Braby Expeditions: Temples and cruising the Nile

Our third and fourth days were spent visiting numerous temples. We flew down from Cairo to The Abu Simbel temple which is only 60 miles from the border of Sudan - smack dab in the middle of the desert. There are really two temples - one built for Ramses II and one for his wife - Queen Nevertari. Both were hewn out of the rock cliffs - moved to higher ground block by block in the 60s to avoid rising flood waters caused by the construction of the Aswan Dam. These structures are amazing to see. No space is left untouched by ancient writing. The two temples are surrounded by Lake Nasser, a man made lake created by the dam. So beautiful. We then flew up to Aswan, a town in middle Egypt. There we boarded our cruise boat. It is a smaller cruise boat but our rooms are very spacious. We have not spent much time on the boat as every time we dock, we are off to see another temple. The third day found us at the Philae Temple, which is dedicated to the Goddess Isis. This was also rebuilt because of rising waters. To think that these were ever built in the first place is amazing, but to think that they were rebuilt is incredible. We traveled to an overlook on the Aswan Dam and learned how and why it was constructed. We ended our day by visiting the unfinished Obelisk. The next day we visited the Temple of Kom Ombo which overlooks the Nile and the Temple of Edfu which we visited by taking a horse drawn carriage ride. The Kom Ombo Temple is unique because it worships two gods, Horus, known as the good doctor and Sobek, the crocodile god. The nearby sandy banks on this part of the Nile were a favorite resting place for crocs, until the construction of the dam. Part of visiting this temple included a tour of a mummified crocodile museum. We saw it at night and it was very eerie to see! Crocodiles were an important part of Eqyptian mythology. After visiting the Edfu temple, which is the most complete of al the temples,

we toured a botanical garden, which is located on an island in the middle of the Nile. Very cool! We are learning lots about Egypt history, Egyptian writing and symbolism, and today our guide will be telling us about the social and political life of today's people. We have seen much in the way of life here as we pass through the small towns. We can tell we're definitely in the Middle East. Woke up this morning to one of five daily calls for prayer. They only complaint is the peddlers, who are like pesky flies trying to sell their wares. They do not listen to the word "No, thank you!" We are currently enjoying a little down time as we cruise along the Nile to our next destination of Luxor.