Blogs from Abu Simbel, Upper Egypt, Egypt, Africa - page 4

When my kids were little they used to watch cartoon on Sat. mornings. I don’t know the title but I do know that one of the constants was a goddess ( heroine) who would stand with her arms crossed above her head and say the words, “ Oh, Mighty Isis” beseeching the Isis to bestow upon her powers to protect something or other. So, here I was in the Temple of Philae at the southernmost tip of Egypt standing in a temple begun by Ptolemy ll and completed by Roman Emperors. It was the last temple constructed to worship the ancient Egyptian religion. It was nearly lost under the water from the Aswan Dam but was rescued by the Egyptian government and UNESCO. The main temple is dedicated to Isis. Then it gets a bit complicated ... read more

After a great sleep, we get breakfast delivered to our room, just a selection of breads (a little on the firm side) and tea or juice. I brave a trip to the bathroom to find that the reason you can’t use it when stopped at stations is because there is nowhere for ‘stuff’ to go but outside! I’d hate to be a perway walker here! Looking outside as we go along, there are a lot of farms and people dressed more traditionally, not many shirts and pants by the men but lots of the long robes. There are heaps of donkeys though, being ridden, used with little carts, carrying stuff… We get to Aswan about 9ish and are met but another Ahmed who tells us the convoy to Abu Simbel leaves at 11am so he will ... read more

Day 2 in Aswan and our highlight of visiting Aswan is our much anticipated trip of Abu Simbel. For those that don't know, Abu Simbel is two HUGE temples built during the time of Pharaoh Rameses the second. The two temples took about 20 years to build and was dedicated to four Gods being Amun, Ra-Horakhty and Ptah. The final dedication is to Ramesses, the Pharaoh at the time and also considered a God. Whats amazing about this project is that during the 1960's and at the time of the completion of the Aswan Dam (which my grandad helped construct!?!) this temple was literally cut into pieces and relocated uphill to the site where it stands to this day. This was to prevent the temple completely flooding from the completion of the Dam. About USD 80 ... read more

Tom and I had the choice of taking a 3-hour (each way) bus ride to and from Abu Simbel or taking a flight from Aswan to the archaeological site. Which one do you think we chose? Right - we flew 40 minutes each way. The whole Abu Simbel temple was moved up hill in the 1960s to save it from the rising waters of Lake Nasser, created by the construction of the high dam at Aswan. Tom and I remember the Aswan dam controversy, since there’s no way to know what treasures are now beneath the surface of the lake. The external figures are huge, and the carvings and colors inside are amazing. Tom’s favorite: the huge statues outside; my favorite is a large carved mural indoors with many rows of figures. It’s about 20x30 feet. ... read more

Dag 287 - 288. Opp til samme tid som igaar natt, rett for kl. 03. Idag (natt) var ikke turen til Abu Simbel avlyst, saa vi fikk utdelt hver vaar frokostboks fra hotellet for vi gikk til minibussen som sto klar rett utenfor doren. Vi kjorte rundt og hentet de andre som skulle vaere med. Vi hadde ikke kjort mer enn 15 minutter ut av sentrum for vi kom til en oppsamlingsplass for busser, biler og andre kjoretoyer. Her ble alle bilene sjekket, for konvoien kjorte samlet de 280 km til Abu Simbel. Vi var framme litt for kl sju paa morgenen. Siden alle kom samtidig var det lange ventekoer paa aa faa kjopt inngangsbilletter (90 EP pr.pers) og aa gaa gjennom sikkerhetskontrollen. Vi maatte gaa ca 10 minutter for vi saa de store statuene av ... read more