Today is the first day of our Nile cruise. We were not sure what to expect as we have heard varying information about the Nile cruises. Most cruises don’t even include water as part of it!!!
We were picked up early by the tour company people so it was another early morning dash to be ready on time. Our first visit for the day was to the high dam of Aswan. It was built in the 1960’s to help prevent flooding and drought that occurred in Egypt from time to time resulting in people’s mud brick houses completely being washed away and the crops dying during droughts. Also it was a main hydro power generator. The Cold War played an important part as to who was going to fund it, and the Soviets pissed off the Americans by securing a deal to build it. I am sure the Soviet engineers didn’t agree with the plan as so many Soviets had to move to live in Aswan’s terrible weather (today’s high is 46 degrees!!!). The downside was the submerging of all the historic Egyptian temples such as Abu Simbel.
Next we visited the Philae temple which was submerged due to the construction of the dam. UNESCO helped to dismantle the temple complex as they did in Abu Simbel and shift it to a new island (Agilkia). There are 3 more temples still submerged under water around this area. We had to take a short boat ride to the island and on the way our guide also told us that the lake is infested with crocodiles and also they found the biggest crocodile in the world measuring 11m (Godzilla) in these waters that had to be killed as it started eating the fisherman. The Airforce was deployed to find it and kill it. Gladly they have built a contraption that prevents crocodiles from coming into this part of the lake. The Nubian people who are ethnic to this part of lower Egypt and Northern Sudan have crocodiles as their pets!!! I thought people who had venomous snakes as pets were mad but these guys have taken it to another level.
The temple was initially built during Egyptian times 350BC for the god ISIS and later had Greek and Roman temples built on it during the times of their invasions. It is interesting to see the passage of time when Christian motifs are added during the early crusades and then French inscriptions when Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt in the 18th century. Then later on the “modern day heroes” as I like to call them inscribed their names on the walls in the 1800 -1900’s.
We learned a lot about the Egyptian gods, their genealogy and the stories behind how they were created. Our guide is an Egyptologist and has many stories to tell, he kept the kids interested throughout.
Next we headed to the quarry where the unfinished Obelix lies. By this time it was sweltering but we persisted and visited this place. All the ancient Obelixes (or is it Obelixi) around the world and in Egypt that you see (which were stolen from Egypt) came from quarries around Aswan. This one is the largest that was being built but kept cracking so it is just lying on the ground half carved. Nobody knows from which era it is from. After a quick visit there we were all glad to be back in the comfort of the AC inside our van. Quick stop to buy some mangoes before we headed to the Cruise Ship. We have the whole afternoon and the next morning to relax in our cruise ship. The kids were so happy to see pasta and the various desserts they had. No more falafel wraps!!
On a side note, the mangoes we had were the most sour mangoes we have ever eaten. They looked very ripe and juicy but as soon as it hits your mouth you are surprised how sour they were!!!
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