Amazing Abu Simbel

Our route out of Aswan took us over the original Aswan Dam rather than the High Dam a few kilometres further upriver. Once we were out of town the roadside scenery on offer was a whole lot of not much - certainly in the way of any greenery.

A lot of straight road, and little else.

In pursuit of desert selfies...

Counter mural in the rest stop.

About two hours out the driver turned in to a little rest stop for a leg stretch. A bus of Asian tourists pulled up just after us and almost all of them headed straight across the road to take photos of each other against the desert background - probably a landscape they don't see much of at home. About this time we realised we'd forgotten to collect our leftover chicken from the fridge this morning, which was a real shame.
When we got back in the car our driver said it was only another hour to Abu Simbel. About half and hour later we started to pass what looked like a sizable new development, full of many high unit blocks, on our left. The driver explained that this was part of a "new city", an integral part of a massive project to turn more of the desert into arable land by harnessing the water from the huge Lake Nasser, created by the Aswan High Dam, for irrigation. Young men willing to take on the farming of these "new lands" could buy an apartment in the new city quite cheaply. Shortly afterwards we crossed a bridge over a huge canal that was directing water to these new lands off to our right - where we could indeed see a hint of green in the  distance. It seemed surprising that water was enough to make this country arable as the soil looked sandy and barren. A little bit further on we passed over another canal which the driver explained was an overflow canal to take excess flood water away from Lake Nasser when it got too full.

The "New City".

The main irrigation canal for the new farmlands.

Just after this we reached a fork in the road. Straight ahead for about 40 kms and you'd find yourself in Sudan (if the military let you through) but we turned left for Abu Simbel, which was not far away. The town was built from scratch in the 1960s as the rise of Lake Nasser flooded the ancient Nubian lands. Most famously of course it involved the dismantling of the ancient Abu Simbel temple dedicated to Rameses II and reconstructing it above the Lake Nasser high water line. As we drove through, the "new" town of Abu Simbel was therefore a little reminiscent of Canberra, in that it was purpose built, well laid out and had lots of open space.

Our bed, complete with towel swans.

We checked into out lodgings at the Toyu Hotel about 1:30pm and were surprised and pleased to find that we had been given a free upgrade to the deluxe suite - perhaps because we just happened to be the first to check-in for the day. We were glad of the upgrade as from what we saw of the other rooms they looked a bit pokey.

After we'd settled in we set off to walk the 400 meters or so to the ticket office for the Abu Simbel temples. Abe Simbel had long shown up on my phone's weather app as the hottest place on our itinerary and we were grateful that over the last couple of weeks the daily maximum had dropped from the searing mid 40 degrees celsius to just a sizzling mid 30s. The route took us past a large cafe, which seemed largely deserted, and a long arcade of souvenir stalls, which were also mostly deserted at this hour. When we reached the ticket office we could see the incumbent ticket seller asleep on the floor at the back of the booth (clearly this wasn't peak hour for visitors) and were not going to disturb him until an attendant nearby insisted on rousing him for us. This way we learnt that it was not economical to visit the temples now and then again for tomorrow's sunrise, we were best just coming for the sunrise. We also found out that tickets for this evening's Sound and Light show were to be purchased from Shop #2 in the arcade we had just walked past. The shop was not currently open, so we'd just have to purchase our tickets when we came back later. And hope that at least 13 other people did likewise as there was a 15 people minimum for the show to go ahead. And so far Abu Simbel looked rather devoid of tourists.

Adjacent to the ticket office was a little museum with information about the massive UNESCO sponsored campaign to save not only the Abu Simbel temples but at least a dozen other ancient temples and monuments from being drowned under Lake Nasser in the early 1960s. An attendant came in and turned on the video which showed the massive operation that was required to save the  temples. It truly was an amazing feat of engineering that took four years, working right through the blistering desert summers. The whole temple and parts of the surrounding cliff were cut into blocks of up to 30 tonnes and moved 65 metres higher and 200 metres back from the river . They were then reassembled under an artificial dome to mimic the original cliff face - with the cost in today's terms being about US$300 million. The video covered the efforts to save a number of other temples as well. One of the more remarkable projects was to save the Temple of Amada. It was deemed that cutting it up would do too much damage to the fine painted reliefs on the walls so it was mounted on rails and moved intact via hydraulics, a few centimetres at a time, about 2.6 kilometres to higher ground. Pretty amazing feat of engineering.

We didn't stay to watch the end of the video as it was getting well past lunchtime so finding some food was in order. (We were really regretting having forgotten to collect that left-over chicken from the fridge this morning). The cafe we'd passed on the walk up was still pretty much deserted and had little to offer. We continued on past our hotel and eventually found a little general store. If we didn't find something here we'd have had to continue in the heat for at least another half a kilometre to where there were a few more shops, but even then we couldn't be sure of finding a suitable restaurant that was open - Abu Simbel didn't seem to be a very busy place. So we contented ourselves with a few assorted snack supplies from the general store and returned to cool off in our hotel room.

With sunset approaching we set off back to the temple site for the Sound & Light Show. When we reached Shop #2 just before 5:00pm it still hadn't opened, so we passed some time by walking across the road and down to the lake shore to take in the view. Laura even took her shoes off to dip her toes in the water - her verdict, a bit colder than she expected. The sun was setting at 5:20pm as we returned to Shop #2 to buy our tickets (EGP250 or AU$19 each). We had just bought them when we realised that sitting still next to the lake at dusk suggested that some anti-mosquito spray might be in order - and we hadn't brought ours with us. Laura volunteered to dash back to the hotel to get it while I continued on into the temple site and claimed some seats for the show. The temples were reconstructed facing the lake and covered with an artificial hill. The entrance was on the landward side of the hill so it was a bit of a walk around to the "lake side" to where the temples were - and the seating area, which was right next to the lake. Laura took longer than I'd expected to make it back but still did so in plenty of time for the show. We easily made the 15 person minimum too, with about 35 people on hand for the performance.

