The following day was spent on the water, This was a wonderful day spent relaxing on the roof of the boat. Justin and I had lots of fun haggling with the dozens of row boats that paddled around our ship as we waited to go through the locks. It was supposed to be just a short amount of time, so we all ran up to the top deck from lunch to watch the seamen navigate the locks. Hours later, we were all still there. Save for a few of us, the whole ship was full of a tour group with mostly elderly Americans and Canadians. While Bill and Justin played ping pong, I sat with some of the older folks on the cruise.
Just a sample of some of the row boat touts surrounding our ship
The next morning, Bill, Justin, Marla and I were up early to tackle Edfu and Ombo. The first temple was the Temple of Horus, built by Ptolemy III. The Greeks all are wearing Egyptian attire in the reliefs. One of the rooms includes a lab where perfumes and incense were brewed up and stored.
Bill and I riding on a carriage - the main form of transport in Edfu
Bill and I standing in front of a statue of Horus at Edfu Temple
Kom Ombo is a dual temple of the crocodile-god, Sobek and Horus. Marla and Justin opted out of this one and went to find us all whiskey and beer for the evening. Bill and I toured the area and it ended up being one of our favorite temples. It included several reliefs showing interesting daily activities like women giving birth, a detailed calendar for ever day and two real, mummified crocodiles.
Alexander the Great walks like an Egyptian
Made in Egypt?
That night, we were served a traditional Egyptian meal. I had some lamb kofta in a pita (beef/lamb mixture made into long, thin meatballs with cucumber sauce in a pita) and was in heaven. Five pitas later, I was sneaking over to the area to fill my pita when the chef walked away.
After dinner, there was a party in the bar area. We were having a blast with Ann, a girl from San Antonio that was on the same tour as the older folks. We were all having fun hanging out together, so Bill and I went to the party and Marla and Justin were supposed to show up later (they never did, but they are newlyweds reunited for the first time in 6 months, after all). Anyway, they had a couple of different contests to win contests. Bill won the potato race between the guys by advancing a potato by hitting it against another potato wrapped around his waist (just go with me on this one). He won an Oberoi t-shirt that was probably far more valuable to us than any other person in the place. A brand new, clean shirt.
The following day we left the boat and were taken to the Memnon Hotel in Aswan. It was OK, but certainly not as nice as the boat. Bill, Justin, Marla and I are ushered to our rooms and then are promptly to return to meet Omar, our new tour guide. Par for course, we were given no information and put into a felucca. Omar waves to us from the dock and before we can protest, we're off.
The felucca guide can speak only a couple of words of English, so we find ourselves stopping at Kitchener's Island, which means nothing to us at the time. That is the home of the botanical garden and we aren't sure we are supposed to go there, but our felucca driver drops us off and flees, so we look at the gate, look at the water and pay the money to enter. Justin is really irked, as are all of us, but I find some stray cats and kittens and am now amused.
We go due diligence at the botanical gardens, find our felucca captain on the other side and then tell him that we do not want any more stops. Instead, we'd like to just enjoy sailing. He obliges and we enjoy the ride.
Bill relaxing on the felucca in front of Elephantine Island
We find a place for lunch, Al-Masry's, that's listed in our LP guide. Our lunch was the biggest spread that we've seen yet. There was so much food that we could barely fit it on our table suited for six!
A nice lunch spread at Al-Masry's
In the afternoon, we got picked up to go to Aswan Dam and Philae. Unbeknownst to us, we first had to wait in the heat for 30 minutes while another group of people in our minibus see the Unfinished Obelisk, whatever that is. We realize we have bought a ghetto tour.
Next we go to the dam. There are actually two dams. The old one was built in 1902 and the new one was completed in the early 70s. The purpose was to prevent the annual flooding and provide hydro-electrical power. The dam caused the Nubians' homeland to be flooded and they were forced to move to the islands in Aswan. Some monuments (e.g., Philae and Abu Simbel) were forced to be moved or submerged after the dam was built. The dam created the world's largest artificial lake, Nasser, stretching from Aswan to Sudan. Unfortunately, despite these impressive facts, I am not impressed and Bill informs me that it pales to Hoover. Well, it was a nice drive anyway.
Next, we take a motor boat over to Philae. The temple was moved stone by stone by UNESCO prior to the dam being built in the 70s. There are many black markings from years of being partially underwater in the Nile. Philae was built in honor of the god, Isis.
