Dam temples and tombs
It depends on who tells the story about Upper Egypt as to what version you get. With not a golf course in sight, whose version would you like to hear?
Like the little white ball, the pursuit of temples and tombs can be an obsession or a passion. From Abu Simbel to Luxor there are eighteen significant archaeological sites, each lined with a number of hazards. However for Jan, taking photos was par for the course.
Straight down the fairway to Aswan where the green keeper cum tour guide offered two seats with a caddy on the next flight to Abu Simbel; “For you, special price!!” Ten minutes later we had boarding cards for seats on an ancient DC9 salvaged from an Arizona pension yard and faithfully restored (we hoped) to service the daily tourist shuttles. A successful landing after the twenty minute flight was like a hole-in-one!! The short bus ride through the village of Abu Simbel was quick compared to negotiating our way through the fifty coaches in the parking area and the numerous relentless vendors next to the visitors centre.
With an English-speaking guide to assist us we hit off, or is that headed off beside Lake Nasser. A dogleg to the left and there it was; WOW! The 20-meter high statues of Ramses II at Abu Simbel; just like every National Geographic you have read, large and commanding. Carved in rock, at the entrance of the Great Temple, the quarteted sentinel watches for friend or foe sailing into the Pharaoh’s lands. Inside the sacred innermost chamber Ramses sits with three Gods waiting for dawn, aligned to capture the early morning sun’s rays just two days each year. Being the first temple of our Christmas adventure into the cradle of civilisation, we were more than fascinated by every detail. The smaller temple of Hathor was dedicated by Ramses II to Queen Nefertari, his favourite of 34 wives. Carved out of the mountain over three thousand years ago, the temples of Abu Simbel were lost to the desert sands until 1813 then made even more famous by the relocation to avoid their flooding by Lake Nasser in 1970. The majestical grandeur, history, design and construction, the carved images, beautiful reliefs and hieroglyphics that adorn each and every wall and column, are all breathtaking and cause you to stop and absorb them.
Approaching the green at Aswan we stayed on the fairway rather than let our caddy tempt us into his brother’s pro shop; in fact a perfume salon. We chipped onto our Nile cruise ship to watch rays of sunlight and clouds play on the high cliffs honeycombed with Tombs of Noblemen.
Off to take in the town, a four iron was enough to clear the horse drawn carriages and their vocal drivers, all touting to assist us; or was it to help themselves to our cash. That was minor compared to the traps of the market street. Jan was most impressed with the photo opportunities afforded by the colourful spice stores and galabaya shops. The major hazard on this hole was the deception of the pound. At ten Egyptian pounds to one English pound, the merchants were keen to exploit the tourists. With direct flights from the UK and Europe into Aswan and Luxor, the ability of the merchants to relieve tourists of the burden in their wallets was exceeded only by their deceptions and lies.
On completion of the first round, a late afternoon “G and T” on the terrace of the Old Cataract Hotel, one of Egypt’s most famous and historic hotels, was a welcome treat. What a marvellous location on the east bank of the river opposite the Nubian village on Elephantine Island. Moorish in style, the interior was used in the movie “Death on the Nile”. This is also in our book “One thousand things to do before you die!” Only 999 to go! To keep like-minded tourists at bay, the management set a flag fall for this hole almost like losing four balls to the water. A splendid sunset over the desert with felucca captains entertaining their tourists in the narrows of the river was a sight to behold.
An early morning tee off at one of the pink granite quarries was worth the effort. Famous for the unfinished obelisk which was abandoned 2,500 years due to cracks, this quarry produced several obelisks which were transported down the Nile to temples at Luxor. One has even found its way to the Place de Concorde in Paris. Equally as fascinating was a one meter diameter partially finished wheel lying near the “quay” where granite blocks were floated down the Nile during floods.
Next tee was the Aswan High Dam. Constructed with assistance from Russia in the 1960’s to form Lake Nasser it is hailed as one of the greatest works of hydraulic engineering of the twentieth century. Averaging 10 kilometres in width and one of the world’s largest artificial lakes it stretches 510 kilometres to Sudan. This gianormous water hazard is surrounded by an even bigger sand trap.
