Liz and Richard's 2008 Adventures

On to Aswan

Next morning our platoon of handlers assembled to get Liz and Dick on their plane to Aswan.  Bags were checked, tickets were obtained, security was navigated.  We stood around being useless as usual.

Shots from the cabin window highlight the aridness of the desert with a glimpse of the Red Sea and the stark contrast of the green ribbon of verdant Nile Valley














In Aswan we were met by a new contingent of handlers and performed our security/baggage/van ballet.  En route to the hotel we stopped to view one of the temples relocated when the Aswan High Dam created Lake Nasser.  We knew Abu Simbel had been moved but were unaware that 17 other temples and monuments had been relocated (explaining how it is that the Metropolitan Museum in NYC secured the Temple of Dendur - something we have long wondered about).  Below - Philae - one of the most beautiful temples on our trip, taken from the top of the old dam



Liz had booked us into the Old Cataract Hotel.  You turn a corner expecting to confront Hercule Poirot.  In fact, Agatha Christie wrote Death on the Nile in the hotel.  It is a time capsule; one shortly to be closed for renovations.  Glad we saw it in its original state.  Note the shots of security at the gate (a constant presence in Egypt) and the Terrace Bar overlooking the Nile













Our accommodations were classic - a Victorian elevator, aging furniture, a bed as hard as granite and a view to die for (night and day).  The feluccas (Nile Sail boats) are geometrically charming and the many monuments on the far shore (actually an island) are illuminated at night.  On the river view shot our room is on the left, second floor, with the pillars











And tomorrow - our flight to Abu Simbel......and then we board the Oberoi Philae for our 4 night cruise

Abu Simbel and boarding the Oberoi Philae

How to describe Abu Simbel?

There is, of course, the engineering miracle that it was literally sawn from the cliff face of its birth (now under Lake Nasser) and reassembled at its present location - including the seldom described inner temple complex. 

But this is overwhelmed by the hubris of Ramses II who built the Temple to declare himself a God.  The 100 foot high figures are daunting - note the graffiti from 1857






















The fallen head is the result of an earthquake in 27BC (note the photo of Ramses II fallen ear).  Everywhere the scale dwarfs you.  Inside the wall carvings/paintings are stunning (no photos allowed, but we did steal one of the inner sanctum) - overall Dickie's favourite Egyptian site











Ramses II was a generous Pharoh/God and built a temple next door dedicated to his favourite wife Nefertari.  In probably typical Ramses II fashion, it features 4 giant statues of him, and only two of her!







A quick flight back to Aswan where we boarded our river boat (Oberoi Philae) - our home for the next 4 days.  The boat is beautifully appointed - comfy salons, an upper deck with a stunning river view and helpful staff everytime you turn around.













As she describes it herself, Liz obsessed over the selection of the Nile Cruise boat - and with Ahmed's assistance chose the Philae.  Part of the reason was the exterior cabins with balconies and the fact that the boat is rarely rafted to other vessels (pics of that later). 

Note the view of feluccas from our private balcony - we're on the low deck in the middle on the outside shot







We also met our new guide (arranged by Ahmed) - Emad.  He would be our companion for the duration of the cruise (staying on board).  One of the real pleasures of our Liz/Ahmed planned tour is always have a private guide and a private driver (the cruise comes with guides and transportation but we went separately). 

Our guides have incredible radar regarding crowd avoidance. We always seemed to be 15 minutes ahead of or behind the 20+ strong group who had arrived by bus. 

Emad is Nubian - young, very bright, well informed and would prove to be a stimulating dinner companion

Felucca ride on the Nile and Philae Temple

After checking in we headed off on an early evening Felucca sail on the Nile with Faruk, our pilot and Emad.  Wonderfully tranquil, wild birds, ruins of ancient forts and temples, the Tomb of the Aga Khan and in counterpoint - new hotels under construction.






















The Temple of Philae

Next morning, after a great breakfast (we love Egyptian breakfasts) we took a launch over to the Temple of Philae.  Most Egyptian Temples are situated in desert; Philae is made more beautiful by the flowers and trees of its island location.

It is a classic Greco/Egyptian temple (post Alexander the Great installing his relatives on the throne - Cleopatra, et al)

Again we marveled that the whole complex had been sawn up, moved and reassembled.

