Aswan – Temple of Philae, Unfinished Obelisk, High Dam

Posted on June 17, 2011 by Sonya

We caught the Abela Sleeping Train from Cairo to Aswan. It was $60 USD per person for the twelve hour trip there, which included dinner and breakfast. I had caught overnight trains in India but this one was very comfortable in comparison. We had a cabin to ourselves which had a small table, a sink, a seat (which converted into one bed) and a fold up bed above it. Dinner was an aeroplane-like meal (various formats of chicken, salad and bread, some pastries), drinks were extra.

The following morning I awoke to hear passengers get off for Luxor. That meant about three more hours before our stop, Aswan. We headed to the dining cart for some coffee. As it was daylight, we could now see the beautiful scenery outside the train – a view of the Nile and its rich fertile land.

We arrived around 9:30 am in Aswan. As soon as we departed the train the atmosphere felt very different to Cairo. It was much hotter… and seemed more relaxed, laid back. We headed towards our hostel, walking through the souk. The shops were selling Nubian-style goods, Nubian being the local people of Aswan.

Our hostel was not far from the souk. We were given a lovely room with absolutely stunning views of the Nile. We booked a driver with our hostel who would take us to three places that day – Temple of Philae, the High Dam and The Unfinished Obelisk.

Temple of Philae

The Temple of Philae was our first stop, about fifteen minutes away from the city. The temple is located on an island and so requires travel by boat. The LP stated that the price of the boat trip was about 20 EGP per person, however the boat taxi men insisted on a price of 50 EGP per person! (It’s about a ten minute boat ride). Fortunately, we came across a friendly Brazilian couple who were looking to share costs, in the end we paid 100 EGP for four of us on one tiny dinghy.

The Temple of Philae was actually originally located at Philae Island but moved to Agilkia Island due to rising water levels from the Aswan High Dam. We had watched a number of Ancient Egypt documentaries and recognised the front of the temple as we approached by boat – with its beautiful inscriptions across the front. One of the benefits of travelling post-revolution was that there was barely anyone at most of the sites we visited. At Philae there were a handful of people. It was peaceful, serene and stunning.

High Dam

The High Dam was a drive further south from Philae. Aside from the view of Lake Nasser, it wasn’t too eventful and could have been skipped. However, it was interesting to see how and why the dam was built and the effect it had on the surrounding areas.

Unfinished Obelisk

The Unfinished Obelisk has an interesting story. Aswan was the primary source of granite during ancient Egypt. Due to the many pharaohs desires of leaving their legacy, granite was important for making obelisks and other monuments and statues. The unfinished obelisk is a forty-two meter long humungous piece of granite which was planned to be the biggest obelisk ever. But after three or four months into its making they noticed that there was a major flaw /crack in the granite hence having to abandon it. The obelisk is located in a quarry where there is evidence of other obelisks being cut out of the granite (some are now in Karnak, Luxor or Thebes as it was known then). The quarry men who worked carving out these monuments lived on the quarry, as can be seen by various pictures carved on the surrounding rocks. It is said they came from places afar, as the pictures are of exotic birds and dolphins which are not generally found in the area.

Aswan Souk and Felucca Cruise

In the evening we decided to take a walk through the souk and later take a felucca on the Nile. It was extremely relaxing and romantic, watching the sun set across the Nile.

We had dinner at a restaurant on the Nile – traditional Nubian fish tagine (which was delicious) and shish tawook (grilled chicken, always a favourite).

Egypt – Egyptian museum and Islamic Cairo

Posted on June 17, 2011 by Sonya

We headed to the famous Egyptian museum, next to Tahrir’s Square, the following day. Whilst we had arrived early, there were already busloads of tourists waiting at the gates. We found out we would have to wait another half an hour till the museum opened so we took photos with relics outside. Unfortunately, the museum does not allow photographs inside.

When opening time arrived we decided to head first to the Tutankhamun galleries. It was on the first floor. There we saw the iconic Tutankhamun mask, and the various items and relics found in his tomb by the English archaeologist, Howard Carter. It was simply amazing, the jewellery, clothes, vases, and other items that were found in his tomb, many of which were in excellent condition.

Other highlights of the museum included:

– The royal mummies – particularly the Ramesses II mummy. Amazingly well preserved – some of them had their hair, teeth and skin intact. Slightly eerie.

– Animal mummies – the Ancient Egyptians believed the scarab (dung beetle) to be representative of the rising of the sun in the way they rolled their dung around. Here we saw a scarab sarcophagus! Plus plenty of animals that had been mummified including a crocodile, dog and baboon.

The museum is definitely a must-see. It was a bit overwhelming to have so many ancient artefacts sprawled around haphazardly, waiting to be observed. Most of the artefacts are not well described – so a guidebook or guide comes in handy.

After the museum we decided to head to the Khan El-Khalili markets near Islamic Cairo. We walked there from the museum which was quite a distance however it gave us an opportunity to experience the full hustle and bustle of Cairo. The markets were quite impressive. There was everything from perfume, to paintings, spices, similar to what we’d seen around the region, with an Egyptian flair.

As we sat down for a rest and were approached by a taxi driver. We told him we weren’t looking for a driver he told us that he was wanted to buy Heineken beer for his niece’s wedding and asked if we could buy some for him. We politely refused and shortly after a lady next to me asked if we wanted assistance buying anything, that she would be happy to help as a local. Not sure how many requests or offers for help were genuine but we decided to err on the side of caution.