Below the High Dam the Temple of Philae, which dates back to 246BC, was swamped for six months every year after the construction of the “low” dam in 1901. In the 1960’s a rescue by Unesco relocated this “Pearl of Egypt” brick by brick to the Island of Agilkia. Isis, the goddess of magic and symbolic mother of the pharaohs who had become the greatest of all Egyptian gods and worshipped across the Roman Empire was honoured in the Inner Sanctuary of this temple. Hathor, goddess of love and pleasure and patron of music and dancing (sex and drugs and rock-n-roll!!) is honoured with her own temple. Returning across the river, the hazard was the discussion about “who pays the ferryman”.
Back on deck we 3 wooded downstream with many of the 280 tourist ships that ply the river. The Nile travels 6,680 km to make it the world’s longest river. It begins life from two sources, 1500 km apart; a bit more than a par 5!! The White Nile starts at Lake Victoria in Uganda and meets the Blue Nile, which rises in the Ethiopian Highlands, at Khartoum in Sudan.
Over the millenniums, river travel has changed from papyrus bundles to elaborate wooden boats with multiple sets of oars to present day floating hotels. The ritual of life on the shore however has hardly changed. Since biblical time, donkey’s nay, children play, soil is tilled and harvested; rhythms like the flow are ceaseless. Sitting in a comfortable chair on the large top deck makes for an easy journey with a constant travelogue unfolding.
On the east bank travelling down stream from Upper Egypt while heading north, is Kom Ombo, a temple dedicated to two gods: the crocodile god Sobek representing the might of the pharaohs and the falcon god of the sky Horus, the son of Isis. In ancient time sacred crocodiles basked in the sun on the riverbanks; there are mummified remains of these revered creatures in the temple. Animal mummies were used as offerings, or as gifts to the god associated with them. A bit creepy, but they were quite intact; a testament to the standard of preservation. The temple is in great condition and the art-work carved into the layer of gypsum over the stone is as clear as the day it was made over 3,000 years ago. Most of the carved figures at the various temples are all dressed in some form of clothing, some more ornate than others. However, a pharaonic cousin of Hugh Hefner inspired some of the artists at Kom Ombo!!
The water hazard at the temples is the Nilometer, an underground canal flowing from the river to a well with a graduated column. During flood time the High Priest would assess the height of water in the well to forecast the size of the harvest and thus set the tax rate for the coming year.
Down the next fairway a glorious sunset cast dreamlike shades on the narrow strip of green and the vast barren plains of the western desert. Mooring at Edfu, 60 km towards Luxor, we celebrated the festive season with a European flavour and had a formal Christmas Eve dinner. While we dined St Nic was busy, what an unforgettable sight waking up to presents as a felucca sailed past. I could not help myself and said to Peter: “Do you know we are in Egypt, sailing down the Nile” Ha Ha!!!
The soft light of dawn illuminated the temple of Horus and arriving by horse drawn carriage was surreal. Constructed in 237BC; “ancient” does not illustrate the wonderment. These structures make a Greg Norman golf course seem an easy task. The coloured hieroglyphic texts on the walls of this temple were resplendent. This extraordinary library was almost lost in time, being completely buried by sand until 1860. It took 40 years for Egyptologists to publish an epigraphic survey of all the information.
The departure by carriage was like hitting out of the rough. About two hundred carriages were inside the gate in utter chaos. Our carriage was facing the wrong way and the fracas associated with turning a four wheel horse drawn carriage around in a space only big enough to cope with a Golf Cart was too much. We finished up getting another carriage. On return to the boat another fracas developed about how much should be paid to the new caddy. Fortunately the Captain intervened as he cast off and set sail.
We were Number 1 boat off the white blocks at Edfu, down the fairway to the dam at Esna and in the queue for the lock. With nearly 280 boats on the river doing 4 days up and 3 days back there can be a long queue each day. The drop through the lock is 8 meters. The process was interesting with the boats designed to only just fit in the lock. The rest of the afternoon was pleasant as we meandered downstream to Luxor between feluccas and passing riverside villages to putt in at sunset.
