Egypt - Aswan & Philae Island / Temple of Isis

This morning's view

We started the day in Aswan with a very different view.  Definitely more of a city than we’ve seen the last few days.

At the high dam

We started by visiting the Aswan High Dam where we learned a bit about the history of the Dams (it was the second one created!) - and viewed Lake Nasser which was created due to the dam and would be very impressive if I hadn’t grown up on Lake Ontario.  It does count that it’s in the desert ;)

Lake Nasser - I loved the combination of blues

After the dam, we hopped on a little boat to go to see Philae Island and the Temple of Isis - the first of two temples we are going to see that had to be moved to protect it from the creation of Lake Nasser.  

On the ride back :)

Was a huge collection of boats that would usually be used to ferry tourists over to the island, but with low season, not so necessary.   

Waiting for the tourists that wouldn't arrive today

We had the entire place to ourselves when we got there and it was extremely cool.  

On the island, before we got to the temple,
I made some new friends

The interesting history here is the change of ownership from ancient Egyptian, through Coptic, and random graffiti from other cultures.  At one point signs of being used as a French stable, etc etc.  

Both incredible and slightly eerie to have the place to ourselves

So markings are chiseled out l, there are obvious lines from what was buried in sand or not, hieroglyphs replaced w coptic crosses, etc

Example of layering of cultures

After we got back to the mainland we went to see the Unfinished Obelisk.   I had no idea what this was or what to expect; we ended up at a granite quarry, that when we followed the path up to the top of the not-too-huge mountain of rock, where we could see that they had carved the vast majority of a new obelisk before an earthquake broke it and all that effort was lost.

Can you imgine carving all of this by hand, only to have it break?!?!

Next we went to learn how papyrus was made, which was very cool but not something I really wanted to take photos of.  We did buy one from this store because, well - we managed to find one we both liked that would be the right size for an open space in our living room ;). It tells the story of Ra (sun god) and Nut (night god) who each have one half of the image, broken into twelve sections (hours).   Very symmetrical, very cool, and just also a lovely reminder of our trip.

Down to the dock; I have no idea if there's significance to that,
or if someone just got ambitious, but I liked it.

ATo get back to our ship afterwards, instead of driving we sailed on a Felucca - which was lovely and peaceful, esp as it was just us and our guide on the boat.  I could’ve done without the sales pitch at the end — it’s amazing how fast that spoils the overall impression.  But other than that it was lovely.   Again with a kid being involved in the family business as the sailor’s son was working with him.  That being said, it’s summer vacation from school, so fair game.

Another Felucca and some misc hieroglyphs randomly still visible

We had a brief break back at the ship and then left for high tea at the Old Cataract Hotel which, admittedly, was not really our thing.  

Very civilized, just not so much our thing

But what WAS interesting was the personal tour of the Agatha Christie suite and the Winston Churchill suite.   Those were A - incredible.  And B - a fascinating part of history.  Also, both had incredibly good views. 

Not a bad place to relax - from the Winston Churchill Suite

Then - seriously, the day wasn’t over yet! - we went *back* to Philae Island for the light and sound show there.  About the same quality as Karnak, but was just us and one other family — in a space set to hold hundreds.  So again, very cool to be there at night, alone.  

Temple of Isis by night

And we figured by the time we got back we’d be leaving the ship to go find some random food for dinner (Chris was advocating for KFC 😂. I was hoping we could do better!), when we discovered they’d kept dinner for us?!?!  Seriously spoiled - while the buffet was closed, we had two options for each of 3 courses that they’d either kept for us or were preparing there.   Either way it was excellent and way above and beyond.  And very much appreciated. 

So yes - wildly long day but also excellent, with an interesting mix of cultures.

Random extra photos: 

Taken from the boat on the ride in

Impressively huge carvings

There were lots of places to explore within the temple

Feluccas as seen from the Winston Churchill Suite

View on the Nile

Our ship as we approached from felucca

Light and shadows make a different impression

Lit up for the start of the night show