Super early start to beat the heat, basically every cruise boat on the Nile moored at the same time. Multitude of horse carriages awaited the tourists to take them to Edfu temple.
As our horse galloped along the roads, kicking up a dust storm Aanya and I discussed that if we were dropped from the sky on to the roads here we would think we were in India. Similar people, cacophony of noises, dogs and rubbish on the streets.
We arrived before the gates for the temple(6am) open so awaited our turn with everyone else. Jeevan and Savik arrived for us to find that the dust from all the horses had led to Savik having an asthma attack. He has never had an asthma attack other than his night cough so we were unprepared and his puffer was in the other bag at the boat.
We were in two minds as we were now away from the dust but obviously didn’t want to distress him either. So we decided to sit in a spot and give it 5 minutes, if no better then we would head back to the boat and skip the temple. Luckily he got better, so Jeevan, Aanya and the guide went off to explore while Savik and I headed to a cafe.
While in the cafe Savik relaxed, sucked on mentos and felt better enough for us to see the temple and was in fact running to see bits he might have missed!
A bit about Edfu-it is the largest intact temple dedicated to a single God - Horus (Falcon God). I am not sure how long it will last but we have become quite good at identifying the Egyptian Gods. The stories of who is married to whom and their children varies with the temple and the local folklore.
We headed back to the boat and all the boats set off to Luxor. It’s so so hot that it’s quite good that we don’t have to head out for meals or think of transport as likely we wouldn’t go out.
On the way we passed the Esna Lock, everyone was on the rooftop watching how a ship crosses a dam. It was something quite new for the kids.
We arrived at Luxor in the afternoon and headed to the Karnak Temple. It’s the largest temple complex and is an absolute gem of a place. The temples are deviated to Amun, Mut and Khonsu.Over 30 pharaohs have been involved in its formation so a lot has been added over the years.
We started on the Ram Ramp, which is very well preserved and then headed to the Hypostyle Hall. It has 134 pillars with open and closed papyrus flowers on the top depending if it’s under cover or not. Very recently they have managed to clean them and the paintings (with the colours intact) have been unearthed. It’s so humbling to see what people have manage to achieve over 3000 years ago with minimal machinery and technology. Then to admire the tallest Obelisk in Egypt before we went to circle the statue of the beetle (Scarab) and make a wish. Aanya wished for a soft toy which she is hoping we grant.
Next to it is the sacred lake which has never dried and no one knows how, the Nile has shifted 2km away due to the dam so an underground canal would not be the answer.
It was starting to get too hot for the kids so I started dunking water over their heads to help cool them off, this has been the hottest we have ever been.
We spent a bit more time at Karnak then ice cream before going to Luxor Temple. The heat started settling slightly and the ice cream helped so kids were happy to be seeing a bit more.
Luxor temple has the sphinx avenue (3km long) joining it to the Karnak Temple. The shrines of the gods were brought along the avenue to visit during the festivals.
Over time the front of temple has been a church and now a mosque so three religions. It is a practising mosque at present and we were unable to enter that area. Multiple statues of Ramses II show us that he ruled the longest. There are also other statues and Obelisks to admire.
More ice cream before getting back to the boat and jumping into the pool, just what we needed.
Dinner was filled with Egyptian delicacies, the food on the ship has been really good. We will miss the ease of it all but there isn’t too much to do on the boat itself so I think we had enough time on it.
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