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Our arrival about 9 AM was smooth, just the usual hotel, taxi, and tour operators insisting that they can help you. We made our way over to the official tourist office to ask a couple of questions before setting out for our hotel. The tourist office guy told us not to trust anyone outside of his office, then he proceeded to tell us where the ‘best deal in town' was ‘special, just for us'! Everyone has a scam but we are tough now. We take off walking in the cool morning air along the corniche. Every few seconds we have to respond to requests for souvenirs, kalish rides, taxis, and felucca rides. The Nile here is a beautiful combo of huge boulders, tropical vegetation, desert cliffs and blue water. We are staying at the Club Med on its own little island. We found the dock and boat launch that would take us over. The island was in a lush picturesque setting of palms and bougainvillea. It was also very empty, we had arrived on the two days of the week that the island is not filled with French package tourists, all the employees here speak French and they are very surprised to see a couple of Americans show up. It is a good deal for a couple of nights as long as you don't eat.
I was not feeling well, some sort of flu was bothering me and making me very tired. I was not up for any morning sightseeing today so we ate at the really good French /Arabic buffet that broke the bank. Then napped by the pool. We had to do a little planning to figure out how to get to Abu Simbel (a world wonder) and then on to Luxor via the Nile. Around town there are two main streets one being the souq or market street for both tourists and locals and the other along the Nile. There are ruins on Elephantine Island just offshore--we skipped them and also some larger ruins of Philae Temple and Temple of Kalabsha outside of town.
Today we would only stop by the Air Egypt office to make a plane reservation to Abu Simbel, located 50 km from Sudan and 297 km from Aswan and at this time not reachable by bus. It is a world wonder and we have to go even at 288 Egyptian Pounds per person. We had an early dinner at a floating restaurant. The food here is not too exciting for Scooter but I don't mind the salad and beans.
Let's talk world wonders. Abu Simbel made someone's list, it seemed to us it could have made it twice. Once for the first time it was constructed into a mountainside and the second time for the moving and reconstruction. Huge stone figures of Ramses sitting on the banks of Lake Nasser.
Our day was full and well planned which is not hard to do in Egypt with a little money everything can be downright easy. A taxi driver would take us to the High Dam (world wonder) and then to Kalabsha, a temple ruin around the corner. then he would drop us off at the airport for our flight to Abu Simbel and be waiting for us when we returned. The taxi was an early model large white station wagon, clean on the outside and covered with red velvet on the inside. The dash was covered with the obligatory shag carpet and lined with religious ornamentation. The driver was dressed in a robe, the modern kind with a zipper up the front, and a head covering looking at us with a mix of greed and sincerity. We set out for the High Dam completed in 1971 with Soviet Union design and assistance. While it is not much to look at compared to the Itaipu Dam in Brazil or Hoover Dam in Nevada, it's measurements are impressive: 1 kilometer thick at the base, 3.6 kilometers long and 111 meters high. It has 12 turbines that create all of Egypt's electrical power. The Dam also created the world's largest artificial lake, Lake Nasser. It forced thousands of Sudanese and Nubians out of their homes and threatened many historical sites...but if Egypt wanted to feed its people it had to be done. Their agricultural land has increased 30%. We paid our 10 Egyptian pounds to take a closer look at a world wonder of the technological kind.
Just past the High Dam lies the Temple of Kalabsha, one of those historical sites that was threatened by the creation of Lake Nasser. It looks like a movie set, in fact much of Egypt looks like a set for an MGM film. It was built by Amenhotep II, continued through the reign of Augustus and then used as a Christian church, but originally dedicated to a Nubian god. In 1962 the W. German government paid to dismantle and transport (13,000 pieces) 50 kilometers north. It is tough to get to--our driver took us through a dirt road lined with commercial fishing debris and stopped near a group of old boats, some small, some large, some dry docked and all of them in a state of disrepair. We went down to the shore to negotiate a fee for the boat ride to Kalabsha. It is a tourist attraction but I don't think many make it out this way. The boat transported us to the regal looking temple, we had the place to ourselves and just had to shake one unofficial guide. For some reason, perhaps concern for our safety, an official military zodiac with 3 soldiers tailed us to the temple. Egypt does have its share of violence, but no one in the tourist trade will own up; we hear "everything is fine, no problem, very quiet" We are wondering why every other person on the street is sporting a machine gun and why there are checkpoints and military escorts. This is our first ruined temple and it is an amazing sight, huge stones, pillars covered with drawings, it makes you want to be able to read all the stories. Kings, Queens, gods and the afterlife.
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| This page last changed on 27-Apr-2006 23:38:19 EDT by 70.171.24.221. |
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