Egypt February 2-17, 2025

Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - Dahabiya Nile Cruise: El Kab, Edfu Temple, Ramadi Village

We saw the sunrise from the dahabiya at 6:30 a.m. as we enjoyed a cup of coffee on the deck. The crew always had a pot of coffee ready for sunrise. The crew cleaned the floors and the surfaces to get ready for the day. Our cabin is very comfortable, but we prefer to be on deck whenever possible, enjoying the fresh air and the camaraderie with the crew and passengers.

We disembarked at 7 o'clock to beat the crowds at the El Kab tombs. After stepping off the gang plank, we walked back up the path to the dirt road near Asmaa's family home. There we were met by 2 minibuses. We got into one with Amr and fellow travelers Mark and his daughter Jenn. Jeanne, Karim, and their boys rode in a separate minibus with their French-speaking guide.

El Hegz is a village of around 5000 people, though you would never know it from the river. The majority of the town is not visible from the Nile, with the exception of a mosque. As we drove along a dirt road, we were behind a sugar cane truck. A kid held on to the back of the truck the way you might if you were on a skateboard, but he had no skateboard, just sneakers that were grinding down their soles as we watched. He was wearing a backpack, and we assumed that this is how he commuted to school. A train passed by, and we realized how close the tracks are to the river. This would explain why we heard nearby train whistles overnight. We passed some of the water cooling clay zeer pots that we had seen last night at Asmaa's house along the roadside, so that anyone can grab a cool cup of water if needed.

We could see man-made caves carved into a sandstone cliffside come into view, and this was in fact our destination: the tombs of El Kab. We arrived at the tombs at 7:30. The tombs date back to 1400 BC. Their location is unusual because they are located on the east bank of the river, normally the realm of the living, not the dead. These were tombs of nobles, and as such, depict scenes of daily life.

There was only one other small group of tourists here, and they were just finishing up. So we basically had the place to ourselves. We walked up a set of stairs to get to a ledge where there were entrances which led to four tombs. Each tomb had a sign outside of it, identifying the person who had been buried there and giving context to what you would see inside. Unfortunately, the signs were in terrible shape. The text was faded from the effects of the strong sunlight, and the plexiglass covering the text was ravaged by the elements (sand and sun) as well. It was also streaky from attempts to clean it. I usually take photos of signs so that I can refer to the information later. I dutifully took photos of these signs, but they look even worse than the signs did in real life due to the glare. So, unfortunately, I don't have a lot of details about the inhabitants of these tombs from our trip, but I was able to do some research on the internet when I returned home to fill in the gaps.

The first tomb that we entered was the tomb of Renini.

Renini (or Renni) was the High Priest and Nomarch of Nekhen during the reign of Amenhotep I (XVIII Dynasty). His tomb, known under the catalog number EK-7, is carved in a sandstone cliff in the north-west of the ancient city of Nekheb - the capital of the III Nome of the Upper Egypt.

- ISIDA Project

Renini's tomb has an arched ceiling. The paint on the wall and ceiling carvings was really stunning here. Skin color of men was depicted as red, while women were depicted with yellow skin. Much of the ceiling was painted in a checkerboard pattern. At the end of the tomb is a niche with Eyes of Horus painted on the wall. In the mythology of ancient Egypt, Horus, son of Osiris and Isis, lost an eye in battle with his evil uncle Seth. His eye was later restored by Thoth, and as such, became a symbol for healing, protection, and health. Amulets of this familiar symbol were wrapped into the bandages of mummies as a talisman for protection and health, and can still be found in modern jewelry designs today. In fact, the pharmacists' "Rx" symbol is a corruption of this eye symbol.

Jeff Dahl, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
There were scenes of mummification and the "opening of the mouth" of the mummy, a ceremony where the priest touches the deceased's mouth and eyes with special tools, reawakening their senses so that they will be able to eat, drink, see, and breathe in the afterlife.

The next tomb that we entered was the tomb of Ahmose - Son of Abana.

Ahmose - the Son of Abana, served as the Naval officer in the Egyptian army at the end of the XVIIth - beginning of the XVIIIth Dynasty. Abana was the name of his mother. Her name was a part of the name of Ahmose, carved on the walls of the tomb. Most of his military life he spent in the Navy. He had his military campaigns in Avaris, Sharuhene (in Palestine), as well as in Nubia under the rule of Sekhenenre Tao II, Kames, Ahmose I and Thutmose I.

