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

Egypt - Kom Ombo Temple

It was so calm this morning

Today was mostly a sailing day with one great interruption.  We started out with a gorgeous calm Nile as we sailed to Kom Ombo.

Kom Ombo is a temple dedicated to two god: Horus (the falcon god) and Sobek (the crocodile god).  This one was smaller and in more ruins than ones we’ve previously visited but still interesting.  The temple is split exactly in half between the two gods.   

We managed this moment with no other people through sheer luck

Not much colour left but tons of really clear carvings; these ones seemed to be carved more deeply than the others we've seen.  More people here than we've seen anywhere else, but still remarkably open and our guide was good at helping us end up where other people weren’t.

Looking up gave the best chance at seeing colours here

One of the kids selling stuff was enough of a smart-ass to amuse Chris enough that he definitely overpaid for a small collection of bookmarks ;).  Definitely read the room well and earned his few bucks ;)

Throughout the whole trip, I loved that there were animals at every location :)

After the temple we visited the crocodile museum which houses mummified crocodiles - and honestly, could be a good inspiration for dragons :)

Mummified crocodiles

Then it was back on the boat and we sailed for Aswan.

Some more random photos from today:

Hosnee telling us all about the captured slaves, immortalized in hieroglyphs 

As with the others, carvings over every part

Note the lack of people....

Egypt - Hatshepsut's temple

At Hatshepsut's Temple

So next stop was Hatshepsut’s temple.   Hatshepsut was one of the few women to rule in her own right.   Her temple appears in the middle of the rocks - as if it were meant to be there. 

You're greeted on approach by remarkably preserved sphinxes

It also has sphinxes out front - one of whom’s makeup has survived.  When you walk up the first flight of stairs, the view is almost identical again with another long flat open area and then another flight of stairs.  

One of my favourite statues

There were many statues throughout, lots of different areas to explore, examples of the starry night, similar to what we saw in the Valley of the Kings, 

As with the other temples, some seriously impressive pillars and doorways

some giant piles of rubble as part of the world’s biggest jigsaw puzzle while archeologists work to reassemble other parts of the temple.  

Waiting to be reassembled

As with the other places we’ve seen so far, most surfaces are covered with hieroglyphs and art.  Apparently cobras are for protection?  I’m not sure the’d be my first choice, but also - I’m not royalty ;).  

Note the cobras up top :)

Many sections have been hacked out by Hatshepsut’s successor (and step-son) who had some serious issues with her and did his best to erase her from history.

Every area was impressive.  And most we had to ourselves.

The hillside around Hatshepsut’s Temple and other similar areas is filled with other tombs.  So Much History here…

Surrounding hillside.

Next up was a visit to a local home where they served us bread and tea.  This was mildly interesting but extremely awkward.  Esp as it was a private tour so just us.  This family has a farm - they grow a lot of their food, and run a tourist riding farm which they showed us around.  I didn’t take any pictures because it didn’t seem appropriate.  Also for tea, the man’s very young daughters were serving and I wasn’t fully comfortable with that either.  I’m sure it brings in money for the family and obviously they choose to do it, but it still felt off.  However, it’s the only place so far that nobody tried to sell us anything.

More from the temple, every area had a unique feel to it

So on the way back from the random local visit, we stopped at a roadside parking lot where these guys and their friends are just hanging out by the side of the road.  Since our guide is awesome we had the place pretty much to ourselves and were finished just as a bus load of people pulled in.

They made all the previous temple statues

 

These are the Colossi of Memnon, apparently 18m tall and have been around since 1350 BCE give or take a bit. In reality there are a number more of them farther back, however these are undergoing active restoration through Unesco and are blocked off so you only get what my phone was capable of reaching from the front line…

Not a bad way to spend the afternoon

Then for the afternoon we were on the move!  Easiest move ever since we spent it lounging by the pool as our cruise ship relocated itself Tvia the Esna Lock to Edfu.  The lock was mildly interesting as while we live right next to a lock system, this was the first time either of us had been through one.  

Heading into the lock

Along the way we leap frogged another cruise ship which we ended up sharing the lock with, had “pirates” hitch a ride, while others tried to sell stuff — apparently they will throw it up on deck and if you want it you throw money down.   

Trying very hard to get anybody's attention to sell stuff

Nobody on our ship even pretended to engage so wasn’t their best day.   Lots of kids swimming and there seems to be a thing where all of them wave and shout at passing cruise ships.  My favourite was “welcome to Luxor”.  Of course lots of what was shouted wasn’t in English - I’m choosing to believe it was pleasant.   A couple kids in boats latched on to the ship for a ride - long before the salesmen, and - randomly - what appeared to be a family just needing a lift? - did the same.

These ones didn't try to sell anything, just hitched a ride

Note that Friday here is like Sunday at home, so almost everyone is off and there may have been more local people around than on other days.

A starry night