Since J hadn’t been down to the south, we decided we should visit two of the big ticket tourist attractions: Abu Simbel and The Valley of the Kings. Instead of flying, we took the sleeper train south. The compartments felt a little smaller than the ones in the Turkish trains for example, but the beds are relatively comfortable, and you actually get fed edible food in sleeper class.
Tag Archives: aswan
Aswan & Abu Simbel
After arriving in Aswan, we visited more temples – this time the Philae group of temples, which were painstakingly relocated when the dam was put in place to create Lake Nasser.
We wandered the bazaar near our hotel, bargaining for jewellery, scarves and clothing. One negative in Aswan – I got scammed by some guys selling water bottles on the waterfront. When I gave them a 5LE note to pay, then did an amazing sleight of hand and replaced it with a 1/2 LE note. I fell for it the first time, but it was hard to miss them trying the same trick when I gave them a 20LE note, and they switched it for my original fiver! I had to squawk a lot and start calling over the tourist policeman on the other side of the road to make them give it back. I only realised they’d done it twice when I was checking my pockets later, as I’d put a fiver in one pocket specifically to get water with… How annoying.
Lord Kitchener’s Island was a quick ferry ride away, an amazing botanical park in the middle of the Nile. It was strange seeing such contrasts – lush vegetation, water, then arid desert within metres of each other! There were hundreds of stray cats there, who were very playful.
We had to get up veeeery early to catch the bus to Abu Simbel, a 3-hour trip, but it was definitely worth it! The Nefertari and Ramses II temples were also moved when the High Dam at Aswan was built to create Lake Nasser, and it must have been an staggeringly huge effort, as every piece was catalogued, moved and put right back in the right place.
It was great to see some female gods predominantly presiding in the Nefertari temple, although it was much smaller than her hubby’s! Ramses II’s temple was huge!
On our last evening in Aswan we took a relaxing felucca cruise down to a Nubian village to have a “traditional” meal with henna tattooing, shisha and relaxing on the rugs out in the open air.
On our ferry trip back, some of the motors had broken down, so the drivers tied the boats together in a convoy and we floated back, dancing to some of the guys accompanying us with tambourines and tablas.
Filed under Egypt
Two Weeks Away 