After having very little sleep for the past two days, we had to wake up at 4:00 AM in order get to the Cairo Airport in time to catch a flight to Aswan, Egypt, for a trip down the Nile by riverboat. Although it was early in the morning, the trip was made more enjoyable when we were able to get First Class seating on the aircraft. The in-flight breakfast on Egyptian Air was very tasty and there was great legroom between the seats.
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| Picture by Heather |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
As we left the Cairo airport the plane flew over New Cairo, a new city that is being built east of Cairo on 85,000 acres of land. Often, when young men marry in Egypt, they just add more rooms onto their parent's house and all of the family members live in the same structure.
Our Cairo guide told us that the government is now in the process moving their offices to New Cairo and is encouraging young people to move there also. Housing has been constructed in the new city and if young families will rent a unit from the government for thirty years, they get title to the property at no additional cost. To encourage young families to move, as older structures in Cairo are demolished, they can not be rebuilt and no new structures can be built on vacant land. Since many parts of Cairo are built on early Egyptian ruins, there are plans to excavate various areas once the building structures have been removed.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
The flight from Cairo to Aswan followed the Nile River for most of the trip. It is primarily desert land on both sides of the river and the irrigated lands near the river are a stark contrast to the desert areas when viewed from the air.
The Aswan Airport is adjacent to the west side of High Dam (Aswan Dam), so we had good views of Nasser Lake as we came in for a landing. Nasser Lake is over 310 miles long, parts of which are located in Sudanese Territory. Before the lake was filled to capacity, fourteen historic temples were rescued by dismantling them and reconstructing them at new sites above the lake's maximum water lever.
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| Picture by Heather |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
Planes landing at Aswan Airport have to park away from the buildings and passengers are bussed to the terminal. Ragab Al Azab, our guide for this part of the trip, met us at the airport passenger terminal with a van. Our guide quickly became known as "Rocky" and we were the "Rocky Family" as we traveled around.
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| Picture by Heather |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
Since the airport is so close to High Dam, "Rocky" had the van driver take us to the large High Dam Memorial that is often featured in travel literature. The memorial is dedicated to the over 500 workers who lost their lives while working on the dam.
Along the way to the memorial, we passed an art structure and a tall obelisk. I think the art structure said something in Arabic. I do not remember the significance of the art project or the obelisk, but the obelisk is located at the road junction that leads to Abu Simbel.
The Philae Temple ruins are located on the island of Agilkia, which is located in the Nile River between the two dams. Although private vehicles are not allowed to cross over High Dam, there is a public road over Old Dam that provides access to the east side of the river. At Ablegestelle zum Temple von Philae on the east side of the river, water taxies operated by the Nubian people are available to take visitors to the island. While we were waiting on our water taxi, we knew we had the right one when we saw that the name of the boat was "Arizona."
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| Picture by Heather |
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| Picture by Heather |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
On the way to the island we passed by the Nubian Guest House and Restaurant, which is only accessible by boat.
The Philae Temple complex was built about 280 BC on the east side of the Nile River. However, after building Low Dam in 1902, the Philae Temple complex was under water in the lake formed by the dam. Then, between 1972 and 1980, water level in the Low Dam reservoir was lowered and the temple complex was dismantled and reassembled at a higher site on the island of Agilkia.
The temple of Philae is one of the three best preserved Ptolemaic temples in the world. It includes the Pavilion of Nectanebo, the monumental Temple of Isis with its annexes, the Pavilion of Trajan, and the Hathor Temple. Before the structures were submerged in the lake created by Low Dam, the painted walls in the Temple of Isis were reported to be some of the most beautiful and best preserved in Egypt. However, after being under water for so many years, all of the wall paintings dissolved.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Western Portico - Picture by Heather |
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| Picture by "Rocky" on Heather's Camera |
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| Temple of Iris - First Pylon |
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| Portal of Nectanebo I |
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| Temple of Hathor |
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| Pavilion of Trajan |
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| Picture by Heather |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
The feral cats were attracted to Sophia when we found a shady place to rest.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
When leaving for shore, our water taxi driver went around the island so we could see the other side of the ruins from the water.
PICTURES BY KOLOHE
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