Advertisement
Published: January 24th 2013
Edit Blog Post
This morning we awoke docked in Edfu. After breakfast on board the boat we took horses and buggies from the dock to the Temple of Horus which is dedicated to the Falcon God. Some of the horses are terribly skinny which is very distressing because they don't look strong enough to be pulling tourists around. There doesn't seem to be any alternative though to being taken to the temple in a horse and buggy. I guess it would be even worse for the horse if its owner wasn't getting the customers.
Despite being off sightseeing again by 7.30am it was worth it to be amongst the first few tourists at the temple. Hussein has been really good at hustling us along so that we can beat the crowds and enjoy most of the sites without too many tourists in the way. As on previous days, Hussein told us about the temple and then gave us free time to explore it further. The Temple of Horus is very well preserved because it was abandoned in 391AD and then lay covered in sand until it was rediscovered and excavated in the 1860s. It is second only to the Temple of Karnak in
size.
With everyone back on board we set sail for Kom Ombo. As we sailed we enjoyed Falafel sandwiches for morning tea. Following morning tea we lazed about on the sun deck until lunchtime down in the restaurant. So much food, so little exercise!! In our cabin today we had a crocodile on our bed crafted from bed linen, a towel, two plastic bottle caps (for eyes) and Bernie's hat!!
We continued sailing after lunch until we reached Kom Ombo mid-afternoon. Kom Ombo Temple was built during the Ptolemaic period overlooking the Nile and is an unusual double temple that is dedicated equally to the crocodile god, Sebek and the falcon god, Horus. Because the crocodile god was worshipped here they have found dozens of mummified crocodiles that are displayed in the Crocodile Museum that is adjacent to the temple. A little gruesome to be sure, but very interesting.
As we returned to the boat I was appalled to see a snake charmer on the footpath with four cobras. Ugh! I thought they may have been stuffed or carved from wood but no, they were moving. I went all the way to the other side of the
road and kept an eye on them until I was well out of range. I thought the street hawkers were bad, but I would rather a street hawker with scarves or postcards to a snake charmer anytime!! I really hate snakes.
Back on board it was time for afternoon tea as we continued sailing towards Aswan. Finally Hussein divulged how early we would have to be up in the morning for our road trip to Abu Simbel. OMG we are going to get a wake-up call at 2.50am to be on the road by 3.30am. We always knew that it was going to be early ...
We lazed around on the sun deck a bit more and then it was time for dinner so we ate AGAIN. We went to the lounge bar for a little while after dinner because there was supposed to be a Nubian Show. It started off with some Nubian dances accompanied by a couple of drums and a vocalist but, after a couple of dances they got the conga line happening. Groan, I've seen enough conga lines at weddings thank you. This was followed by a dancer who performed a colourful dance which
involved twirling several layers of coloured skirts. But then ... the belly dancer arrived. Not convinced that this was genuinely Nubian, we retired to bed before she started coaxing passengers to join her. We figured we wouldn't see anything we haven't already seen at a Greek restaurant (or two, or three) back home.
Steps for the day: 8,837 (6.02kms)
Advertisement
Tot: 0.074s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 12; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0424s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Judy C
non-member comment
Whew
Glad to receive your blogs. I was starting to think you may have been kidnapped and held to ransom, as we only hear the bad news coming out of the middle east. Your blogs are very interesting. With all the info you must accumulate, I would imagine you would be very welcome at trivia nights. Cheers Judy