That evening, Bill, Justin, Marla and I go out to dinner and follow up with apple tobacco sheesha. It tastes smooth until I wake up in the middle of the night with a sore throat. Still, Bill and I make it an early night because we have to be up to go to Abu Simbel at 3 a.m. the next morning.
At 2:45 a.m., there is a knock on the door - our wake-up call. I am not particularly happy to be woken up at this crazy hour 15 minutes early, so I protest and stay in bed. By 3:30 a.m., we are loaded into the van. The dusty road to Abu Simbel was at one time considered a security risk as insurgents would pull cars over and take people hostage, rob them or worse. Consequently, there are daily police convoys of literally dozens of cars, minibuses and buses that ride along together for the three hour ride. It's quite miserable, to put it mildly.
We all arrive at the same time and are ushered through the bathroom and ticket lines. Bill and I quickly realize that we will not have a guide on this part of the tour (remember - people had just been appearing before us since we had no official itinerary).
The monuments at Abu Simbel are incredible. I have seen pictures of them for years (you have too, even if you don't realize it). It seems so strange to finally be face to face with them.
Ramses II (if you remember no one else from Egyptology, remember him), one of the longest ruling pharaohs with 67 years, was also one of the most vain. He built several temples and even wrote his name over others in already existing places.
Ramses' main temple at Abu Simbel includes four huge statues of himself. Below and in between his likenesses are small statues of his wife (Nefertari) and their children. Inside the temple, reliefs depict Ramses in battle on chariot and being victorious.
Ramses II, Ramses II, Ramses II and Ramses II....all at Abu Simbel
Carved out of the mountain between 1274 and 1244 B.C. and dedicated to the gods, Ra-Horakhty, Amun and Ptah. All but the latter are illuminated (along with Ramses II) two times a year in the sacred hall by sunlight coming through. The temples were found in 1813 by a Swiss expolorer.
The temple of Hathor is dedicated to Ramses II's favorite wife, Nefertari. It is very unusual to have a temple of a wife be so close. There are six statues in front - two of Nefertari and four of Ramses II. Her likeness is as tall as him, which is also unusual for the time.
The Temple of Hathor
We returned from Abu Simbel via police convoy. The minibus was packed when we got on and Bill and I got stuck in flip down seats in the aisle. Neither of us was particularly happy about that.
Our ghetto tour had us stop at the Aswan Dam - again - and those on the "short" program (apparently, us) were forced to get out and wait while the others did the tour. Most of us got out, save for some Aussies who must be haute couture - 3 males wearing headbands and oversized, female sunglasses).
We returned to Aswan at 1:30 p.m.. just in time to meet Anne, Justin and Marla at Aswan Moon for lunch. I had my new favorite of kofta and we indulged our jokester waiter who taught us strange party tricks.
Half-grilled chicken and herpes?? Mmmm. Yes, please!
Bill and I then toured the souq (market) and learned a lot about the spices and dyes of the area. Indigo, saffron, cardamom, cinnamon, mint, lotus and coriander. We bought some tea to enjoy on the trip.
Indigo, saffron and spices at the souq (market)
The next day, we took a night train to Cairo and then we bid adieu to Marla and Justin. We spent the morning unsuccessfully trying to get an Indian visa and then returned back to the Meramees for our last night.
On our last day, we headed to the Egyptian Museum. It was really overwhelming, to say the least. There are loads of artifects just lying in the corners of the museum. Most are unmarked and many are lying behind other artifacts. If you are lucky, you may find a handwritten or typed out description. Some items have elaborate displays but most are out in the open to be touched (and of course, unfortunately, most people do touch).
Like kids, our favorite room was definitely the Mummy room. We got to see (finally!) Ramses II, Seti I, Amenhotep II, and Tuthemoses II and III. You could see the hair on some and most had some teeth.
The King Tut treasure rooms also stood out. Gold and gilded paint on everything. Most tombs were robbed in ancient times so seeing these artifacts with their original adornments helped us to visualize what other treasures must have looke like.
Mummified animals were interesting as well. There were cats, ibis, alligators, rams, dogs and gazelles. These, unfortunately, were not as well encased and there was information on how to adopt your own mummy animal in our guidebook!
In hindsight, we wish we would have had more time to explore Mt. Sinai and the Red Sea. Now that I'm certified (more on that later), maybe we'll be back to dive! Our brief 10 days were chock full of sites and fun. We boarded a plane and headed for Singapore.