If you follow the Nile River south you will find Aswan.

It is the beginning of a region called Nubia that stretches south to central Sudan.

The region was one of the earliest civilizations of ancient Africa from 2500-1500 BCE.

It then became a colony of Egypt for the next four centuries.

But relics of hunting and gathering have been found that date back 50,000 years.

My hotel overlooked the Kornish, or promenade along the Nile. When I arrived it was lined with river cruise ships, then Saturday they all left for Luxor.

It was a nice place to walk but people selling their Felucca (sailboat) rides were extremely persistent and irritating. It wasn’t enough to say no and no and no. They would start walking with me until I said ‘NO’ loud enough that they jumped.

Time to hide my Canadian flag…

My view was of Elephantine Island, and I took a 5 minute ferry across to explore.

The Nubian colours and geometric patterns were everywhere.

There are no real streets, and I zigged when I should have zagged, and ended up coming back from the other dock.

The main official place was the Aswan Museum. It was originally housed in the villa of the architect of the old Aswan Dam (1898), but it is now closed for renovation. There was an annex that housed local artifacts but a large part of the site are the old ruins of Abu.

Looking across the river to the villa

Looking from the ruins

Satet Temple of the 18th dynasty (1550-1292 BCE) when Aswan was the strategic southern frontier in Egypt’s Golden Age of expansion and prosperity.

Hathor, goddess of love, beauty, music, fertility and joy. She is one of the most powerful and popular deities in ancient Egyptian mythology.

Gateway also from the 18th dynasty

Temple portico from the Ptolemaic period (305-30 BCE) the final prominent Greek dynasty of ancient Egypt when Cleopatra was the ruler.

From the 19th dynasty (1405-1296 BCE)

Emerging goddess on the street

Fascination with Bob Marley

There is a historic hotel called the Old Cataract (1900) that was built on the banks of the Nile.

There are six ‘cataracts’ on the Nile. They are shallow rocky stretches between Aswan and central Sudan which was the region known as Nubia.

‘First Cataract’ is by Aswan and the others are in Sudan.

They were impassable so provided a natural defence system from Egypt in the north, and from the south.

Mango season is starting, and they profess to have the best in the world.

It is also historically the ‘Land of Gold’ and there was a whole street of gold shops.

Espresso anyone?

Or a burger?

The Nubia Museum (1997) was very well done. And I’ve done my best to do a crash course in Egyptian history.

Greeted by a 8 m sandstone statue of Ramses II

Diorama of Nubian village

‘Ba’ or soul statues. I almost forgot I wasn’t in the Gift Shop and had decided one of these three is what I want!

In richer tombs at one site, many skeletons of sacrificed horses were found, still covered with all their fittings. They were found buried with their master so that they might accompany him on the voyage to the Hereafter and continue to serve him.

A large part of the museum was dedicated to Nubian treasures salvaged from the Nile valley when the High Dam was built in the 1960’s and created Lake Nasser.

The dam was built to control flooding and provide better irrigation for agriculture. Which it has very well. But there were costs.

Abu Simbel had two large rock-cut temples constructed by Rameses II in the 18th dynasty.

When the rising waters of Lake Nasser threatened them, it was decided to move them to a new location.

In 1964 an international team under the auspices of UNESCO re-erected the two temples 210 m further inland and 55 m higher.

Abu Simbel was my next destination.

I was originally going to fly but my return flight was cancelled and the rescheduled offer was days later.

But I found I could hire a driver for the 3 hours for same price. It was a good highway and very peaceful.

We crossed over a small portion of Lake Nasser and some irrigation.

The Sudan border is very close and trucks were waiting to cross.

First step was building a coffer dam with pumping stations to kept the lake waters back while they worked.

The temples were cut into 1042 massive blocks and reassembled.

Then a concrete dome covered with rocks and sand was constructed to provide the appearance of the natural cliffs into which the temples had been originally carved.

What started in 1964 was completed in 1968.

After all the history, I finally got to visit. I went in the afternoon and was the only person there.

Mornings are popular because it’s cooler and the sun is in a better place for photos. But it was wonderful to have it to myself!

I did borrow one photo with people to show scale.

The Great Temple of Ramses II has four 20 m seated colossal statues of the king.

The walls of the main hall are decorated with scenes of Ramses military campaigns.

The temple was built with such precision that on the 22nd of February and the 22nd of October, the sun’s rays travel through the entire length of the temple and illuminate the statues seated in the back sanctuary.

Another rock-cut temple to the north, known as the Small Temple, is dedicated to the goddess Hathor and Ramese’s wife Queen Nefertari.

On the outside facade, her colossi are nearly the same size as his, a very rare honour that symbolizes her status and his love for her.

I also went to the Sound and Light show.

And a Boat trip on Lake Nasser with a group of Italians from my hotel.

Ali (back row left) from our hotel, is Nubian. They are a dark skinned African people with two distinct languages they share with other Nubians in Sudan.

It’s been hot and the power supply can shut off for up for two hours for ‘load shedding’ which I saw in Tanzania and Kenya.

So with all the traffic noise in Cairo and Aswan (and lack of air conditioning at times), I was a little behind on my sleep.

I ended up staying in Abu Simbel three nights instead of two.

Not that it was a big town! the government had built big roads but there was no traffic.

Getting around town was usually by tuk tuk, with 10 year old drivers looking for business.

Visiting the pita makers!

And then it was back to my Aswan hotel to start my river cruise tomorrow.

But I’m taking a smaller boat, a sailboat called a dahibaya which has about 10-12 passengers.

But that is my next post!!