Hello Abu Simbel ... You are stunning
Today we left our beautiful cruise boat and all the wonderful people who work on her who have helped make our cruise of the Nile an unforgettable experience. We had a 6.00 am wake up call and needed to have our luggage ready for the porters to collect before we headed down to our last breakfast. Then we met up with Mohammed (2) who was our guide to take us to Aswan airport for our flight to Abu Simbel.
It was great to have Mohammed there to negotiate our way through the airport procedures ... passport here, shoes on here but shoes off here, belt off, no leave your belt on, women go through that scanner, men through this one. Since the 90s when there was a rise in terrorist attacks on tourists there has been increased security in Egypt with vehicles checked regularly at checkpoints and the need to be security scanned at every major tourist location. Whilst the process may seem annoying to some (for some nationalities in particular) they are a reassuring sign that Egypt wants tourists here and is making the effort to keep everyone safe.
Onto our plane to Abu Simbel ... a short 45 minute flight that is so quick by the time you reach cruising altitude you are starting the descent to the runway! From there we were met by another guide Mahmood who organised our transfer by bus for the airport to the temple where we were met by our tour guide Sayed. We had been lucky enough to be seated on the left side of the plane and so caught a glimpse of this amazing site as we landed.
Abu Simbel is the most amazing temple built by Rameses II in about 1260 BC. Originally it was located in a slightly different location but like Philae Temple it was relocated as a result of the rising waters from the damming of the Nile. It took engineers, archeologists, Egyptologists and an army of workers 4 years to deconstruct the temple and to relocate it stone by stone to higher ground.
We walked from the car park to the temple ... a few hundred metres down a winding steep path until we rounded a corner and were able to see the temple up close. The temple is huge! The entrance to the main temple is flanked by 4 statues of Rameses that are 20 metres high, along with statues of his favourite wife (he had a few) and a number of his favourite children (again he had a few! ... say 170 to 200). The inside is lined with large detailed paintings depicting stories of the time that are still to this day very colourful. There is a smaller temple located next to the one for Rameses that he built for his favourite wife Nefertari which is also stunning.
Sayed was a brilliant guide. So knowledgeable and full of information but he was able to deliver it in a way that made it easy to understand and follow (and even remember). He allowed us plenty of free time in the temple to wander, take pictures and just marvel at the size and splendour. He then headed us back to the visitor centre where there is a series of pictures and story boards that outline how the temple was actually moved. Incredible to see the massive head of the statues being cut from the mountain face and moved to safe ground and then rebuilt again.
We spent about an hour and half at the site before heading back to the airport for our return flight to Cairo via Aswan. At the airport we were met by another representative of Wings who escorted us to meet Mustafa who we had met on our very first day in Cairo just a week ago. A short (but hectic horn blaring ride of about 30 minutes) had us arriving at our Hotel - the Rameses Hilton which is located in old Cairo on the banks of the Nile.
We are now settled into our hotel room having explored the hotel, ordered room service. we had only had breakfast today so were a tad hungry and are both feeling a little weary after the busy days we have had during our time in the Upper Nile. Tomorrow we get to see Abby again as she guides us around Cairo and we are both looking forward to seeing her again. But for now we will try to get some sleep ... and with no early start tomorrow (8.30 in the lobby) we can relax even more.
Another magical day in Egypt.
It was great to have Mohammed there to negotiate our way through the airport procedures ... passport here, shoes on here but shoes off here, belt off, no leave your belt on, women go through that scanner, men through this one. Since the 90s when there was a rise in terrorist attacks on tourists there has been increased security in Egypt with vehicles checked regularly at checkpoints and the need to be security scanned at every major tourist location. Whilst the process may seem annoying to some (for some nationalities in particular) they are a reassuring sign that Egypt wants tourists here and is making the effort to keep everyone safe.
Onto our plane to Abu Simbel ... a short 45 minute flight that is so quick by the time you reach cruising altitude you are starting the descent to the runway! From there we were met by another guide Mahmood who organised our transfer by bus for the airport to the temple where we were met by our tour guide Sayed. We had been lucky enough to be seated on the left side of the plane and so caught a glimpse of this amazing site as we landed.
Abu Simbel is the most amazing temple built by Rameses II in about 1260 BC. Originally it was located in a slightly different location but like Philae Temple it was relocated as a result of the rising waters from the damming of the Nile. It took engineers, archeologists, Egyptologists and an army of workers 4 years to deconstruct the temple and to relocate it stone by stone to higher ground.
We walked from the car park to the temple ... a few hundred metres down a winding steep path until we rounded a corner and were able to see the temple up close. The temple is huge! The entrance to the main temple is flanked by 4 statues of Rameses that are 20 metres high, along with statues of his favourite wife (he had a few) and a number of his favourite children (again he had a few! ... say 170 to 200). The inside is lined with large detailed paintings depicting stories of the time that are still to this day very colourful. There is a smaller temple located next to the one for Rameses that he built for his favourite wife Nefertari which is also stunning.
Sayed was a brilliant guide. So knowledgeable and full of information but he was able to deliver it in a way that made it easy to understand and follow (and even remember). He allowed us plenty of free time in the temple to wander, take pictures and just marvel at the size and splendour. He then headed us back to the visitor centre where there is a series of pictures and story boards that outline how the temple was actually moved. Incredible to see the massive head of the statues being cut from the mountain face and moved to safe ground and then rebuilt again.
We spent about an hour and half at the site before heading back to the airport for our return flight to Cairo via Aswan. At the airport we were met by another representative of Wings who escorted us to meet Mustafa who we had met on our very first day in Cairo just a week ago. A short (but hectic horn blaring ride of about 30 minutes) had us arriving at our Hotel - the Rameses Hilton which is located in old Cairo on the banks of the Nile.
We are now settled into our hotel room having explored the hotel, ordered room service. we had only had breakfast today so were a tad hungry and are both feeling a little weary after the busy days we have had during our time in the Upper Nile. Tomorrow we get to see Abby again as she guides us around Cairo and we are both looking forward to seeing her again. But for now we will try to get some sleep ... and with no early start tomorrow (8.30 in the lobby) we can relax even more.
Another magical day in Egypt.
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