There is a style and grace to the Egyptian iconography that is eternal and haunting.  The images are striking enough in "Black and White" (as they are now) - they must have been even more impressive in Colour....as we would learn later

































Sailing the Nile

Back on board we set sail for Luxor.  There are approximately 280 tourist boats on the Nile.  I busy ports like Aswan they are often moored 4 abreast (see photo below).  One of the delights of the Oberoi Philae is that it does not raft with other boats so we always had an open river view from our cabin balcony





As we sail down the Nile, we pass some of the most fertile farmland in the world - wheat, cotton, sugar cane, rice, dates, oil palm, etc and exotic vegetables/fruits for domestic consumption and export to Europe.  Still, small plots tilled by hand or with oxen, water buffalo, donkeys or camels - very few tractors.  Probably not very different from 3 millenia ago.  We also lock through a lower dam with not much room to spare, where vendors sell by tossing their wares on the deck and you toss back money....or at least return their wares.

Note the carpet in mid air between the pillars

From our cabin balcony

A Visit to Kom Ombo

Everything is perfect. The boat is luxurious.  The view of the Nile is truly fascinating and we love our new guide Emad (organized by Ahmed Hamed Yousif). 

Emad's knowledge of not only ancient, but modern Egyptian history is encyclopedic.  We pester him with questions ranging from Ramses II progeny to the Sadat assassination.  His responses are candid, thoughtful and often revelations to we Westerners.  We are learning alot - not always optimistic - but we will never read a newspaper quite the same way again.

Emad has wonderful radar regarding our interests.  While reviewing the history of a particular monument he focuses in on details, visuals and stories that he senses will pique our fancy.....he's usually right as the blog will show over the following days.  And he has a magical sense of where the hundreds of other tourists are not at any particular moment.  While others are surrounded by the hordes, we often find ourselves delightfully alone.

We toured with him, ate meals with him, drove with him - all amidst a constant chatter of questions!

We view Kom Ombo first from the river and then up close.  Built in the 2nd Century BC it is a double temple to both Horus (good) and the local crocodile God Sobek (not good), plus the Romans added some features
















Kom Ombo had medical/health properties and many of the glyphs communicate this theme.  Note the depiction of various surgical instruments and the lady giving birth in an upright position





Emad also explained some fascinating calendars to us.  We'll neglect the details, but you can probably sense the marking of time and the associated payments of taxes





At Kom Ombo we saw colour (that we could now photograph - lots inside Abu Simbel but no photos allowed) - they glyphs become even more beautiful

As the temple was dedicated to the Crocodile God, excavations have discovered a number of crocodile mummies along with the Gods' images





While Emad avoids the crowds, the Tourist Police are omnipresent.  You're never far from a loaded Uzi or an AK47



Kom Ombo contains a "Nile Meter", a concept that had long fascinated Liz.  In the courtyard of the temple is a deep well with an interior spiral staircase.  The well is connected to the Nile by an underground tunnel.  As the Nile level rises and falls the water level in the well alters accordingly.  Seasonally a Priest would descend into the well and depending on how many steps were submerged, define the tax rate for the coming months - since the Nile defined the agricultural productivity (early Rev Canada!)



Next to the Nile Meter is a less pleasant well, one once filled with crocodiles where they dispensed with prisoners.  The Gods then, as now, had to be fed

Beyond the ancient temple are sugar cane fields and a very modern refinery belching smoke into the sky

The Cabin Boy, The Cabin Boy.....

The crew on the boat are wonderful.  Our cabin housekeeper surprised us one evening upon our return from dinner, with a dummy in our cabin - comprised of pillows, towels, a bathrobe and our hat, glasses and cane



(Liz called him "Mummy Man")

We had seen this ploy on cruises in South America.  We retaliated the next night by building a similar dummy before we went for dinner, and leaving it perched on the toilet in our cabin.....with the loo door closed




He confessed to having been momentarily embarrassed to have interrupted a passenger on the loo......and the game was on!  An elephant greeted us on our bed that evening






The next night we responded with Mummy Man reading a guidebook in bed.  By this stage we are hiding down the corridor to see what happens when he enters our room....much mutual laughter ensued



He responded with a volley - an elaborate child in our chair, and a boat and a crocodile drinking our water on the bed with Mummy Man (note the water caps for the croc's eyes!).  Sadly this was the end of the cruise.  Since we're non very competitive, it wouldn't have escalated (NOT!) - Note from Liz - Richard was starting to climb up on chairs to test the ceiling tiles to see how much weight they could hold........

