Abu Simbel

It’s Sunday evening and I’ve just completed the most fantastic day. Of course, all the days are fantastic in Egypt. It started out watching the sky lighten from atop the two story pool deck of my hotel in Aswan. About a quarter mile across the Nile River lays Elephantine Island and the Movenpick Hotel. That hotel has a great square tower rising above it with a restaurant and observation deck at the top. The tower and hotel were built for the Russian architect to live and observe construction of the new Aswan High Dam. It’s lit up at night and changes colors from blue to purple to green to white. There was a breeze blowing and I could hear the call to prayer from behind. It was a nice scene.

After fending off the feral cats from stealing my breakfast sausages, I caught an early morning flight to Abu Simbel to see the great temple build by Ramses II. He ruled from 1279 BC to 1213 BC and was considered the greatest of the Egyptian pharaohs. After the Pyramids and Sphinx of Giza, Abu Simbel is considered the greatest Egyptian attraction. Most people fly, like me. You land and are herded onto busses for a couple of hours of visiting the site before flying back. Once there, I had my own guide. Like my Cairo guide, his job seemed to be informing and selling photo ops by a professional photographer and glossy interior shots from the Government. I played along this time. I didn’t come all this way not to.

Two days each year, on the anniversary of Ramses birth and coronation, the rising sun shines 200 feet down a horizontal shaft and illuminates statues of Ramses and three gods. There are drawings along the shaft and related rooms describing scenes of life according to Ramses - doing battle, taking prisoners, anointing himself a god - the usual life of pharaoh stuff. The four gods make up a holy quartet. Out front, four giant statues of Ramses let potential invaders know who controls the continent from here to Syria.

After that it was back on a plane for Cairo and the hotel out in the burbs (in the sand outside the city) where I spent my first three nights. Of course, I arrived just as the pool was closing. That’s ok though. I need to send mom a postcard and get this blog posted before I leave Egypt for Jordan in the morning. Egypt is a great country. Put it on your Bucket List.