A walk along the Corniche before dinner took us past many cruise ships, hotels and tourist shops. As Jan came into their sight, the eyes of the shopkeepers lit up with delight!! Tempt as they may with special bargains, sadly for them, Jan returned empty handed.
Morning was bright, we brought out the big driver and to the sweet sound of a long high ball we were off to the famous Valley of the Kings on the west bank. Travelling past Howard Carter’s house, the artist turned archaeologist who found Tutankhamen’s tomb, we played through a group of young tourists riding donkeys. From the bunker in this isolated valley, a short iron took us to the first of 60 tombs of Pharaohs and Princes from the middle dynasty of 2200BC. We chipped into three.
Carved out of the limestone valley, each tomb was an engineering exercise. The steep sloping passages, barely wide enough for the granite sarcophagus (or coffin) opened out to a funerary chamber with a number of smaller side chambers each of which symbolised a stage on the journey to the after life. All the walls and ceilings are decorated with sculptured paintings in a layer of gypsum; colours for the paintings were derived from minerals. The clarity, colour and crispness of the art are breathtaking. With no torches or candles, how the craftsmen introduced adequate light to develop the intricate paintings and hieroglyphics is difficult to comprehend. We were told later the use of mirrors provided the illumination; but where did the mirrors come from? The sarcophagus containing the pharaoh’s mummy was placed in the inner chamber, which was filled with treasures to send the deceased Pharaoh on his journey to immortality as illustrated on the walls. Tombs were sealed with a keystone to make it difficult for robbers. Many of the tombs in this valley remained sealed until recent times, with Tutankhamen’s found only in 1922. Archaeologists are still digging, getting many of their leads from the odd donkey falling into the site. Ours was only to admire the work of four thousand years ancient.
It was also fascinating to observe the tourists, some who came in family groups with their own mummy.
The fifteenth ran up to the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, reputed to be the Pharaonic equivalent of Evita who showed the boys how to run the place. Built beneath the cliff line at the head of a valley facing east to overlook Luxor on the Nile, this temple has a long fairway and a wide approach. The sculptures and artwork have survived three thousand years in this harsh desert. The surrounding cliffs house the tombs of many high priests and noblemen. To the west is the Valley of the Queens where the wives and children of the Pharaohs were entombed. Although these tombs are smaller, the artwork is as ornate as the tombs of the Pharaohs.
Crossing the Nile on a ferry, we arrived at Luxor Temple with its magnificent columns and granite statues of Ramses II. Modern politicians who think they know about photo opportunities pale into insignificance alongside Ramses II. During his seventy-year rule Ramses commissioned tens of huge statues of himself to be carved from Aswan granite and transported to strategic locations around the empire. At the time Luxor was the capital city of the region, which extended from the Ethiopian border east across and somewhere past the Sinai and north to the Mediterranean Sea. Little evidence remains of the mud brick houses, mansions and palaces, but the temples were built for immortality and most have stood the test of time. The three-kilometre Avenue of Sphinxes, sentinels that link the temples of Luxor and Karnak are an ancient roadmap.
Karnak Temple, set in seventy acres of riverside land is the “piece de resistance”. Thebans called Karnak the most perfect of all places. Built and added to by a number of Pharaohs over 1,500 years this temple has many features from granite obelisks to a Hypostyle Hall of 134 columns each two metres in diameter and 15 meters high, in a space of three tennis courts. Imagine being surrounded and mesmerized by history and better, being able to touch it. Silhouetted glimpses of light play among the columns; the Hypostyle Hall was so immense you felt dwarfed and awed.
Farewelling new friends at the end of this extraordinary lesson in ancient history and culture, we disembark and make our way to the nineteenth. Refreshed by a drink and dinner at the Old Winter Palace, overlooking the Nile beyond the temples and tombs to the Western Desert, we thank our caddy and return to our golf club in Cairo.
