While the Cairo area is famed for its pyramids, it is the South that is home to the ancient Egyptian temples, with their regal columns, towering statues, and walls covered from corner to corner with enigmatic hieroglyphs. History class in school is not fondly remembered by most people, due to boring textbooks that boil down history to a flat, featureless canvas of names and dates. However, almost everyone has positive memories of learning about the ancient Egyptians - the mummy-making process, the huge pyramids, the mysterious symbols of their writing system. Not even the most boring history class can succeed in making the ancient Egyptians just another page in a textbook.
Due to the extreme heat, we took it slow and alternated seeing sites to spare the kids having to be out in the sun. For our first day in Aswan, Josh, Bud, Ashley, and Misha went to the Temple of Philae, while I stayed in the hotel with Sebby. They reported back to me with stories and photos. The heat was almost too much for Misha, so I was glad I didn't attempt it with Sebby.
The Temple of Philae:
Misha in the "window" of the temple, surrounded by ancient script.
Misha up close.
Columns surrounding the doorway, overlooking the Nile.
The Coptic cross superimposed on hieroglyphs.
Bud and Ashley at Philae.
More images and hieroglyphs.
A corridor of columns. One of the guys from our small tour sweetly carried Misha through the temple.
Botanical and Elephantine Islands:
The next day, Josh stayed in the hotel with both kids and the AC while Bud, Ashley, and I hit two more islands in the Nile.
We walked to the Nile from our hotel and boarded a small motor boat, which took us to
Botanical Island, a tropical paradise. It was amazingly green and full of species from different countries. We walked along in the humidity admiring baobab trees, exotic birds, and spices including lemon grass and cinnamon.
Then the boat transported us to Elephantine Island, which features a small museum and ruins from three temples. Though the crumbling, reconstructed walls of Elephantine's temples were not as impressive as Philae, for me they were fantastic. We were the only people there, traipsing through broken walls and statues missing all but their feet, the sun beating down oppressively. (Thank goodness for our water bottles, sun hats, and sunglasses.) It felt like we were in an Indiana Jones movie, or perhaps in the computer game Myst that had come to life and it was our job to discover what civilization had created these structures and symbols and why they imparted them so much significance.
Bud and I stand in a huge, ancient doorway.
Indiana Kula and the Temple of Doom.
More hieroglyphs, including the key of life, known as "ank."
A bit of color remains in this scene.
More hieroglyphs.
That evening, we swapped again and Josh took Misha, Bud and Ashley to the Nubian village tour arranged for us.
On the boat once more.
A quick pause for a dip in the Nile!
A somewhat-traditional-slash-touristy experience of eating a Nubian meal in a Nubian home. The Nubians are an ethnic group originally from Northern Sudan.
The family had some baby alligators, and they offered Misha a stick to demonstrate the speed of a baby alligator's attack! (He was indeed fast.)
4 comments:
Oooh, fun! I'm glad you took a sick day so you could get these posted! ;) Looking forward to the next stop on the adventure!
Great photos of the 'Indiana Jones' family!! About that pet alligator....was he in a small pool/cage in the house?? Not my kind of pet.
They had three or four baby small ones, and one that was about three feet long in a big cage!
Thank you so much for the wonderful pictures and stories of your adventures. I don't know how the heat did not do you all in. I especially liked the Botanical Islands, and I looked up Coptic Christianity. I would love to try eating Nubian food. :o)
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