Tag: Nile

On the Road to Abu Simbel

To acclimate us for the end of our leisurely float up the Nile, we used less luxurious modes of transportation to visit the town of Daraw. We’d been ferried across the Nile by small boats before, but this was our first time in the back of a pick up truck. The truck was covered, but there was such little headroom, I could barely sit upright. And no, that’s not a canvas top to the truck. It’s metal. If you’re wondering how I know, let’s just say there were more than a few bumps in the road.

You see all modes of transportation in Daraw: bikes, motorcycles, trucks, donkeys, tuk tuks, just about everything except cars.

Most OAT groups tour the livestock market, but because there are no markets on the day we were there, we visited the local entrepreneur. One of his many businesses is a “livestock hotel”. Hey, if you don’t sell all your animals on the first market day, you need someplace for them to stay, right?

Another of his businesses resembled a mini petting zoo, which we greatly enjoyed. I’d been warned that camels spit. After being taught a lesson by that rambunctious water buffalo a few days earlier, I kept my distance. Bobbie and I decided it was time to let others interact with the babies.

This camel bumped Jeanne in the head multiple times
There was significant bonding between Bill and baby donkey. We expected him to start negotiating a purchase price.

Next stop, shopping—and eating—in the marketplace. Mohamed purchased Falafel for us to sample. We had just watched as the street vendor was making it. I don’t know that I would have been brave enough to eat food from a street vendor if I were on my own, but with Mohamed choosing the vendor, I felt perfectly safe.

It felt like we were on the Amazing Race when Mohamed instructed us to search for, and purchase, specific fruits and vegetables with the 20 Egyptian pounds, (about $.62 in US currency) he gave us. We were all so focused on our task, there were no photos of the adventure. I foolishly pointed at potatoes and waved my 20 pound note. Any idea how many potatoes that amount would buy? A whole lot. A whole HEAVY lot. Good thing I’ve been going to the Y.

Bobbie, on the other hand, was a smart shopper. She purchased the required peppers, but she negotiated skillfully enough to be able to buy bread for us all. It was delicious and still warm from the oven.

Our last stop before leaving our beloved dahabiya was “Nile Beach”, where are some of us were perfectly content to just stick our feet in the water. Others, namely, Marianne and John, were far more adventurous.

Look how clear the water in the Nile is!
Marianne and John are going skiing after they leave us.
Photo by Susan Burke

Our “farewell” dinner was even more spectacular than the other meals we’d enjoyed. We were sad to say goodbye to the crew that took such good care of us.

16 crew members for 9 passengers. Was the service outstanding? You bet!

We all got a surprise when we returned to our cabins. We each got a unique Egyptian creature waiting for us on our beds. I’ve seen towel art before, but these were, by far, the most creative. My favorites were the crocodile and the cobra. ( I got a scorpion).

Crocodile
Cobra

How to describe the ride from Aswan to Abu Simbel? Three hours of sand, sand, and more sand with high tension wire strung along the roadside, delivering electricity from the dam to the populations further north. We needed to get closer to Abu Simbel for the landscape to change.

We stopped midway in our journey for a bathroom break. I think the term “food desert” was coined here. If it wasn’t, then it should have been. The “snack bar” could be best described as “selection-challenged”, but if you’re looking for potato chips, or packaged mystery snacks, you’ll be very happy.

Our group thought we’d seen so many temples and tombs, there was little left for us to see. Boy, were we wrong! The size of the 4 statues of Ramses 2’s temple ALONE was jaw dropping. But to think that this entire temple was MOVED block by block to the higher ground on which it currently stands, is truly hard to believe. Why is as that done? If it hadn’t been moved, it would now be well below the waters of Lake Nassar.

Back in the 60’s, 50 nations cooperated to rescue several temples threatened to be submerged by the creation of the High Dam at Aswan. To me, the engineering that went into the move was as awe inspiring as the temples.

