Day 6 - Abu Simbel

The alarm goes off at 3 a.m. and I cringe as I climb out of bed.  We dress and gather our things and go downstairs to the lobby where Hanan has coffee and tea waiting for us along with 2 very large breakfast boxes for us to eat during our 3 hour drive through the desert to Abu Simbel (30 miles north of the Sudan border).

We are picked up at 3:15 by our driver and settle into our seats on the bus.  We make several stops around town picking up others who will be going along with us.

Soon we head out to the meeting spot as all cars heading to Abu Simbel must be documented by the police, and must travel together in a "caravan" to the temple and back.


The caravan leaves at 4 and we try to sleep until the sun comes up and we can see the desert.

We smile at the "steep hill" signs on the road.  Where?  This is FLAT, with only slight grade changes.

We arrive in Abu Simbel around 7:30 and have 2 hours to see this magnificent place.  We purchase our tickets and enter the grounds looking for the English speaking guide and cannot seem to locate him.  The directions from the gate personnel are sketchy at best (we are getting used to Egyptian directions).  They just keep pointing and saying, "inside".  We decide that inside must mean inside the temple and not inside the gate so we start walking towards the entrance.  It is already hot out and we know it will continue to climb during our stay.  Abu Simbel is located on Lake Nasser and as we walk around the mountain, we are on it's shoreline, only high above it.

It is crystal clear and looks wonderful -- would love to jump in.  We continue around the bend and we stand in front of the Temple of Ramses II staring at how incredible it is. We discover that our guide is right in front, and he takes a picture for us.

Our group, about ten of us, go over to some small benches under a solitary tree for a little shade while he shares with us what we are going to see inside.

He is a wonderful story teller and sets the stage beautifully for us so that we know exactly what we are looking for inside and why (no cameras inside).  We enter the temple and are astounded at the vivid colors that exist to this day.  This is nothing short of incredible.  We are in awe.

Ramses II tells the story of his life here and the detail and color are not to be surpassed.  Then, to know that this particular structure was taken apart piece by piece and reassembled higher on the mountain due to the creation of Lake Nasser -- oh my.  What a place.

We venture over to the smaller temple adjacent to Ramses' that he built for his queen, Nefertari.  Her temple is also resplendent with color and is a very romantic temple with many engravings of tender moments and painted beautifully.  She is shown as a beautiful, sexy woman and one whom Ramses adored.  I am blown away by the act of building this for her.

As we exit the temple, the sun has now risen high in the sky and it is stifling out, so I go back to the benches to sit in the shade and cool off while Mister finishes up with the pictures. We wander around the other side of the mountain back towards the main entrance and stop for a snack and juice before we head back to the van, snaking through the merchandise hawkers as best as possible.   The 3 hour trip back to Aswan is back though the now very-hot desert. We close the curtains in the van and try to settle in and nap.


 We arrive back in town and the driver pulls into a gas station. There are empty pumps in the front (petrol) but also a long line of trucks out into the road waiting for diesel. Some yelling starts as we try to sneak in line for diesel. We are told to get out of the van and a military guy stands with us. We assume since we are tourists, we were able to jump the line.


I talk with a couple from Australia about our impressions of Egypt and discover that the same issues that bother me (which is the "in your face" aggressiveness of the sales people) plague her as well.  She and her husband, though, share some great stories and I tease them about wanting to go to Australia but that it is so dang expensive.  It is amusing, but they agree. We are dropped of at the hotel and head straight for showers and a rest. Hanan goes above and beyond in her customer service as we have rose petals and a heart towel sculpture on our bed.

It is 1:00pm and already over 115 degrees outside.  After a cool shower (yes, even I, queen of the hot shower, learned how wonderful a cool shower could be while in Egypt) and a nap, we are ready to go again.  (Oh, I also never complained about the air conditioning and spent most of my "room time" with little or no clothing on --- that tells you how hot it was.)  We decide to walk to the train station and get our tickets for the following afternoon to Luxor. Mister queues up (actually it's just a mob in front of the ticket counter, with everyone holding out money and yelling in Arabic) and gets our tickets to Alexandria.

We walk through the souks (markets) and determine to only shop where we are not hassled.

That sure limits our choices.  I find a shop with dresses, select one after some time and the owner running back to other shops looking for one that I like.



We find another quiet shop and Mister picks out a small box for the living room -- our little memento of Egypt.  With backpacks, we are so limited in what we can purchase -- I've decided that that is both good and bad.  We snap pictures and talk with shop owners whenever we can.  The meats, spices, fruits, and breads are in abundance and the shops are so interesting.

After a quick stop back at our room, we go to Estacoza, a great little fish restaurant just around the corner from the hotel.  Our table is laden with food -- grilled fish, shrimps, veggies, the obligatory coke, etc.  All of it is so delicious and we partake with joy.  The owner is delighted that we are there, things are really slow here -- not many tourists at all.


After dinner, back to the hotel and Mister arranges for a trip to Daraw the next morning while I make plans to sleep in.  YAY.  Off to bed.