🙂 Absolute bargain! Great views. Great food.
🙁 Peado men, sweltering heat.
Paul and I had gone for a stroll the day before to see whether we could find a sailing over the next few days. We stepped into the Sunray which was being refurbished and the Captain said that he could offer us a cruise from Aswan to Luxor for an out of season rate of $500 for all six of us fully inclusive to depart the next morning, as long as we didn’t mind them working discreetly on the boat – we nearly bit his hand off! Signed the paper and headed back to our hotel feeling very pleased with ourselves.
The next morning we were not really sure whether it was all too good to be true…but sure enough, the crew were expecting us! Our first stop was Kom Ombo Temple which is an unusual double temple in the town of Kom Ombo, Upper Egypt. It was constructed during the Ptolemaic dynasty, 180–47 BC. In ancient Egypt, this city was important because it controlled the routes of the commercial caravans that went to Nubia through the valley of the Nile. The temple is unique because it is in fact a double temple, dedicated to Sobek the crocodile god, and Horus the falcon-headed god. All the columns and 4 arcs are perfectly symmetrical.
Captive crocodiles were kept within the temple and many mummified crocodiles have been found in cemeteries, some of which can be seen in the temple sanctuary today.
We headed back to our boat to enjoy the swimming pool. There was only one other couple on board from Brazil, which was great!We felt reassured as the marina was patrolled by guards with AK47s – this is because about 100 tourists were mowed down by a guy with a machine gun so security was increased.
We enjoyed a delicious lunch and then went to Edfu Temple and were transported by horse drawn cart. The temple was built in the Ptolemaic Kingdom between 237 and 57 BC. The inscriptions on its walls provide important information on language, myth and religion during the Hellenistic period in Egypt. The temple itself is dedicated to the worship of the Egyptian god Horus, who was frequently merged with the Greek god Apollo. The temple was spectacular with tall walls, columns of arches and hieroglyphics and some art preserved in full colour. The only downside is that it was 50C in the shade – sweltering!
I was very excited to see a shadoof in action, having learnt about them when studying Ancient Egypt at Primary School! It was all so interesting seeing how they recreated the use of ancient tools. However, at that point I noticed that one of the men was paying too close attention to my girls … it became apparent that he had an erection and I had to grab them from him and smacked the offending protrusion so that he was left with no uncertainty that I knew what he was doing – it filled me with disgust and left a very bad taste…. VILE. We went back to the boat and enjoyed dipping in and out of the swimming pool whilst enjoying the scenery.
Dinner was great and we enjoyed the company of the Brazilian couple. Our bedrooms had been beautifully decorated…we wrote our journals and enjoyed a last drink before a good night’s sleep.
Go to: Cairo
Go to: Aswan
Go to: Luxor
