Abu Simbel Temple, Nubian Village, and Edfu Temple

1/21/18

Another early morning wake up call at 3:45 a.m. for a bus ride to the Aswan Dam and Abu Simbel, a monument built into a manmade mountain.  The bus ride to the dam promised to be about 3 hours, more walking around a temple and another 3 hour bus ride back.  I just couldn't do it. My legs wouldn't carry me.  Tom went on the tour and I stayed back and rested.  So sorry, but no pictures.  Here is a picture from one of my books of Abu Simbel.

Abu Simbel

This monument is in the far south of Egypt, almost to Sudan.  It was built by the Great Rameses.  After weather erosion almost destroyed the monument, the Department of Antiquities decided to move it away from the original mountain.  They built a man-made mountain and moved the monument to its current location in order to protect it.

At 3:00 p.m. Tom and I took a motorboat tour to the Nubian Village.  We rode south (against the flow of the river) for about 1 1/2 hours.   The village was full of women and children begging, sandy roads, camels everywhere, and camel smells everywhere--lovely!  We went to a schoolroom and had a lesson on the Arabic alphabet and numbers.  We were then invited into one of the homes.

a colorful home in Nubian Village

The homeowners were very gracious.  The home was very colorful with paintings on all the walls.  They actually had live crocodiles in the living room in a pen.  They pulled a small one out and showed it - they were very proud of it.

Live Crocodiles in the living room

our gracious host

They served us tea.  We thanked them, and then walked around the streets.  It was very dirty and very busy.  At the docks, they burned what looked like trash, to keep away the mosquitos, and it smelled very bad.  We were so glad to get back on the motorboat and head back to our boat.  It only took 1/2 hour to get back with the flow of the river.  Here is a picture of the river cruise boats.  They stack up as many as 4 deep.  You have to walk through the 1st boat to get to the 2nd, etc. 

1/22/18

The boat headed back north toward Luxor.  At Edfu, we caught a donkey-drawn carriage (#98) to Edfu Temple.  Our driver was Ahmad.  He apologized to us that he needed to stop at the school and pick up his son, Mohammed.

Ahmad, our driver

We stopped at the school and picked up his son.  Mohammed was smiling from ear to ear and said, "W-e-l-c-o-m-e  to Egypt".  He jumped up on the cart and smiled.  I asked him if he was about 6 years old, and he said firmly, "I'm 6 and a half".  He was very proud.  What a cute kid! 

On the way into the temple, we were swarmed by the vendors again.  This had become a regular occurrence.  In order to get away from them, I promised to stop on the way out.  I guess that was a mistake. 

Edful Temple

she is serving flowers

The King with his servants, being presented to Osiris,
The God of the Underworld

Horus, the Sky God and the son of RA, the Sun God
(and the name of our Group)

On the way out, the vendor caught me again, but this time I was ready.  I went to his booth and found a large Egyptian white tablecloth and napkins.  I really liked it - a tablecloth like this at home would cost plenty.  He wanted 1500 Egyptian dollars (about $90 US).  but I only had 200 pounds (about $12 US) on me.  I was able to get him down to 500 pounds (about $30 US), but he had to come to the boat to get more money.  He said OK.  Tom and I left the booth and headed to Cart #98.  When we got there, the tablecloth was already loaded into the cart for us, and I hadn't paid him anything.  Ahmad said not to worry, they would meet us at the boat.  Sure enough - - when we got to the boat, he was there waiting for us.  I paid him and thanked him. 

We had dinner on the boat.  I ordered veal, thinking it must be tender, but it was like rubber.  That is when I decided that Egyptians do not know how to cook meat.  We were both exhausted again.  We went to bed.