Egypt: Aswan: The endless day of travel!

 March 23, 2023

Ramses II temple

Lake Naser

Today we were up at 2:30 am and on the road for a 6;15 flight. The ride on Egypt air was packed and a little bumpy. We arrived in Aswan and got bad news that one of Suzi's suitcases was missing.  We fear that it is lost with all her souvenirs from London and Cairo. Fingers crossed, we pray it will join us in Aswan. 

We loaded into a van with a father daughter duo and headed to a village Abu Simbel, a warm and cramped 3 hr van ride away. The Temple of Ramses II and a smaller temple he built for his beloved wife Queen Nefertari (C. 1279-1213 BCE) sit on the banks of man made Naser Lake. These temples were saved from the annual floods of the Nile and potential complete submersion when the Aswan dam was built and in service. 

A few countries considered the best way to preserve this UNESCO heritage site. France thought it might be cool to leave it submerged and offer diving trips to view it. But the Swiss had a better plan. With the financial backing of twenty countries, multiple archeologists and German engineers these temples were moved to higher ground very carefully, block by block and placed the temple such that it still faces the same direction as it did originally so that twice a year the sun hit the gods within just as they did 3,000 years before. 

The Ramses II temple is beautifully restored and a certainly was a major engineering feat. I found it interesting that several people from various countries dating back to 1800s had visited these temples in their original site and carved their names and date of visit on the walls of the temple. This "graffiti " was preserved during the move. 

Sun God in middle of temple. Wife at his side and children at his feet.

Amen Ra chief deity of Egyptian Empire 

Temple of Neffertari

Faces of women with rams horns

A character in every temple posing for pictures expecting a tip. We needed coins. 

We later discovered that many temples had graffiti dating from Roman times. Sadly, many statues were defaced by subsequent Pharaoh's who Cut off the nose and sometimes the face in a show of power and as if to erase that previous king. A literal example of "cutting off the nose to spite the face!"

The Romans, Greeks,  and even Christians also defaced these beautiful temples in subsequent years during brief occupations. It is sad to see (in photos as I post) such destruction of these amazing structures. One can only imagine their original grandeur.  

After enduring another 3 hour drive back to Aswan, we settled into our lovely hotel situated on the Nile. Tomorrow the damn and a few more temples. Then we check into our cruise ship for three days where we will make several stops and see many more temples. These Pharaoh's were very busy!!