His tomb, hewn in a rocky sandstone massif, is listed in catalogs under the code number EK-5. According to the texts, carved on its walls, the tomb was built by his grandson - Nomarch Paheri, who wanted to perpetuate the name and glory of his famous grandfather. However, Ahmose himself was not buried in this tomb, despite the fact that all the canons of the tomb, including the funeral pit in a small cell in the western wall, were created.

- ISIDA Project

Ahmose's tomb also has an arched ceiling. The walls of this tomb contain many hieroglyphs. Not a whole lot of color remains.

The third tomb that we entered was the tomb of Setau.

Setau was the High Priest and Nomarch of Nekhen during the reign of Ramesses III and Ramses IV (XX Dynasty). The inner architecture of his tomb resembles the tomb of his grandson Paheri. In the catalogs, the tomb is listed under the code number EK-4.

- ISIDA Project

Like the others, Satau's tomb had an arched ceiling. But the ceiling is undecorated. The walls contain images of offerings being made.

The fourth and final tomb that we visited at El Kab was the tomb of Pahery.

Pahery was the Nomarch of El-Kab and Esna, the two main cities of the III Nome of Upper Egypt during the reign of the XVIII Dynasty. He was also known as the scribe, responsible for the grain from agricultural area from Dendera to El-Kab and as the High Priest of the goddess Nehbet, patroness of Upper Egypt. His tomb is located in the eastern part of the sandstone hill - the main Necropolis of the ancient city of Nekheb (El-Kab) and listed in catalogs under the code number (EK-3).

- ISIDA Project

Pahery's tomb is well-preserved and there is a lot of color still visible. It is ironic that the carvings from 3400 years ago are more legible than the modern day signage outside the tombs! The arched ceiling is painted dark and carved with stars, similar to some of the Pharaohs' tombs in the Valley of the Kings. there is a niche at one end of the tomb which contains three statues. The faces are lost to time. Around the niche is a wall of hieroglyphs that is painted a yellowish-gold. Unfortunately, this particular tomb contains lots of graffiti, most from the 19th century. This in itself is rather historic, though, as one of the chiseled names is that of Italian archaeologist Giovanni Belzoni from 1817. Belzoni is associated with archaeological work at such sites as Edfu, Elephantine Island, Philae, Abu Simbel, Karnak, and Seti I's tomb. Being from the Boston area, we were surprised to see "BOSTON 1837" carved next to a figure of a man near the exit of the tomb.

Some interesting aspects of these tombs in general include the fact that some of the carvings depict three dimensions (i.e. people in front of one another rather than just side by side). Nobles' wives are depicted the same size as the noble, whereas in the tombs of the Pharaohs, the Pharaohs' wives are depicted at a much smaller scale.

After exploring the tombs, we got a group picture in front of the tombs with Amr and the caretaker of the tombs. Then we walked to the parking area and got back into our minivan.

At around 8:30, we returned to the boat and set sail. We stopped in to our room to drop off our jackets and use the rest room. Our room had been made up while we had been on the excursion. (Leaving the key in the door at any time is the sign that you would like to have your room serviced). Our clean towels were sculpted into the figures of a heart and a swan, something you might expect on a large cruise ship, but that surprised and delighted us on such a small boat.

We then went up to the main deck for breakfast in the outdoor dining room. The breakfast buffet consisted of crepes, falafel, white cheese, cheese, salami, bread, beans, orange juice, coffee. You could also get eggs cooked to order, but there was enough other food that we did not get eggs today.

With bellies full, Craig and I hung out on deck watching the world go by. We saw a boat carrying sugar cane, and water buffaloes grazing at the river's edge. We had expected the banks of the river to be more built up, but this wasn't the case. Although there are cities and towns along the river, for the most part they are not really visible from the water.

An exception to this rule was Edfu, a city of 60,000 on the West Bank of the Nile with dock space for even the largest Nile river cruise boats. We pulled up to the dock in Edfu at around 11:30 am and got off the boat. The temple that we were going to visit is about 2 miles from the docks, and there are various ways to reach it. Some of the larger cruise ships had coach buses to deliver passengers to the temple. We, however, rode in a caleche (horse-drawn carriage). We met our carriage driver, Mustafa, and our horse Abdullah. Craig and I got into the back seat of the carriage, and Mustafa guided Abdullah through the busy city streets. It felt like we were from another era, while buses, vans, cars, tuk-tuks, and motorbikes sped around us. At the leisurely pace of a horse carriage, we could really observe the locals going about their day. We waved at some locals and they returned our smiles and waves. Mustafa chatted with us and even let us take Abdullah's reins for a short spell. He also took plenty of photos for us.

Amr rode in a separate carriage with Jenn, Mark, and their carriage driver.

After about 10 minutes, we arrived at Edfu Temple. We got out of the carriages and the drivers waited for us. We would take the same carriages back to the boat once our tour of the temple was complete. To get to the entrance of the temple, we had to pass through a gauntlet of souvenir shops. Some of the shopkeepers were more assertive than others, offering us their business cards, draping us with scarves in hopes that we would buy them, trying to make us promise to stop into their shop on our way out. Amr advised us not to engage with them if we weren't interested in buying anything; not to encourage them. This is difficult for us sometimes as we want to be friendly and polite, but as we were not in the market for a T-shirt or anything else that they were selling, we tried to be stoic and not engage with them.

Edfu Temple is one of the best preserved temples in Egypt. This is because it had been pretty much consumed by 39 feet of drifting desert sand until it was rediscovered around the year 1800 AD. The temple is dedicated to the god Horus, his wife Hathor of Dendera, and their son Harsomtus. The temple is normally very busy with tourists from larger Nile cruises, but today we had the place largely to ourselves. Amr said that it was a very enjoyable visit for him as well, because he could show us around without the usual crowds. Sometimes it is so crowded that not everyone can get the photos that they want; one representative gets a photo and then shares with the rest of the group. We were glad that this wasn't the case today.

The temple was built between 237 BC and 57 BC by the Greeks (Ptolemies). It was started by Ptolemy III and finished by Ptolemy XII (father of Cleopatra VII, "the" Cleopatra). Because the temple took so long to build, they were always changing the Pharaohs' names on the carved cartouches. They got tired of repeatedly having to do this, and as a result, there are many empty cartouches depicted on the walls and columns of Edfu Temple.

The temple covers around 7000 square meters. The main pylon is 115 feet tall. There are two statues of Horus in the guise of a falcon, carved from granite from Aswan. You enter the temple through the open court (all other areas were reserved for priests), and then you pass into the first and second hypostyle halls with tall columns. There are scenes of the planning, building, and presentation of the temple to Horus. The Pharaoh wears the double crown symbolizing the unification of Egypt (red crown of Lower Egypt and white bowling pin-shaped crown of Upper Egypt). Some of the relief carvings are propaganda, such as an image of the Pharaoh erecting obelisks without assistance. Min, the god of fertility, is present in the wall carvings.

The sanctuary area of the temple had a low gated fence in front of it to prevent people from entering. It looked secure, so it made us laugh when a worker effortlessly lifted the locked gate off its hinges so that another worker could go in and do some cleaning. Sometimes the perception of security is enough.

The sanctuary contains a replica (the original is at the Louvre) of a model boat that was used in processions during festivals that celebrate the reunion of Horus with his wife Hathor, who travels up the Nile to meet him from Dendera.

Carvings showing people carrying the model boat on their shoulders use a 3-dimensional representation of people; rather than everyone being depicted side by side, there is depth and people appear behind one another. In other carvings on the walls, boats with sails are used by Hathor to travel upstream to Edfu, while others which do not have their sails set are used for the return journey downstream to Dendera.

The ceiling of the hypostyle hall is black. Egyptologists aren't sure why this is. It could have been painted with a paint that turned black over time, or it could have been as a result of fire.

We saw a Nilometer which was accessed via a stone staircase. This was used to measure the depth of the Nile. Depending on the water level (and therefore the fertility of the Nile Basin), various taxes were levied.

We went into an outer corridor on the perimeter of the temple. Other than the outer courtyard, this was the only other section of the temple that common people were allowed to enter. The walls of this corridor depict an epic battle between Horus and his evil uncle Seth. In order to understand these carvings, you need to know the story of the death of Osiris, the father of Horus. There are several different versions of the myth of the death of Osiris, but this is the general gist:

Osiris' jealous brother Seth was looking for a way to murder Osiris. He custom built an elaborate chest to Osiris' measurements. At a party, Seth offered this beautiful chest to anyone who could perfectly fit inside it. Partygoers would attempt to get inside the chest, but none of them fit...until Osiris himself got in. Of course, he fit perfectly. Seth slammed the chest shut, locked it, and sank the chest in the Nile, drowning Osiris.

Osiris' wife Isis went looking for him, and found the chest, which had washed ashore in Byblos, Lebanon. She returned the chest containing her husband's body to Egypt. Seth then stole Osiris' body and hacked it into 13 pieces, which he scattered throughout Egypt. Isis was able to gather all of the pieces except his penis (which had been swallowed by a fish). She created a faux phallus to make her husband's body whole again, and then she gave him a proper burial in Egyptian soil. Isis, a goddess associated with magic, breathed life into Osiris' body, and he was resurrected. Osiris was, in essence, the first mummy, and, via his resurrection, becomes the god of the dead. (This myth is the basis of the belief that if your body is whole and you are buried in Egypt, you can be resurrected to the afterlife).

