Ciao Mondo! : Aswan: Abu Simbel and a Nubian Village

I had to get up at 2:30 am the following morning in order to go to Abu Simbel, which is about a 3 1/2 hour bus ride away almost to the Sudanese border. Due to the tourist massacre at Hatshepsut Temple in 1997 (more on that in a later post) you have to travel there in a guarded convoy of other tour busses. We arrived at the temples early in the morning. There are actually two at the site. I went to the ticket window to buy my 1/2 price student discounbted ticket. The sign in the window read: No more discounts, everyone pays full price." Hmmm...I decided to give him my student card anyway. He accepted it! It pays to try anyway.

Construction of the temple complex by Ramses II started in approximately 1244 BC and lasted for about 20 years. The biggest is the "Temple of Ramses, Beloved by Amun." Their purpose was to impress Egypt's southern neighbors, and also to reinforce the status of Egyptian religion in the region. With the passage of time the temples fell into disuse and eventually became covered by sand and weren't rediscovered until 1813 by Swiss orientalist JL Burckhardt. On close inspection, you can see where the explorers carved their names into the colossus statues when th

ey came to visit Abu Simbel back in the 1870s.

The "Temple of Hathor and Nefertiti", also known as the Small Temple, was dedicated to the goddess Nefertiti, Ramses II's chief consort. What's interesting is that the statues of the king and his consort are equal in size. Traditionally, the statues of the queens stood next to those of the pharaoh, but were never taller than his knees. This shows the special importance attached to Nefertiti by Ramses.

Like the Temple of Philae, Abu Simbel was in danger of being flooded by the Nile waters when Aswan High Dam was being built. Over a period of four years, beginning in 1964, the temples were cut into massive blocks weighing an average of 20 tons. They were numbered and reassembled in a new location 65 meters higher than the original site, and 200 meters from the new water's edge. A hollow artificial rock mountain was constructed to showcase the monuments.

On the ride to and from Ab

u Simbel, I shared a seat with an Italian guy and his Spanish girlfriend. He was a typical Italian, loved to talk with his hands; they were pretty entertaining.

My guide had told me that he could arrange for me to visit a Nubian village and have dinner there for $35.00. I took him up on it. He met me at my hotel and we went and got on our own private ferry that took us up the Nile and to the village.

On the way, we passed other luxurious Nile river boats and other ferries. There were children in tiny dug outs grabbing on to the ferries as they went by. Yikes. We got to the island and my tour guide, Ahmed, took me around the village. We looked at a small schoolhouse, and went to someone's home. Nubians paint their houses in bright colors and pastel blue to represent the sky and the water. Many of the homes also have stuffed cro

codiles hung over the doorways for good luck.

Ahmed took me to a home for dinner. It had a small aquarium with a few small crocodiles and a larger one with 2 more medium-sized crocs. I was able to pick up one of the smaller ones. He was very cute, but struggled a bit in my hands. We had some karkade tea (hibiscus) and then they served me dinner. It was great! Chicken, rice, "bird-tongue" soup, (which is actually orzo), vegetables and bedouin bread. Yummy!