After the markets we headed towards Islamic Cairo (also being accosted several times along the way – one guy even followed us!), admiring the architecture. We went into the medieval gate Bab Zuweila and climbed the tower which allowed us a good view of Islamic Cairo.

Egypt – Giza, Dahshur and Saqqara pyramids

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Sonya

The Giza Necropolis is the site of the most famous pyramids of Ancient Egypt, one of the ancient wonders still in existence. There are also few other sites with much older pyramids, mainly in the Dahshur and Saqqara areas.

We decided to hire a driver for the day to visit the three sites. We found one just outside our hostel and he offered us 200EGP (equivalent to $30) to drive us around for the whole day. He turned out to be quite a friendly, interesting character. He had been driving tourists for the past twenty five years and had many stories to tell. Unfortunately, due to the recent events in Cairo, he said business was slow and we were his first customers in quite a while.

We arrived in front of the Giza plateau as it was opening for the day. A few security checks later and we were inside the complex. It seemed we were the first people to enter that day – there was no one else around except for us and the souvenir sellers! We marvelled at the three pyramids (Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure) and Sphinx (which is a lot smaller in real life) and chatted to the children as they setup their stalls. Then we wandered around towards the smallest of the three pyramids – Pyramid of Menkaure. We accidentally did not pre-purchase tickets to enter the pyramid however managed to get in by paying the ‘caretaker’ directly (oops!). We then walked around the complex in awe of the magnificence and magnitude of the Great Pyramid (also known as Cheops/Khufu) which was built in 2560 BC, it is the oldest and largest of the three.

After Giza pyramids, we picked up some falafel from a street vendor and headed to Dahshur. Here lies Snefru’s Red and Bent pyramids and the Black pyramid. The Red pyramid is thought to be the first real pyramid. Ancient Egyptians had experimented with various shapes before the Giza pyramids and the Red pyramid was the first of the true pyramidal form. The Red and Bent pyramids were commissioned by Pharaoh Snefru’s (2613-2589 BC). We climbed inside the Red pyramid which was a 68m long passage way into the main chamber – by far the deepest pyramid we had entered. It smelt funny inside, so we didn’t spend too long in there!

We then headed to the Pyramids of Saqqara which is famous for the Step of pyramid Djoser. We also visited the nearby Pyramid of King Teti (in the same complex) which looked to be a big mound, but inside the pyramid it was impressive – decorated with walls of beautiful hieroglyphs, stars on the ceiling and Teti’s sarcophagus. Next to Teti were a set of tombs for high officials (New Kingdom period) which had wonderfully decorated paintings and murals.

Our driver happily dropped us off at Ramses train station (we gave him a good baksheesh!) after our trip and we picked up some tickets for the Abela Sleeping Trains for our journey to Aswan the following night. That evening we had dinner at a LP recommended restaurant ‘Gad’ and sampled the Egyptian pancakes, lamb and okra.

Egypt – Our first day in Cairo

Posted on June 11, 2011 by Sonya

There has been plenty of focus on Egypt over the past few months since the historical revolution events of January. Being in the region, Egypt was one of the countries which we were both keen to visit. We had some initial apprehensions about visiting Egypt but by April it seemed things had stabilised, so we decided to visit Egypt in mid-May. Cairo was our first destination which is about a two and a half hour flight from Doha. We had planned to start from Cairo (Lower Egypt) and follow the Nile, travelling south to Luxor and Aswan (Upper Egypt).

We arrived in Cairo late afternoon and were immediately (and expectedly) ambushed by taxi drivers. On our way to our hostel our taxi driver had a small prang with another car. There was a bit of yelling, shouting in Arabic and eventually the cars went their own ways. The traffic in downtown Cairo was crazy. There are cars everywhere and the beeping was non-stop. Cairo’s Islamic Architecture is absolutely amazing though – it’s no wonder it is called the City of Minarets.

After checking in to the cosy Pension Roma, we dropped our backpacks and headed towards the main downtown area. We walked until we reached the historical Tahrir Square – only that morning we were watching the footage on Al Jazeera as some peaceful demonstrations took place!! Quite surreal. It was Friday which is the most important day for prayers in Islam world. As such, any demonstrations usually take place on the Friday, after prayers. A couple of men approached us as we were walking, small talking and eventually asking us to visit their papyrus shop. Despite all the violence that had taken place a few months ago at that same spot, Tahrir Square, on that day, was a bustling marketplace. There were street food-vendors selling tea and popcorn, people selling January 25th t-shirts, and plenty of people just there enjoying the atmosphere. There also seemed to be some focus on the Palestinian cause as we saw many Palestinian flags and had read that there would be some demonstration regarding this. Around the Tahrir Square area we saw lots of street art relating to the January revolts.

We continued walking towards to the Nile river, and up along the Kasr Al Nile Bridge, and back through the 6th October bridge. Though we had been briefed by my parents, Cairenes and other people who had visited Cairo, it was a lot noisier, busier than I had expected. We were stopped numerous times by people asking us where we were from, etc. After a few hours of exploring the city by foot we were quite exhausted and decided to head back to our hostel, on our way stopping at a delicious falafel shop.