Temple of Ramses II during the show.

Pano of the temples after the show.

There was a short false start to the show at about 6:20pm, when a fuse blew just a few seconds in. Apparently this  is not unusual and in less than 10 minutes they were able to restart the show properly. Sound & Light shows can be a bit hit and miss from my experience, but this one turned out to be quite good. It didn't just focus on a linear history of the temple but the relationship of the temple to its environment and the achievements of the Pharaoh Rameses II, in whose honour it was built. It also touched on the effort to save the temple from Lake Nasser. Many of the images shown were large-scale copies of the original artwork inside.

Rameses II temple under lights.

Temple of Hathor under lights.

The show finished a little after 7:00pm and we didn't linger long before setting off back to our hotel, where an 8:00pm pre-ordered dinner awaited. After the walk back and getting cleaned up we took our place in the outdoor restaurant and fortunately didn't have to wait too long for our meals - since we hadn't had anything substantial since breakfast. The meals of fish and chicken were both appetising and filling.

Here comes the sun...

Sunrise from temple door.

Afterwards we didn't waste too much time getting to bed since we had to be up early, as in 4:45am, to catch the sunrise at the temples. In fact less than 10 hours after we had walked back along the road from the Sound & Light show we were on our way out again to get there in time for sunrise, which was due at 5:50am. The entry fee was a strange combination of EGP160 (AU$12.20) each for the "Temple Entry & Documentation Centre", plus a "General Tourist Guide Syndicate" fee of EGP13 (guides pension fund?), plus a 200 pence Local Council Fee (possible less than the cost of printing the ticket for it!).

As it happened today (15th October) is only seven days short of one of the two days per year when the rising sun shines all the way through the the Great Hall, the Vestibule and the Sanctuary to illuminate the statue of Rameses situated at the very back of the Sanctuary. Even as it was it was pretty much bang on target today so I don't think the alignment changes much over a week.

The sun hits the back wall.

I have to say that it would be extremely hard to pick from looking around inside the temple that it had been cut into pieces and re-assembled. Once again the walls were more heavily decorated with reliefs than I had expected, which made it all the more impressive. Hats off to the UNESCO sponsored rescue mission that preserved the temple - it would have been a real tragedy to have allowed it to be swallowed up by Lake Nasser. The main hall is supported by the usual massive columns and the ceiling itself was decorated with vultures, the symbol of a protective goddess. The walls were decorated with pictures telling the story of Rameses II's many victories in battle. He reigned for 63 years, during which time he expanded the Egyptian empire and secured its borders. Of course there was the usual restriction of no photography within the temple so the best I could do was a couple of discreet photos with my smart phone.

Temple of Rameses II.

Temple of Hathor.

Rameses II smiting is foes.

Once we had completed a thorough exploration of the Temple of Rameses we checked out the adjacent Temple of Hathor. Whilst not as expansive or as spectacular as its more famous neighbour it was still very impressive. It is fronted with large statues of Rameses II and his consort Nefertari, who is depicted wearing the costume of the goddess Hathor. The reliefs inside tell gentler stories about the goddess Hathor, rather than stories of battle and conquest.

Having completed our sightseeing we had one final look at the overall setting and then turned to make our way back to our hotel. Having been up for a couple of hours we were happy to enjoy a leisurely breakfast - which was served inside the ground floor restaurant rather than up on the rooftop terrace. After breakfast, with still a couple of hours to fill in, we went for a longer walk than yesterday down to the "main" part of town. There were a few more shops here and we stocked up on fruit at one of them. With the day warming up we returned to the air conditioned comfort of our hotel room to pack up and prepare for our return to Aswan.

Mural near our hotel.

Wall poster in town.

Our driver arrived on time at 11:00am for the pickup and it was a straightforward three hour drive, with no rest stop this time since the only "road house" was barely an hour out of Abu Simbel. As we approached Aswan, knowing that we'd still have a few hours to fill before our 5:00pm train, we enquired about taking a slight detour that would have allowed us to see and drive over the Aswan High Dam. However the driver wanted an extra payment for the detour, which we considered a bit steep, so we passed on that idea.

And so we arrived at Aswan Station a little after 2:00pm. First thing was to stroll - luggage and all - to have lunch at the same little eatery we'd visited on Thursday when deciding whether to proceed with the expense of getting to Abu Simbel and back. By now of course we knew that it had been well and truly worth it and we were glad not to have missed the memorable temples of Abu Simbel.

We then setup camp in a shady spot on the station platform while first I, then Laura, took turns minding the luggage as the other went for one last walk through the Souk. On my turn I visited a supermarket we'd found previously to stock up on a few snacks for the train trip. The train turned up by 4:30pm and some staff went to work washing the windows before we boarded. Departure was on time at 5:00pm. For the on-board meals this time we had ordered one beef and one vegetarian meal for a change. The vegetarian meal was the same as the beef one except that instead of the meat there was a small container of limp, lukewarm chips. Laura was somewhat (massive understatement) disappointed.

Thereafter we settled down to bed early after our long day. Luckily I remembered to lock the cabin door, as someone getting on at Luxor tried to join us. Otherwise we slept pretty well after our week of exploring southern Egypt.