Running on very little sleep at this point we had to be downstairs in the lobby by 3:30am for the driver to pick us up so we could meet up with the convoy headed to Abu Simbel. The convoy consists of at least 10 tourist vans heading to Abu Simbel.
All I wanted to do was go back to sleep. At that time of day, not even my excitement could keep me awake. I quickly ate the contents of the breakfast basket we'd received and then crashed during the 3 hour ride.
When you enter many tourist destinations here, you're usually walking through open air souvenir stands and shops before entering or after exiting. This one was no exception. They instantly begun to call out to us to buy their wares. Not sure if I've mentioned in a previous post or not that they usually call us "my sister" or "my cousin", which one shop owner so helpfully pointed out was because our skin tones are similar to theirs (I had already figured this out). Once they find out we're American they start chanting "Obama's people" and smile broadly at us. Any of the nicknames I find enduring and make me smile. It's very nice to be greeted so warmly in a country that is not your own. Unfortunately, for them, I've bought too many things already so I speed walk past everyone tossing "No, thank you." as I go.
All I wanted to do was go back to sleep. At that time of day, not even my excitement could keep me awake. I quickly ate the contents of the breakfast basket we'd received and then crashed during the 3 hour ride.
When you enter many tourist destinations here, you're usually walking through open air souvenir stands and shops before entering or after exiting. This one was no exception. They instantly begun to call out to us to buy their wares. Not sure if I've mentioned in a previous post or not that they usually call us "my sister" or "my cousin", which one shop owner so helpfully pointed out was because our skin tones are similar to theirs (I had already figured this out). Once they find out we're American they start chanting "Obama's people" and smile broadly at us. Any of the nicknames I find enduring and make me smile. It's very nice to be greeted so warmly in a country that is not your own. Unfortunately, for them, I've bought too many things already so I speed walk past everyone tossing "No, thank you." as I go.
Lake Nasser practically surrounds the land where Abu Simbel sits. Because of this, when Abu Simbel was discovered it had to be relocated further back inland and higher up so that the water wouldn't damage it.
Again, like everything in Egypt, Abu Simbel was created on this magnificently grand scale and is monstrous. I'm awestruck by the craftsmanship, of men probably only armed with chisels and hammers. The detail Ramesses II (forgive me, I've previously misspelled his name in other posts) figure cut into the side of the rock is pretty awesome, and how time consuming it must have been. We were only able to take pictures of the outside of the temple, so no photos of the inside I'm sad to say.
Again, like everything in Egypt, Abu Simbel was created on this magnificently grand scale and is monstrous. I'm awestruck by the craftsmanship, of men probably only armed with chisels and hammers. The detail Ramesses II (forgive me, I've previously misspelled his name in other posts) figure cut into the side of the rock is pretty awesome, and how time consuming it must have been. We were only able to take pictures of the outside of the temple, so no photos of the inside I'm sad to say.
Abu Simbel, not only consists of Ramesses II temple he built for himself, but the second temple he built for his favorite wife, Nefertari. It's a smaller temple that sits to the right of his temple.
This was another busy day as well, because once we finished at Abu Simbel, it was another 3 hour ride back to Aswan, where we were met by our new guide. Aswan is a beautiful place and once we returned to the city, it was now time to see the city from a felluca. The water was very peaceful and calm as we sailed down the coastline enjoying the good weather and all the sights.
That was not to be the end of our time on boats. As soon as the felluca ride ended, (I was sad for it to end) we were shuttled to a water taxi to head over to the temple of Philae, which is an island. Philae is home to the temple of Isis, wife of Osiris. On our way over, our guide, Mohamed, starts to tell us what a romantic place it is because the island across from us is Osiris' island and as he begins their ill-fated story. My sister and I kind of look at each other like seriously dude, I'm here with my sister, if I was here with a dude then this story might get me all warm and fuzzy, but no. So just tell me what a badass Isis was and keep it moving, lol.
The island is gorgeous.
The island is gorgeous.
We had the temple completely to ourselves. We had our own island! It was pretty cool to walk around the temple and the island and not be bumping into other tourists. Although it did make me a bit sad that more people aren't visiting Egypt to see all of these amazing places. Once we finished our tour then we stopped for a tea break before grabbing a water taxi back to the mainland.
On the water taxi, our guide insisted we see a Nubian Village before we left. I remember looking at the time like, we have two hours until our flight leaves heading back to Cairo, do we have enough time? We agreed and sat back and enjoyed the ride. From there it became a race to get to the Nubian Village. We got off the water taxi, and then into our awaiting car to drive across the city to take another water taxi to the Nubian Village.
As we rode the slowest water taxi of the day to the Nubian Village I was starting to get worried that it was a bad idea to try and see this instead of just heading straight to the airport. Mohamed kept assuring us that the travel agent would make sure the plane didn't leave us. In my mind I was like, "Oh, he got it like that?" That wouldn't ride in the U.S., you'd just get left, but I sat back and enjoyed the scenery, but still kept checking my phone every few minutes.
We finally made it to the village and was invited into one of the families homes. I believe the guide told us they hang animals above the door to keep out bad spirits. Forgive me if that's a bit wrong. My brain was only thinking about missing my flight. The family was very nice and served us some hibiscus juice, which I'd never had before. It was really good. Then we learned they had crocodiles in a pit. So they took one out and let us take turns holding him. He was heavy, but his skin was smooth and soft underneath. I was nervous he would whip his head around and try and find something to latch onto, me. With everyone eyeing the clock we finally said our thank you's and made our goodbyes and speed walked to the car. The driver should be at the Daytona 500, because he drove like we were in a high speed chase. I loved it and I appreciated it because we made our flight.
We finally made it to the village and was invited into one of the families homes. I believe the guide told us they hang animals above the door to keep out bad spirits. Forgive me if that's a bit wrong. My brain was only thinking about missing my flight. The family was very nice and served us some hibiscus juice, which I'd never had before. It was really good. Then we learned they had crocodiles in a pit. So they took one out and let us take turns holding him. He was heavy, but his skin was smooth and soft underneath. I was nervous he would whip his head around and try and find something to latch onto, me. With everyone eyeing the clock we finally said our thank you's and made our goodbyes and speed walked to the car. The driver should be at the Daytona 500, because he drove like we were in a high speed chase. I loved it and I appreciated it because we made our flight.
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