Egypt and the Nile

Mike and Judy Henderson
September 29 - October 10, 2018

I'm going to leave this map on each page so you can see where we are.

10/4/2018 (Thursday) We woke up to a magnificent sunrise over the bank of the Nile.

We docked at Kom Ombo to visit the Temple of Kom Ombo.  The temple was very close to where we docked, so we walked to the temple.  It was a hot day and the ship's crew gave us these colorful umbrellas for the sun

Here's the entrance to the temple.

A view into the first part of the temple.

A view through the openings - looking through the whole temple.

Some of the reliefs on the walls.

Another.

And one more.

This was actually the ceiling of one part of the temple.

One of the guards was friendly and he posed for a portrait.

He and another guard asked me to sit between them for a picture but since I was taking the pictures, I asked Judy to sit between them.  They scooted apart when she sat down.  I suppose they were uncomfortable sitting too close to a strange woman.  But they were very friendly and nice.

Judy and I went back to the boat a bit early.  We'd seen enough temples.

After everyone returned to the boat we cast off and headed to Aswan.  Along the way, we passed under this cable stayed suspension bridge.

After we reached Aswan, we were scheduled for high tea at the Old Cataract Hotel.  But before that, we had a ride in a felucca, a traditional Nile river sailing boat.  I had always thought these boats were called dhow but in checking on Wikipedia they are called felucca in Egypt.

Our group was divided between two boats.  Here's the boat we were on.

One of the deckhands was this young Nubian boy. 

As we left the dock, we followed our friends in the other felucca.

This was a second (older) Nubian deckhand.

About half way through the boat ride, the two deck hands began singing some Nubian songs.

They soon had everyone up and participating.

Our Tour Guide, Hani, was enjoying the boat ride.  He's an Egyptologist with a PhD, and does a good job of telling us about the sites we visit.  He speaks English with very little accent so he's easy to understand.

This is where we will be having high tea - at the Old Cataract Hotel. One of its claims to fame is that Agatha Christie wrote part of Death on the Nile while at the hotel.  One of its restaurants is supposedly the most expensive in all of Egypt.

The sun was setting and we started our return to dock.

We bused to the Old Cataract Hotel.  Here's the entrance area.

Judy in front of the hotel.

We had High Tea on the patio as the sun went down.

Here are the nibbles they served..

Then it was back to the boat.  Judy and I skipped dinner after having the nibbles at High Tea and went to bed.  Tomorrow we leave at 7am so we have to get up early.

10/5/2018 (Friday)  This morning we started our excursions by going to an ancient rock quarry to see an unfinished obelisk.

Here's a view into the quarry

This is the obelisk.  It's lying at an angle, with the base lower than the top.  You can see the crack in it.

A view from the top of the obelisk.

And a closer view of the top.  You can see they were shaping the pointed top when they quit working on it.

Then we headed to the Aswan High Dam.  To get there, we first came to the Aswan Low Dam and drove over it.

The Low Dam was built at the location of the first cataract, with the first attempt being made in 1902. It was improved in 1912 and 1933 but was insufficient to control the Nile floods.  That's why the High Dam was built in 1971.

We drove out to the middle of the High Dam.  But the problem is that when you're on a dam, you can't see it.  So here's a picture taken from the web.

And here's a picture of the High Dam taken from space.  The lake created by the dam is called Lake Nasser, and is the largest artificial lake in the world.

There's a structure close to the dam called  The Monument of Arab-Soviet Friendship.  The Russians financed the dam and provided engineers and technicians to design and build the dam.

Then we drove back to the Aswan Low Dam where we had seen all these boats anchored.  We were to learn their story soon.

We are going to the Philae Temple which is located on an island in the lake behind the Low Dam.  Hani got our tickets and we went down the pier to the boats.  Here we are loading on a boat.

The boats nose in to the pier and the boats have to push their way in between other boats.  They just put their bow between two boats and push in.  Very Egyptian (and similar to the way they drive, with the "fill every space" philosophy).

There are a lot of boats just anchored out in the lake.  I suppose there's just not enough business for all of them.

This picture doesn't come close to showing how many inactive boats are here.

As we came around the island the temple came into view.

This is the docking area.

The front of the temple.  The temple was moved from its original location in about 1970.  In it's original location, it was flooded by the lake formed behind the Low Dam.

The right colonnade.

And the left.

Judy at the temple.  Extreme temperatures, often about 105 degrees, made each day challenging.

The entrance into the temple

A view from the interior courtyard.

We entered the temple proper.

It had been used by early Christians as a church.  This was the altar.

We continued further into the temple...

until we reached the innermost sanctum.  This was used as an altar.

The walls of the sanctum were highly decorated.

Then we left the temple and went to a smaller structure which was the music and entertainment area. It was decorated with figures playing instruments.  Here's a flute player.

Perhaps a tambourine.

And this is clearly, without question, an early cello:-)

Couple of interesting stone figures.

Here's an outbuilding known as Trajan's Kiosk.

That was our visit to the Philae Temple.  Another boat ride returned us to the dock and our bus.

On the way back to the boat, we stopped at an Egyptian cotton products shop.  Although Judy and I shopped as hard as we could, we didn't buy anything.

That afternoon there was an excursion scheduled for bird watching and for a visit to a Nubian home, but we were tired and didn't go.  I'll see if I can get pictures from someone who did go. Judy had a massage in the ship's spa in the afternoon.

Bill S. and his wife Reba did go to the Nubian home and he gave me the following pictures.  I can't say very much about them because I wasn't there but I'll post them here.

A Nubian house.

A young Nubian girl.

A woman selling in the street.

The Nubians keep small crocodiles in their homes for good luck.

The courtyard of a home?

Some children with Reba.

In the kitchen.

And that's the end  of the Nubian home visit.

That evening before dinner we were entertained by a Nubian dance group in the lounge.  There were three musicians (drums), a singer, and three dancers.  Here are the drummers and the singer.

The three dancers.  They did several costume changes between numbers. 

They brought members of the audience into the act.  Look for Judy in the picture and note the costume change.

This was their final costume change.  My camera does not do a good job of capturing moving people in low light.

After that, we went to dinner and then to bed.  Tomorrow we fly to Abu Simbel.

Our adventure continues here