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Published: January 15th 2011
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10th Jan - Day 101
The plan was for a 6am start, we would sail across to the other bank, where we would have brekky and Stu would pick us up in the truck, the plan to get away by 7:30am. We got up and to the other side, not much wind to help with that though, we packed up our gear and Stu found us so we loaded the truck and then once the other feluccas arrived we all had brekky on one boat and were ready to go by 8:30am, not too bad I suppose. We did keep our guide Akmed waiting though. He was going to be with us for the next three days though so he didn’t mind. Our first stop once back on the road was the Kom Ombo temple, only a 40 min drive towards Edfu. We drove back out on the same road that we had driven in on so there wasn’t much new scenery to see. We followed the Nile again, and were constantly amused by the impatience of the other drivers, only just squeezing past us on some parts of the road. Kom Ombo is special as it is the only temple
dedicated to two gods, Horus, the falcon god and Sobek, the crocodile god. They even have some of the 300 mummified crocodiles found here on the site in the soon to be opened museum. Built by many kings starting with Ptolemy VI in 180BC, almost in duplicate, one side for Horus and the other for Sobek, there were some very interesting and well preserved carvings here; this was a temple used frequently for healing procedures. We were told that in the open courtyard the high priests would grow many herbs and plants for medicinal uses. This was our first chance to see a Nile-o-meter, (a well) used for measuring the depth of the Nile. The priests would use this measurement to know whether there has been a lot of cultivation of the land and therefore whether to charge high or low taxes. Displayed on the walls, our guide showed us one of the ancient calendars used by the Egyptian people. Originally they only counted 360 days in a year (12 months x 3 weeks of 10 days) and then 5 festival days were added to the year, making it 365 days long. After some free time here, we continued our
journey to Edfu and the Edfu temple, this trip was about two and a half hours.
We arrived at 1pm, and must have just missed the crowds as we had nearly the whole place to ourselves. Edfu temple, dedicated to Horus the falcon god. Built by Ptolemy III in 237 BC and completed in 57BC under Ptolemy XII, Edfu Temple is the 2nd largest in Egypt only surpassed by Karnak temples (Luxor). The pictures inside tell the story of his meeting his wife, their union, and the defeat of his uncle Seth. Here we also learned the hieroglyphic symbols used for counting (1, 10, 100, 1000, 10 000, 100 000, 1 000 000). After some free time here, in which we bought ice creams, we jumped back on the bus and Nick made a stop in town for some traditional street food for lunch. It was 2:20pm so we were all pretty hungry, we had falafel sandwiches (in pocket bread) and potato crisps. Then it was a 3 hour or so trip on to Luxor, back through into the desert, and then some cane fields as we got closer to the Nile again. Coming into Luxor was quite interesting as
this is probably where the most recent excavating is taking place. Whole blocks of houses and shops have been removed in the main part of town as they found that they were built on the ‘Avenue of Sphinxs’ that links Luxor temple to Karnak temple, it is an incredible sight. They are slowly restoring it so that one day tourists will be able to stroll down the avenue just as the pharaohs did… Our hotel here, Rezeiky Camp, was reasonable; it eventually had hot water, so it was good to shower again. We had an hour to unpack then Nick was taking those who wanted to, into town to Moses’ Jewellery shop, as he did a good deal for Kumuka trips on gold and silver. This is where we picked up a few souvenirs as well as had a look at the Luxor temple from the outside at night. We were in a city again so the smog was thick and the shopkeepers did their best to get a sale. This time there were hundreds of horse and carriages lining the streets, trying to get your business. Downtown was about a 40 minute walk, and because nearly everyone went into
town dinner was postponed until 7:30pm. On the walk back, a few of us found this supermarket where they actually scan the items (fixed prices!!) so we stocked up on snacks for the next day. Jess had heard from one of her clients that the hot air ballooning here in Luxor was really good so we signed up for that in the morning, it was supposed to be a 4:15am start but due to the strong winds this was postponed until 6:15am… thank goodness! Dinner was a buffet served by the hotel, it was very good, a little bit of everything. It was tonight though that a few people skipped dinner as they had stomach cramps and were sick, but more was to come…
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