Like the little white ball, the pursuit of temples and tombs can be an obsession or a passion. From Abu Simbel to Luxor there are eighteen significant archaeological sites, each lined with a number of hazards. However for Jan, taking photos was par for the course.
Straight down the fairway to Aswan where the green keeper cum tour guide offered two seats with a caddy on the next flight to Abu Simbel; “For you, special price!!” Ten minutes later we had boarding cards for seats on an ancient DC9 salvaged from an Arizona pension yard and faithfully restored (we hoped) to service the daily tourist shuttles. A successful landing after the twenty minute flight was like a hole-in-one!! The short bus ride through the village of Abu Simbel was quick compared to negotiating our way through the fifty coaches in the parking area and the numerous relentless vendors next to the visitors centre.
With an English-speaking guide to assist us we hit off, or is that headed off beside Lake Nasser. A dogleg to the left and there it was; WOW! The 20-meter high statues of Ramses II at Abu Simbel; just like every National Geographic you have read, large and commanding. Carved in rock, at the entrance of the Great Temple, the quarteted sentinel watches for friend or foe sailing into the Pharaoh’s lands. Inside the sacred innermost chamber Ramses sits with three Gods waiting for dawn, aligned to capture the early morning sun’s rays just two days each year. Being the first temple of our Christmas adventure into the cradle of civilisation, we were more than fascinated by every detail. The smaller temple of Hathor was dedicated by Ramses II to Queen Nefertari, his favourite of 34 wives. Carved out of the mountain over three thousand years ago, the temples of Abu Simbel were lost to the desert sands until 1813 then made even more famous by the relocation to avoid their flooding by Lake Nasser in 1970. The majestical grandeur, history, design and construction, the carved images, beautiful reliefs and hieroglyphics that adorn each and every wall and column, are all breathtaking and cause you to stop and absorb them.
Approaching the green at Aswan we stayed on the fairway rather than let our caddy tempt us into his brother’s pro shop; in fact a perfume salon. We chipped onto our Nile cruise ship to watch rays of sunlight and clouds play on the high cliffs honeycombed with Tombs of Noblemen.
Off to take in the town, a four iron was enough to clear the horse drawn carriages and their vocal drivers, all touting to assist us; or was it to help themselves to our cash. That was minor compared to the traps of the market street. Jan was most impressed with the photo opportunities afforded by the colourful spice stores and galabaya shops. The major hazard on this hole was the deception of the pound. At ten Egyptian pounds to one English pound, the merchants were keen to exploit the tourists. With direct flights from the UK and Europe into Aswan and Luxor, the ability of the merchants to relieve tourists of the burden in their wallets was exceeded only by their deceptions and lies.
On completion of the first round, a late afternoon “G and T” on the terrace of the Old Cataract Hotel, one of Egypt’s most famous and historic hotels, was a welcome treat. What a marvellous location on the east bank of the river opposite the Nubian village on Elephantine Island. Moorish in style, the interior was used in the movie “Death on the Nile”. This is also in our book “One thousand things to do before you die!” Only 999 to go! To keep like-minded tourists at bay, the management set a flag fall for this hole almost like losing four balls to the water. A splendid sunset over the desert with felucca captains entertaining their tourists in the narrows of the river was a sight to behold.
An early morning tee off at one of the pink granite quarries was worth the effort. Famous for the unfinished obelisk which was abandoned 2,500 years due to cracks, this quarry produced several obelisks which were transported down the Nile to temples at Luxor. One has even found its way to the Place de Concorde in Paris. Equally as fascinating was a one meter diameter partially finished wheel lying near the “quay” where granite blocks were floated down the Nile during floods.
Next tee was the Aswan High Dam. Constructed with assistance from Russia in the 1960’s to form Lake Nasser it is hailed as one of the greatest works of hydraulic engineering of the twentieth century. Averaging 10 kilometres in width and one of the world’s largest artificial lakes it stretches 510 kilometres to Sudan. This gianormous water hazard is surrounded by an even bigger sand trap.
