Advertisement
Published: February 1st 2017
Edit Blog Post
Egyptian adventure 2
Having visited the west bank of Luxor aka The Valley of the Kings we spent the next day, with the same guide, visiting the temples of Luxor and Karnac. We set off on the short journey to Karnac and thankfully there were no suggestions of any “shopping” trips. Karnac is stunning, he described it as the Vatican of Egypt and it was certainly a huge site. I sometimes just want to wander round and enjoy looking rather than taking endless photos and the size of some of the stonework took your breath away. As with many places in this part of Egypt it was preserved by being buried in silt and sand from the flooding of the Nile. Although large parts of the site have been excavated there is still a huge amount to be uncovered but given the economic position of Egypt it is unlikely to happen soon, there were pieces of columns and facades lying around like a giant jigsaw puzzle.
Our next stop was Luxor temple which is in the city on the banks of the Nile and it used to be connected to Luxor by an avenue lined with sphinxes. There are
some similarities with Carnac but the inner sanctuary was fascinating the colours preserved from its use as a religious site where candle and cooking residue had protected it and it was slowly being restored. We let our guide go to enjoy a bit more time before we walked back to the hotel via Oasis for a coffee and the bank to exchange money. Desperate for any foreign currency they can get their hands on we were given special service. Our last night of this time in Luxor, we were retuning after Aswan, we had a few beers in the hotel and then we went back to Oasis Palace and Ayman made us a delicious meal.
Luxor has been a place of mixed emotions for me, the balance of fabulous history and the stunning setting on the magnificent Nile, against the hassle from the taxi drivers, felucca salesmen and the caleche drivers and anyone else who wants to butt in ,has been wearing. The traffic is dense and the pollution was pretty bad and we left hoping for better in Aswan as Chris is particular was struggling.
Wednesday we set off for Aswan, the southernmost city on the Nile
and famous for its two dams and the temple of Abu Simbel which was moved by UNESCO before the area was flooded creating Lake Nasser. The first dam was built by the British in the early part of the 20
th century and by about 1940 was inadequate so the second dam was built. The dam is Egypt’s biggest strength and weakness, it provides water to create the fertile Nile valley to grow food for the people (although insufficient to meet the ever growing population) and if it burst, or was taken, has the potential to cause catastrophic flooding.
After our trip from Cairo on the train I was quite looking forward to the four hour trip to Aswan. The train arrived one hour late and the first class carriages were absolutely filthy. However the seats were quite comfy and the journey cost us £2.50 each. We though some of the places on the trip down from Cairo were bad but we went through a place called Kom Ombo, were lots of the people displaced from the dam building were relocated, and it has to be one of the worst places we have ever seen in all of our travels.
We were held up outside Aswan station for 45 minutes in a boiling hot carriage, the air con wasn’t working and there were no windows that opened and the whole journey, including delays had taken about five hours instead of about 3. Finally we got into the station where only 2 platforms were functioning as the rest was effectively an active building site. In a developed country it would have been closed but in Egypt the passengers just have to avoid the piles of rubbles, cables, wooden planks etc.
We decided we needed some shade and a drink and had a breather in a cafe in the square near the station and we were left in peace and quiet to have our drinks. We had to go and look for a taxi driver-a first in Egypt and he took us to our next place which was 25 minutes from the centre of Luxor on the West bank. The tradition in Egypt was the east bank for living and the west bank for burial. We arrived at Ekadolli Nubian guest house to find it open but not much sign of life as the staff were on the rooftop. When you
use the internet to book you have to rely on the description and we had booked a room with a Nile view................NOT. Our very simple, and spotlessly clean, room had no view at all except into the rooftop. We were tired after the journey and Chris was feeling worse so we both needed some sleep before assessing our options. Chris had booked four nights and there was nothing anywhere near to us to eat in the evenings. However the rooftop looked down onto the cataracts on the Nile and across to the first Aswan dam and there was no traffic noise just local village life.
We met the owner Khalid and decided to only stay three nights instead of four allowing us to do the things we wanted. We had dinner and it was beautiful, all freshly cooked and only E60 each (£2.70). He was a very large guy but he was a very gentle soul with a beautiful smile and a hearty laugh. He organised our two days out and our taxi back to Luxor and it all worked really well.
One downside of Luxor and the proximity of slow moving water were mosquitoes and we both got bitten but the peace and quiet after a busy day more than made up for it. Thursday we got up after a good sleep, broken at 5.30 by the mosque next door, to a beautiful breakfast of home-cooked food. We went first to the big dam and just gazed at the enormity of it. Next we went to Philae temple and had our first experience of Egypt without a guide. I worked out the tickets and then found a guy to take us on the lake to Philae and wait and bring us back. It was chaotic and Chris was still feeling pretty ropey. The little boat ran out of fuel and while we drifted and he re-filled it we watched as a fish eagle soured over rocks close by. Serendipity. The temple visit was short and sweet and our little guy was waiting for us, just as well as we had not paid him. Our final stop was the unfinished obelisk, which was quarried from Aswan granite. They laboured for months and did three sides when it cracked and was un-useable, it was destined for the temple at Luxor which is why there is only one there. Back at our place we chilled on the roof and enjoyed Khalid’s cooking of kofta, okra salad and bread.
Friday we set off to Abu Simbel. There were two options on offer the cheap version get up at 3am and leave at 4am and get a coach from near the dam or a separate private tour. The road from Aswan to Abu Simbel is heavily controlled as it is also the route to Sudan, Egypt’s neighbour. You are allowed to leave Aswan between 4am and 9 am and have to be back by 4pm. We decided on the second option , leaving at 8am, and arrived about 11am, by which time most of the coaches had gone. It is in a beautiful setting on the banks of Lake Nasser and a brilliant video showed some of the work involved in moving it block by block to save it from the flooding of the valley. The road trip was so boring an almost straight road with desert on either side and with thankfully little traffic. It was a long day but worth it and we chilled on the rooftop when we got back. Khalid cooked fish for our final meal and we packed up ready to leave the next morning.
So Saturday and we were travelling back to Luxor, and for an extra night, but in a clean and comfy hotel right on the banks of the Nile.
Till next time
Norma x
Advertisement
Tot: 0.2s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 9; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0628s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb