Egypt February 2-17, 2025 |
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Saturday, February 15, 2025 - Abu Simbel, AswanThis morning as we walked over to the Palace Wing for breakfast, we met a cute kitty. She came right over to us and as Craig reached down to pet her, she rose up on her back legs like our beloved departed Brownie used to do. She followed us and looked forlorn when she couldn't come in to breakfast with us! Breakfast was in the 1902 Restaurant, which was transformed from last night's romantic dimly lit Valentine's dinner. The early morning sun shone in and an extensive buffet was set up on the right hand side of the restaurant. It was time to get our bearings in a new breakfast set-up, and we perused the buffet offerings. They also offered eggs made to order. We had coffee, orange juice, mango juice, charcuterie, cheese, beef sausage, yogurt, granola, donuts, bread, and babaganoush. Craig got a mushroom and cheese omelet.After breakfast, we drove around half an hour to the Aswan airport. On the way, we passed the old Aswan Dam, which was built in 1898, as well as the infrastructure surrounding its power generation. The Old Cataract Hotel was built around the same time, to accommodate visiting dignitaries. We only took with us what we would need for the day, as we would be returning to Aswan after just a few hours. My canvas dahabiya shopping bag made a great carrier for my purse and water bottle. Michael got us all checked in at the airport, and Ashraf accompanied us on the 40 minute Air Egypt flight from Aswan to Abu Simbel. From the flight, we could see crops growing in green circles in the brown desert landscape where irrigation was obviously taking place. Abu Simbel is just north of modern day Egypt's border with Sudan. We were going to visit two iconic temples which date back to 1270 BC. These imposing temples were built as propaganda. The location, modern Abu Simbel, was in Nubia in ancient times. The southern border of Egypt was near Aswan, nearly 300 km downstream. The idea of these temples was to send a message to the Nubians (as they navigated the Nile) that Ramesses II was a powerful Pharaoh not to be crossed. Inside the larger temple are carvings of Ramesses smiting his enemies, including the Nubians themselves, to further drive the message home. When we arrived at Abu Simbel airport, a van drove us the short distance to the temple site. We were some of the first ones from our flight to arrive. Near the parking lot was a visitor's centre and the ubiquitous "Coca Cola Temple." Then there was a loop walking trail which led to the temples. The site is very exposed, and, this being further south, the weather was much warmer than Cairo, Luxor, and even Aswan. The sun was very strong as it approached midday, and Craig was starting to get overheated as we stood in the sun facing the temples. Ashraf was giving us information about the temples, but we wished that he had done that in the airport or somewhere cooler. Craig wanted to get inside of the temples where we would at least be out of the direct sun. The other unfortunate side effect of a lecture in front of the temples was that all of the other people from our flight caught up with us and went into the temple. We lost our opportunity to get a good photo of ourselves in front of the temples without a ton of other people in the background. The first and largest temple is dedicated to Ramesses II, and the smaller second temple to his favorite wife Nefertari. The two temples were originally cut into the side of a mountain, but when the Aswan High Dam was built in 1960, they would have been submerged by the waters of Lake Nasser. So UNESCO came to the rescue and cut the temples into 1042 blocks (averaging 20 tons each). Hand saws and steel wires were used to cut the blocks, as power saws would leave too wide a gap for the pieces to be reassembled. They reassembled the temples 65 meters higher and 200 meters back from the banks of Lake Nasser. They created artificial mountains into which they placed the chambers of the temples. The salvage process took four years (1964-1968). A man was selling historical postcards of the salvage process, as well as thumb drive supposedly containing a documentary video about the process. We bought both, but later found that the thumb drive was empty. We had only paid $5 for it, but caveat emptor.  Original location of the temples vs. current location Upon entering the temple, you find yourself in the first hypostyle hall. This chamber contains eight huge pillars in the shape of deified Ramesses II. The walls of the temple have carvings of scenes of the Battle of Kadesh, when Ramesses II fought the Hittites. There were two spies who gave Ramesses II wrong information that led him into an ambush. There are carvings of the punishment of these spies. There are four statues in the sanctuary of the temple: Ramesses, Amun Ra, Ra-Horakhty, and Ptah. They are oriented such that three of them are lit by the sun on the king's birthday and coronation day. Ptah is not lit because he is the god of darkness. How clever (and ingenious)! Of course, when the temple was moved, or maybe just as a result of astronomical changes over the interceding millennia, the dates of this illumination have drifted by a day.  Inside, a man was working to restore some of the painted carvings. There are the remnants of a statue of the goddess Hathor in the sanctuary. The hypostyle hall contains six pillars depicting Hathor's head. The two temples were very impressive, both for their original architecture as well as the fact that they had been moved via this massive engineering project. It would have been a shame if they had been lost to time under the waters of Lake Nasser. We walked over to the shore of the massive Lake Nasser. It is 340 miles long by 22 miles wide, covering some 2000 square miles and holding 31 cubic miles of water. It averages 300 feet deep. It was hot in the sun and other than inside the temples themselves, there was no shade. After spending two hours in the 78 degree extremely dry heat, we were exhausted. We could have hired a golf cart to take us back to the entrance, but we opted to walk instead. However, it was a bit further than we anticipated, was slightly uphill, and the noonday sun was beating on us. In retrospect, we probably should have taken the golf cart. We arrived at the Coca Cola temple and reunited with Ashraf. Then we