But wait—there’s more to say about this temple. The ancient Egyptians were so knowledgeable about engineering and astronomy that in the 1200’s BC, they were able to construct this temple so that twice a year, on February 22 and October 22, the sun shone all the way through the temple to illuminate three of the four statues in the inner sanctum. The fourth statue is of Ptah, the god of the underworld, who was intentionally left in darkness. Two of the others represent different versions of Ra, the son god. Bet you can’t guess who was the last statue to be bathed in sunlight. None other than Ramses 2. Clearly he didn’t have a self esteem problem.

That black area falling across their laps is a shadow

Next to Ramses 2’s monument to himself, he built a temple honoring his favorite wife, Nefertari. Remember her? We visited her tomb in the Valley of the Queens.

That old goat lived well into his nineties, acquiring wives and children ( rumored to number approximately 200) along the way. Good thing he lived BEFORE viagra was invented! Of all his women, (thought to number about 100, if you include concubines and mistresses) Nefertari was his favorite—the only one who got her very own temple next to his. There is only one statue of her on the facade. The other five are, of course, of her husband, who was also known as “the Great” (probably self proclaimed).

That random guy standing in front of Nefertari gives you an idea of the scale of these statues.

We only spent one night at the beautiful Seti Hotel in Abu Simbel. Can you see why we were reluctant to leave? The multi-level pool had a swim up bar; each room had a private balcony facing the Nile. It was SO very peaceful.

Before we left for the light show at the temples, we met Hassan, who enlightened us about Nubian culture and history. He also entertained us by playing instruments that were the forerunners of our guitar, banjo and harp.

In 1976, when Hassan visited his cousin in San Francisco, he was invited to play with what he described as “ a small folk group” —the Grateful Dead.

Once again, you had to be there to appreciate how wonderful it was to be sitting under the stars, watching a multimedia show projected onto the temple walls. I didn’t take any shots while the show was ongoing, but did so after, and used that shot the heading for this post.

I truly appreciate everyone’s comments on my blog posts. It almost feels like I’m having a conversation with my friends. Although I know who comments on Facebook and Linked in, many of the comments on WordPress are coming through anonymously. If I didn’t respond to you, that’s why.

Floating on the Nile for Five Glorious nights

I felt like Egyptian royalty, floating up the Nile in our private dahabiya. It’s mind boggling to think that the pharaohs used this mode of transportation centuries ago, when they traveled between their two capitals. Memphis no longer exists, but Thebes still does, except the Greeks changed its name to Luxor.

The dahabiya is certainly is a very comfortable way to travel. Of course, the pharaohs took months to make their journeys, stopping to visit temples along the way. We also are visiting temples, but our river trip only lasts five days.

Although the sails of our boat were unfurled, it was strictly for a photo op. The photo above was taken from the tugboat that pulled us upstream. It is illegal for dahabiyas to have motors because the Egyptian government wants to preserve this ancient mode of transportation. I’m glad they didn’t insist that the tugboat be replaced by a rowboat!

To show you what that looks like, I took the photo below from the back of our dahabiya. The larger boats, and we saw many of them on the river, are allowed to have motors.

We had lots of help climbing from the tug back onto our dahabiya

The Nile starts in Lake Victoria, and flows into the Mediterranean. That means when we travel south, we are going up the river, the opposite of what we are used to. Back in the day, the southern part of Egypt was known as the Upper Kingdom, with the Lower Kingdom extending to the shores of the Mediterranean.

To visit the temples, we had to disembark and when we did it felt like we were walking the gauntlet. The street vendors were laying in wait. “Hey lady, only $5”,or “Welcome to Alaska” which we heard at multiple sites. I didn’t dare take a photo of the chaotic scene. Instead, I focused on walking quickly, avoiding eye contact. It was difficult. I felt I was being rude by ignoring their greetings. After being bamboozled once however, I toughen up.

