Egypt 2023 : Part 2 : Aswan and Abu Simbel

Sunday 12 March

Aswan

So the train was super noisy all night; some of us slept well and some of us didn't. It's a treat being met by our hosts and having all our plans just taken care of. First stop was the Philae Temple Complex. Just wow!

Set on Agilkia Island you have to take a quick boat trip to reach it.

 

 The most amazing thing about Pilae is that all the temples were moved to this new site in the early 70s by Unesco. After the lower Aswan Dam was completed in 1902, 18 different temple sites were subject to flooding. To save these antiquities they were moved in entirety to new sites.

We also visited the new Aswan Dam, completed in the 70s. Egypt relies on this for 95% of all their water. 

Nearby is the Kalabsha Temple, also accessed by boat. Here we were the only tourists.  How awesome to enjoy a 2000 year old treasure all by yourselves! 

We are staying at the Obelisk Nile Hotel with wonderful river views. We enjoyed sunset drinks on the patio followed by dinner. 

Abu Simbel

Monday 13 March

Today we had a 7am pick up for the 3.5 hr drive south through the desert from Aswan to Abu Simbel. The road is new but there are lots of trucks heading to the Sudanese border just 30 kilometres beyond Abu Simbel.

The temples of Ramses II and Neffertari where carved out of a hill in the 13th Century BC. They were rediscovered in 1813. In 1964 Unesco rebuilt the entire mountain and moved everything to a higher location. I am in awe of that feat because these treasures would have been destroyed by the water of Lake Nasser by now. 

So far we have actually enjoyed our guides.  ( I was not expecting to. ) Today she arranged our tickets and entrance and then gave a us a 15 minute talk using A4 photos. Then she left us to explore on our own.  After all the discovering and photo taking Neil and I still had time to sit inside the temple and just be there.

Once back in Aswan, we spent another wonderful evening on the verandah of our hotel.