Below the High Dam the Temple of Philae, which dates back to 246BC, was swamped for six months every year after the construction of the “low” dam in 1901. In the 1960’s a rescue by Unesco relocated this “Pearl of Egypt” brick by brick to the Island of Agilkia. Isis, the goddess of magic and symbolic mother of the pharaohs who had become the greatest of all Egyptian gods and worshipped across the Roman Empire was honoured in the Inner Sanctuary of this temple. Hathor, goddess of love and pleasure and patron of music and dancing (sex and drugs and rock-n-roll!!) is honoured with her own temple. Returning across the river, the hazard was the discussion about “who pays the ferryman”.
Back on deck we 3 wooded downstream with many of the 280 tourist ships that ply the river. The Nile travels 6,680 km to make it the world’s longest river. It begins life from two sources, 1500 km apart; a bit more than a par 5!! The White Nile starts at Lake Victoria in Uganda and meets the Blue Nile, which rises in the Ethiopian Highlands, at Khartoum in Sudan.
Over the millenniums, river travel has changed from papyrus bundles to elaborate wooden boats with multiple sets of oars to present day floating hotels. The ritual of life on the shore however has hardly changed. Since biblical time, donkey’s nay, children play, soil is tilled and harvested; rhythms like the flow are ceaseless. Sitting in a comfortable chair on the large top deck makes for an easy journey with a constant travelogue unfolding.
On the east bank travelling down stream from Upper Egypt while heading north, is Kom Ombo, a temple dedicated to two gods: the crocodile god Sobek representing the might of the pharaohs and the falcon god of the sky Horus, the son of Isis. In ancient time sacred crocodiles basked in the sun on the riverbanks; there are mummified remains of these revered creatures in the temple. Animal mummies were used as offerings, or as gifts to the god associated with them. A bit creepy, but they were quite intact; a testament to the standard of preservation. The temple is in great condition and the art-work carved into the layer of gypsum over the stone is as clear as the day it was made over 3,000 years ago. Most of the carved figures at the various temples are all dressed in some form of clothing, some more ornate than others. However, a pharaonic cousin of Hugh Hefner inspired some of the artists at Kom Ombo!!
The water hazard at the temples is the Nilometer, an underground canal flowing from the river to a well with a graduated column. During flood time the High Priest would assess the height of water in the well to forecast the size of the harvest and thus set the tax rate for the coming year.
Down the next fairway a glorious sunset cast dreamlike shades on the narrow strip of green and the vast barren plains of the western desert. Mooring at Edfu, 60 km towards Luxor, we celebrated the festive season with a European flavour and had a formal Christmas Eve dinner. While we dined St Nic was busy, what an unforgettable sight waking up to presents as a felucca sailed past. I could not help myself and said to Peter: “Do you know we are in Egypt, sailing down the Nile” Ha Ha!!!
The soft light of dawn illuminated the temple of Horus and arriving by horse drawn carriage was surreal. Constructed in 237BC; “ancient” does not illustrate the wonderment. These structures make a Greg Norman golf course seem an easy task. The coloured hieroglyphic texts on the walls of this temple were resplendent. This extraordinary library was almost lost in time, being completely buried by sand until 1860. It took 40 years for Egyptologists to publish an epigraphic survey of all the information.
The departure by carriage was like hitting out of the rough. About two hundred carriages were inside the gate in utter chaos. Our carriage was facing the wrong way and the fracas associated with turning a four wheel horse drawn carriage around in a space only big enough to cope with a Golf Cart was too much. We finished up getting another carriage. On return to the boat another fracas developed about how much should be paid to the new caddy. Fortunately the Captain intervened as he cast off and set sail.
We were Number 1 boat off the white blocks at Edfu, down the fairway to the dam at Esna and in the queue for the lock. With nearly 280 boats on the river doing 4 days up and 3 days back there can be a long queue each day. The drop through the lock is 8 meters. The process was interesting with the boats designed to only just fit in the lock. The rest of the afternoon was pleasant as we meandered downstream to Luxor between feluccas and passing riverside villages to putt in at sunset.
