour guide, Achille visited the impressive Temples of Hachepsut, Karnak, Luxor and Medinas Habu.


Hielogryths on the walls at the Temple of Edfu – Egypt Staff

Describing his experience at the sites with ancient Egyptian monuments Achille shared his amazement at the giant size of the architecture. The surprise continued as he found the paintings and hieroglyphs on the walls of the temples to be colorful and not plain. Achille has even taken the few hours’ drive from Luxor to visit the Temple of Dendera on the west bank of the Nile south of Qenawhere he was further impressed with the beautiful hieroglyphs.


Temple of Edfu – Egypt Staff

The list of attractions continues. Achille visited the Valley of the Scribes and Craftsmen, local markets and The Valley of the Kings. The young visitor was not only impatient to come to Egypt but also well prepared.

He carried a little colorful booklet with a program of his holiday containing pictures and brief description helping him to memorize the many places he has visited in a relatively short time. Being under the eye of his mother Helen George Nobelis and with the guidance of his grandparents who had visited Egypt 5 years ago, Achille is not only knowledgeable in the naming and purpose of the temples but also has ideas what the tombs were built for and why they were placed deeply in the ground. While he responded to Egypt Today without hesitation that the temples were created to honor the gods, the tombs seemed a bit more of a mystery.

After a short time and some consideration Achille shared his view: "I think that they are deep in the ground because they wanted to hide it and maybe to protect it from the water of the Nile".

After visiting Luxor, Achille George Nobelis accompanied by his family boarded a traditional wooden boat “Dahabiya” to spend 5 nights cruising towards Aswan. The boat with a noble name “Queen Farida” sailed quietly between the green islands of the Nile, home to many birds on the land and fish in the water. Achille was relaxing on the comfortable sun deck chatting with his family. Together they admired the Nile Valley scenery and its fresh air from breakfast to sunset. With the arrival of the night they were welcomed by thousands of stars appearing on the sky while accompanied by the sounds of wild life from the islands and fish jumping in the water.

It was here that Achille met local children and together picked a fresh mango for the first time in the green garden on the Nile’s bank. He walked under the abundant trees and between high green grass seeing the plants and agriculture of the Nile Valley.

He has even visited a local village school where he met Egyptian children and the residents from the “Elra Madi,” a village with colorful houses, donkeys and goats. He tasted traditional sun bread and joined to chase the goats.

On his Nile journey Achille visited more temples. Starting from Esna in Luxor his days passed with awe at the beauty of the longest river in the world with resting and sightseeing stops alongside the green and mountain river banks. Eight year old Nobelis was highly impressed by the Nile, the variety of views and its width and explained that the Nile is very different comparing to the familiar River Rhine back in Strasbourg. He has seen animals which are not in France like the black buffalo and birds and noticed that the donkeys are of different colors.

"I adore this country” shared Achille Nobelis in an interview for Egypt Today adding about the beautiful views of the Nile, “There is so much to watch”. He added to the collection of visited temples in Esna and Edfu. In Kom Ombo he saw the Temple of Crocodile Sobek and the Crocodile Museum with crocodile mummies. During the stops alongside the Nile he took gentle walks with family and guide and visited smaller and less known temples like Gebel el-Silsila and El Kab.

Being in the middle of his visit, Achille was most impressed with the Dahabiya boat saying that sailing “Queen Farida” was his favorite experience. The boat was a choice of his grandparents who had taken exactly the same Nile journey 5 years ago. This time they returned with grandsons and daughter. Amongst the fruitful program, the temples scored second place and the swimming pool came third in Achille’s recommendation.

Having more attractions to see in his journey the top scores go to camels, most iconic desert animal, the Pyramids in Giza and the Egyptian museum. Before getting to Cairo, Achille visited the colorful Nubian village in Aswan. While at the spice and souvenirs souks, he bought items for his desk back at home to remind him of the trip across Egypt. He has travelled on a motor boat across the Nile to arrive at the picturesque island setting with Temple of Philae in Aswan. He also waited with anticipation to see the real desert during few hour drives to Abu Simbel.

Despite his young age Achille is well travelled and rounded individual. Having visited many European countries, he enjoyed especially the Mediterranean region. Wherever he travels, Achille likes the green nature and animals. He has long travel plans for the future. At the moment, he wants to travel to India to see the famous beautiful building Taj Mahal and to the United States for the forest.


Buffalo on the banks of River Nile – Monika Sleszynska