Egypt, Isis temple and unfinished obelisk

After our first night on the river boat, we spent several hours the next day touring the temple to Isis at Philae. Or rather this temple complex was originally built at Philae in the 6th century BC. When the Aswan low dam was constructed in 1902, the island of Philae was flooded. So the temples were dismantled and relocated to their current site on Agilika Island. 

Above is the Nile shore where we launched. Below is the place to disembark at the island for the tour of the temple.

I couldn't resist a couple pictures of the water as seen through old stone windows at the temple. How many eyes have enjoyed that same pretty view over the centuries? I imagine it was quite a few since this temple was in constant use for almost 1,000 yrs. 

The artistry of the ancient architecture and exterior decoration, as well as the hieroglyphics, was stark yet beautiful. 

This is where we spied our first temple cat. Or two.

You'll notice on several pics that the carvings have been defaced. This was the work of early Christians. You'll also see below where they carved the cross amongst, beside or on top of the hieroglyphics.

In fact, the Christians even set up a church inside the temple between the 3rd and 4th centuries AD for worship.

This temple was a unique fusion of three great civilizations - Egyptian, Greek and Roman and I really enjoyed visiting it. After lunch on the boat, we went to an ancient Egyptian stone quarry to see the great "Unfinished Obelisk". Ordered by Hatshepsut in the 15th century BC, it would have been the largest obelisk at that time, reaching a height of 137 feet. 

Stonemasons began carving it directly out of bedrock at the quarry. However, cracks appeared and the project was abandoned. What we see today is exactly how the stonemasons left it approximately 3500 years ago. The pic below obviously wasn't taken by me. And tourists were not allowed to walk on it while we were there. But I thought you might enjoy this bird's eye view to appreciate the size of the obelisk.

Egypt, Aswan & Abu Simbel

This was the looooongest day of our trip. We had a wake-up call at 3:30 am, to depart the hotel by 4:15 for three interior flights on Nile Air and Egypt Air. Our first flight was south to Aswan. Our suitcases were sent on to the river boat. We boarded a second short flight to get us to Abu Simbel for a couple hours. We toured the twin temples of Ramses II and his wife, Nefertari. The Ramses facade with its four statues of pharaoh, each 70 ft tall, was impressive. Even more impressive is that these temples were disassembled and moved here to save them from floodwaters caused by construction of the Aswan High Dam in the 1960s. 

Twice a year, the light shines through the entrance door and hits these statues at the back of the temple. 

The theme in the pic above was quite common, once we understood what we were seeing thanks to our Egyptologist. The cartouche (elongated ovals with hieroglyphics inside) tells us the name of the pharaoh (seen above his hands holding the offering), and he's seen presenting an offering (baked goods were a common thing, believe it or not) to a god sitting on a throne. 

If you look closely at the pic below, you can see some graffiti dated 1836. Proof there are idiots in every era!

The detail of the images was amazing, considering these temples were built in 1244 BC. I found myself saying this same phrase over and over again throughout the trip. It's X millennia old and you can still see the original paint! The pic below has a very easily seen phallic symbol. This was poor Osiris, who was chopped into pieces by the evil Set. Osiris' wife Isis put him back together. The last piece to be added was... you guessed it! He was re-membered.

In the pic below, the god on the throne is being offered flowers by the pharaoh.

Once I got home, downloaded and started reviewing my pics, I realized I had several that included fire extinguishers. 

After another puddle jumper back to Aswan, we got a tour of the old/new dams before taking a ride on a felucca. By the time we boarded our river boat for the next four days of touring, we were all ready for either happy hour or a nap.

I love the pic below. I was always struck by the starkness of the scenery along the Nile, the contrast of the green river valley with the desolate desert just beyond it.

We drifted by the Old Cataract Hotel, shown above. Built in 1899 by Thomas Cook to accommodate British travelers, it has housed a lot of famous folks over the years. Agatha Christie wrote parts of her book Death on the Nile while staying in one of the guest rooms in the 1930s.