On to Edfu

Only Liz and Dick could experience rain in Egypt!  The day is gloomy and damp.  The Temple is lovely, once buried under the sand - its carvings are striking on both the macro and micro scale


















There is a tall, narrow corridor with both walls covered in elegance.  It's not a particularly notable place, but on pausing and examining, it becomes visual overindulgence...and of course if we paused Emad's radar kicked in and we got a charming dissertation on the complex hagiography of the images depicted.  Egypt is like scuba....you can always dive deeper and deeper.  You want to dive deeper



Some of the original colour still survives at Edfu.  It hints at what must have been a chromatic banquet





In the inner sanctum of Edfu is one of the boats designed to carry the Pharoh to the next life (a replica - original is in Berlin we think).  Again, lovely design lines



The interior passages of Edfu have workable light and we migrate from awe of the giant pylons and pillars to examining the inner details









One of our particular favourites is in a narrow back stairway, where the all knowing Emad explains that the red drawings are the original planning artist's sketch - but since nothing could be higher than the Pharoh's face, the stone carver cut lower - at chin level........



As our focus draws ever narrower, we become fixated on one particular glyph - the honeybee (on the left) - as shown below it refers to royalty - the bee signifying Lower Egypt and the plant to its right signifying Upper Egypt)....used alone and outside a cartouche it also is the sound "B"



As we dive deeper we discover the cobras, rabbits,jackals, lions, boats, baboons etc hidden in the glyphs.  Each one is an individual work of art.  Consider the rabbit below - the Egyptians did logos better than anyone













At the gates of Edfu are two falcons that encapsulate all the elegance and majesty that we have fallen in love with.....an appropriate departure from Edu.  One would look great in our living room!

Valley of the Kings

Guarding the entrance to the Valley of the Kings are two Collosi - currently being restored.  The workers provide a good sense of scale






By digging their tombs deep into the Thebian Hills, pharohs from 1500BC  and on hoped to stop robbers stealing the possessions buried with them (not a great success, unfortunately).

Here comes the bad part - the tomb interiors (even without the gold) are spectacular.  We could rhapsodize for pages on what we saw, but photos are not allowed.  The colours, the detail are still there are 3,500 years.  It is magical.

Crowds are everywhere but Emad does it again and we visit 4 tombs - in one case completely alone...but for the guard.....we probably should have paid him off and taken pictures (Ramses V/VI - a separate ticket cost but worth every penny).

Here's an image and description from the web regarding the ceiling image in Ramses V/VI - absolutely stunning

The astronomical ceiling     of Ramesses VI's burial chamber is decorated with scenes illustrating the Book of the     Day and the Book of the Night. A double representation of the goddess Nut,     personification of the celestial vault and the "Mother of the Sun", is     represented in the act of swallowing up the sun in the evening and regenerating it in the     morning. She thus assumes the role of a life-giving and regenerating force that shines     down upon the dead pharaoh, assimilated with Re with whom he shares the rebirth.

There are still excavations on going in the same basic way that would be familiar to Howard Carter.  We will buy a book to save our memories.

Temple of Queen Hatshepsut

The only female Pharoah.  Wore a fake beard to play the game and a soap opera story of inter family connivance to outclass the Borgias.  She'd probably survive very well in a Wall Street boardroom.

In consistent, iconoclast fashion she built her temple to be unlike the traditional pylon/pillar structure.....and chose an awesome natural cathedral-like backdrop






Hatshepsut's successors were not even a little fond of her and many of her images have been eradicated, but other statues are still lovely....with vestiges of colour













By now we're very into the details of the glyphs and love the owl, the falcon with his tail extending from the column and other pieces









Two examples of surviving colour are particularly notable - one of Hathor and best of all - a banquet/offering for Anubis, featuring a panoply of foods - oils, meats, vegetables, etc - it would be a perfect menu cover for an Egyptian restaurant!





From the Temple you look over the whole fertile Nile Valley (her domain) and as we would learn later, you can see her temple from the other side of the Nile and the temples of Luxor and Karnak. 

Hatshepsut would have done fine in the corporate world......or even taken a run at first female Pope



Our driver for this day - Mohammed - was delightful and spoke much better English than he first let on.  Richard and Emad left the van to buy tickets and Mohammed gave Liz an easy way to pronounce Hatshepsut (which had eluded her) - "Hot Chicken Soup"!

Then he went on to remind us that this was the location of an anti tourism attack in 1997 - security around the area was perhaps more visible...and with mobile shields which are presumably bullet proof

Temple of Ramses III at Medinat Habu

Emad suggests we go to one of the less visited temples - Ramses III at Medinat (Mohammed concurs).

We are basically alone.  The temple is glorious, the saga of its building fascinating - why more people don't visit will remain one of tourism's mysteries.

You will note in the first picture - above Liz's right arm - Ramses III is posed to smite someone.  He was a warrior pharoah and the temple is dedicated to his high testosterone activities - war and hunting.

