My Egypt

Part 7

January 9, 2017

Our incredible journey began at 4 in the morning, as we endured a three-hour drive in the cold and dark to Abu Simbel. For some reason the heater in the car would not work. And I had brought the wrong clothing to Egypt, thinking I would not need a jacket. I sure could have used a warm blanket and jacket on that cold drive. Thankfully we were greeted by a beautiful orange sun just rising above Nasser Lake when we arrived.

Abdul told us the amazing story behind Abu Simbel:
Carved out of a sandstone cliff on the west bank of the Nile, the temples were unknown to the outside world until their rediscovery in 1813. A Swiss researcher Johann Ludwig Burckhardt along with his small research team were resting by the Nile when the wind moved part of the sand, uncovering the eyes of a statue. Immediately, Ludwig stopped everything they were doing and traveled up to Cairo where his friend, the Egyptologist Belzoni was staying. Together they came back. A young Nubian boy had been with Ludwig at the time of the discovery, and it was in his honour that the temple was named.

After moving parts of the sand, the team discovered not one but two temples. One temple was for Ramses, and the other temple for his wife. This is very unusual. This is the only time a Pharaoh build a separate temple for the wife. He must have loved her very much.

In the 1960’s, when the Dam was built, the entire area around the temples flooded. The Swedish came up with the incredible solution to dissect and dismantle the entire buildings. They had to cover everything in sand again, and began dismantling from the top. It was a total of 8,500 pieces which had to be cut by hand, and 225 pieces in total for the smaller temple; the smallest piece weighing 500 kilograms.

When everything was put together at a different location the team had to re-create the mountain to which the temples had been carved into. They poured concrete, a 13-meter-high structure to resemble the original stone wall.

The phenomenon of solar alignment on the Holy of Holies in the back of the temple occurs twice every year on February 22 and October 22. As the sun’s rays penetrate the front corridor of the entrance to the Temple, its light travels 200 meters until it hits the statue of Ramses in the Holy of Holies.
When the Temple was moved, all these things had to be considered and everything needed to line up perfectly for the sun to illuminate the statue of Ramses on February 22 and October 22.

We stood in awe in front of the Temple, taking pictures with our cameras, yet hardly believing that we were really here. As we wandered through the inside rooms we noticed beautifully carved walls, and then it abruptly stopped. One could still notice some faint drawings, and then the walls were completely empty. In other chambers one could see that the workers tried to do a quick and hasty job. Abdul explained to us that when Ramses died, the whole working process stopped. The workers only had 70 days left to get everything finished for the great funeral. That totally explained the unfinished walls.

Our time at Abu Simbel went by too fast and we found ourselves back in the van, taking us to Aswan. At noon we boarded our cruise ship – three stories high, with a pool and sun deck at the top level. We entered the large, glamorous lobby with a beautiful staircase leading up to the upper levels. We received our key and went searching for our room. I truly felt like I had entered Agatha Christie’s novel Death on the Nile, as I stood in front of our dark and luxurious door. We entered the cozy room, a large window revealing the ever-present Nile.

We enjoyed a lovely lunch with a huge buffet in the amazing dining room. Soon after, the boat left the dock and we slowly are headed towards Luxor. This was our schedule for this afternoon (not included is the six-hour drive to and from Abu Simbel):

15:00 – 15:30 – Massages for Andreas and I
16:00 – Tea Time on Sun Deck
17:00 – Kom Ombo Temple Visit
19:30 – Dinner
21:00 – Fancy Dress Party

The tea on deck was unforgettable. I was wrapped in a blanket because the wind was quite chilly. But it was so worth it, as we leaned back in our comfortable chairs and watched the shore from the deck.

Just as it was getting dark, we stopped at Kom Ombo, another interesting Temple. This one is dedicated to Horus and Sobek, the crocodile god. Inside the temple we saw an entire calendar engraved into the wall, with a list of medical help; what tools they used for birthing and other things. They knew how to sterilize their equipment, and they already had needles and many other amazing tools.

We were utterly exhausted by the end of the day, our minds still whirling around in circles. We were too tired and decided not to go to the fancy dress party. By 9 o’clock I was gently rocked to sleep with the sound of the boat engine humming in the background.