A walk along the Corniche before dinner took us past many cruise ships, hotels and tourist shops. As Jan came into their sight, the eyes of the shopkeepers lit up with delight!! Tempt as they may with special bargains, sadly for them, Jan returned empty handed.
Morning was bright, we brought out the big driver and to the sweet sound of a long high ball we were off to the famous Valley of the Kings on the west bank. Travelling past Howard Carter’s house, the artist turned archaeologist who found Tutankhamen’s tomb, we played through a group of young tourists riding donkeys. From the bunker in this isolated valley, a short iron took us to the first of 60 tombs of Pharaohs and Princes from the middle dynasty of 2200BC. We chipped into three.
Carved out of the limestone valley, each tomb was an engineering exercise. The steep sloping passages, barely wide enough for the granite sarcophagus (or coffin) opened out to a funerary chamber with a number of smaller side chambers each of which symbolised a stage on the journey to the after life. All the walls and ceilings are decorated with sculptured paintings in a layer of gypsum; colours for the paintings were derived from minerals. The clarity, colour and crispness of the art are breathtaking. With no torches or candles, how the craftsmen introduced adequate light to develop the intricate paintings and hieroglyphics is difficult to comprehend. We were told later the use of mirrors provided the illumination; but where did the mirrors come from? The sarcophagus containing the pharaoh’s mummy was placed in the inner chamber, which was filled with treasures to send the deceased Pharaoh on his journey to immortality as illustrated on the walls. Tombs were sealed with a keystone to make it difficult for robbers. Many of the tombs in this valley remained sealed until recent times, with Tutankhamen’s found only in 1922. Archaeologists are still digging, getting many of their leads from the odd donkey falling into the site. Ours was only to admire the work of four thousand years ancient.
It was also fascinating to observe the tourists, some who came in family groups with their own mummy.
The fifteenth ran up to the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, reputed to be the Pharaonic equivalent of Evita who showed the boys how to run the place. Built beneath the cliff line at the head of a valley facing east to overlook Luxor on the Nile, this temple has a long fairway and a wide approach. The sculptures and artwork have survived three thousand years in this harsh desert. The surrounding cliffs house the tombs of many high priests and noblemen. To the west is the Valley of the Queens where the wives and children of the Pharaohs were entombed. Although these tombs are smaller, the artwork is as ornate as the tombs of the Pharaohs.
Crossing the Nile on a ferry, we arrived at Luxor Temple with its magnificent columns and granite statues of Ramses II. Modern politicians who think they know about photo opportunities pale into insignificance alongside Ramses II. During his seventy-year rule Ramses commissioned tens of huge statues of himself to be carved from Aswan granite and transported to strategic locations around the empire. At the time Luxor was the capital city of the region, which extended from the Ethiopian border east across and somewhere past the Sinai and north to the Mediterranean Sea. Little evidence remains of the mud brick houses, mansions and palaces, but the temples were built for immortality and most have stood the test of time. The three-kilometre Avenue of Sphinxes, sentinels that link the temples of Luxor and Karnak are an ancient roadmap.
Karnak Temple, set in seventy acres of riverside land is the “piece de resistance”. Thebans called Karnak the most perfect of all places. Built and added to by a number of Pharaohs over 1,500 years this temple has many features from granite obelisks to a Hypostyle Hall of 134 columns each two metres in diameter and 15 meters high, in a space of three tennis courts. Imagine being surrounded and mesmerized by history and better, being able to touch it. Silhouetted glimpses of light play among the columns; the Hypostyle Hall was so immense you felt dwarfed and awed.
Farewelling new friends at the end of this extraordinary lesson in ancient history and culture, we disembark and make our way to the nineteenth. Refreshed by a drink and dinner at the Old Winter Palace, overlooking the Nile beyond the temples and tombs to the Western Desert, we thank our caddy and return to our golf club in Cairo.
posted by PC and JT at 3:52 pm
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