Was it worth it? Yes! The temples were an oasis of serenity and peace. Although we saw other, larger ships on the Nile, we were the only ones visiting the small temple of Khnum in Esna. Mohammed, our guide, knew the schedule well enough to plan our arrival after the larger ships had departed and before the afternoon ones arrived.

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We were able to watch centuries of dirt and muck being cleaned from the temple walls. Mohamed told us that only recently have women been allowed to do restoration work.

Yes, the Sistine chapel’s ceiling is a masterpiece, but the ceilings of Egyptian temples are equally breathtaking. Not only that, but they were painted centuries earlier.

If you were standing below, looking up, this is what you would see. Check out the tops of the columns. Each one is different. It’s difficult to see in the photo, but the hieroglyphics between the columns are depicting the various phases of the moon, something my astronomer husband would have greatly enjoyed.

The next day’s temple was in Edfu. It is dedicated to Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris. Horus’ parents were both brother and sister and husband and wife, which might explain why their offspring had the head of a falcon. Sometimes, as in the statue below, he’s depicted as all bird, but on the temple walls, the carvings show him with a human body.

Horus, outside his temple’s inter sanctuary. His angry look was designed to keep the common folk out of the sacred spaces. On his head are the crowns of Egypt’s upper and lower kingdoms

Like medieval churches, the temple walls are used to tell a story. Here’s the Cliff Notes version of a rather long legend. Osiris was killed by his jealous brother Seth, who chopped him up and scattered the pieces all over Egypt, but Isis found the pieces and (unlike Humpty Dumpty) put Osiris back together again, except for one key piece—his most prized possession. (I hope I don’t have to spell it out for you. ) Anyway, Horus was determined to get revenge for his uncle’s dastardly deed. The two of them fought an epic battle. Although Horus won, during the battle he lost one eye, which then magically came to life. To this day, Horus’ eye is a symbol of healing and well-being.

Our guide claims the following wall carving represents incense being burned. The ladies in the group decided it was actually Osiris’ missing member. You decide who had the better interpretation.

As you can see from the visual of our 5 day journey, we took a temple break to visit a farm on Bishaw Island, where we met members of the village and had lunch in the home of the very charming Sayed.

In the USA, we can step back in time by visiting Plymouth Plantation or Williamsburg, where people dress up in period costumes and demonstrate how different tasks were performed during colonial days.

THIS was authentic. It might look like the village women are making wood fired pizza, but they are actually baking a day’s worth of bread. Sour dough. The loaves all came out perfectly.

Bill was recruited to help remove seeds from hibiscus, which is used to make tea. He was a natural; in fact, he did such a good job, I was wondering if he’d be allowed to leave.

What are these women doing, you ask? Well, they are making sure there are no barley grains among the wheat. Why? I have no idea, and no one thought to ask.

Yes, this baby water buffalo is adorable. Especially when he is tied up. He wasn’t when we entered the enclosure, so he was able to charge at us, first at Bobbie, then when she moved aside, he came at me, either trying to bite or kiss my leg. The only thing I know for sure is the Bobbie and I were left with water buffalo lip smears all over our pants.

Our next stop was far more tame. We visited the quarry from which the pyramids’ sandstone building blocks were cut, then floated down the Nile. That block must have been enormous! I should have had someone stand beside it for scale.

Our final temple (for the cruise part of our adventure) was Kom Ombo, which was again timed to ensure that we avoided the crowds (at least of tourists—not of street vendors). This temple is unique in that it was dedicated to two gods: Sobek, who has the head of a crocodile, and Horus, the falcon, shown here with his human body.

The view of the Nile from inside Kom Ombo

Now here’s something you don’t see every day— mummified crocodiles. A live crocodile, believed to be the earthly incarnation of Sobek, was kept in a pit in the temple. When it died, it was mummified and replaced with another.

Although we have another day on our wonderful dabahiya, this post is already quite long, so I’ll end it with a sneak preview of tomorrow’s activity. Not another temple—tomorrow we go to the livestock market. Let’s see if another animal wants to get up close and personal with me!