Chapter 3: ESNA (Pen writing)

Esnaπs stopover saw us sail to Edfu. At last we had a daytime view of the Nile from the boat. We took a gazillion photos and I soaked up the sun in an effort to supplement the UV work on my hands.

We docked at Edfu where we took a horse drawn carriage to the only remained roofed temple, Edfu dedicated to the Hawk-god Horus. All of our temples weπd seen, and the ones in the photos have been damaged throughout time through major earthquakes either in the 1^st, 2^nd, or 3^rd Century. The other damage done to carvings was committed by the Coptics (Christians) who hid in the temples to escape the persecution but in that they were deemed rude, and heathen, were defaced.

Edfuπs temple still had a roof on it (as all the other temples originally had). That makes it unique. As well, itπs a combination of Egyptian, Greek and finally Roman worship. You could see the smoke blackening on the roof of the temple, but fortunately enough of it escaped the Coptic damage so we could properly appreciate it.

Actually most of the temples we saw have been damaged by Coptics. If theyπd really looked at what they were doing, by chiselling the rude bits, they actually made a deeper impression. Ah well.

We cruised some more, and then stopped at another temple, Kom Ombo, a unique temple that is dedicated to two deities. One half is dedicated to the hawk-headed Hawar and the right o the crocodile god Sobek. This was another evening viewing of a temple. The lighting work done to this makes me really hopefully of the light and sound show at Giza and the pyramids.

We had some evening entertainment, which was pretty lame as there was too few of us to really carry off dancing. Reg and I went to bed pretty early that night.

ASWAN

We cruised through the night and day to Aswan, a major city outside of Cairo of 1 million people. We docked here for the day and would finish our Nile cruise here. This is very far down in the old Egyptian kingdom and it is in Aswan that the first dam was built to bring power to Egypt. This is also the location of the high dam, which was threatening the Abu Simbel temple. We viewed an unfinished obelisk commissioned by my good olπ queen Hatshepsut. It was this obelisk that gave clues to archaeologists as to how the ancients managed the production of obelisks. It cracked while under construction and was left in position. I certainly wouldnπt want to have been the engineer or artist in charge of that little project, fancy having to tell the pharaoh that it broke!

Our final cruise related tour was out to the Philae temple via a small boat. This temple was dedicated to Isis and her son Horus. Again this was another lovely temple, which had been relocated on an island to be above the rising dam waters.

We returned to our ship for our final lunch. It was at this time that I was really not feeling well. I only ate fruit at lunchtime in case I was going to be ill. We were taken out onto the Nile on a Felucca as part of a special treat. We were also informed that we could go to a Nubian village, but I was definitely NOT in the right frame of mind/body for that. We returned to the ship and I crashed. Our guide was rather concerned but I felt that if I took a couple of tablets I should be right for dinner and our belly dancing evening. Reg walked out and about greater Aswan while I slept. I was hoping I had just gotten too tired (as I am want to do on trips) and just wanted to catch up on rest. When I got up for dinner at 7 though, it was no good. I still felt that I had been beaten by a brick and then swallowed it. I returned to bed. Reg came in about 40 minutes later. Our guide had gone out and gotten some local medicine. I took the medicine and went back to bed. About half an hour later, I was feeling better. Morning saw me back on my feet again. I continued to take the medicine through the day, but it was obviously a local bug I had caught. Thank goodness.

We packed and then caught a horse drawn carriage to the local market to be harangued by locals to buy, buy buy. Which we did, a bit. On our return, we were taken from our boat to the Old Cataract Hotel. This is the 100 year + hotel where Agatha Christie wrote Death on the Nile. It has lovely wooden floors, 15π ceilings, and lovely old wooden furniture.

OLD CATARACT and ABU SIMBEL

This was another incredibly early morning, with a 4am start. The temple of Abu Simbel is the one you see in the movies. This is the temple that was threatened by the rising waters of lake Nasser and was moved via UNESCO funds up 40 metres. This temple is again unique in that it was carved out of solid rock. The statues of the temple are more than 20 metres high and the carvings still have colour on them. What we found interesting is one chamber hadnπt been completed so you could see the evolution of the carvings, to being painted to initial design. This is the southernmost temple and was established by Ramses II to warn enemies, particularly the Nubians that they were entering Egypt. Ramses built this temple to honour the god Ra Horakhti . As well, a separate (but smaller) temple was built to honour Nefertari. We may be able to see the Valley of the Queens, but essentially this is the only temple built for a Queen, except for my old Queen Pharaoh Hatshepsut.

Since this took place so early in the morning, we were back by 10am. We worked on catching a horse drawn carriage and walking through a Nubian market. There is no way to describe the haranguing the market people put you through in trying to get you to buy something. Nothing could be more off putting as far as Iπm concerned and even when they say no hassle, theyπre hassling. We returned via the walkway along the Nile and stopped at a boat restaurant to eat dinner, a very cheap affair. Away from the hotels food is very cheap.

Our main objective for the previous day had been to locate some sort of laundry but no joy, so we took the opportunity to hand wash a lot of our gear and stick it out on our balcony to dry. We spent the day reading and viewing the Nile from our hotel, interspaced with ventures out for lunch. For the record it takes very little time for the clothes to dry.

We reorganised our original Nubian village tour and managed to get Walid to show us around. It was a lovely boat trip and another introduction to a different sort of life style. All of the Nubians had been moved due to the Nasser dam flooding their original lands. Theyπre now Egyptian and part of the community. Both Reg and I got a henna tattoo. It was a lovely trip and we said our final goodbyes to Walid. We intend on sending him something Australian once weπre back home.

The rest of the day we spent reading, and enjoying a Royal Sunset Tea on the back balcony of the Old Cataract hotel watching, of course, the sunset. Tomorrow is the return to Cairo and traffic madness.