The so-called "Sacred Drama" of Horus avenging his father Osiris' death plays out on carvings on the Edfu temple walls. This event supposedly took place on Elephantine Island in Aswan, which we would visit in a few days' time. The hippopotamus is a symbol of evil representing Seth, and there are elaborate depictions of Horus hunting a hippo. In the various successive panels of carvings, the hippo grows from tiny to large, symbolizing the growing of evil. Horus stands on a boat and stabs the hippo with a spear. Horus loses an eye in the battle (which is magically regenerated by Thoth, spawning the talismanic Eye of Horus motif). Despite their epic battle, Horus is not able to kill Seth. This is symbolic of the fact that evil will always be present in the world. However, Horus did subdue Seth, and this Sacred Drama provided a precedent for the line of succession of the throne from father (Osiris) to son (Horus).

Amr gave us some free time to explore on our own and said that he would meet us at the "Coca Cola temple", the snack bar near the parking lot. Mark and Jenn went to have a cold drink at the Coca Cola temple themselves, but we took advantage of the time to run around taking photos. Since our time at the temple was limited, we wanted to get as many photos as we could so that we could study them in depth later.

As we finished up, we stopped at the mammisi (birthing house) just outside the temple proper. A mammisi is a small temple where the god of the main temple was thought to be born, or where a goddess bore her children. It was also a place where the divine birth of a king was celebrated, to give legitimacy to the Pharaoh. The dwarf-god Bes, god of childbirth, is depicted on the columns.

We reunited with Amr, Mark, and Jenn, and walked back through the gauntlet of shops to the parking lot. Our horse carriages were waiting for us, so we met up with Mustafa again, and the horse Abdullah pulled our carriage back to where the Dahabiya Safiya was moored. Amr rode with us on the front bench next to Mustafa. We gave Abdullah some pets and then boarded the boat.

We were greeted with cool facecloths and a cold drink of lime/mint/soda. Soon, it was time for lunch. We had zucchini salad, sweet potato salad, chicken, rice, beef tajine, bread, and fruit. Craig had a Fanta and I tried a Schweppe's sparkling gold pineapple soda.

Ever since we embarked, we were intrigued by the on-board jacuzzi. How many times in life do you get an opportunity to soak in a hot tub as you sail up the Nile River? So we asked the crew to turn on the jacuzzi and we got into our bathing suits. The weather was sunny and 70 degrees. The water was chilly at first, but the inline heater kept it at a manageable temperature. While we were relaxing in the jacuzzi, they detached the line from the tug booat and traveled under sail power for a while. There is a sail at the bow and stern of the boat. We were able to watch the crew climb up the mast and let loose the sail at the stern. We also saw a train go by while we were soaking the water. Trains always catch my attention because of my family history. My paternal grandfather supported his 15 kids by working for the B&M Railroad, so there is always a soft spot in my heart for trains.

After thoroughly enjoying our time in the jacuzzi, we went back to our cabin to take showers. Then, at 4:30, it was teatime. The crew served tea and cookies and we all socialized on deck. Then we watched the sunset.

Tonight the crew had a surprise for us. We moored on the West bank of the river off of Ramadi Village. There were rustic pavilions on the riverside that the villagers built to rent out to the dahabiyas for parties. Instead of eating on deck, a long table was set under the pavilion so that we could eat on the banks of the Nile. The floor was covered with a carpet of sewn-together feed sacks. The crew grilled beef kofta and chicken for us on a barbecue. It was served with orzo soup, potato tajine, tartar sauce, rice, green peppers, bread, tahini, and tomato salad. Mark and Jenn had brought some Egyptian white wine and kindly shared it with us. For dessert, we had a semolina cake called basbousa.

While we ate, we could hear Egyptian music coming from a similar pavilion a bit upriver. We wondered whether we had that in store for us as well. We love live music, and it would certainly be a treat.

Lo and behold, after dinner, three musicians arrived and played Egyptian folk music on a lute and two drums. They had microphones and small amps. The crew were all very into it and and danced, convincing all of us to dance as well. It was a great bonding activity between the crew and the passengers. Mohammed, the assistant chef, has huge hands, and clapped percussively along with the music. We all had a great time dancing and enjoying the music. Craig even danced a little too much. His legs were tired afterwards and the staff very kindly helped him back onto the boat when the party was over. Mohammed the chef (not to be confused with Mohammed the chef's assistant) even helped him all the way to our cabin to bed.