Thursday 28 February 2013
Pati and Beebee visited the temples of of Rameses II and his wife Nefertari at Abu Simbel on Lake Nasser on Thursday. Their day started with a 2:45 am wake up call for a 3:25 am departure from Aswan via bus (they had planned to fly but learned that Egypt Air will resell confirmed seats if someone offers them more money). They traveled with about 20 tourists from England (Pati and Beebee quite like their English traveling companions). They took their pillows and a breakfast packed by the ship.
The bus traveled from their Nile cruise ship to a local meeting point where about 30 busses and smaller vans met to form several armed convoys. It was important to get there early to be in the first convoy, so that the most time could be spent at their destination before starting back with another convoy. Most busses in the convoy get an armed solder to ride with them. Pati and Beebee's bus got to the meeting point early enough to be part of the first convoy, but did not have an armed soldier on their bus. Their bus started as bus #5 of 7 busses, but within about 30 minutes, it had passed the 4 busses ahead of it and sprinted down the road.
The sun came up a few hours later. It rose quickly and was beautiful. The moon, just past full, was high in the Western sky for the whole trip.
The distance between Aswan and Abu Simbel is 300 km and takes 3 hours to drive. The north-south road is almost entirely straight and has a good surface. At the southern border of Egypt with Sudan, the bus turned East toward the Nile, Lake Nasser, and the temples. From the guide's description, it seemed that the bus (and group) was very briefly in Sudan.
At 6 am, the guide awoke the tourists and everyone ate breakfast as the bus travelled the remaining 30 minutes to the temples. The ship had packed enough breakfast food for two meals: 4 sandwiches, an orange (Pati had 2), 2 bananas, cheese, boxed orange juice, potato chips, and a bottle of cold water. In fact, most passengers saved some food for an early lunch.
The air was chilly when they left the bus, and did not warm up for an hour or so. Guides are not allowed to accompany tourists inside these temples, so all the groups from all the busses stood outside (there was plenty of room) shivering a bit and facing the temples while their guides explained what they would find inside, showing them professionally-taken photos.
The two temples are those of Rameses II and of his favorite wife Nefertari. They were preserved from being submerged in Lake Nasser (the largest man-made lake in the world) during the 1960s when the high dam was built by being dismantled into many huge, heavy pieces and re-assembled much higher. The Rameses II temple faces East; on two days of each year the sun reaches to the inside back of the temple to illuminate a statue of him. These days are February 22 (his birthday) and October 22 (his coronation day). Pati and Beebee were in Egypt for the birthday of Rameses II, but were in Cairo instead of Abu Simbel.
Interesting trivia: Rameses II ruled for 67 years and conquered 67 countries, taking a wife from each country (yes, 67 wives). Nefertari, the queen of Nubia (where Abu Simbel is located now), was his favorite wife. He had over 200 children, 97 of them daughters. He married 13 of his daughters; many (over 50) of the children of these unions died young of causes associated with inbreeding.
After an enjoyable 2 hours at the site wandering inside and around the temples by themselves, the group met at 9:45 am to begin the journey back to the ship. This time there was an armed uniformed guard on the bus with a small machine gun. The guard, who looked to be in his early 20s, left the bus at Aswan. As before, the trip was uneventful and they arrived back at fhe ship just after 1 pm, when lunch was served.
Pati and Beebee visited the temples of of Rameses II and his wife Nefertari at Abu Simbel on Lake Nasser on Thursday. Their day started with a 2:45 am wake up call for a 3:25 am departure from Aswan via bus (they had planned to fly but learned that Egypt Air will resell confirmed seats if someone offers them more money). They traveled with about 20 tourists from England (Pati and Beebee quite like their English traveling companions). They took their pillows and a breakfast packed by the ship.
The bus traveled from their Nile cruise ship to a local meeting point where about 30 busses and smaller vans met to form several armed convoys. It was important to get there early to be in the first convoy, so that the most time could be spent at their destination before starting back with another convoy. Most busses in the convoy get an armed solder to ride with them. Pati and Beebee's bus got to the meeting point early enough to be part of the first convoy, but did not have an armed soldier on their bus. Their bus started as bus #5 of 7 busses, but within about 30 minutes, it had passed the 4 busses ahead of it and sprinted down the road.
The sun came up a few hours later. It rose quickly and was beautiful. The moon, just past full, was high in the Western sky for the whole trip.
The distance between Aswan and Abu Simbel is 300 km and takes 3 hours to drive. The north-south road is almost entirely straight and has a good surface. At the southern border of Egypt with Sudan, the bus turned East toward the Nile, Lake Nasser, and the temples. From the guide's description, it seemed that the bus (and group) was very briefly in Sudan.
At 6 am, the guide awoke the tourists and everyone ate breakfast as the bus travelled the remaining 30 minutes to the temples. The ship had packed enough breakfast food for two meals: 4 sandwiches, an orange (Pati had 2), 2 bananas, cheese, boxed orange juice, potato chips, and a bottle of cold water. In fact, most passengers saved some food for an early lunch.
The air was chilly when they left the bus, and did not warm up for an hour or so. Guides are not allowed to accompany tourists inside these temples, so all the groups from all the busses stood outside (there was plenty of room) shivering a bit and facing the temples while their guides explained what they would find inside, showing them professionally-taken photos.
The two temples are those of Rameses II and of his favorite wife Nefertari. They were preserved from being submerged in Lake Nasser (the largest man-made lake in the world) during the 1960s when the high dam was built by being dismantled into many huge, heavy pieces and re-assembled much higher. The Rameses II temple faces East; on two days of each year the sun reaches to the inside back of the temple to illuminate a statue of him. These days are February 22 (his birthday) and October 22 (his coronation day). Pati and Beebee were in Egypt for the birthday of Rameses II, but were in Cairo instead of Abu Simbel.
Interesting trivia: Rameses II ruled for 67 years and conquered 67 countries, taking a wife from each country (yes, 67 wives). Nefertari, the queen of Nubia (where Abu Simbel is located now), was his favorite wife. He had over 200 children, 97 of them daughters. He married 13 of his daughters; many (over 50) of the children of these unions died young of causes associated with inbreeding.
After an enjoyable 2 hours at the site wandering inside and around the temples by themselves, the group met at 9:45 am to begin the journey back to the ship. This time there was an armed uniformed guard on the bus with a small machine gun. The guard, who looked to be in his early 20s, left the bus at Aswan. As before, the trip was uneventful and they arrived back at fhe ship just after 1 pm, when lunch was served.
Posted with Blogsy
This all sounds so exciting. :)
ReplyDeleteRow row row your boat... (28 Feb 2013 -- 3:13-PM CST add 8 hours for the Nile)
ReplyDeletePati and Beebee look both left and right.
ReplyDeleteNermal is not to be found at the Abu Dhabi Airport