went to the visitor's center to look at informational placards about the salvage process. We walked through the gauntlet of hawkers to get back to the van. We headed to the airport and flew 40 minutes back to Aswan, arriving shortly after 2 p.m. Our itinerary had called for us to go to Philae Temple, the Unfinished Obelisk, and the Aswan market after getting back to Aswan. Given the closing times of the temple and obelisk, this was just not possible. We talked with Ashraf about how to handle this. He suggested that we could go to the temple and obelisk tomorrow, and the market tonight. Our itinerary originally called for a leisurely morning tomorrow before flying back to Cairo, and we had kind of been looking forward to sleeping in. Ashraf gave us some other options too, such as doing the temple and market this afternoon and the obelisk tomorrow. He said if we needed to rest, we could go back to the hotel for an hour or so and then go to the market. It was all rather overwhelming and it took us a while to figure out what we wanted to do. After two flights and a stint in the hot sun, what we really wanted to do was relax at the beautiful Old Cataract Hotel. We decided that we would go to the temple and obelisk in the morning, but skip the market altogether in favor of enjoying the hotel amenities. We had been to a market in Daraw, and we go to those types of markets all the time in Ecuador and Guatemala. So we didn't feel that it was a necessary stop. There was no need to overdo it, and we had an amazing suite at a gorgeous hotel; we might as well enjoy it! When we got back to the suite, our towels had been arranged into a heart shape on the bed, and sprinkled with rose petals. We decided to go outside and take a swim in the hotel's heated infinity pool. As soon as we arrived at the pool, the attendants welcomed us and led us to pool chairs. They offered us chairs in the sun, but we opted for the shade instead. They gave us towels and bottled water. We got into the pool, which had stunning views of the archaeological sites of Elephantine Island and the old wing of the hotel. There was even a little "island" in the pool with plants and palm trees growing. We decided that a drink would be nice, so I got out of the pool to go to the bar. The attendant stopped me and said that he would have a server come to us. Craig ordered a Sakara beer and I ordered a piña colada. The beer was delivered in an ice bucket, and the piña colada was frosty and delicious. They brought us complimentary potato chips as well. We watched the sun set over the Nile from the pool area, chatting with some Chinese tourists who offered to take a photo of us in the sunset's glow. It was the perfect way to unwind after a busy day. The hospitality and facilities at this hotel are amazing! We were so happy with our decision to forego activities this afternoon and instead relax here at the hotel. Flying takes a lot out of Craig, as does the sun, so the combination of two flights and a couple of hours in the sun at midday had been difficult for him. His legs stiffen up, and swimming really helped. When we got back to the room, we noticed pyramid-shaped boxes of chocolate on our nightstands. We joked about unearthing archaeological treasures in the room...first an extra secret bathroom, and now the pyramidal chocolates. We needed to decide what we wanted to do for dinner. We could get room service, we could try to get a table at the patio restaurant overlooking the pool, or we could try to get a reservation at the 1902 Restaurant again, this time to order from their standard menu. Craig had really enjoyed the process of dressing up for such a fancy dinner last night, and he wanted to have the 1902 experience again. And I even had a different dress that I could wear tonight. So I called and was able to make a reservation for seven o'clock. We took showers and packed our things for our return to Cairo tomorrow. We walked over to the restaurant. The staff immediately recognized us and asked if we wanted the same table as last night or a different one. We chose a different one just to have a bit of a different perspective. Like last night, there was a piano player providing entertainment. Essam, our wonderful server from last night, remembered our room number and our drink orders (beer and merlot). Craig now knew that the hotel has Sakara beer, since he had it at the pool. Although it wasn't officially on the menu, Craig asked Essam if it was possible to get one. Essam said that he would see if he could find one, and indeed, he showed up with a Sakara, instead of the the Stella that he had drank last night. The table next to us saw this and they then ordered Sakara as well. They brought a basket of bread with cheese spread to the table. We love bread with meals, and the fact that they were not skimpy with the bread offerings was much appreciated. We had an excellent French onion soup, an incredibly tender beef tenderloin, and for dessert I had vanilla creme brulee, and Craig had lime sorbet. Essam brought us each a glass of wine to pair with our dessert. Everything was so delicious! We told Essam we wanted to take a photo with him, and he came to the table and made me a napkin crown, which he placed on my head declaring me to be the queen. He also brought over some toothpicks and arranged them into two triangles. He asked how we would move one toothpick to make four pyramids of the same size. By moving one toothpick, he could turn one of the triangles into a number 4. Clever! Once again, we lingered over dinner, savoring the experience. The restaurant was not full, so we did not feel rushed at all. We were there for around two and a half hours. Everyone at the hotel has been so amazing. We will miss this place when we check out tomorrow morning. Abu Simbel |
 Ramesses II Temple, Abu Simbel  Ramesses II Temple, Abu Simbel  Ramesses II Temple, Abu Simbel  Temple of Hathor and Nefertari, Abu Simbel  Temple of Hathor and Nefertari, Abu Simbel  Abu Simbel  Infinity pool at the Old Cataract Hotel, overlooking Elephantine Island  Sunset at the pool, Old Cataract Hotel  Sunset from the pool, Old Cataract Hotel  With our server Essam at the 1902 Restaurant See all photos from February 15 |
 Abu Simbel  Illustration of former location of Abu Simbel temples compared to where they sit now   Ramesses II Temple, Abu Simbel  Lake Nasser |
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