We do something unusual - we walk around the complete outside of the temple - and Emad does just what Ramses III had hoped for - he reads to us the accomplishments of Ramses III's life, from the carvings on the exterior walls (sadly abraded in places but it is an interesting tale)

We see Ramses the Archer/Warrior; a sadly eroded depiction of the Pharoah hunting wild ox; and smiting his enemies.

Then we move on to some less charming aspects of Ramses' rule.  When he conquered a people he assured that they would never fight against him again, by cutting off their right hands.....note the pile of severed hands

No fool, our Ramses - he also assured that they wouldn't breed more sons to fight against him - note the pile of severed penises

One of the many fascinating things that Emad pointed out - was how deep the carvings are - as shown above.  Apparently Ramses wanted to ensure his immortality - and that includes not having later Pharoahs erase his presence by carving over his images.

Many of the columns and interior carvings still retain their colour and the temple is quite beautiful and particularly photogenic, since there is virtually no one else there to appear in your shots

As mentioned above, the glyphs are notable for the depth of carving....not the subtlety of detail we saw at previous temples

And of course our favourite honey bee

Following are some general pictures of the temple - the absence of crowds makes it a delight which is amplified by the quality of the carvings and their underlying tale

One mode of transportation we haven't used on this trip (so far) is a hot air balloon.  They fly on the calm morning air above the Valley of the Kings

(They look like retired Remax balloons, don't they? - guess they are!)

Emad is cautious about the balloons - says there are good and bad operators and it's not something for which you should necessarily take the lowest price!

Karnak and Luxor Temples

Karnak and Luxor are classic Egyptian temples - 2 massive entry pylons and a series of columned inner temples beyond.  Karnak is distinguished by its arcades of ram headed sphinxes and Luxor by its pair of obelisks.  The Egyptians are justifiably grumpy that there seem to be more obelisks in European squares than are left in Egypt.










The obelisk is striking, especially since we now have a blue sky background after a couple of days of un-Egyptian cloud and rain.







The pillars are very tall and elegantly carved - a suitable backdrop for a pensive traveler

Most of the Egyptian temples have had to survive trauma of multiple forms - desecration by angry pharoah successors, being buried by desert dunes, removal of the blocks to build nearby towns and - most destructively - eradication by Christians and Muslims.  Karnak did not survive unscathed.  Christians turned part of it into a church and rather than just destroy the statuary they carved a trio of Egyptian Gods into a Christian Cross

We, of course, found our favourite honeybee and a number of other elegant glyphs

There are many examples of lovely statuary at Karnak, all with the elegance of time

More Luxor to follow in next post

More Luxor

Luxor is big (and crowded) - two massive frontal pylons, an obelisk in the fore square and a pair of wonderfully preserved seated collusi of Ramses II guarding the entrance










The entry obelisk is 82 feet of ink granite, once one of a pair - the mate is in the Concorde in Paris





You have to respect Ramses II.  Arguably no human being has erected more cubic feet of statues of himself.  It worked.  We still remember who he was and what he did. The collosi are still daunting - only slightly dimmed by time.  We should all be so lucky!







There are a pair of stunning panels at the bases of the collosi illustrating the unification of upper and lower Egypt





Because the temple was buried for centuries under desert sand many of the statues are wonderfully preserved. 









An interesting by product of Luxor being buried for so many centuries was that succeeding generations built a town - including a Mosque - on top of it.  When Luxor was discovered the town was removed but the Mosque was retained.  It now sits perched seemingly in mid-air above the tourist site below - now under renovation



Prior to its burial Luxor served as a Christian Church and there is a wonderful juxtaposition of Byzantine art on the Egyptian structure





We leave Luxor and our guide Emad....and it's the wind down of our Egyptian adventure



A trip back to Cairo, one more night at the welcoming Mena House where are are received like the Prodigal Son - then Paul and our other handlers repeat the ballet one last time and we're on our way to Amman Jordan.

We had a wonderful time in Egypt.  The history, the monuments, the art - are overwhelming.  In a time where Mid East issues are high profile, it was also a learning experience to spend two weeks in a Muslim country - we will never be the same. 

The joy of our experience must be accredited to the wonderful Ahmed Hamed Yousif who was the architect of our trip; Emad - our marvelous guide on the cruise; Ahmed #2 - a driver extraordinaire and a charming human being; the unnamed driver in Aswan who returned Liz's coat when she left it in a van; Paul, who shepherded us through the Cairo airport with grace and warmth and all the other guides, drivers, facilitators, hotel employees, restaurant staff and everyone else who were so kind to us.  Shukran.