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Aswan & Abu Simbel

Aswan is Egypt’s southernmost city and most of the people there come from the old land of Nubia.  On arrival to Aswan we had a moment to freshen ourselves and we took a boat ride across the Nile to Philae Temple.  This temple was based on Philae Island and with the construction of the old dam then started to become swamped with water.  In around 1972 after the completion of the high dam which we also visited, Philae temple was then moved.  They had to build a wall around it to get the water out and fill it up with sand and cut it into 42000 pieces and move it , stone by stone to almost its exact original state on a nearby island.

The temple had all the characteristics of an Ancient Egyptian temple with the First and Second Pylon and outer and inner temple.  The temple was for the God Isis but  there was also a smaller temple for her husband and brother Osiris.  I have to tell you the story of Isis and Osiris.  Isis was the God of magic.  Iris and Osiris were Brother and Sister Gods and they were in love with each other and got married.  Then their evil brother Seth which is also Isis` twin got very jealous and killed Osiris and put his body in a coffin and threw it in the Nile, but because Isis is the Goddess of magic she went and got the body out of the coffin and bought him back to live.  Later on Seth was still very jealous he killed Osiris again, this time cutting his body into 14 pieces and disturbing them around Egypt and his manhood was thrown in the Nile and a catfish ate it.  Therefore when Isis found all the pieces of his body to put him back together there was a piece missing and she couldn’t bring him back to life.   This is why at the smaller temple of Osiris there were 14 pillars to represent the number of pieces scattered around Egypt.

The next day we had a very early ride to catch the police convoy to Abu Simbel which is south of Aswan.   It is in the middle of the dessert but what was very surprising was a huge artificial lake which is the world’s largest called Lake Nasser that lifted the scenery.  The  4 hour drive took us to a spectacular site which was worth the trip, the Great Temple of Ramses II.   Ramses II was the longest serving Pharaoh in ancient Egypt.  It was found that he had around 120 children of what was recorded but he could have had many more.  Of course this was not with one wife but many.  Ramses II had this temple carved out of the mountain to appear in a God like fashion to receive the respect and worship from the Nubians.

That evening we headed back to Aswan and boarded the ship for the Nile River Cruise for the next 3 nights.  As the ship wasn’t heading off till the next day, that evening we went to Elephantine Island to have a Nubian dinner with a Nubian family.  We took a small boat to the island, there we saw donkeys running freely, new homes built for the Nubian’s by the government as they lost their homes from the building of the high dam.   We went to a school where our guide Mohammad gave has a history lesson and we all sat in the school chairs and listened like eager students.  We watched the sunset from the roof top and went to a Nubian home and tasted the delicious cuisine.

Edfu

We sailed up the Nile while we were sleeping then stopped briefly in Edfu to visit the Temple of Horus. At the entrance of the temple are two large falcon heads which represents Horus.  Ok, so now I have to  explain the story of Horus.  The God’s Osiris and Isis had a son Horus, Isis was worried her evil brother Seth would kill her son so she took him and hid behind the sacred sycamore tree until he was 20 years old then she told him about his father’s death and she asked him for revenge.  Then Horus and his Uncle Seth had 3 battles the first one nothing really happened, the second one Horus lost one eye and cut his uncles groin, then he went back to his mother with one eye, since she is the Goddess of Magic she cast a spell and gave him the eye of protection which is now a well-known symbol in Egypt.  The magic eye recognises evil in any shape or form.  Then the third battle happened here in the spot of the Edfu temple.  What happened was his evil uncle Seth took the shape of a hippo, but Horus with his enchanted eye recognised him while he was getting ready to attack Horus.  Therefore in the temple there are drawings of Horus attacking the Hippo, Horus then became a worrier God because he fought against evil himself and won.   In this temple there is a passage of victory with carvings on the Falcon headed Horus stabbing a smaller Hippopotamus which was his evil Uncle Seth.

After visiting the temple we got back on the boat and sailed away.  We spent the afternoon hanging by the pool, it was great to relax.  That evening on the boat we had an Arabian dance party.    All the boys got dressed up in their gallabaiah’s and head scarf and the girls wore kaftans and belly dancing outfits.  We all looked rather amusing wearing our costumes and dancing on the dance floor.  We played some games to get the night going, it was a lot of fun.

Luxor

The next day we arrived in Luxor and visited Karnak Temple.  Karnak temple is gigantic, you would need days to visit everything at this site.  There is what you’d expect from a temple, plus more, pylons, sanctuaries, kiosks and obelisks.  Here at this temple was a pillar with a Giant Scarab.  This pillar would represent fertility. If one walks around the pillar 10 times in an anti-clock-wise direction it would make them more fertile.  So off I went walking round 10 times.

The next day in Luxor we took a boat ride to the west bank, then a donkey ride to the Valley of the Kings.  The donkey ride was hilarious, none of us could really control our donkeys.  Maroun’s donkey started to charge into a bunch of other donkey’s and Maroun got his foot caught in another donkey’s saddle and fell off the back of his donkey in a pile of smoke and rubble.  He landed on his bum but his camera was safe.  Then as he looked up he had another heard of donkeys coming at him so he had to commando roll out of the way, whilst still protecting his camera.  It was hilarious.  He’s still in pain!

The Valley of the Kings was definitely an amazing experience.  He we visited 3 tombs, Ramses I, Ramses IV, Ramses IX.  The tombs are underground carved from under Limestone Mountains.  The details of the paintings and decorations in the tombs were amazing.  The sarcophagus were left in all the tombs but the mummies are in a museum.   The tomb of Tutankhamen was at the Valley of the Kings however we didn’t go to see it as his tomb was very basic and all his treasures we had seen at the Egyptian museum.

After the Valley of the Kings we visited Habu Temple in honour of Ramses III.  This temple was different because when Ramses III took over he knew that his predecessors would deface his name and etch theirs, therefore his drawings and cartouche were carved deeply that way no other king could place their name.

That evening we took the train back to Cairo…………..

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