Egypt - Abu Simbel

Jenny and I were fortunate to be able to go to Egypt recently to see some of the amazing ruins and antiquities dating back some 5000 plus years. The Egyptian Government, with the help of many other governments, have done a beautiful job of restoring some of these priceless work of arts: yes works of art.

On day nine we had to get up about 5:00am to catch a flight from Aswan to Abu Simbel to see Rameses II temple. This was an optional tour and although I was getting a little tired of seeing beautiful temples, we had booked the tour before we left the States, so off we went. I’m glad we did go because it was fantastic!

Jenny and I have flown on many airlines in different countries, and when we or at lease I, take the first domestic flight in a country; I get a little apprehensive! Of course it helped that we had already flown from Cairo. Both of our flights were as good as it gets when one talks about all the hassles one gets when he flies. The Aswan Airport had security guards everywhere: read military. This was the first airport I ever had to show identification and flight itinerary before entering the airport.

Abu Simbel is about 150 miles southwest of Aswan and located on the western bank of Lake Nasser. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Monuments called “Nubian Monuments” which includes sites as far north as the Philae Temple just south of Aswan, a temple we visited he next day, of course!

Lake Nasser is over 340 miles long, with about 270 miles of the lake in Egypt and the rest in Sudan; where the lake is called Lake Nubia. There are two dams built in Cairo which created this massive lake; Aswan Low dam completed in 1902 and Aswan High Dam completed about 1970. The first dam wasn’t was large enough to control the flooding therefore the large High Dam was constructed.

I wanted to introduced Lake Nasser first because Abu Simbel Temple (actually two temples at this site but I refer to both singularly) had to be moved when the High Dam was built otherwise it would have been flooded and lost forever. The two temples was moved around 1964 over 200 feet higher and about 660 feet west of the lake. This unbelievable engineering feat was financed by international donations under the direction of UNESCO with archeologists, engineers and skilled construction workers from around the world.

This is a model of Abu Simbel site which shows where the site is now compared to where it originally was located. Today the lake is several feet above the original site.

The site as it looks today; Ramses II temple is on the left and Queen Nefertari is on the right.

A closeup shot of the facade Rameses II Temple.

Egypt - Karnak Temple

The Karnak Temple comprises a vast mix of ruined temples, chapels, pylons, and other buildings, also known as the great Temple of Amun; Construction begun by Pharaoh Ramses II (ca. 1391–1351 BC) and was added to by virtually every Pharaoh for the next thirteen centuries. It is located near Luxor, about 300 miles south of Cairo. The Karnak complex takes its name from the nearby village of el-Karnak just north of Luxor.

For the largely uneducated ancient Egyptian population this Temple could only have been the place of the gods. It is the mother of all religious buildings, the largest ever made and a place of pilgrimage for nearly 4,000 years. Although todays pilgrims are mainly tourists. It covers about 200 acres.

Entrance to Karnak

The huge, intricate, carved pillars of the great Hypostyle Hall.

The granite obelisks erected by Hatshepsut at Karnak in the mid fifteen century B.C. to the great god Amun were among the most magnificent ever constructed. She commissioned hundreds of statues of herself and left accounts in stone of her lineage, her titles, her history. On one of her obelisks at Karnak she inscribed: "Now my heart turns this way and that, as I think what the people will say. Those who see my monuments in years to come, and who shall speak of what I have done."

Just one of many statues located at Karnak

Egypt - Hatshepsut

Jenny and I were fortunate to be able to go to Egypt recently to see some of the amazing ruins and antiquities dating back some 5000 plus years. The Egyptian Government, with the help of many other governments, have done a beautiful job of restoring some of these priceless work of arts: yes works of art.

We saw so many tombs and temples that as I write this, I cannot remember what was what? But Hatshepsut I remember well because its beauty and, well a woman Pharaoh, although not the first; in fact her name means. “noble lady”. Most Egyptologists considered her to be one of the the most successful pharaohs. She ruled for a little more than twenty years in the mid fifteen century BC. It must have been difficult to rule and accepted as a woman, and just maybe that must have been why she depicted herself in many of her surviving images as a man.

Hatshepsut also is credited with being one of the greatest builders of of all the dynasties. The obelisks at Karnak, which I will be posting later, is among tallest and most magnificent ever constructed.

This Hatshepsut mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri, one of my favorites of the temples that we saw. What a beautiful temple and to think it was built in the around 1460BC.

Close up shots of Hatshepsut; notice the beard!

Jenny and the security people at Hatshepsut!

Just one example of the intricate art work inside the temple.

Large granite sphinx bearing the likeness of the pharaoh Hatshepsut, depicted with the traditional false beard in the Metropolitan Museum.

Egypt - Nile River

Jenny and I were fortunate to be able to go to Egypt recently to see some of the amazing ruins and antiquities dating back some 5000 plus years. The Egyptian Government, with the help of many other governments, have done a beautiful job of restoring some of these priceless work of arts: yes works of art.

So, now let’s take a short trip down the Nile River, considered by most experts as the longest river in the World; however some scientist have recently said that the Amazon is longer. But who is counting or measuring? At over 4200 miles, it is long, but we only cruise about a tenth of the river!

For those of you who have cruised on many of the famous rivers around the world, this cruise is somewhat different. First, in Egypt when your tourist agent says, “Five Stars”, don’t believe him. Although the food was pretty good, the boat was old and not well maintained. The most interesting about the cruise was the docking and departing at each site.

