Aswan stays in the prototype hotel of "Death on the Nile"
Sofitel Legend Old Cataract Aswan
Before Detective Poirot and the others boarded the Karnak cruise ship, they gathered at a hotel on the Nile River. In the 1978 version of Death on the Nile, I clearly remember that as the Karnak sailed away from the river bank, the gentlemen and ladies on the hotel dock dressed in their best clothes waved goodbye. They are bidding farewell to the characters' departure, but also seem to be welcoming the audience's visit. Behind them, shaded by a few sparse date palms, a pink Victorian building shone in the sun like a palace. When the whole of Egypt was wrapped in a layer of hazy sand and dust, this palace in the Nile desert oasis seemed extremely unreal, dreamy and intoxicating. For me, this was also my first impression of Egypt as a whole during my childhood: elegant and dreamy.
This hotel is Old Cataract, which is located in Aswan, a southern city in Egypt, nestled between the Old Cataract and the Nubian Desert at the southernmost tip of the ancient Egyptian border. As early as 1899, when Thomas Cook established the hotel, it became a must-visit holiday destination for many Western aristocrats who came to Egypt during the British colonial period in Egypt, and a place where they had extreme fantasies about oriental adventures. After Agatha came to the Old Falls Hotel, she stayed there for many years. Desert, oasis, Nile River, hotel... numerous exotic elements were transformed into "Death on the Nile" under her pen. With the original movie being filmed at the hotel, the Old Falls Hotel
At the same time, it has regained the attention of the world. Over the past hundred years, it has witnessed major archaeological discoveries in southern Egypt and hosted royal nobles from all over the world. Although it is located in a remote corner, it is always in the vortex of history.
During the few days I stayed in Aswan, I could see the following scenery every morning on the balcony of the hotel: the morning sun lit up Elephantine Island in the Nile River, and the temples on the island shone with golden light. On the Nile River, which is as smooth as sapphire, white sailboats drift with the wind, dotted with date palms, full of oriental mystery. Behind them, white mist was rising from the Nubian Desert, and the pure yellow and blue reflected each other, just like the intersection of heaven and earth in Egyptian mythology.
"I don't understand why people have to live in the past? Why do they always linger on the past?" Tim asked in "Death on the Nile". However, if he could step out of his role and look around, the answer might be obvious: the elegance and etiquette of the old times, the strict dress code of the 1902 restaurant, the unchanging desert and oasis...the tradition of the old waterfall has never been compromised in modern times. It is isolated in the desert oasis in the south, where time has lost all control and thousands of years are just a passing moment.