After 13 hours on the overnight sleeper (very comfortable, great nights sleep but up early and had a good chat with the conductor as the sun rose over the date palm lined Nile valley which the train snaked through) we arrived in the Nubian city of Aswan.
The sleeper was great as the views through the window were picture postcard examples of what i expected the Nile valley to be. Date palms, donkeys, camels, buffalo, cows, intensive crops, harvests and farmers toiling away in their long dress with turban like head dress. It really was just like the photos I'd seen and the textbooks I'd read. I was hopeful that the felucca (sail boat) that we were going on would take us into these areas (not really to be, however).
We arrived late morning, did a quick rendezvous around town, checked out the great view of the Nile from our hotel room and marvelled at how many Nile River boats there were in port (this proved to be just a drop in the ocean as we were to find from the constant traffic back and forth when we were on the Felucca the next night). We went for a quick cruise through the bazaar, one of the best in Egypt. Aswan was considerably more laid back than Cairo and the Nubian people were very laid back and gentle (The Nubians have traditionally lived in the N Sudan and S Egypt regions - unfortunately some were displaced by Aswan dam , etc but are attempting to make their way through tourism and associated infrastructure). Aswan is located at the crossroads of ancient trade routes between Egypt, the rest of africa and India. Also, militarily strategic as the Southern defence of Egypt. The Sahara Desert comes right to the water's edge and the river has many islands dotted throughout.
After lunch we went for a boat ride across to Elephantine Island, with ancient ruins etc, dating back to 4thC BC. There we were treated to a great talk by an elderly Nubian gentleman, saw the old, grand Cataract Hotel where Agatha Christie wrote Death on the Nile, saw the Aga Khan Mausoleum, the desert monastery of St Simeon (600s AD), Tombs of the Nobles (Old and Middle Kingdoms) etc, etc. (I've included some pics of these previously)
The next day we went to Abu Simbel - a great temple which was cut and carved out of a cliff in the 13th Century BC. It really took our breath away, the sheer size of the exterior and the carvings, etc within the temple (not allowed to photograph, unfortunately). I'll let the pics do the talking but they just don't come anywhere near doing it justice. The temple was built to honour Ramses 2nd. The exterior was of 4 enormous statues (33m high) and the interior had a shrine which was designed to have the sunlight shine right through to the back of the temple and illuminate the statues of God and King on 2 days of the year. Very impressive as was the other temple which Ramses had built to honour his wife (Nefertari)- and dedicated to the Goddess of Hathor.
Next, its on to sailing on the Felucca and an overnight stay punctuated by the constant, relaxing drone of the river boats steaming back and forth as well as the pre dawn wake up to the "call to Prayer". More later