It is estimated that there are somewhere around 230 cruise ships cruising between Luxor and Aswan, which is about 430 miles as the crow flies. Of course much longer via a boat. With this many boats on the Nile and without a sufficient number of marinas to dock, it gets to be quite hectic getting on and off your boat. Instead of each boat tying up at an individual dock, there are as many as six to eight boats tied to each other and one must walk through each boat to get to shore. Interesting!

A view of our boat with a couple other boats tied together!

Another shot of a boat to the left tied to our boat and another one in the back!

I called this shot, "follow the leader". Just a few of the hundreds boats on the way to Aswan.

Life on the Nile!

The temple of Kom Ombo about thiry miles north of Aswan.

One has to be a pretty good Captain to maneuver around so many boats!

Balloons flying over the Nile and the Valley of the Kings, just behind the mountains in the background.

One of the many villages on the east side of the Nile; the west side is mostly desert.

Egypt - Valley of the Nobles

Jenny and I were fortunate to be able to go to Egypt recently to see some of the amazing ruins and antiquities dating back some 5000 plus years. The Egyptian Government, with the help of many other governments, have done a beautiful job of restoring some of these priceless work of arts: yes works of art.

Today we are in the Valley of the Nobles which is located on the west bank of the Nile River in the Luxor area. This site has tombs cut into the rock and the mountains for Nobles and high officials who served the Pharaohs. During this period, the Egyptians lived on the East side of the Nile with tombs on the west side. This is true with the Valley of the Kings, which we will discuss later. It is estimated that their are over a hundred tombs, many of which have not been opened.

In this shot you can see the entrance to some of the tombs in center at the back. One can easily see why they buried their dead here, pretty barren place!

This is an example of what one of the tombs looks like, in fact this one belonged to Ra-Mose, one of the most important of the Nobles buried in this valley. (Note: pictures were not allowed inside the tombs and as such I did not take this picture; I got it from the internet; not sure were the author got the picture!! I promise!)

This is the entrance to one of the tombs, though not Ra-Mose. The inside was hugh and many, many carvings and paintings on the walls and ceiling. The number 331 actually indicated that this is Noble Penne tomb.

Another shot with the tombs in the background; also note the homes or shacks in the center left. Years ago there were homes all over this area. When the tombs started to be discovered the homeowners would cut a hole in their floor of the house and go down and steal the precious artifacts. The government finally caught up with them and started moving the people and demolishing the homes.

Egypt - Aswan

I'm always amazed at how easy it is for Jenny to meet new people and enjoy them; especially kids. She is amazing! She can not possibly pass kids on the streets or anywhere without stopping to say hello.

This picture was taken in the Botanical Gardens in Aswan. It looks like the kids are having a lot of fun with Jenny, and they are!

(More later on our Egypt trip, but I saw this picture and I had to stop and send it now)

Egypt - Ancient City of Memphis

Jenny and I were fortunate to be able to go to Egypt recently to see some of the amazing ruins dating back some 5000 plus years. The Egyptian Government, with the help of many other governments, have done a beautiful job of restoring some of these priceless work of arts: yes works of art.

In this posting I wanted to go to the ancient city of Memphis, which doesn’t exist today but there are a number of modern cities that lie within the old historical borders of ancient Memphis. The ruins are about 15 miles south of Cairo.

The Step pyramid or the Pyramid of Djoser is the oldest of the pyramids and built about a hundred years prior to the Pyramids of Giza. What started as a single step, ended with the six steps by the end of Djoser approximately nineteen year rule. It is easy to see how the pharaohs transition from the step pyramid to the true pyramids of Giza.

Shot taken inside the Temple of Djoser.

Ramesses II statue is currently in a temporary museum just outside of Memphis. The 32oo year old statue was reconstructed in Cairo in the mid-fifties, but taken down because of the deterioration from the city. This 83 ton statue will be moved next year to the new Grand Egyptian Museum due to be completed in Cairo in 2011.

Ramesses II statue in the open air archeological museum in Memphis. There are many statues of Rameses the Great in Egypt; he rule for over sixty years and lived to be over ninety years old. I will be discussing his Abu Simbel Temple later.

Picture taken in Cairo, not Memphis, but wanted to show this picture. As I indicated earlier, Egypt is a third world country. I saw this scene many, many times and of course more frequently outside of the big cities. It reminded me of some of the pictures I took in the early eighties in the interior of China.

Egypt - Giza - November 2010

Jenny and I were fortunate to be able to go to Egypt recently to see some of the amazing ruins dating back some 5000 plus years. The Egyptian Government, with the help of many other governments, have done a beautiful job of restoring some of these priceless work of arts: yes works of art. As a result. many of the sites we saw are in really good condition.

I have so many pictures to post I will break it down to several posts in keeping with, what I think, that short posts would be better for all.

Great Sphinx, as a symbol of Egypt, is as easily recognizable site as the pyramids. Built probably about 50 years or after the pyramids.

A close-up of the Great Sphinx. I had to crop this picture in order to get it without so many people around. As with many of our world Heritage Site, we are loving these sites too much. I hope they will be here for my great-children to see!

The three Pyramids of Giza: Khufu, Kafhre, and Menkaura built in honor of three Kings around 2600BC. The oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the only one still in existence.

As you can see, the city is fast encroaching upon the Giza Pyramids.

Jenny enjoying the local culture!